God desires obedience from the heart, not ritual; He speaks creation through His eternal Word; and He offered humanity the gift of immortality—not by nature, but through sustaining grace.
In today’s readings, Irenaeus reminds us that God never needed the sacrificial system—He gave it for our sake, to teach righteousness, mercy, and justice. Augustine contemplates how God’s eternal Word creates all things outside of time, without change or sequence. And Aquinas answers whether man would have been immortal in Eden, explaining that immortality was not natural to the body, but a divine gift given through grace. All three converge to reveal a God who calls us not merely to perform, but to trust, obey, and remain in His sustaining presence (Wisdom 1:13; Romans 5:12; John 1:1–3).
Readings:
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 4, Chapter 17
Augustine, The Confessions, Book 11, Chapter 7 (Section 9)
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1, Question 97, Article 1
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