reality, and not, as understood by post-biblical Judaism and Christianity, a timeless truth in the sense of casuistical ethics. No wonder, then, that wherever it is treated as a timeless truth, it can only be made applicable and usable with the help of some interpretation which is more or less arbitrary even in relation to the texts, and of all kinds of amplifications and additions drawn from the treasures of natural law and tradition. It has already lost its character as a divine command when it