1 Objection 1: It seems that the justice of God is not truth. For justice resides in the will; since, as Anselm says Dial. Verit. 13), it is a rectitude of the will, whereas truth resides in the intellect, as the Philosopher says Metaph. vi; Ethic. vi, 2, 6). Therefore justice does not appertain to truth.
1 Ad secundum sic proceditur. Videtur quod iustitia Dei non sit veritas. Iustitia enim est in voluntate, est enim rectitudo voluntatis, ut dicit Anselmus. Veritas autem est in intellectu, secundum philosophum in VI Metaphys. et in VI Ethic. Ergo iustitia non pertinet ad veritatem.
2 Objection 2: Further, according to the Philosopher Ethic. iv, 7), truth is a virtue distinct from justice. Truth therefore does not appertain to the idea of justice.
2 Praeterea, veritas, secundum philosophum in IV Ethic., est quaedam alia virtus a iustitia. Non ergo veritas pertinet ad rationem iustitiae.
3 On the contrary, it is said Ps. 84, 11): Mercy and truth have met each other: where truth stands for justice.
3 Sed contra est quod in Psalmo LXXXIV dicitur, misericordia et veritas obviaverunt sibi; et ponitur ibi veritas pro iustitia.
4 I answer that, Truth consists in the equation of mind and thing, as said above Question 16, Article 1). Now the mind, that is the cause of the thing, is related to it as its rule and measure; whereas the converse is the case with the mind that receives its knowledge from things. When therefore things are the measure and rule of the mind, truth consists in the equation of the mind to the thing, as happens in ourselves. For according as a thing is, or is not, our thoughts or our words about it are true or false. But when the mind is the rule or measure of things, truth consists in the equation of the thing to the mind; just as the work of an artist is said to be true, when it is in accordance with his art. Now as works of art are related to art, so are works of justice related to the law with which they accord. Therefore God's justice, which establishes things in the order conformable to the rule of His wisdom, which is the law of His justice, is suitably called truth. Thus we also in human affairs speak of the truth of justice.
4 Respondeo dicendum quod veritas consistit in adaequatione intellectus et rei, sicut supra dictum est. Intellectus autem qui est causa rei, comparatur ad ipsam sicut regula et mensura, e converso autem est de intellectu qui accipit scientiam a rebus. Quando igitur res sunt mensura et regula intellectus, veritas consistit in hoc, quod intellectus adaequatur rei, ut in nobis accidit, ex eo enim quod res est vel non est, opinio nostra et oratio vera vel falsa est. Sed quando intellectus est regula vel mensura rerum, veritas consistit in hoc, quod res adaequantur intellectui, sicut dicitur artifex facere verum opus, quando concordat arti. Sicut autem se habent artificiata ad artem, ita se habent opera iusta ad legem cui concordant. Iustitia igitur Dei, quae constituit ordinem in rebus conformem rationi sapientiae suae, quae est lex eius, convenienter veritas nominatur. Et sic etiam dicitur in nobis veritas iustitiae.
5 Reply to Objection 1: Justice, as to the law that governs, resides in the reason or intellect; but as to the command whereby our actions are governed according to the law, it resides in the will.
5 Ad primum ergo dicendum quod iustitia, quantum ad legem regulantem, est in ratione vel intellectu, sed quantum ad imperium, quo opera regulantur secundum legem, est in voluntate.
6 Reply to Objection 2: The truth of which the Philosopher is speaking in this passage, is that virtue whereby a man shows himself in word and deed such as he really is. Thus it consists in the conformity of the sign with the thing signified; and not in that of the effect with its cause and rule: as has been said regarding the truth of justice.
6 Ad secundum dicendum quod veritas illa de qua loquitur philosophus ibi, est quaedam virtus per quam aliquis demonstrat se talem in dictis vel factis, qualis est. Et sic consistit in conformitate signi ad significatum, non autem in conformitate effectus ad causam et regulam, sicut de veritate iustitiae dictum est.