Are all human affairs subject to the eternal law?

It seems that not all human affairs are subject to the eternal law:

Objection 1:  In Galatians 5:18 the Apostle says, “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”  But according to Romans 8:14 (“Those who are acted on by the Spirit of God are the sons of God”), the just, who are sons of God by adoption, are acted on by the Spirit of God.  Therefore, not all men are under the eternal law.

Objection 2:  In Romans 8:7 the Apostle says, “Prudence of the flesh is the enemy of God, since it is not subject to the law of God.”  But there are many men in whom prudence of the flesh is dominant.  Therefore, not all men are subject to the eternal law.

Objection 3:  In De Libero Arbitrio 1 Augustine says, “It is the eternal law by which the wicked merit unhappiness and the good merit the life of beatitude.”  But men who are either already beatified or already damned are not in a position to merit.  Therefore, they are not subject to the eternal law.

But contrary to this:  In De Civitate Dei 19 Augustine says, “Nothing in any way evades the laws of the most high creator and governor by whom the peace of the universe is administered.”

I respond:  As is clear from what was said above (a. 5), there are two ways for a thing to be subject to the eternal law:  first, insofar as eternal law is participated in through the mode of cognition; and second, through the mode of acting and being acted upon, insofar as eternal law is participated in as a moving principle.  As has been explained (a. 5), it is in this second way that non‑rational creatures are subject to the eternal law.
However, since rational nature, in addition to what it shares in common with all creatures, has something proper to itself because it is rational, it is subject to the eternal law in both ways.  For as was explained above (a. 2), in one way or another a rational nature has knowledge of the eternal law and, in addition, each rational creature has within itself a natural inclination toward what is consonant with the eternal law.  For as Ethics 2 says, “We are naturally prone toward having the virtues.”
Yet both these modes are imperfect and in some sense corrupted in bad people, in whom (a) the natural inclination toward virtue is perverted by vice (per habitum vitiosum) and (b) the natural cognition of the good is darkened by passions and sinful habits.  By contrast, in good people both of the modes are more perfect, since (a) in addition to the natural cognition of the good, they also have the cognition provided by faith and wisdom, and (b) in addition to the natural inclination toward the good, they also have the interior movement of grace and virtue.
So, then, good people are perfectly subject to the eternal law to the extent that they always act in accord with it.  By contrast, bad people are, though subject to the eternal law, imperfectly subject to it in their actions, since they have imperfect knowledge and are imperfectly inclined toward the good; however, what is lacking in their actions is compensated for by how they are acted upon.  For they suffer what the eternal law decrees for them to the degree that they fail to do what is consonant with the eternal law.  Hence in De Libero Arbitrio 1 Augustine says, “I believe that the just act under the eternal law.”  And in De Catechizandis Rudibus he says, “By means of His most fitting laws, God knew how to adorn the lower regions of His creation with the deserved unhappiness of the souls who would desert Him.”

Reply to objection 1:  There are two possible ways to interpret this passage from the Apostle.
On the first interpretation, by ‘is under the law’ he means someone who unwillingly submits to the obligation imposed by the law as if it were a burden.  Hence, the Gloss on the same passage says, “Someone who is ‘under the law’ abstains from evil deeds not because of his love for justice, but rather because of his fear of the punishment that the law threatens.”  Spiritual men are not under the law in this sense, since through their charity, which the Holy Spirit infuses into their hearts, they willingly fulfill the demands of the law.
On the other interpretation, the works of a man who is acted upon by the Holy Spirit are said to be the works of the Holy Spirit more than the works of the man himself.  Hence, since, as was said above (a. 5), neither the Holy Spirit nor the Son is under the law, it follows that works of this sort, insofar as they belong to the Holy Spirit, are not under the law.  And this is supported by what the Apostle says at 2 Corinthians 3:17 (“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”).

Reply to objection 2:  Prudence of the flesh cannot be subject to God’s law as far as acting is concerned, since it inclines one to actions that are contrary to God’s law.  However, it is subject to God’s law as far as being acted upon is concerned, since it merits the suffering of punishment in accord with the law of divine justice.  Still, there is no man in whom prudence of the flesh dominates to such an extent that the whole good of his nature is corrupted.  And so there remains in such a man an inclination to fulfill the demands of the eternal law.  For it was established above (q. 85, a. 2) that sin does not destroy the whole good of nature.

Reply to objection 3:  A thing is preserved in its end through the same thing through which it is moved toward its end.  For instance, a heavy body is at rest in a lower place through its heaviness (gravitas), which is also that through which it is moved to that very place.

Accordingly, one should say that just as it is in accord with the eternal law that some merit beatitude and some merit unhappiness, so it is through that same law that they are preserved in beatitude or in unhappiness.  And in this sense both the blessed and the damned are subject to the eternal law.