A brief case for the Natural Law

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Introduction

Everyone in the world is either embracing or distorting the self-evident Natural Law. Even those that do not have access to God’s Word, at minimum, have an awareness of God’s Natural Law. Some, however, say there is no such thing as natural law (or that it exists, but there is little virtue in promoting it) and others say that there is a natural law accessible to everyone that is open to reason. In this essay I will explain and defend the inherent virtue of knowing and utilizing natural law in our society.  I will do this through defining natural law theory, demonstrate how the Bible supports it and reflect on its virtue in our society and where it can be applied.

Other Possible Views

One popular position against my thesis is how the Natural Law is allegedly completely inaccessible in a predominately secular culture. For example, Reformed theologian Joseph Boot says that “in the post-Darwinian world that we occupy, we can no longer speak cogently or persuasively of even “natural law” as a moral reference in the way that that the pseudo-Christian secularists of past generations did, for we no longer know what “nature” is.”[1] Boot thus argues the Natural Law view is when nature is “absolutized” at an “ontological level” and is viewed as an “aspect of the divine” and when laws are worked out from that pagan view of nature. Thus, this concept of Natural Law is said to be unable to give us a cogent concept of God’s law, since “a mysterious world of chaotic forces can give no objective or transcendent law.”[2]

A second related view is by some other Reformed theologians that object to the use of the Natural Law. This is because “the capacity of fallen human beings to discern the law apart from scripture was so distorted that no separate moral principles could be known with confidence.”[3] This about what can be known about the Natural Law (epistemology). This view would assert that because the unbeliever is spiritually “dead” and “no one seeks God” (Ephesians 2:1; Romans 3:11),[4] then they have no true access to moral knowledge. The Natural Law discussion is viewed as useless, and one should only give the unbeliever the gospel.

Lastly is the view that the Natural Law is in fact an invalid and completely unbiblical category. This view is from neo-orthodox theologian Karl Barth. Barth was “opposed to anything like natural law because he believed it undermined the central notion that only in God’s revelation in Christ can people know about themselves, their need for salvation, and how grace came into their lives.” This is a view driven by a desire to uphold the supremacy of God’s Word and work that is also concerned with reason “displacing faith and revelation.”[5]

My view

First, I will define the Natural Law. Theologian David VanDrunen defines Natural Law as “the law of God made known in the created order, which all human beings know through their physical senses, intellect, and conscience, although they sinfully resist this knowledge to various degrees.”[6] To further add to this definition, I will also clarify that the natural law is also recognized as a “theory.” Ethicist Andrew Walker notes that when we say it is a theory, we mean that it gives a “framework” to understand the natural law and thus “is an analytical tool that best explains the structure of morality imposed on the cosmos by God.”[7] Lest one think that this definition of natural law and natural law theory is ontologically disconnected from a Christ centered view, Walker also aptly notes how we can never rightly define any law as disconnected from our creator, Jesus, since “all things are summed up in Jesus Christ (Eph 1:10), so too is the moral law and our reflection on it.”[8] Indeed, to ever speak of reality and wise living in God’s world, we should never think about it as disconnected from our Creator. In fact, Philosopher Ross Inman notes how the concept of Biblical wisdom is “rightly seeing and rightly living along the grain of reality; it is being skilled at the art of living.”[9] So, wise living, the natural law and reality are all integrated definitionally.

Second, I will give a brief survey of how the Bible endorses natural law theory. Considering Inman’s comments about rightly living in God’s reality, we must think rightly about how we must live wisely and reasonably in God’s world. For example, the Bible tells us to “get wisdom (Proverbs 4:6) and if one “fail[s] to find [wisdom] they cause themselves harm (Proverbs 8:36). Consequently, scripture must teach Natural Law as that which is knowable. Furthermore, it must be seen as a moral good that we must pursue. In fact, Christian ethicists Dennis Hollinger notes that “goodness is not self-derived but emanates from the fountainhead of all reality” and is not “independent of the will of God.”[10] Thus, it is pertinent that we learn to think about “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure” (Philippians 4:8) and pursue moral living to “to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Natural theory helps us pursue the good to God’s glory. In fact, because the natural law is accessible to everyone, it is exactly why the apostle Paul noted that everyone is “without excuse” (Romans 1:20) and that all people can “seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find” (Acts 17:27).

Lastly, the inherent virtue of the natural law in our society will be defended. First, studying natural law leads to a society that is more just and educated. Since the Natural Law flows out of the way God designed the world, all students from all walks of life can learn about it. Hollinger aptly describes this truth by stating that “from natural law we gain self-evident principles that guides us in the practical realities of everyday life, including the moral life.”[11] So, we have a duty to encourage the study of Natural Law to further advance the moral and intellectual development of young minds in school. This will lead to a greater level of flourishing in our society because we will ground flourishing of humans “to the degree” they live in “conformity to [their] nature”[12] instead of the subjective inward standard of flourishing based upon the subjective “intentions and choices that flow from [the] inner depths” of each person.[13] One simple application of this is to incorporate a robust curriculum with readings from natural law in a mandatory ethics class for all students.

Secondly, The Natural Law is virtuous to learn because it helps to advance the gospel and Christian worldview thinking in all of society. When Christians are unable to make the connection between the truth of the gospel message and the truth and “coherence of Christian ethics to either the Christian or the non-Christian,” we will struggle to be an effective witness in our world.[14] This lack of connection has led to a siloing effect where we share the gospel yet we cut ourselves off from the added benefit of treating Natural Law ethics as a virtuous and edifying endeavor for all to learn about. As simple solution to this is for more classically trained pastors in natural law that both model this in the pulpit, conversations and offer regular Christian ethics classes at their churches. For example, some sermon application points can briefly point out the self-evident truths of various ways God’s design for human flourishing is generally agreed on by all clear-thinking scholars and psychologists. This is a great discipleship and evangelistic comment to point people to truths that are confirmed in God’s Word as well.

Conclusion

       In summary, it has been shown that the natural law theory, when properly understood, is vitally important to flourishing in society. Despite protestations to the contrary, even opponents of the natural law will end up appealing to the natural law because everyone must try to live reasonably within God’s world.  Indeed, scripture itself gives us an example of appealing to God’s created order and its telos and tells us that we ignore it to our shame (Romans 1). Thus, we have seen how scripture itself gives us the ultimate justification for the natural law. What’s more, we can confidently say that Reformed theologians and evangelicals alike can consistently hold to natural law when properly defined and connected to our Creator. This matters because we must learn to live all our lives in light of the work of Christ and how He has designed His world, discovered by reason submitted and consistent with His Word.

Bibliography

[1] Joseph Boot, Gospel Culture: Living in God’s Kingdom. vol. 1, Cornerstones (Toronto, CA: Ezra Press, 2016), 34.

[2] Boot, Gospel Culture, 1:34.

[3] Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics (Grand Rapids, MI; Zondervan Academic, 2018), 104-105.

[4] All Scriptural citations unless otherwise noted in this essay are from the English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL; Crossway, 2001).

[5] Rae, Moral Choices, 105.

[6] David VanDrunen, Natural Law: A Short Companion, ed. C. Ben Mitchell and Jason Thacker (Brentwood, TN; B&H Academics, 2023), 1.

[7] Andrew Walker, Faithful Reason: Natural law Ethics for God’s Glory and our God (Brentwood, TN: B&H Academic, 2024), 71-72.

[8] Walker, Faithful Reason, 83.

[9] Ross D. Inman, Christian Philosophy as a Way of Life: An Invitation to Wonder (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2023), 36. 

[10] Dennis P. Hollinger, Choosing the Good: Christian Ethics in a Complex World (Grand Rapids, MI, Baker Academic, 2002), 64.  

[11] Hollinger, Choosing the Good, 130.

[12] Walker, Faithful Reason, 148.

[13] Hollinger, Choosing the Good, 121.

[14] Walker, Faithful Reason, 42-43.