Using Natural Law to Illustrate God's Moral Law in Scripture
Natural law refers to the moral knowledge accessible to human reason apart from special revelation, grounded in the created order and discoverable through conscience. Scripture itself acknowledges this category: Paul writes that Gentiles "show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness" (Romans 2:14-15), indicating that God's moral requirements are evident even to those without the Mosaic law [1]. This concept has been defined as "the will of God as to human conduct, founded on the moral difference of things, and discoverable by natural light" [1].
Biblical Foundation
The biblical case for natural law rests on several texts. Romans 1:20 asserts that God's "invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made," establishing that creation itself reveals divine truth [1]. The Psalms declare that "the heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1), suggesting a universal testimony to God's character. Josephus observed that a legislator must first "consider the Divine nature" and "upon the contemplation of God's operations, should thereby imitate the best of all patterns" [2], reflecting the ancient Jewish understanding that moral law flows from God's nature.
Theological Development
Thomas Aquinas articulated the classic scholastic position: natural law exists "in us" as a participation in the eternal law, whereby "all things subject to Divine providence are ruled and measured by the eternal law" [6]. On this view, human reason apprehends moral truth because rational creatures partake of God's ordering of creation. Reformed theology has engaged natural law more cautiously. Calvin emphasized the comprehensive corruption of human nature, requiring "a complete reformation of all its parts" [5], which raises questions about reason's reliability in moral matters. Charles Hodge defended individual conscience against ecclesiastical overreach, warning that "the disposition to lord it over God's heritage is almost universal" [3], yet Reformed confessions still affirm that God's moral law binds "all men at all times" [1].
Contested Territory
Traditions differ on natural law's scope and clarity. Catholic theology typically grants natural reason greater competence in discerning moral truth, while many Protestant traditions emphasize sin's noetic effects—the darkening of the mind that impairs moral reasoning. The Lutheran Augsburg Confession and Reformed discussions of original sin [8, 4, 7] underscore humanity's inherited corruption, which complicates appeals to unaided reason. Yet even traditions skeptical of natural law theory acknowledge that Scripture itself appeals to creation order and conscience as witnesses to God's moral requirements.
Sources
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Law — A rule of action. (1.) The Law of Nature is the will of God as to human conduct, founded on the moral difference of things, and discoverable by natural light (Rom. 1:20; 2:14, 15). This law binds all men at all times. It is generally designated by the term conscience, or the capacity of being influenced by the moral relations of things. (2.) The Ceremonial Law prescribes under the Old Testament the rites and ceremonies of worship. This law was obligatory only till Christ, of whom these rites were typical, had finished his work (Heb. 7:9, 11; 10:1; Eph. 2:16). I”
- Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 11, section 4: life well, and give laws to others, in the first place should consider the Divine nature; and, upon the contemplation of God's operations, should thereby imitate the best of all patterns, so far as it is possible for human nature to do, and to endeavor to follow after it: neither could the legislator himself have a right mind without such a contemplation; nor would any thing he should write tend to the promotion of virtue in his readers; I mean, unless they be taught first of all, that God is the Father and Lord of all things, a”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 39: every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” ( Rom. xiv. 3, 4, 5 .) It is a common saying that every man has a pope in his own bosom. That is, the disposition to lord it over God’s heritage is almost universal. Men wish to have their opinions on moral questions made into laws to bind the consciences of their brethren. This is just as much a usurpation of a divine prerogative when done by a private Christian or by a church court, as when done by the Bishop of Rome. We are as much bound to resist it in the one case as”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part of the Second Part (Prima Secundae), Of Original Sin, As to Its Essence, Art. 2: Article: Whether there are several original sins in one man? I answer that, In one man there is one original sin. Two reasons may be assigned for this. The first is on the part of the cause of original sin. For it has been stated (Question [81], Article [2]), that the first sin alone of our first parent was transmitted to his posterity. Wherefore in one man original sin is one in number; and in all men, it is one in proportion, i.e. in relation to its first principle. The seco”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 37: a description of original sin; The same thing appears more clearly from the mode of renovation. For the spirit, which is contrasted with the old man, and the flesh, denotes not only the grace by which the sensual or inferior part of the soul is corrected, but includes a complete reformation of all its parts ( Eph. 4:23 ). And, accordingly, Paul enjoins not only that gross appetites be suppressed, but that we be renewed in the spirit of our mind ( Eph. 4:23 ), as he elsewhere tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind ( ”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part of the Second Part (Prima Secundae), Of the Various Kinds of Law, Art. 2: Article: Whether there is in us a natural law? I answer that, As stated above (Question [90], Article [1], ad 1), law, being a rule and measure, can be in a person in two ways: in one way, as in him that rules and measures; in another way, as in that which is ruled and measured, since a thing is ruled and measured, in so far as it partakes of the rule or measure. Wherefore, since all things subject to Divine providence are ruled and measured by the eternal law, as was stated above (”
- Psalms (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Psalms 106:6: We have sinned with our fathers,.... Sinned in their first father Adam; derived a corrupt nature from their immediate ancestors; sinned after the similitude of their transgressions; sinned after their example, in like manner as they did; guilty of the same gross enormities as they were: though sufficiently warned by the words of the prophets, and by punishments inflicted, they continued their sins, a constant series and course of them, and filled up the measure of their iniquities; they rose up in their stead an increase of sinful men, to augment the fierce anger of ”
- Augsburg Confession (Lutheran) “Augsburg Confession (Lutheran, 1530), Article II. Of Original Sin.: Article II. Of Original Sin.”