2. A Critique of Natural Law

The Pagan Tradition

Nature as normative

There are two false assumptions common to the pagan tradition of Natural Law that should invalidate these theories for any Biblically conscious Christian. The first is that nature is normative. These Natural Law theorists believe that the norms of life are grounded in “nature,” something that transcends the practical needs of men whether expressed in convention and agreement or in custom.⁷⁵ Whether we see “nature” as being the physical laws and the laws of conduct (Zeno, Chrysippus, Marx), one’s end (Aristotle, the Stoics also sometimes spoke of an “ideal nature”), law common to many legal codes (Stoics, cf. Cicero and Justinian’s codification of law into ius gentium and ius civile), reasonableness (Samuel von Pufendorf, Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui), or the state of nature in a prehistoric or presocietal phase of human development (cf. discussions in Hobbes and Locke),⁷⁶ nature is not treated as abnormal but as normal and normative. However, Scripture speaks of nature on any of these definitions as being fallen and subject to the curse. The physical universe is cursed as a result of sin (Gen. 3) and consequently groans (abnormal) since it is out of sync with the way God made it (Rom. 8), is subject to the burning judgment of God along with man (2 Pet. 3:7-11), and must be redeemed along with man (Rom. 8; 2 Pet. 3:13). Man himself suppresses the truth (Rom. 1:18), misreading creation by making it normative rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25) and pursuing what is against nature (i.e. the original order God had mandated Rom. 1:26-27). To make anything in man normative is ludicrous since man is depraved in his reasoning powers (Rom. 3:11; 8:7; 1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 4:4; John 12:37-40), his volitions (John 5:40; 6:44,65; 15:5; Rom. 5:6; 1 Cor. 2:14), and his affections (John 3:19; 8:44; Eph. 2:3). In short, Scripture portrays this “source” of Natural Law as “desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9), being born in sin (Psa. 51:5) and a “transgressor from the womb” (Isa. 48:8),⁷⁷ being unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:16), the best of his deeds being as filthy rags (Isa. 64:6), and having nothing in him that is good (Rom. 7:18). It is no wonder that Calvin characterized the light of God’s law in man’s conscience as being so darkened that it is charitable to say that man is “not absolutely blind.”

Even apart from the contradictions with Scripture, philosophers have pointed out that “nature” itself appears to have inconsistencies that would make it impossible to extrapolate norms.

For it is idle to pretend that we can extract a uniform message from nature. Are we for instance, to model ourselves upon the peaceful habits of sheep or upon the internecine conflicts of ants? Is the egalitarianism of the beaver or the hierarchical life of the bee the proper exemplar for human society? Should we imitate the widespread polygamy of the animal kingdom, or is there some higher regularity of which this is no more than a misleading instance? In the light of these and similar questions, it becomes impossible to regard the maxim “Follow nature” as a substantive guide to conduct. Moreover, although these discrepancies in nature considerably reduce the value of natural-law doctrine from an epistemological point of view, the damage they do to it as a logical theory would seem fatal, for the nature in terms of which the norms of justice are defined turns out to be internally inconsistent.⁷⁸

The Marquis de Sade showed how making man the norm for ethical behavior leads to different conclusions than Natural Law men are usually willing to go to. He wrote, “Nature teaches us both vice and virtue in our constitution… we shall examine by the torch of reason, for it is by this light alone that we can conduct our inquiry.”⁷⁹ Having accepted the premises of a normative nature with no fall or curse and that God is not needed for ethics,⁸⁰ de Sade concludes that “there is just as much harm in killing an animal as a man; or just as little, and the difference arises solely from the prejudices of our vanity.”⁸¹

Man’s Reasoning Powers Intact

The second false assumption that is made by pagan Natural Law theorists is that man’s reasoning powers are intact and through them man is able to perceive and live by “self-evident truths” manifested in the natural order. There is an element of truth here since Scripture does indicate that man has great analytic powers and is able to know much from creation concerning God and His will. Though there has been a physical incapacitation of man’s reasoning powers to some extent through the fall, the emphasis on Scripture is on the moral twisting of man’s reasoning powers. They suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18), consider spiritual things as foolish and unacceptable (1 Cor. 2:14), are blinded by the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4), exchange the truth of God for a lie (Rom. 1:25), and go against right reason when they willingly approve of those things that are against Natural Law (Rom. 1:32).

Thus it is that Calvin points out at least one crime against Natural Law that the pagans have failed to admit is a part of their Natural Law theory.

Therefore (as I said before), let children know that it is no light fault nor easy to be pardoned, when they are disobedient to their fathers and mothers. Why? Because they possessed the instinct of nature, which they ought to have followed. And therefore it is an unpardonable crime to disobey a man’s father and mother, according to what is said in another place, ‘He that smites his father or his mother shall die the death without favor’ (Ex. 21:15). If one strikes another man, well he shall be punished for it; but if he beat his father or his mother, it is as much as if he had killed a man, else there would be no order or reason in nature.⁸²

Likewise, Paul points out that pagans know that homosexuality is a crime “worthy of death” (Rom. 1:32; this is a technical phrase for capital punishment in the Old and New Testaments. cf. Acts 23:29; 25:11,25; 26:31; Luke 23:15) and yet we find that the two greatest pagan Natural Law theorists (Plato and Aristotle) not only approved of those who practiced homosexuality but were homosexuals themselves. So much for “self-evident truths.” Though according to Paul they were known to Plato and Aristotle, it did not affect their Natural Law formulations in the least.

This brings us to another epistemological problem. If there are ethical norms to be discovered “out there,” how do we discover them? How can we derive the “ought” of morals from the “is” of facts? Hume’s criticism has not been successfully answered by secular philosophers to this day. He said,

In every system of morality, which I have hitherto met with, I have always remark’d, that the author proceeds for some time in the ordinary way of reasoning, and establishes the being of a God, or makes observations concerning human affairs; when of a sudden I am surpriz’d to find, that instead of the usual copulations of propositions, is, and is not, I meet with no proposition that is not connected with an ought, or an ought not. This change is imperceptible; but is, however, of the last consequence. For as this ought, or ought not, expresses some new relation or affirmation, ‘tis necessary that it shou’d be observ’d and explain’d; and at the same time that a reason should be given, for what seems altogether inconceivable, how this new relation can be a deduction from others, which are entirely different from it. But as authors do not commonly use this precaution, I shall presume to recommend it to the readers; and am persuaded, that this small attention wou’d subvert all the vulgar systems of morality, and let us see, that the distinction of vice and virtue is not founded merely on the relations of objects, nor is perceiv’d by reason.⁸³

When men seek to argue from “is” to “ought” they are engaging in what Frame calls the “naturalistic fallacy of reasoning.” Because it is fallacious reasoning, it is bound to lead to fallacious conclusions. Indeed, the ethical conclusions that Natural Law theorists derive from the “is” of nature are so diverse and contradictory that it is a wonder that more people do not abandon the theory simply from the problem of having no consensus (other than a handful of propositions that can also be shown to be problematic⁸⁴). The question always comes, “Who determines what is “reasonable?” Plato considered it reasonable to have the state as the final arbiter of right and wrong, the state as the protector of common good, the state as the determiner of who would be bred with whom to produce children, who would be killed to rid the state of unnecessary elements, and the state as the controller of private property. Few modern Natural Law theorists would agree with Plato’s analysis of nature! It is no wonder that theorists usually content themselves with offering Natural Laws that are so abstract, general, and vague that they could mean many things to different people, or else advocate that a few philosopher elites (each one likely preferring himself as the leader of the pack!) direct government.

To sum up, pagan Natural Law does not have a basis for functioning properly, has no consensus on any more than a handful of principles,⁸⁵ and lends itself rather well to a tyranny of philosopher kings that would be every bit as tyrannical as a totalitarian regime based on positive law. Gary North said it well:

Cursed nature is not normative, any more than fallen man is. We cannot look to nature and discover absolute standards of thought, absolute standards of law, or absolute standards of judgment. Even if cursed nature were normative, perverse men would misinterpret nature. If Adam rebelled against the verbal revelation of God Himself, before he fell into sin, what should we expect from the sons of Adam, now that nature is cursed and no longer the same kind of revelation of God that it was in the garden? It still testifies of God, as we read in Romans 1:18; man holds back the truth in active unrighteousness. But cursed nature is not the same open revelation of God that it once was, and we dare not use nature as an ethical, political, or any other kind of guidepost for building human institutions. We have to abandon “Natural Law” as a source of reliable information. Nature is cursed, and we are ethical rebels, spoiling for a fight or a misinterpretation. That’s why we need the revelation of God in His word, the Bible, and through His Word, Jesus Christ.⁸⁶

The Christian Tradition

The Christian tradition also has a faulty view of the effects of the fall on man and creation. Rather than repeat similar criticisms, it would be helpful to look at this problem from the perspective of the antithesis that exists between the believer and the unbeliever in order to show that it is futile to try to seek common ground in Natural Law. The following assumptions are characteristic of most (if not all) in the Christian tradition of Natural Law.

Neutrality

The Bible indicates that unbelievers have presuppositions that are diametrically opposed to the believer’s presuppositions and this situation must lead to totally different conclusions concerning God and His creation.⁸⁷ For us to dialogue with unbelievers in terms of “neutral” or non-religious principles of ethics would be to confirm the unbeliever in his God-hating autonomous stance and would make us to be liars concerning the meaning of Natural Law. Since God created all things by, for, and through Christ (Col. 1:16) and since He sustains all things (Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3) it would be “impossible to interpret any fact without a basic falsification unless it be regarded in its relation to God the Creator and to Christ the Redeemer.”⁸⁸ If this is true with regard to botany, mathematics, and history, how much more would that be true of ethics? It is only in God’s light that we see light (Ps. 36:9), and thus we are told that the knowledge of the Holy One brings understanding (Prov. 9:10). Attempts at presuppositionless neutrality are not only epistemologically impossible, they are also morally disobedient. Paul said that we must bring every thought captive to Christ’s lordship (2 Cor. 10:5). This means fearing God, which is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9:10), and using Scripture, which is “the key of knowledge” (Luke 11:52). To deliberately reject God’s means to knowledge and wisdom is morally reprehensible.

Man’s Finitude

Since all men are finite we cannot know everything that there is to know. In order to understand anything properly we must use something as a key of interpretation. If we reject the Scripture as being the presuppositional starting point we must substitute something from creation (however we may disguise it as “the will of God” or “our participation in the mind of God”). Many Natural Law theorists begin by positing universals that help to make sense of the diversity of moral decisions among men. It must be recognized, however, that whether the universal is seen as the “Forms” or “Ideas” of Plato, the ends of Aristotle, or the categorical imperatives of Kant, these universals that form the basis of a rationalistic approach cannot be proven to exist and man becomes the ultimate judge of truth. On the other hand, if men seek to make sense out of the world by moving from the particulars to the universals (empirical approach) one falls into the trap of having to be omniscient before he can make sense out of anything, for until he sees the relations of all things to each other he cannot know certainly what each part of the whole means. Furthermore, empiricism, which has serious difficulties in even describing the physical realm,⁸⁹ cannot hope to deal with the non-physical realm of ethics, which concerns “oughts” rather than descriptions of fact.⁹⁰ If we opt for an intuitional approach to moral law then we have no basis on which we can convincingly disagree with someone else’s divergent intuitions⁹¹ (and Natural Law certainly has a multitude of divergent opinions as a cursory reading of various authors will quickly demonstrate!).

Insufficiency of Scripture for Ethics

This is another major area of discontinuity between the Natural Law view of Calvin and the Natural Law views being espoused by many today. Whereas Calvin saw Natural Law as being a subset of Scriptural law, Natural Law theorists say that Natural Law is a set that only overlaps with the moral principles of Scripture. In the words of Connaught Marshner, “the Bible and other revealed documents do not answer explicitly all the ethical questions that arise.”⁹² Johnson represents many evangelicals when he says,

Therefore an evangelical ethic, which is a fully Christian ethic, though it will necessarily be a serious Biblical ethic will never be merely a Biblical ethic. Not all moral obligation is rooted in Scripture. Neither is all moral obligation rooted in NML [Natural Moral Law]. It is important to recognize that there are two chief sources of ethical knowledge that must be incorporated dialogically into any serious evangelical Christian ethic. While Scripture will always be primary and final, it will always stand beside NML knowledge. Evangelicals must come to grips with this more complete understanding of the Christian ethic, especially in the area of social ethics.⁹³

This is as clear a denial of the sufficiency of Scripture for ethics as it is possible to get. This fact alone should disqualify Natural Law theories, for Paul declared to us (including the magistrates and judges in our midst) that God gave adequate Scriptural doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness so “that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). If there is any “good work” that can only be found in Natural Law, then Paul is simply a liar. Peter tells us (including the congressmen and city councilmen among us) that God’s divine power (in terms of Scripture - cf. v. 4) “has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3-4). There is nowhere in Scripture even a hint that Natural Law gives us more content than Scripture does (though Scripture gives us more content than Natural Law does; cf. e.g., 1 Cor. 2:1-16; Rom. 10:14).

Evangelicals who argue the insufficiency of Scripture for ethics evidence a lack of depth in their interpretive abilities. For instance, Johnson mystifies me when he says,

We should note that while many of these sins [i.e. enumerated by Jesus in Mark 7:20-23!!] are expressly forbidden in the OT legislation or the Decalogue, some, such as licentiousness and foolishness, are not to my knowledge explicitly condemned in the written Hebrew Bible.⁹⁴

If Johnson cannot extrapolate these rudimentary principles from the rich resources of Old Testament law, we cannot place a very high hope that he will succeed in extrapolating similar principles from the less objective source of “Natural Law.” The problem is much more profound than the problem of ignorance. Such a denial of the sufficiency of Scripture is a serious charge against God’s law. When the Pharisees made a similar charge and added their man-made traditions (of course they said, as modern Natural Law theorists do, that this oral law was also given by God!) Christ said that they made void the law of God by these additions. (Interestingly, one Jewish Natural Law proponent⁹⁵ says that the Talmud, Mishna, and later Jewish codes, which flowed out of the Pharisaic traditions which Christ confronted, were all products of Natural Law - perhaps the most specific Natural Laws anywhere!) In opposition to the Pharisees and all other Natural Law advocates our attitude towards ethics should always be, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20).

God does not have two moral standards and His moral standards certainly do not conflict. The best Natural Law theory I have heard (and it is not in print) says that all moral laws are found in Scripture, but the penology of the state is found in Natural Law. However, this is a contradiction. If penology can be found in Natural Law, it must be a law and therefore must deal with morals or ethics. Just because it is the moral requirement of rulers rather than the ruled does not take it out of the realm of ethics and does not excuse the advocate of denying the sufficiency of Scripture. Scripture is sufficient to instruct this “good work” of the state as well. (That it is a good work to bear the sword is clearly declared in Romans 13.) Scripture is sufficient for all ethics!

Protection From Tyranny

It is often assumed that Natural Law alone will provide liberty and justice, whereas if Biblical law is instituted we will once again have religious persecution like that under the Roman Emperors from Constantine onward or like the Inquisition under the Roman Catholic Church.⁹⁶

It is ironic that this charge should be made because it is precisely Natural Law that was the dominant social ethic during the periods of these religious persecutions. Furthermore, if Biblical law had been followed there would not have been such religious persecution. Those who fear bloodshed and tyranny if Biblical law becomes the law of the land either do not understand the nature of Biblical law or have assumed that statism will always be a way of life. Biblical law is diametrically opposed to statism. Government is a servant (Rom. 13) not a god. Nowhere in Scripture is the church given the right to bear the sword. Indeed, even in theocratic Israel God guaranteed a degree of religious liberty (or toleration). The Conquest and the herem⁹⁷ principle were not standing laws (and thus not normative for most of Israel’s history) as a reading of Deuteronomy 20 will make clear. The laws of Israel forbad injustice to the pagan in their midst (Lev. 24:22; Ex. 12:49; Num. 9:14; Deut. 1:16; Jer. 22:3), forbad oppression of the pagan (Ex. 22:21; 23:9; Deut. 24:14,17; 27:19; Jer. 22:3), forbad an abhorrence of the pagan (Deut. 23:7), and commanded love (Deut. 10:18,19) and kindness (Lev. 25:35-38; 19:10,33-34) to the pagans in their midst. Israelites were not to discriminate against the pagans when it came to charity to the poor (Lev. 19:10) or when it came to justice in the courts (Lev. 24:22). There was to be one standard of law for all. “But the stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Lev. 19:34). All of the above implies that pagans were allowed to live in Israel unmolested provided they did not blaspheme (Lev. 24:16) or seduce Israelites into false worship. If this degree of religious liberty was allowed during that period of redemptive history (and it was certainly more than was allowed to “infidels” in much of Europe’s history under Natural Law), it is difficult to believe the charges of bloodshed and Inquisition that some would hurl at Theonomists.

Let us turn the tables around. In reality, it is Natural Law which is unable to give concrete protective laws to the citizens of a realm. Archie Jones said,

Christian Natural Law theorists reduce God’s law taught in nature to merely general ethical principles, omitting the case law applications of the Ten Commandments given in the Old Testament, “Natural Law” according to their reading loses the specificity, concreteness, and applicability of Biblical Law, and becomes vague, abstract, and uncertain, and hence increasingly removed from the ken of the common man and increasingly useless as a guide to or restraint on Government. When combined with natural men freed to proclaim their natural ungodly hearts’ desires as law, this spells trouble…A practical consequence of the abstraction of Christian Natural Law theories …is that an abstract and esoteric law known only to an elite cannot serve as an effective check on abuses of power by government, and thus cannot serve as an effective guide for either the rulers of the ruled.⁹⁸

Only Biblical law can provide the concreteness and objectivity that is needed to ensure that both the ruled and the rulers know exactly what the boundaries of authority are. Even with this objective standard, we know that apart from the grace of God, even Biblical law can be spurned by a tyrant and rejected for positive law (or positive law masquerading as Natural Law). How much more so can Natural Law be twisted to suit the whims of a tyrant?

In summary it may be said that Natural Law has not only been found wanting as a standard for liberty and justice, but it can prove to be positively harmful to the Christian cause since it confirms men in their rebellion against God, blinds the saints to the sufficiency (or better yet, the riches!) of Scripture for social ethics, and places the liberty of the individual, the family, and the church in a perilous condition. Since there are no clear, public rules for rulers, there are also no limits on government, and no clear rules for the protection of the individual, the family, or the church, via civil disobedience or resistance to tyranny.⁹⁹

If a thief is caught in a Muslim state and is sentenced to have his hands cut off, he has no recourse to a lesser punishment from Natural Law (though Scripture would mandate a lesser punishment) since Natural Law theorists in Islam are convinced that the essence and core of Islam is a set of natural and universal principles which are so objective and rational that no advance in scientific rationalism or social reformation can ever shake them.¹⁰⁰

It is not enough to suggest that they have not interpreted Natural Law correctly since they know that Natural Law can be misused by “saints as well as devils.” They would say that “Natural Law stands in need of being interpreted and implemented by men of God who are not misguided by personal or class interests and mean desires. Islam teaches that every prophet was such an interpreter.”¹⁰¹ Thus it is that “all basic principles of Islamic jurisprudence are corollaries primarily of its concept of God.”¹⁰² Islam is bold enough to proclaim this, but as Rushdoony points out, every humanistic government is going to act in terms of this principle. As he says, “The source of law is also the location of the god of any system, and if law is located in the rationality of men, then man is the god of that philosophy.”¹⁰³ Natural Law is therefore nothing more than the law of man in the clever disguise of a transcendent law.