The Natural Law

Today in the Epistle reading, the Holy Apostle Paul speaks concerning the law that is written in the hearts of the Gentiles. The Gentiles, Paul tells us, will be judged according to this law, since they do not possess the Law of Moses. The law, which Paul is referring to is that which we call "the natural law." The natural law is the law that we observe around us in nature itself. It is embedded in nature by nature's Creator, and we are able to see it and understand it because we are intelligent and rational beings.

The natural law is both descriptive and prescriptive, unlike the divine positive law, which is prescriptive only. Prescriptive law is that which prescribes what must be done and what must be avoided. Thus, in the Law of Moses, we have commandments that are "thou shall" and "thou shall not." The natural law is a little different, however. The natural law is first descriptive. In other words, a mind that understands the law that is in nature describes the way that nature is. An example of this is the existence of physical laws like the law of gravitation. We could sum it up as follows: in the physical world, larger bodies attract smaller bodies. Thus, we observe the way that nature is and from this we derive God's laws for our life through this observation. For example, the entirety of the natural law is often summed up in the simply stated commandment: Seek good and avoid evil. This prescriptive commandment is based on our observation of nature. Everywhere around us in the world creatures seek the good of their beings. On the other hand, we also observe that, all around us in the world, creatures shrink away from what is dangerous or harmful.

While other creatures seek the good and avoid evil by instinct, human beings have needed to deduce this commandment from nature and conform themselves to it by effort, because, due to sin, human beings are constantly tempted to do things that are unreasonable and unnatural. Not that we are tempted by evil in so far as it is evil. We are tempted by evil, because of the germs of good that remain in it. The damaged human will is often incapable of distinguishing between greater and lesser goods. A man decides to murder a pregnant woman, because he does not want his infidelity to be discovered. He acts for the good of his reputation, without regard for the greater evil of murder. A teenager decides to steal something from a department store. He acts for the good of possessing the desired thing or the thrill of the act itself or for the esteem of his friends, without regard for the injustice of depriving someone else of something that rightly belongs to him and without regard for the necessary consequences of doing injustice.

Human beings have always been tempted to act in unreasonable and unnatural ways. We have always been tempted to go against the laws of nature. Of course this is very true in the area of sexual ethics, where we can see the widespread use of contraception and pornography, both things that are ethically indefensible from the standpoint of the natural law. Yet, it seems that never before has there been the danger that we can be punished by our society for living according to nature. The examples have more and more multiplied in recent years. We think, for example, of people who have been compelled in various different ways to participate in so-called homosexual marriages from the military chaplains who are forced to officiate them to bakers who are forced to make desserts to celebrate them.

However, we know that one can only live contrary to nature for so long, before it naturally destroys us. I believe I have probably employed the image before, but nature is very much like a river. As a being with free will, we have the choice to swim with the river or against the river. If we swim against the river, we can only continue for so long before we tire and perhaps drown. At which point, the river will sweep what is left of us downriver again in any case. Nature naturally takes revenge on those who live unnaturally.

Fidelity to nature is fidelity to God the Creator. In the same way, true appreciation of nature is true gratitude to God, Who made the physical world for us, so that we could be intrigued, interested, amazed and even perplexed by it, and offer thanks to God for the sheer wonder of it. As David says in the Psalms and the Church sings every night in its evening service: "How wonderful are your works, O Lord! In wisdom You have wrought them all." It can be no accident that the Church sings Psalm 103 in the evening service (the first service of the day) and sings the Psalms of Praise (148, 149 and 150) in the morning service, coinciding with sunrise. The message is clear. At every hour of the day and night, the human mind (the rational image of God) is walking about in nature, making its rounds, lifting up the physical world to God its Creator in a sacrifice of praise. It is clear from the examples that what is intended is a comprehensive praise, containing everything. If we were writing something in the same spirit today, we could not omit to praise God for the unseen worlds of bacteria and viruses. "How wonderful are your works, O Lord! In wisdom You have wrought them all." 

First, then, we resolve to live reasonably, according to nature. Then, we resolve to praise God in gratitude for what He has created. This is the way that we show, as Paul put it, that "the demands of the law are written in our hearts."