Objection: “Natural law cannot contradict the Bible. So why depend on a vague concept of natural law when we can trust in the perspicuous revelation of God’s Law?“ Answer: First, what is Natural Law? Natural Law is the reflection of God’s moral character and the moral order of creation, as designed by God, which is… Read More The Propriety of Natural Law
Natural law is the reflection of God’s moral character and the moral order of creation, as designed by God, which is written on the human heart and evident through the light of nature (Rom. 2:14-15; Rom. 1:19; 1 Cor. 5:1), but held in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18; Jer. 17:9; Prov. 14:12), whose substance is no different than… Read More Natural Law and Divine Positive Law
Some otherwise conservative Christians are beginning to take a compromising stance on homosexuality. They claim that only homosexual behavior is sinful and that same sex attraction (SSA) is a “sign of brokenness” similar to feelings of grief or sadness, or as one proponent put it, that having SSA is being “born in a broken condition… that does… Read More Is Same Sex Attraction Sinful?
It can be known from nature that we must worship God how he pleases rather than how we please (Acts 17:24-29), but we cannot know how God desires to be worshiped unless he reveals it to us through special revelation. Being the root of the second commandment, the Regulative Principle of Worship (RPW) itself is discernable from the light of nature as flowing from “that which may be known of God” (Rom. 1:19), while the parts and acts of God’s instituted worship is of divine positive law.… Read More The Second Commandment and the Light of Nature
Natural Theology is the knowledge of God, as sovereign creator and judge, from nature, without special revelation. Man cannot know God as redeemer or discern the gospel from nature, nor many of His attributes, but man can know that God exists, is holy, righteous, wrathful against sin, etc. without having special revelation (Rom. 1:19-21). Therefore, all men are… Read More The Four “Books” of Natural Theology
“Nature proves the being of God since she proclaims that she not only is, but is from another and could not be without another. For if it is certain and indubitable that out of nothing, nothing is made and that nothing can be the cause of itself (for then it would be before and after… Read More Nature Proves the Existence of God
The judicial law of Israel, the laws whose subject matter concerned Israel as a civil body, is expired with the state of that people and is no longer binding except for its general equity (WCF 19:4). “Proper law” (lex propria) recognizes the authority of magistrates to make positive human laws based upon the moral law of God… Read More Lex Propria – Proper Law
The following is a brief description of the light of nature excerpted from Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici, or, the Divine Right of Church Government, pgs. 8-11, by the London Provincial Assembly of 1646. A thing may be said to be of divine right, or (which is the same for substance) of divine institution, divers ways. 1. By the… Read More The Light of Nature
Natural law is the reflection of God’s moral character and the moral order of creation (sometimes referred to as the secondary law of nature) as designed by God, which is written on the human heart (Rom. 2:14-15). It is no different in substance than the ten commandments (which are a summary of the entire moral… Read More The Law of Nature and the Civil Enforcement of the First Table
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