Editor’s Introduction: Natural Law
Devoting an issue of LOGIA to the theme of natural law may strike some readers as unusual. Since Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God’s will in the Garden of Eden, natural knowledge of the law — while important — is impaired. A discussion of natural law may also seem irrelevant since Christians have access to God’s revealed law. Moreover, since the concept of natural law is based on the principle that moral propositions have objective value, contemporary society’s firm commitment to moral relativism appears to make natural law a moot point. Nevertheless, the ancient Greeks, the authors of Holy Scripture, the best scholastic writers, and confessional Lutheran theologians have all affirmed the principle and significance of natural law, as the contributors to this issue perceptively demonstrate.
The distinction made between the image of God in the narrow sense versus the broad sense is crucial for a proper understanding of natural law. Because the image of God in the narrow sense has been utterly shattered by sin, human persons by nature are utterly ignorant of God’s law. However, in the broad sense, remnants of the image, such as rationality and a moral sense, although weakened, are retained. Gifford Grobien demonstrates the significance of this as it is related to natural law. His historical synopsis of the understanding of natural law also makes a necessary contribution to this issue.
Ryan MacPherson provides a more specific historical illustration of the application of natural law in the Lutheran church in the framing of the Magdeburg Confession. He examines the relationship between natural law and civil law, a relationship that remains highly significant today. He also introduces the role played by natural law as it, together with Scripture, assists the conscience in making God-pleasing decisions.
Many readers will be unfamiliar with “new natural law theory,” but John Ehrett presents it in a highly intelligible manner. He points out the contrasts between this theory and those of both Aquinas and classical Lutheran theology. Both Aquinas and Lutheran theologians, in contrast to new natural law theory, affirm that God’s law is not arbitrary.
Arriving at an arbitrary understanding of God’s law appears to be the historical trajectory pursued by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as Thomas Aadland argues. At the heart of this error is the refusal to accept that God’s holy, eternal will is unchanging. The result of conforming God’s will to contemporary human standards is the loss of both the formal and material principles of true theology. Aadland’s analysis of this trajectory lays out the consequences (intended and unintended) of denying the unchanging will of God.
Lutherans have frequently been told to follow their conscience because the conscience is always correct. This leaves the impression that one’s conscience will always act in accord with God’s will. Conscience does indeed always act correctly according to its proper function, which is to lead one to make decisions based on his or her moral convictions. Yet conscience itself, corrupted by sin, does not guarantee that those moral convictions are in line with God’s will. Tom Park demonstrates the significant role played by natural law for informing the conscience correctly.
When the conscience is informed correctly, the believer is equipped to use God’s gifts to glorify him and to serve the neighbor. All God’s promises in Scripture are pure gift. In fact, as Oswald Bayer points out, God actually gives his very self to us completely and thoroughly. Because of this, Christians have the most compelling motivation imaginable for the proper use of natural law.
Taken together, the articles in this issue underline the ongoing significance of the natural law in Lutheran theology and practice. The natural law has not been made irrelevant by sin or moral relativism, but does call for careful definitions and distinctions. For instance, one may use “natural law” to describe everything from scientific theories to morality in the public square. What is meant by the term varies from one context to another. The essays in this issue are intended to assist the reader in thinking through natural law more deeply, attending to what it is and how it functions in theology and the Christian life. With that goal in mind, the editors of LOGIA are glad to publish this issue as a resource for locating the place of natural law in contemporary theology.
Wade Johnston, for the editors
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