Arguably, the state must invoke the natural law to promote a comprehensive display of its moral theory. Nonetheless, the response to the question posed goes beyond simply saying yes due to the complex nature pertaining to their relationship. The traditional natural law is not only based on morality but also comprises legal principles, whereby its moral requirements are people’s freedom to choose right from wrong, a power accorded to them at birth. God granted people the authority to make the right choices when presented with a conflict. In addition to terming it a moral requirement, God called it a law in Jeremiah when He declared that He would put His law within them and write it in their hearts. The verse shows that the Natural Law is moral and legal, although both are considered separate entities. The connection also arises from the usual norm, whereby people face legal repercussions for failing to act according to the Natural law and making the wrong decisions. Teachings from philosophers such as Aquinas demonstrate the existing connection between natural law and States’ moral theories concerning the Bible.
Christian View on Natural Law
Christians believe that natural law is the divine manifestation of how they should lead their daily lives because it enlightens them on what is right and wrong. They consider it a part of their Christian divinity and a crucial part of the sacred Scripture. They believe that being a Christian demands that they behave in a specific way because the right behaviors were instilled in them at birth (Smith, 2023). To understand and acquire guidance on the choices, Christians must exercise faith, hope, and charity, which allow them to make honest choices. Also, living a truthful life in Christianity is measured through their spirituality and mental and physical behavior, and a theologist is required to preach to them about the right way to lead their lives, further reinforcing positive behavior. Furthermore, per the natural law, Christians are prohibited from theft, murder, and assaulting others, offenses that governments also consider unlawful. Thus, by following natural law, Christians follow values, enabling them to co-exist peacefully with each other and the people around them, creating a society without vices and misunderstanding. Natural law requires Christians to set an excellent example to those around them, reminding them of their equality from creation and God’s work towards them through miracles, covenants, and Jesus’ crucifixion. Regardless of circumstances or the outcome, Christians must follow the natural law to attain eternal life.
The Moral Theory of the State
The state’s moral theory describes the reasons for considering specific measures as wrong and others as suitable, creating a reason for the existence of justice. Moral theories explain the required behavior and why people should practice it. Markedly, the state’s moral philosophy is a framework of knowing what is right or wrong, all relating to the laws that each state establishes. Similarly, the state’s moral theory creates a theoretical basis promoting an understanding of legal positivism, whereby leaders establish what is deemed suitable in society and pass it on to the people as the law, with repercussions for disobedience of the set moral rules (Muchenje, 2022). However, while the moral theory guides right and wrong, it comprises different ideas about the origin of the concepts of morality. For example, theorists such as Rousseau and Locke argued that humanity created morality, a belief called the subjectivism theory. The theory holds that people have authority over what is right or wrong based on their feelings and judgment.
The divine command, cultural relativism theories, and utilitarianism are more origins of right and wrong. In the divine command theory, God is the source of morality and defines what is good and what is evil. The theory connects morality with religion, defining Christian beliefs. The cultural relativism theory proposes that society defines right and wrong, categorizing them as virtues or vices and establishing their legal system based on them. For this reason, different cultures have varied definitions of right and wrong. Lastly, utilitarianism defines right and wrong based on how it affects the majority (Scarre, 2020). For example, if one culture considers an act a vice but benefits most people, it is considered reasonable in the utilitarian aspect. The utilitarian ideology resembles a democracy, whereby a law is considered acceptable if the majority supports it. Hence, while morality describes right from wrong, it has different approaches, which inform variations in religion, state laws, and culture.
The Legality of Natural Law
The traditional natural law’s moral division is a significant area of the theory, one reason being its existing legal aspect. While God has promised eternal life to Christians for living according to the natural law, they must also abide by the moral law for legal reasons. People must not forget the laws instilled in their hearts by God, but their actions should respect the laws and the authority in the state of residence. Failure to do so subjects them to justice through the legal system and eternal justice in heaven because God asks them to respect state authority. Moreover, in most cases, the actions that lead to their legal repercussions do not reflect the principles of natural law. In his book The City of God, St. Augustine writes that two cities, the city of God and the city of man, divide the earthly and spiritual realms, whereas, in the latter, people must abide by the laws of men (Roberts & Ogle, 2021). Concurrently, God asks His people to obey the government in Romans because He put it there. Therefore, God has granted power to every government, and the failure to obey the law of the land is disobeying God, a behavior that warrants divine and human consequences. As the Bible mandates people to obey the rules and regulations in the city St. Augustine assigns men, it also instructs people to follow those contained in the natural law because they will be instrumental in informing the decisions they make.
More importantly, the laws of man that maintain order on earth are set on Biblical principles, with most crimes, such as theft and murder, also going against God’s intentions for humankind. Obeying the laws creates a natural assist for humanity in their divine journey towards eternal life. When people sin in their daily lives, whether per the natural or moral state law, they face accountability in both the spiritual and earthly realms. An example of accountability in the Bible was during the flood, when God destroyed people for their sinful tendencies, saving Noah, who was righteous and followed the divine instructions. Similarly, when people disobey the law on earth, they are made accountable through imprisonment (Carter et al., 2021). To conclude, the natural law has a legal aspect in the moral state law because the factors that make people accountable for their sins are similar in both laws.
The Morality of Natural Law
Human goodness is the most significant component of Natural law because of its connection between the law and Christian requirements. Human goodness is the hardest to achieve because of the original sin that separated humankind from God. While God grants people the freedom to choose between evil and good, sin makes the choice difficult to attain because both are granted to people at birth (Wynn, 2023). Due to Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God, people are born with the capacity to be sinful and the freedom to choose right from wrong. Humanity’s behavior is evaluated through natural law, explaining how people act within specific frameworks. Aquinas, Luther, Hobbes, Locke, and Plato’s teachings helped Christians navigate their relationship with sin and natural law, helping them lead righteous lives acting how God intended them to. The theorists help explain if natural law can be dispensed because they made postulations regarding natural law and morality on Christian kingship, justice, covenant, statesmanship, and democracy.
Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas’s ideologies were based on the importance and value of natural law to the moral theory of the state. He claimed the law had four categories: eternal, divine, human, and natural (Viola, 2019). Aquinas claimed that some laws are eternal, beyond human comprehension, and only God knows and understands them. He also defined divine laws as those God shares with humanity to help guide their religious and moral lives. Humanity is inspired by divine law to draft its rules to govern society. Furthermore, according to Aquinas, natural laws are inherent, such that even if humanity fails to formally or legally acknowledge them, they unconsciously guide them. Natural laws examples are that it is sinful to kill a fellow human being, steal, lie, or destroy their property. Different states create human laws and having been enforced through state legislation, they are considered legally binding and must be followed. The divine, human, and natural laws are intertwined and influence each other. By categorizing and describing the different types of laws, Aquinas supported the notion that it is impossible to separate natural law from the state’s moral theory.
Plato
Plato was among the first philosophers to seek the relationship between natural law and the moral theory. Plato theorized that divinity exists and that it is the source of morality. He defined divinity as humanity’s guide for right and wrong and compiled it in his Euthyphro work (Barney, 2022). He quoted Socrates in his description of divinity, saying that what is pious is loved by the gods because it is pious, indicating that morality and good are absolute. While philosophers such as Rousseau and Locke challenged Plato’s belief, claiming that if God is good, He would not instill evil in people, the natural law states that people also have the authority to choose good over evil. The law exists to guide those who choose evil over good, dissuading them against them and guiding them towards doing good over evil. Culminating such human acts shows that natural and positive, or moral law, must co-exist to ensure justice prevails, making them indispensable and universal to everyone.
Plato demonstrates the indispensability of natural law relative to the state’s moral theory because it is universal and objective. In this aspect, the morals and principles of natural law are available in all political orders. Despite states having separate sets of laws, some are common among states worldwide, such as killing and stealing being wrong. Such moral principles are derived from the natural law, indicating its influence and the relationship between them. While many theorists present natural law as devoid of people’s influence, it governs and ascertains human actions and decisions. This understanding deduces natural law as the guide towards creating moral state laws. Due to its significant role, natural law makes a man perfect as long as he is willing to live as nature dictates (Bobonich, 2022). Also, man’s ability to be good demonstrates the universality of natural law and its innate existence in everyone. Plato adds that the universality of natural law drives every person’s capability to differentiate good from evil daily.
Rousseau
Rousseau’s views resembled classical theories because he believed man was naturally good. Unlike Hobbes, Rousseau believed that man’s natural state comprised goodness and innocence, lacking in conflict. While man is inherently good, Rousseau theorized that his morality was continually jeopardized by civilization and the modern world, interfering with his natural state (Hoss, 2020). Rousseau explained that before innovation and technology, people’s daily lives were autonomous, and due to their contentment, people lived through acceptable natural and moral guidelines. He further argued that vices such as pestilence and strife were nonexistent, and people had few or no desires. However, due to civilization, man became egoistic, and their contempt for each other grew. Thus, according to Rousseau, while people may seem different in terms of character, one man is just as good as the other, and the factors that separate them and create a distinction in their behavior is the modern separation of the moral state law from the natural law. The separation has led to vices such as corruption and greed, changing men from their past. Hence, Rousseau’s theories were based on the conviction that the presence of the moral state theory without existing Christian-based ideas is inefficient and unnecessary for promoting the necessary moral values.
Martin Luther
Martin Luther, a leading protestant in the 1500AD, theorized that God’s Ten Commandments inform natural law. According to Luther, most rules in the Commandments, such as those against murder and adultery, are contained in people’s hearts, while others are teachable and coherent. The laws utilize the differences between natural law and the nation’s laws. Moreover, Luther opined that God’s love as the world’s creator is demonstrated in the natural law and the rights He gives equally to every man and that the former aligns humankind with the principles he intended them to possess (Osuagwu, 2020). Based on his explanation, Luther shows that the moral law is ineffective without the natural law. Without the rights God grants them, humanity cannot have the power to create the laws governing states. Luther further theorized that a higher law existed above governing states, visible when human-set laws are inexistent. For example, the higher law allowed communities without state laws, such as the Israelites in the wilderness, to live harmoniously. Hence, through Luther’s theories, natural law propels justice and equity. God’s divinity and power allow people, including non-Christians, to create laws with values resembling those in the natural law. The teachings show the relationship between natural and moral theory and how the former influences the latter’s creation.
Hobbes
In his theories regarding natural law, Hobbes questioned the relevance of and difference between the right and the law of nature. Hobbes proposed that humanity does not co-exist in peace in an unfavorable state of nature. However, in an innocent state of nature, people live peacefully and follow the correct values. Hobbes’ teachings contradict the notion that natural law is indispensable, theorizing that if people were left to lead their lives without any governing laws, they would be destructive and harmful to each other (Sasan, 2021). Hobbes added that positive law must exist with or without the natural law to promote societal peace. Also, Hobbes added that democracy was the indicator of moral values in the present society and had no relationship with the natural law because, in a democracy, people elect leaders who promote and support the essential values that will benefit society. The leaders help mitigate war and conflict, allowing justice to prevail, and thus, without the leaders, peace would not be absolute. Thus, according to Hobbes, natural law does not guarantee morality, making it dispensable in the moral theory of the state.
Locke
Locke created theories to directly contradict Hobbes, terming him a pessimist because he asserts that the natural state is the societal state. Locke opposed Hobbes with the postulation that in many democracies, people follow natural law because they are created with the same rights. In his work, Two Treaties of Government, Locke believes that some universal rights cannot be dictated by any existing laws other than the natural law, including positive law (Heyman, 2021). Hobbes added that moral law is a portion of the societal law promoting legitimacy in legislation. Its primary purpose is reinforcing the law and promoting life, liberty, and peace in society. Since Hobbes considers this the Christian understanding of the natural and moral laws, he demonstrates their close relationship and the indispensability of natural law.
Rawls
Rawls, a modern natural law theorist, created his postulations based on liberalism. He proposed the justice is fairness theory in his work Political Liberalism and a Theory of Justice, where he theorized that all people are equal and free, and, within social spaces, people act cognitively and mainly focus on doing the right thing (Flanigan, 2020). Rawls also proposed that citizens working together in freedom and fairness make up a strong foundation for a democratic society. Rawls advocated that the political description of justice relied on being rational as the basis for the creation of the positive law. Conversely, he explained that natural law relies on ideas in Christianity, and since everyone is not a Christian, the natural law is flawed as the expected path toward perfection. Therefore, due to the difference in attaining natural law and moral state theory, the former is not a prerequisite for the latter.
Hence, based on the theorists’ findings, most argue that a Christian understanding of the God-given law is a crucial component of the positive law. The philosophers Aristotle and Plato argue that morality arises from divinity, which guides the creation of the laws that nations abide by. Their findings also suggest that Christians in the past based their theories on natural law, aiming to explain God’s sovereignty and the notion that without their knowledge of God, the moral state theory would be ineffective. A minority of theorists argue that having a proper understanding of natural law does not influence an efficient moral state theory, a false notion due to the resemblance between the two types of laws. Without natural law, Christian leaders cannot understand the values they need to co-exist, making moral state laws ineffective.
Justice and Natural Law.
Justice is a crucial bridge between the natural and the moral state, whereby acting in the desired way, such as punishing crime and promoting fairness, inculcates justice. According to Aquinas, the validity of the law relies upon its Justice (Clanton & Martin, 2019). According to human values, an act is considered just if it aligns with the rule of reason, also called the natural law. Hence, all the human laws that states establish are enacted based on reason, indicating that they are inspired by natural law. More importantly, if a human law varies with the tenets of natural law, states no longer consider it legal because it does not create justice and is termed corruption. The ideology supports the notion that law without justice is impractical. For a state to maintain moral theory, its laws must be derived from the natural law, whose primary provisions are acts that promote justice, such as love, kindness, and understanding. Furthermore, modern theorists such as Finnis define three elements of justice: it is enacted when differences exist between multiple people affecting their relationships, arises from duty, and is characterized by equality and proportionality.
The Covenant and Natural Law
The types of covenants in natural law include those between citizens and the state, between God and citizens, and between the states and God. While the covenants contribute to the success of the state’s welfare, they also play a crucial role in humanity’s attainment of eternal life. The covenants are rooted in natural law and founded by Christian principles, making them essential to the State theory. For example, philosophers such as Locke, Rousseau, and Hobbes describe the social contract as the covenant between the state and the citizens. The contract is a verbal agreement between the state and the citizen, where the latter surrenders most of their freedom to the state’s authority (Seabright et al., 2021). While the theorists had different descriptions of the social contract, they agreed on a similar outcome: that it is done for the greater good, aiming to improve the state.
Additionally, in the covenant between God and the citizen, the latter receives instructions about the lives they should lead through the Scripture. An example is in Deuteronomy 4:13, saying that God declared to the people His covenant, asking them to perform the Ten Commandments, which he had written on two stone tablets. The main characteristic in all the covenants God made with people such as Abraham, Noah, Moses, and King David was morality, where the people were instructed on the kind of life He wanted them to lead, further showing the coexistence of the positive and natural laws. The last covenant is between God and the state, where God promises nations prosperity if they obey His will. For example, during the covenant between God and King David, God promised him the throne if he obeyed and fulfilled His wishes.
The Christian Kingship and the Natural Law
Aquinas used Aristotle’s concepts of natural law to establish Christian ideals of natural law. Aquinas believed that governments existed as an extension of God’s goodness to His people (Ikechukwu & Akpa, 2022). Governments are tasked with promoting society’s common good as people use the free will granted to them to make the right decisions, promoting peace, morality, and justice. Based on the knowledge that God provides them, kings and leaders should be examples of morality and belief in Christian values, qualities that demonstrate divine leadership, and a requirement for Christian kingship. Similarly, Martin Luther used Aquinas’ concepts to formulate his Kingship theory, claiming that if a King was just and followed all Biblical teachings, His kingdom would flourish, and the citizens he ruled over would be equally successful. Thus, in Christian kingship, a leader should aim to serve and acknowledge the morality and laws existing in the City of God and the City of Man to attain prosperity.
Democracy and Natural Law
Democracy is the most superior form of government, whose fundamental principles are freedom of speech, the exercise of religion, individual rights, and equality. Per these principles, natural law and democracy are intertwined because they also exist Biblically. In most of the world, success in democracy is related to Christian principles informed by natural law, such as in the United States, where the founding fathers created the Constitution on a Christian basis. Due to the Christian foundation, the Constitution has been successful because the values it is built upon promote free will, equality, and justice, which are all-natural law components. In contrast, oppressive governments, such as the communist leadership in the People’s Republic of China, show the difference between democracies governed by natural law and those not (Tripathi & Misri, 2020). Cuba, North Korea, and China lack a democracy defined by natural law, leading them to engage in behavior that does not reflect good but embodies evil. For example, they suppress many liberties and freedoms that people in contemporary democracies enjoy. For example, they limit the freedom of speech, people’s ability to acquire good quality education and various human rights violations.
The lack of natural law in democracy creates an image of societal vices because the countries lack moral values, indicating a lack of connection with the laws of God. In addition to abusing human rights of freedom and free will, the countries suffer catastrophes such as economic challenges and claims of human rights violations. Theorists such as John Calvin believed that countries governed by officials that the people have elected are the highest form of good (Hamilton, 2021). When discussing Israel and its republic, Calvin explained there was no happier government because their liberty was regulated in moderation, and all values were strongly developed on a robust and durable rule. His theory was that democracy, or a republic abiding by it, was the highest form of goodness a government could be defined by, and the most significant form of loyalty towards the state was awarded to Christians. Calvin firmly believed in the parallel relationship between democracy and Christianity because God gave the laws governing them. He added that the natural law consisted of people’s best condition because they could choose, by common consent, their shepherds. When anyone in force usurps the supreme power, it becomes tyranny. Further, when men become kings through heredity, it is inconsistent with liberty. Hence, Calvin understood the importance of democracy due to its connection with natural law.
Interaction between Religion and State Civil Offices
Due to the proportional relationship between natural law and Christianity, religious leaders and civil offices interact in various ways. However, in a democracy, a distinct separation exists between them, a concept that Thomas Jefferson, a politician, termed the wall of separation between the church and the state. Jefferson deemed the relationship separate because he felt it was improper for the government to participate in matters concerning the church and that the religious office should not be contacted during the construction of policy (Ragosta, 2021). Furthermore, philosophically, theorists such as Locke and Augustine believed that the state and the church should remain separate, regardless of the difference in their approach. As an illustration, Augustine, who wrote The City of God and the City of Man, argued that if the church and state’s integration became nonexistent, both must strive to live in harmony. He added that before the law, logic, governance, and civic discourse, there must be faith because society would be dysfunctional without it. With faith, peace would prevail even if the church and the state were separate.
Similarly, Locke wrote that the government and the church should be separate, adding that since the government lacked the authority to dictate people’s religious beliefs and conscience, wise citizens could not feasibly surrender their rights and thoughts to the authorities. Locke also offered three reasons why separation was necessary for the state’s and church’s survival. In his first argument, Locke referred to the state as the magistrate or the government’s legislative power, and thus, citizens’ challenges and concerns, or their freedom to practice religion, did not come from God through the state (Kelly, 2022). Locke’s second argument was based on the government’s lack of capability to coerce its people or entire societies to change their beliefs on certain theological truths or force them to believe in the religious laws the government would enact. Lastly, Locke argued that a theocratic society would be problematic because various princes globally have different views on religion, and the narrow gate leading to heaven is open for few people because only they possess the knowledge of the lives they are supposed to lead. Hence, regardless of having laws with similar foundations, the state and the church have different approaches to them and must remain separate to ensure every citizen is accorded respect and freedom to practice their beliefs without interference.
Also, Kant was a famous philosopher during the Enlightenment, and he played a crucial role in people’s choice to separate the church from the state. In his work, The Doctrine of Virtue, Kant explained that the church’s office helps society members understand that their role as Christians is a divine command they must abide by (Kincaid, 2020). Further, the state office has the authority to seek the services of the religious offices within its locale and control the amount or type of information the church disseminates regarding it. To maintain peace between the two offices, their relationship must be devoted to rational Christian principles and reason, which help the members of each office understand their role and maintain the separation gap by understanding the differences in their roles. Hence, by proposing a harmonious coexistence, Kant proposes that the civil office possesses the characteristics of natural law to acquire the values that will promote acceptance of the existing gap with religion.
Public Policy Applications
The primary principles of natural and positive laws related to governance exist globally, indicating the indispensability of natural law. For example, all public policies created across states have the natural law as a foundation. For example, in public policy related to morality, also termed ethical decision-making, states understand ethics as theories of custom or morality and habits that inform behavior. As a social phenomenon, morality relies on natural law to regulate relationships between social groups and individuals. Natural law is also indispensable due to its role in public policies relating to the economy, whereby, for practical workings of the free market, the natural law ensures that factors such as injustices, fraud, and other human tendencies devoid of justice are not a hindrance. Finally, natural law is an essential component in states when developing regulatory policies, such as those limiting actions such as abortion. During the creation of such policies, leaders invoke natural law and its basis on morality, such as the right to preserve life and the importance of caring for others to eliminate vices that promote abortion debates, such as rape. Therefore, in the inherent moral theory of the state, natural law is indispensable.
Overall, the Christian concept of natural law is the free will to decide right from wrong, with the former leading to overall societal well-being and propelling humanity’s behavior. Many aspects of the state’s moral law are directly linked to humanity’s behavior, leading to the acknowledgment of the close relationship between them. For example, by state law, some crimes are unacceptable and require punishment, such as committing murder, theft, and destroying property. Just as governments term them as illegal and develop policies to protect the innocent against them, such crimes also constitute moral principle violations per the natural law, which is Biblically mandated that all humankind follows. Thus, law and morality are complementary, as philosophers such as Aquinas and Martin Luther concurred in their theories. Finally, for any government, monarchy, or any other political leadership to successfully implement the principles that guide moral values, they must exercise good statesmanship, characterized by justice, natural law, and moral state law, all promoting a state’s success. The principles allow society to engage in positive and society-fulfilling behavior, avoiding societal vices, which also constitute the religious way of living. Thus, natural law is intertwined with moral state law, making it indispensable.
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