How The Natural Law And Christianity Are

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Natural law is an absolutist, deontological and legalistic theory, linked to the idea that a person must obey a religious law in order to gain eternal life. There are many ways in which natural law is compatible with Christianity, one of which being the importance of the primary precepts. The primary precepts reflect the main purposes of humankind by helping humans to identify which acts are good e.g. the primary precept defend the innocent helps people to understand the importance for defending those who cannot defend themselves, for example giving money to a charity in order to help homeless people.

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The importance of these kinds of precepts are also outlined in Christian scriptures such as Genesis 1- ‘Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’ This demonstrates natural laws compatibility with Christianity because a primary precept of natural law is to live in an ordered society and to worship God, and this quote from Genesis 1 demonstrates the importance of this to God in his world.

Another way in which natural law could be seen as compatible with Christianity, is that Christianity believes that God established order and different levels of law. The bible states ‘you shall have no other God’s before me,’ (Exodus 20) demonstrating how God is the ultimate source of authority. The compatibility between natural law and Christianity lies within these 10 commandments created by God to keep order within society. If God is therefore the ultimate source of authority then he created all that exists, including eternal law, which is revealed in divine law found in religious scriptures and teachings.

This means that natural law is therefore seen as very compatible with Christianity because they both appreciate that the human laws that govern our societies have been created by natural law (the innate human ability to know what is naturally right), divine law (the sacred text and teachings of the church) and eternal law (God’s will). The fact that a belief in God and the sacred teachings of the church is needed for these types of laws to exist, means that natural law could be seen as very compatible with Christianity as it intertwines the belief of that particular religion, because natural law was created by Aquinas, who was a Christian monk, meaning that the beliefs within Christianity play a major role within the development of these laws, and therefore natural law is compatible with Christianity in the way that Christian beliefs and morals are valued strongly in this theory.

Natural law is also compatible with Christianity because it stresses that motives are important. The bible states: ‘So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with the trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others’ (Mathew 6:2). This demonstrates natural laws compatibility with Christianity because it agrees with the difference between real and apparent goods within natural law, for example giving to charity, ‘when you give to the needy….’ Both are compatible with each other because they both believe that the motive for committing an act is important as well as the act itself. An example of a real good would be giving to charity because you want to help people that are less fortunate (here the interior (wanting to help the less fortunate) and exterior (giving to charity) are both good therefore the act is good). However, an apparent good could be giving to charity because you want attention or recognition from others (this wouldn’t be a real good because although the exterior act is good (giving to charity) the interior act is not (wanting attention and recognition) and therefore the act on the whole cannot be counted for as good). This theory within natural law is compatible with Christianity because Christians believe that if an intention or motive behind an act is wrong the act cannot therefore be deemed as right in God’s eyes, and this therefore cannot help people develop their virtues and lead to afterlife in heaven with God.

Another way in which Natural law could be seen as compatible with Christianity is the belief that people are weak and prone to sin and falling short of what is good. Christians believe that we have original sin due to being ‘seminally present in the loins of Adam’ from Genesis. Christians believe that because of the fall, we confuse real goods with apparent goods and we can therefore fall to sin. An example of this would be developing the virtue of charity by helping others by being a sociable person (without chemically altering one’s personality), this is a real good. However, an apparent good could be if someone needs to take drugs of alcohol in order to become a more sociable person to develop the virtue of charity then this is wrong and an apparent good. Natural law is therefore compatible with Christianity because people sometimes fall short of God’s purposes and sin, and real and apparent goods within natural law can be used to demonstrate or explain this Christian belief.

Natural law is also compatible with Christianity because Christians believe that God created the world and natural law reflects God’s will.Genesis 1 states: ‘God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.’ This reflects how natural law is compatible with Christianity again because God created the world with order and purpose and ‘good’ so that humans can live in an ordered society and find their purpose. This reflects some of the main aspects within natural law, to find one’s final purpose. Aquinas believed that it should be the ultimate goal for every human to re-establish a ‘right’ relationship with God and by doing so gain eternal life with God in heaven. This is compatible with Christianity because Genesis speaks of Adam and Eve’s act of original sin when they disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, that broke the ‘right’ relationship with God. Aquinas’ natural law states that we should re-establish this ‘right’ relationship with God because it had been broken by Adam and Eve in Genesis and therefore the fact that natural law is based around this idea that our final purpose is to establish a right relationship with God and gain eternal life in heaven, means that it is very compatible with the beliefs and goals of Christianity.