Carefully Applying Natural Law

Commenting on Rom 2:14-15, John Calvin notes that “it is beyond all question evident that they [the Gentiles] have some notions of justice and rectitude…which are implanted by nature in the hearts of men.”^[1] Furthermore, Calvin argues regarding an implanted notion of justice and rectitude that Paul “means not that it was so engraven on their will, that they sought and diligently pursued it, but that they were so mastered by the power of truth, that they could not disapprove of it. For why did they institute religious rites, except that they were convinced that God ought to be worshipped?”^[2] With these comments, Calvin gives voice to the effect of natural law upon all humanity. Crucially, however, Calvin makes two qualifying points. First, he notes that we cannot conclude “that there is in men a full knowledge of the law, but that there are only some seeds of what is right implanted in their nature, evidenced by such acts as these.” Second, Calvin notes, “It is not to our purpose to inquire what sort of God they imagined him to be, or how many gods they devised; it is enough to know, that they thought that there is a God, and that honour and worship are due to him.”^[3] Calvin’s comments on Romans 2 therefore balance the irresistible force of natural law at work in humanity with the corrupting power of sin that gives rise to all sorts and numbers of gods for whom the Gentiles’ religious rites were instituted.

Now, this insight regarding the manifestation of natural law in the direction of religious worship equally applies in the direction of justice and righteousness. On the one hand, the whole world is a revelation of God, including his just and right character, so that Bildad is not immediately disqualified in his reasoning from the natural order to Job’s situation (cf. Job 8:11-19). On the other hand, it does not follow that the whole world reveals God accessibly or infallibly. To say it another way, the organic unity of God’s revelation does not mean that there is an undisturbed connection between general and special revelation that would be equally available, accessible, and able to be appropriated by us in our pursuit of assessing our or another’s situation. The effects of sin and the influence of Satan must be considered—this is a truth that will recur throughout the book of Job.

Because creation has been subjected to futility (Rom 8:20-22; Gen 3:16-19), no process can move without hindrance from observation of the world to reflection on how God is revealed in the world. Sin and its effects must always be taken into account.^[4] Moreover, it would be naïve to think that God’s revelation enters into this fallen world uncontested.^[5] Just as Jared preached last week, the source of revelation must be considered since God is not the only spiritual being who speaks in this world—at least the devil did in the garden, and John exhorts his readers to test the spirits (cf. 1 John 4:1-6). Finally, man’s own faculties must be considered, whether reliable deductions from observations of creation can be made in light of the effects of sin.^[6] To add something a bit more positive, it is not sufficient to argue only from a protological point of view, as though we could look at Genesis 1-3 and be sufficiently equipped to assess matters. If nothing else, the aftereffects of the culture-forming influence of special revelation mediated through the impact of the Christian worldview on society means that some things will also be grounded in the eschatological order. Sometimes, “the way things are” trades in the currency of special revelation and general revelation, even if no one is conscious of it or wants to admit it.^[7]

For this reason, we always need to apply the gospel to our assessment of all things. Even matters that appear to be “natural” benefit from a look through the lens of Scripture, for the Lord Jesus Christ is an inescapable factor in all that has happened, is happening, and will happen. May we, then, carefully apply natural law, better than Bildad, by applying it along with the gospel of Jesus Christ in every situation.

[1] John Calvin, “Commentaries on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans,” in Calvin’s Commentaries, trans. John Owen (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2009), 96.

[2] Calvin, “Romans,” 97.

[3] Calvin, “Romans,” 98.

[4] See Henk Van Den Belt, Geestspraak: Hoe We de Bijbel Kunnen Verstaan (Utrecht: KokBoekencentrum, 2024), 351–53.

[5] Daniel Strange, Their Rock Is Not like Our Rock: A Theology of Religions (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 259. See also Van Den Belt, Geestspraak, 298–99.

[6] J. H. Bavinck, Inleiding in de Zielkunde, ed. A Kuypers, 2nd ed. (Kampen: J. H. Kok, 1935), 26–27. Cf. Van Den Belt, Geestspraak, 307–8.

[7] Herman Bavinck, Christianity and Science, trans. Nathaniel Gray Sutanto, James Perman Eglinton, and Cory C. Brock (Wheaton: Crossway, 2023), 198–99.