THREE APPROACHES TO CIVIL
LAW
There have been three basic approaches to civil law in the West over Western history:
· The positive law approach (generally espoused by humanists)
· The natural law approach (generally espoused by Christians who deny the doctrine of human total depravity)
· The revealed law approach (generally espoused by consistent Calvinists)
The positive law approach holds that civil laws should be framed by humans, without any attempt to base the laws on the absolute moral principles of God.
The natural law approach holds that civil laws should be
framed by humans employing the human conscience to inform us how to base the
laws on the absolute moral principles of God.
This approach is consistent with the doctrine of those denominations,
like the Roman Catholic Church, which deny the total depravity of man. Denying the doctrine of the total depravity
of man, such denominations believe man’s conscience is adequate to inform him
of the way he ought to govern. This
view, for instance, is propounded by David VanDrunen
in his book A Biblical Case for Natural
Law published by the Acton Institute (a think tank headed by the Roman
Catholic priest Robert Sirico). In this book VanDrunen
states that “Scripture is not the appropriate moral standard for the civil
kingdom.” In the July-August 2007 issue
of the magazine “The Outlook”, Matthew Tuininga
interprets this to mean that “the purpose of natural law is to guide all men,
women, and governments…His law, upon which they are to base all that they do,
is written on their hearts.”
The revealed law approach holds that civil laws should be framed by humans employing the Bible to inform man how to base the laws on the absolute moral principles of God. This approach is consistent with the doctrine of those denominations which adhere to the doctrine of the total depravity of man, reflecting man’s dependence in a post-Fallen world on the revealed will of God found in the Bible. It properly recognizes that man’s conscience in the post-Fallen world cannot be relied upon, for it is warped by moral corruption.
May the right approach win (as it surely will in the long term)!