How do Bible-believing Christians derive human law –– also known as positive law –– from Scripture, while staying faithful to Scripture, including to the basic biblical truths expounded by Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Edwards, Hodge, Spurgeon, and their likes? This hermeneutical agenda aims at answering this question. It aims at expounding a Bible-based, God-centered system of thought, perception, relationships, laws, etc., by establishing an approach to studying and understanding the Bible, and using it as a foundation for understanding all of life, including jurisprudence. This hermeneutical agenda is not merely an approach to searching the Bible for biblically prescribed human law. It is given here to show the context within which this search for human law –– this Investigation into the Biblical Undergirdings of Human Law –– should exist.

The major headings in this prologue –– "Divine Law", "Eternal Law", "Natural Law I", "Biblical Prescription of Human Law", and "Natural Law II" –– are presented in this specific order for a very specific reason. Each of these major headings can be understood figuratively as an iterative reading through the Bible. The results of each iteration should be used as controls in the subsequent iteration. The approach to each iteration is marked as being either topical or chronological, for the reasons given under each major heading. The final result of following this hermeneutical agenda should be a systematic theology that is Reformed in regards to the sovereignty of God and the accountability of mankind. Before reaching the final iteration, this hermeneutical agenda should establish a reliable biblical context for Bible-based jurisprudence. Since the Bible is intended to touch every area of life, this hermeneutical agenda aims at being not only an agenda for Bible interpretation, but also a plan for developing a Bible-based system for understanding life and glorifying the God Who gives it. In this prolegomenon, we're setting a Bible-study / Bible-exposition agenda for ourselves and for anyone who wants to follow the arguments we're making. In this prologue, we make numerous claims about what the Bible says. We don't attempt to give biblical proofs here, but we assume that for every such claim, a biblical proof exists somewhere, and we try to point to it. If we don't give a bibliographical location for a biblical proof, the reader should assume that the proof is given in An Investigation into the Biblical Undergirdings of Human Law, per se. This prolegomenon is only a survey. The proofs appear elsewhere.

We believe the Bible is true, and that it is in fact our paramount standard of truth. We believe the Bible is the highest normative authority for the definition of what Christians should believe. We also believe that the God who is spoken of in the Bible exists, and that He is who the Bible says He is.

Because we acknowledge that "faith, if it has no works, is dead" (James 2:17; NASB), we believe that it is a mistake to segregate belief and action in a way that discourages Christians from putting their beliefs into action, thereby translating their faith into works. We therefore believe that it's a mistake to make a hard-and-fast segregation of systematic theology and Christian ethics. It's important to first encourage Christians to have right beliefs, and second to put those beliefs into action. This Bible-study agenda is ordered as it is to encourage Christians to have right beliefs about God and about the Bible, first. When beliefs about these fundamentals are established, it's safe to venture into discussing beliefs about mankind, and about creation in general. Included in beliefs about mankind are beliefs about morality, meaning beliefs about what constitutes good action and what doesn't, and including what constitutes Christian ethics. Even so, we believe that the Bible's moral law that is generally applicable to all mankind does not translate directly into human law, because a very specific approach to Scripture is needed to discern the Bible's prescription of human law. Because of the peculiar demands of extracting human law from Scripture –– as indicated below –– it's necessary to take great care in using Bible-based moral law as a control in finding the Bible's prescription of human law.

Why should anyone who believes that the Bible is the Word of God surrender what might rightly belong to the visible Church to the forces of secularization, unless they've made a genuine study of the issue and concluded that such surrender is blessed by God? —— This is a rhetorical question. We hope that among other things, this approach to Scripture will provide guidelines for making this much-needed study.

Disclaimers: Some Christians may find it disturbing that the major headings in this Bible-study agenda each pertain to law. Their presupposition may be that this Bible-study agenda chooses law over gospel, and is therefore biased from the outset. Their presupposition would be wrong. In fact, the gospel, as God's work of redemption in the heart of each regenerated individual, is an act of mercy dispensed within the Almighty's court of justice. This is also true for the entire plan of redemption of God's elect. It is initiated as a judicial decision, an act of grace dispensed to the undeserving by way of a Mediator who has merited such justification. So the gospel is rightly understood to be a subset of law, not as something that stands in opposition to it. We believe that treating the gospel as a subset of law is consistent with both reliable readings of Scripture and reliable readings of classical Reformed theology.[note]

By having this agenda, arranged as it is by law, we also appear to be opening ourselves to criticism that we are assuming that law has primacy over covenant. This is also not the case. We assume all biblical laws to be obligations that are terms within one or more of the biblical covenants. We choose law as major headings instead of covenants to facilitate biblical construction based on historically reliable theologies. Using historically reliable theologies to solve problems of our times demands extending such theologies into areas that they may have covered in principle, but that they have failed to cover in adequate detail. For the sake of further confirming our commitments first to the Bible and second to the major tenets of the classical Reformed faith, we hereby give cursory explanations for our views of the Five Solas.

The Five Solas: Sola Scriptura —— The doctrine of sola Scriptura was developed by the magisterial Reformers[note] as a way to combat the excesses of Roman Catholic traditionalism.[note] This doctrine teaches that Scripture alone is authoritative for the faith and practice of the Christian. It means that the Bible is true, authoritative, and complete. As Paul told Timothy, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." (2Timothy 3:16-17; NASB). This doctrine is needed in our times to combat not only un-Scriptural traditions, but also un-Scriptural beliefs of a seemingly endless variety.

There have always been people who reject the authority of Scripture; so that's as big a problem now as ever. On the other hand, over the last 200 years, Bible-believing Protestants have largely abandoned the magisterial Reformers' definition of sola Scriptura in favor of what some call "solo Scriptura",[note] and have thereby created an altogether new problem. The Reformers believed that the historic creeds of the faith were important and deserved consultation, even though they held a degree of authority well below the authority of Scripture. Their definition of sola Scriptura allowed for this use of the historic creeds. The re-definition of sola Scriptura into "solo Scriptura" entails the demotion of the historic creeds to a status equivalent to any man's opinion. The doctrine of "solo Scriptura" also rejects natural law, something that none of the magisterial Reformers did. The blanket rejection of natural law and the historic creeds is foolishness. A large part of the reason that natural law has been rejected may relate to defective definitions and implementations of it. The historic creeds may have also been rejected because of their defects. But since both the historic creeds and the human understanding of natural law are man-made, no one should have ever expected them to be perfect. The historic creeds and natural law cannot undergo blanket rejection without long-term consequences that no sane person would ever want.

The Bible alone teaches the history and plan of God's work of redemption, i.e., the gospel. The Bible alone is a reliable exhibition of written special revelation. There is an important distinction between special revelation recorded in Scripture and personal special revelation. Personal spiritual experience can be a form of special revelation, binding on the conscience of the person having the experience, but having no inherent binding power on anyone else. "We deny that any creed, council, or individual may bind a Christian's conscience",[note] but we also affirm that the Holy Spirit may at times speak independently of the Bible, even though the Holy Spirit never speaks contrary to the Bible. —— We affirm that special revelation is crucial to having a personal relationship with God, and that when personal spiritual experience is consistent with, harmonious with, and affirming to Scripture, it is reasonable to call such personal spiritual experience "special revelation". —— We believe the canon is closed. We believe that the canon recognized by the magisterial Reformers –– being composed of sixty-six books –– was adopted by special revelation. We believe that this canon has been closed by special revelation. We acknowledge that the Bible itself does not define the canon, and that the definition of the canon is extra-biblical. —— We believe that personal special revelation –– as distinguished from canonical special revelation –– never rises to the level of being binding on anyone other than the person who experiences the revelation. Such personal special revelation therefore never rises to the level of being worthy of inclusion in the Bible, or of being treated as equal in authority to the Bible.

The primary purpose of sola Scriptura was, is, and should be, the avoidance of the tendency to teach "as doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9). It's essential to avoid –– deliberately and conscientiously –– setting aside the precepts, priorities, and commandments of Scripture in favor of anything extra-biblical. This doesn't mean that extra-biblical things cannot be admitted into consciousness. It means that extra-biblical things –– regardless of whether they are traditions, human laws, scientific theories, mathematical formulae, money, archaeological data, or any other kind of perception, cognition, or experience –– must be set into the context created by Scripture. Scripture is exhaustive with respect to guiding principles, even while it is not exhaustive in the application of such principles to every kind of circumstance or concern. The canon is closed for a reason: Because the Bible itself, and Jesus in particular, make it abundantly clear that He is establishing such general principles, and such principles are not to be "tampered with, augmented, or diminished in any way".[note]

Solus Christus —— We affirm that Christ alone mediates our salvation, and that we are justified and reconciled to the Father only by Christ's sinless life and substitutionary atonement. Salvation comes from no one else, "for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Jesus is the "only way to heaven, and the confession of his name is the only hope of salvation from sin and judgment".[note] Salvation is a sovereign act of God. Whom He saves and whom He doesn't, between now and the Final Judgment, only He knows. No natural born human being can know with absolute certainty who is saved, and who is not. We are therefore to know people by their fruits, not by their final destination. Regarding assurance, one can have a great deal of it for oneself through the testimonies of Scripture, conscience, and deeds mandated by the sanctification process; and for others, by knowing their fruits. But as long as we're alive on this planet, we're incapable of absolute assurance about anyone, including ourselves, until the Final Judgment. This takes nothing away from the fact that salvation is through Christ alone, and it takes nothing away from the fact that open declaration of allegiance to Jesus Christ puts one into the realm of the visible Church.

Sola Gratia —— With the signers of the Cambridge Declaration, we "confess that human beings are born spiritually dead and are incapable even of cooperating with regenerating grace.". —— "[I]n salvation we are rescued from God's wrath by his grace alone. It is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that brings us to Christ by releasing us from our bondage to sin and raising us from spiritual death to spiritual life."[note] Furthermore, our awareness of our new status as receptacles of this grace is a form of special revelation directly from the throne of God, a unique, Bible-authorized form of personal spiritual experience. Even so, "We deny that salvation is in any sense a human work. Human methods, techniques or strategies by themselves cannot accomplish this transformation. Faith is not produced by our unregenerate human nature.".[note]

Sola Fide —— We agree that "[J]ustification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. In justification Christ's righteousness is imputed to us as the only possible satisfaction of God's perfect justice. We deny that justification rests on any merit to be found in us, or upon the grounds of an infusion of Christ's righteousness in us, or that an institution claiming to be a church that denies or condemns sola fide can be recognized as a legitimate church.".[note]

Soli Deo Gloria —— We agree that "[B]ecause salvation is of God and has been accomplished by God, it is for God's glory that we must glorify him always. We must live our lives before the face of God, under the authority of God and for his glory alone. We deny that we can properly glorify God … if we neglect either Law or Gospel" .[note]

We believe we're justified in being suspicious of any breed of "Christianity" that rejects any of these Five Solas.

1^st Iteration:

Divine Law

(topical approach)

Approach: To discern the nature of divine law, it suffices to take a topical approach to the Bible to answer the question, "What does the Bible say about itself?". —— Topical approach means that the study of this issue is not necessarily chronological.

"To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn." (Isaiah 8:20; NASB)

Scripture is the paramount authority for the visible Church. Even so, every human being's conscience is a filter through which God may communicate the words of Scripture into that person's heart, drawing that person with irresistible grace. As a general rule, no human being should take another person's conscience as a substitute for his / her own. Likewise, no human being should take Scripture to the exclusion of their conscience. On the contrary, Scripture is food for the conscience, and neither is sufficient unto itself with regard to personal experience. Conscience is equivalent to the inner sense of God that Paul describes in Romans 1:18-25. So conscience is crucial to personal experience. But there's a huge difference between conscience –– i.e., what counts as authority within a single individual's private sphere –– and what counts as authority within the visible Church. Regarding authority within the visible Church, nothing is higher, or even close to equal with Scripture. Because we recognize the importance of the relationship between conscience and Scripture, it's necessary to speak of revelation.

Revelation is knowledge revealed by God. General revelation is knowledge revealed generally to humanity. Special revelation is knowledge revealed specifically and especially to one or more individuals. Divine law is a product of special revelation. Special revelation and general revelation carry the same ethical content. The difference is that such content is articulated in special revelation while suppressed in general revelation (Romans 1:18-23). The moral law in each is the same. So the underlying reality of each is the same. But revelation pertains specifically to what is made known to humans, as distinguished from any underlying reality. So the specificity of special and general revelation are different, due to the suppression of moral law in general revelation. A similar way of saying this is that the moral law that pertains to the elect is identical to the moral law that pertains to the lost. But the moral law is received and esteemed in the case of the regenerate, while it is rejected and suppressed in the case of the lost. The degree of clear, understandable articulation of the moral law bears on the degree to which it is received and esteemed.

The divine law, the Bible, like the Persons of the Trinity who orchestrated its authorship, is mediate between the perfect and holy God and His imperfect and unholy creatures. As such, the divine law is perfect in its capacity to guide the unholy to redemption. But it is not perfect in the sense of being an exhaustive articulation of all ethical content. The divine law absolutely articulates reliable ground-rules for discerning the ethical content that it doesn't expressly articulate. The divine law articulates general principles that cover every situation. For example, the duties to love God and to love neighbor apply to every situation forever. Human behavior is governed eternally and into infinitesimal minutiae by this overarching obligation. But being deeply ignorant and corrupt, humans have great difficulty seeing how to apply this principle to the minutiae of everyday life. So Scripture goes on to say much more than these two greatest of all commandments, but it still is not exhaustive. It is exhaustive in general principles, but not in details.

The gospel is not articulated in general revelation. The gospel is articulation of God's work of redemption, and it is articulated expressly only in the divine law, i.e., the Holy Scriptures. But this does not mean that someone who has neither heard nor read the divine law is automatically doomed. Scripture itself speaks of people who were clearly elect while being clearly ignorant of the written Bible (Hebrews 11:4-7,31). This clearly shows that God sovereignly awakened specific, elect people to the truth of His work of redemption, thereby making special revelation of His redeeming powers. They received special revelation without the written word. This means that they recognized the holiness of God, the divinity of Christ, and their relative state of depravity, without divine law, but nevertheless with special revelation. —— The image of God –– and the moral law that defines the behavioral boundaries of such imago Dei –– have been violated through sin by every natural-born human being. Both general revelation and special revelation articulate this. This is a truth of general revelation that is acknowledged by special revelation. But special revelation articulates a solution –– the gospel, God's work of redemption –– while general revelation does not.

Putting special revelation –– a subjective experience of an objective God –– into written form, makes such revelation permanent, at least so long as it's worthy of preservation from one generation to the next. If God ordains the writing of such special revelation, and if people find such written special revelation so valuable that it is deemed worthy of preservation over decades, generations, centuries, and millennia, and is grouped with other similar written special revelations into a specific canon of Scripture, which is then preserved for more generations, centuries, and millennia, then such written special revelation must deserve to be treated as especially holy. But what communicates this holiness is not merely this tradition. After all, other religions have their "holy" writings. What communicates this holiness is the fact that God continues to communicate His special revelation into the consciences of each succeeding generation by way of the reading of Scripture by people in such succeeding generations. But other religions may claim the same thing. Why should one such tradition be esteemed over another?

Only the sixty-six books of the Reformed canon of Scripture adequately communicate the plan and history of redemption. Some religions don't even acknowledge that redemption is necessary. Others may recognize that redemption is necessary, but offer only works programs to achieve such redemption. Only the Reformed canon adequately, consistently, and lucidly delineates a plan of redemption by imputation. These writings therefore deserve and demand to be treated as permanent, inviolable, and holy. These facts mark the difference between special revelation that deserves to be canonized and special revelation that does not deserve to be canonized. The canon is rightly closed until Christ returns. There is plenty of God-centered work to do in just keeping the visible Church operating within guidelines that are already canonized, without having to suffer claims from nominal Christians that their pet personal experiences need to be added to the canon, or treated as equal in stature. Regarding authority within the visible Church, personal spiritual experiences don't deserve either to be added to the canon or to be treated as equal in stature. On the contrary, personal spiritual experiences need to be submitted to the light of Scripture to ensure that they are not mere delusions sent by HaSatan to haunt the living. When science, tradition, human law, personal spiritual experiences, or any of innumerable other extra-biblical voices, "supplants the voice of Scripture",[note] the culture that supports such supplanting is out of order.

Admitting that special revelation accompanies salvation by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone admits no assault on the authority of Scripture or on the doctrine of sola Scriptura. Much though Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox apologists would like to use this admission to destroy the doctrine of sola Scriptura, they cannot do so unless they twist such personal special revelation into something that it is not. The special revelation that accompanies salvation is intended primarily for the edification of the newly regenerate individual. It is not intended to be written down for the guidance of the Church at large. It is given to the newly regenerate by God for the establishment of the newly regenerate in his / her new relationship with God. It needs to be checked against Scripture. It does not need or deserve to be esteemed as equal or superior to Scripture, because it is not intended by God to be used for any purpose other than the personal edification and sanctification of one individual.

"The Reformation principle of sola Scriptura has to do with the sufficiency of Scripture as our supreme authority [–– as distinguished from sole authority ––] in all spiritual matters. Sola Scriptura simply means that all truth necessary for our salvation and spiritual life is taught either explicitly or implicitly in Scripture."[note] —— "It is not a claim that all truth of every kind is found in Scripture."[note] —— "Scripture is a 'more sure Word,' standing above all other truth in its authority and certainty. It is 'more sure', according to the apostle Peter, than the data we gather firsthand through our own senses (2 Peter 1:19). Therefore, Scripture is the highest and supreme authority on any matter to which it speaks."[note] —— "But there are many important questions on which Scripture is silent. Sola Scriptura makes no claim to the contrary."[note]

How else can a person be convinced that they have been saved by God except through special revelation as personal experience, then confirmed through special revelation in the written Word? The conviction is a subjective reality as surely as God is an objective reality.

The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 1 § 1, says, "the holy Scripture [is] most necessary, those former ways of God's revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.". —— We take this to mean that special revelation for the sake of canonization is "now ceased", a claim with which we thoroughly agree. But special revelation for many other purposes now continues. How else could the "spiritual gifts" that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 12 be in effect other than through special revelation?[note] Even so, we acknowledge that the collective special revelation that led to the canonization of the sixty-six books of the Bible carries far greater authority within the visible Church than special revelation to a single individual. "No man, no church, no religious authority has any warrant from God to augment the inspired Word of Scripture with additional traditions, or to alter the plain sense of it by subjecting it to the rigors of a 'traditional' meaning not found in the Word itself."[note]

In every form of systematic thought, there are assumptions without which the system collapses. In other words, even in the most rigorous forms of scientific and mathematical systems, there are leaps of faith without which the system collapses. A necessary assumption in Reformed Christianity is that the canon of sixty-six books of the Bible is special revelation to the visible Church. Special revelation written objectively in the divine law impacted the individual consciences of early Christians so that they knew through special revelation experienced subjectively which books were genuinely authoritative and which were not. This subjective response that defined the canon we call canonical special revelation. The non-Reformed operate on their own set of assumptions. —— We accept as personal special revelation that these sixty-six books are the authoritative canon of Scripture. If other people want to believe something else, they can do so on their own time, on their own turf, and at their own peril. Such revelation to the visible Church has preeminence over personal special revelation. Personal spiritual experiences are so prone to being inconsistent with biblical principles –– as proven by the variety of prohibitions against many kinds of personal experiences in the Old Testament (such as divination, necromancy, sorcery, etc.) –– that we deem it unwise to follow any such personal experience unless it can be shown consistent with Scripture. —— The more we know of Scripture, and the more we see its interconnectedness and integrity, the more able we are to experience special revelation in the true sense, as opposed to dubious personal experiences. Checking experiences against knowledge of Scripture allows it to be either validated as special revelation or discarded as delusion.

The sufficiency of Scripture pertains to the fact that Scripture contains all the general principles of the work of redemption, not merely of personal salvation, but of the redemption of all of the elect, including all the historical machinations necessary to achieving the redemption of all the elect. In terms of such guiding principles, there is no reason "to exceed what is written" (1 Corinthians 4:6) in the Bible. Whatever Scripture may lack in details it supplies in abundance in general principles. By grace through faith because of Christ, every fact, concern, circumstance, etc., encountered by a 21^st century believer can be encompassed by biblical principles and biblical authority. (2 Timothy 3:15-17) —— In saying that we, by personal special revelation, accept the sixty-six books of the Bible as the rightly closed canon of Scripture, we say that no authority on earth is in any way equal to Scripture's authority. We believe that claims of papal infallibility, claims of apostolic authority based on personal spiritual experience, claims of authority that secular governments make over the visible Church, etc., are all bogus. We also say, with Luther and Calvin, that we see the Roman Catholic emphasis on human merit as being deeply Pelagian and semi-Pelagian,[note] especially in contrast to the Augustinian theology of these Reformers.

We believe that the written words of Scripture are binding, meaning, among other things, that they permit people into the visible Church, and prohibit people from it. The fact that people who have no exposure to divine law can be sovereignly saved by God through special revelation of Jesus Christ by way of the Holy Spirit –– unusual and rare though such salvation may be –– does not put such salvation automatically at odds with Scripture. Even so, all claims, of all kinds, whether soteriological, jurisprudential, moral, scientific, or of any other kind, must be measured against Scripture. If Scripture clearly and obviously repudiates such claims, regardless of their nature or kind, then Scripture shall stand while such claims are sent outside the camp. "The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured."[note]

"The classical Reformed doctrine of sola Scriptura meant that Scripture is the sole final and infallible authority."[note] We acknowledge, in agreement with the Reformation, and with qualifications indicated above, that the Bible is the ultimate authority in all matters of faith and practice, and is therefore the sole final and infallible authority. We also acknowledge that the core creeds accepted by classical Reformed Christianity –– Nicene, Athanasian, Chalcedonian, etc. –– are subordinate authorities. As such, these creeds are not to be disregarded, treated as irrelevant, or treated as no more authoritative than any man's opinion. But they're not to be treated as infallible either.

We emphatically believe that every individual has the right, and in many cases also the duty, to check everything against both Scripture and conscience. In the views of the classical Reformers, sola Scriptura clearly did not entail automatic rejection of either the historic creeds of the faith or natural law. Even so, the fact that every individual Christian has the right / duty to check everything against both Scripture and conscience does nothing to destroy or even unsettle the structure of authority in the visible Church. Church leaders / elders still have the power of binding and loosing within the Church.

The reason and conscience of the individual Christian is the "supreme interpreter" of Scripture for that individual Christian, but it is not the supreme interpreter for the visible Church. Whatever structure of authority has been adopted by a local congregation of the visible Church is the "supreme interpreter" for that congregation, as a congregation.

Any attempt at denying the individual the right to interpret Scripture in a manner consistent with said Christian's conscience, is an attempt at setting some body of human flesh as mediator between Christian and God. Many breeds of nominal Christianity these days are attempting some variation on this ancient ugliness. Such congregations would serve God, their congregants, and themselves more effectively by nurturing the legitimate, practical place for personal special revelation in the life of every true believer. Defenders of Reformed theology would serve their cause much more effectively by developing the experiential theology of Jonathan Edwards.

The rejection of the natural law tradition and the rejection of the historical creeds may each have happened for totally different reasons. But they are both aspects of the "solo Scriptura" syndrome. Both happened as a result of a lack of discernment of biblical truth, both on the part of individuals and on the part of the visible Church as a whole.

Conclusions:

We believe that the Bible is the Word of God.

We believe that the canon of sixty-six books acknowledged by classical Reformed theology is infallible and inerrant (Exodus 31:18, 32:16; Deuteronomy 4:13; 10:4). This Bible is utterly true and completely authoritative.

We believe that the sum of Scriptural truth is a sufficient rule of faith for the Christian.

We believe that Scripture alone provides an epistemological foundation that guides God's elect to salvation, fully equipping us for life and eternity (2 Timothy 3:15-17). We can be certain that "every essential aspect of the apostolic message is included in Scripture".

We believe that "the ultimate criterion of canonicity is divine authorship, not human or ecclesiastical approval.".[note] We recognize exclusively the sixty-six books recognized in the Reformed tradition, as being the authoritative canon.

We believe that this entire canon of Scripture is "God breathed" and "useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16; NIV). We believe that this means that it is also useful for determining what constitutes good and reliable human law.

We believe that Scripture is authoritative, meaning that "all the words in Scripture are God's words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.".[note]

We believe that God does not lie, mislead, or speak falsely (2 Samuel 7:28; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18). "Therefore, all the words in Scripture are … completely true and without error in any part (Num 23:19; Pss. 12:6, 119:89, 96; Prov. 30:5; Matt. 24:35)."[note] Therefore, "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.".[note]

We believe the Bible is clear, meaning that it "is written in such a way that its teachings are to be understood by all who will read it seeking God's help and being willing to follow it.".[note] We believe this means, among other things, that the Bible has rational integrity. Even so, we believe that the ability to understand Scripture correctly is more spiritual than intellectual (1 Corinthians 2:14). To understand Scripture, it's often helpful to use logic, reason, and rationality, and to assume that the Bible has rational integrity. Even so, logic, reason, and rationality are useless to the understanding of Scripture without the leading of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that there is a single reality about which humans have only fragmentary knowledge. We believe that general revelation and special revelation reveal aspects of the same single reality. General revelation is aspects of the single underlying reality revealed generally to the human race. Special revelation is aspects of the single reality addressed to specific people. "Special revelation includes all the words of Scripture but is not limited to the words of Scripture".[note] Special revelation reveals aspects of reality with precision and clarity that general revelation lacks with respect to those aspects. The Bible is a record of special revelations that deserves to have canonical status.

General revelation is "The knowledge of God's existence, character, and moral law, which comes through creation to all people generally."[note] It's called "general" because "it comes to all people generally". —— "General revelation comes through observing nature, through seeing God's directing influence in history, and through the inner sense of God's existence and his laws that he has placed inside every person."[note] —— "All people know something of God's moral laws."[note] The Bible specifies the basic nature of general revelation.

The Bible manifests God's plan for redeeming His elect and the history of such redemption. General revelation says little-to-nothing about such plan, history, or redemption. The Bible is therefore absolutely necessary for clearly understanding the plan and history of God's work of redemption.

God is sovereign and can save whomsoever He pleases. Even so, Romans 10:13-17 and other verses make it clear that it's important for His elect to spread knowledge of His redemption so that the Bible can be used as an instrument to assist salvation and sanctification. Also Scripturally reliable implementation of biblical law as human law is an important teacher, and as such, is an important mechanism in God's work of redemption (1 Timothy 1:5-11).

"[K]nowledge gained by observation of the world is always imperfect and always liable to error or misinterpretation".[note] —— This is also true of knowledge gained via Bible-study. The problem is not with the Bible, and it's not with the observed world. It is with sin, which always insinuates itself into all human perception and all human action. Such insinuation makes the need to allow Scripture to speak for itself that much more emphatic. Such insinuation into Bible-study is emphatically not so great that it keeps Bible-believing Christians from having knowledge of the moral law and of the work of redemption that is perfect for our times.

The Bible is necessary for the understanding of special revelation, and for understanding the difference between special revelation and general revelation.

"[E]ternal salvation comes only through belief in Jesus Christ and no other way."[note] —— God is sovereign, and can save whomsoever He pleases, and is not constrained by any feeble human construction of either special revelation or general revelation. People were saved by Jesus Christ, through special revelation, prior to the birth of Jesus Christ, and they are saved by Jesus Christ, through special revelation, after the birth of Jesus Christ. This is a biblical fact. Even though it may be rare, it's impossible to eliminate the possibility that Jesus Christ has saved people who are totally outside the realm of divine law, meaning people who have never heard of the Bible, Jesus Christ, Judaism, Christianity, etc. Regardless of what people may know and what people may have heard, salvation is always a sovereign act of God through Jesus Christ.

"[S]aving faith, according to Scripture, is always confidence or trust in God that rests on the truthfulness of God's own words."[note]

We define divine law as synonymous with the Scriptures contained within the sixty-six books of the Reformed canon of the Bible. The divine law contains the general principles by which we can discern the basics of eternal law, natural law, and human law.

All of Scripture is applicable in our time (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 9:10; 2 Timothy 3:16).

Scripture is the paramount transcription of God's will for all areas of human life (2 Timothy 3:16; Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:1-9).

Every passage of Scripture should be taken at face value, and comprehended on its own terms, before integrating it into a larger literary unit. Such comprehension includes attempting to understand the author's intended meaning.

We believe that it's wrong to redefine sola Scriptura in such a manner as to eliminate the existence of natural law, specifically, moral law that applies universally to all human beings, including human beings who have never heard of the Bible. Redefining sola Scriptura to eliminate natural law is a rejection of the views of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and all the magisterial Reformers on this issue, which we believe is a big mistake.[note]

Salvation can occur without knowledge of the written divine law (e.g., Abel, Enoch, etc. See Hebrews 11.). But it cannot happen without special revelation, i.e., without a sovereign act of grace toward the undeserving human being saved, wrought by Jesus Christ in either pre-incarnate or post-incarnate form. —— But the plan of redemption –– including not only the redemption of the elect, but also including the edification of humanity in general through common grace, including through the providential adoption of better, Bible-based legal systems –– happens via the sharing of knowledge of the divine law.

2^nd Iteration:

Eternal Law

(topical approach)

Approach: To discern the nature of eternal law, take a topical approach to the Bible to answer the question, "What does the Bible say about God, His eternal covenant (Hebrews 9:15; 13:20), and His eternal law (Proverbs 8:23)?". —— Topical approach means that the study of this issue is not necessarily chronological.

By eternal law, we mean the immortal, changeless, spiritual, intellectual, and moral qualities of God. "The Eternal Laws are the ways of the nature of God and their multifold relationships with the mysteries of the Godhead. Being eternal and so unchanging, all other things are subsumed under their pervasive breadth."[note]

God is independent: "God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation can glorify him and bring him joy."[note] —— "[A]mong the persons of the Trinity there has been perfect love and fellowship and communication for all eternity."[note]

God is unchangeable: "God is unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises, yet God does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations."[note]

God is eternal: "God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in his own being, and he sees all time equally vividly, yet God sees events in time and acts in time."[note]

God is omnipresent: "God does not have size or spacial dimensions and is present at every point of space with his whole being, yet God acts differently in different places."[note]

God is one: "God is not divided into parts, yet we see different attributes of God emphasized at different times."[note]

God is Spirit: "God exists as a being that is not made of any matter, has no parts or dimensions, is unable to be perceived by our bodily senses, and is more excellent than any other kind of existence." Even so, "God still shows himself to us through visible, created things".[note]

God is omniscient: "God fully knows himself and all things actual and possible in one simple and eternal act."[note]

God is wise: "God always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals."[note]

God is truthful and faithful: All of God's "knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth."[note]

God is good: "The goodness of God means that God is the final standard of good, and all that God is and does is worthy of approval."[note]

God is loving: "God's love means that God eternally gives of himself to others."[note]

God is holy: "God's holiness means that he is separated from sin and devoted to seeking his own honor."[note]

God is just: God's justice "means that God always acts in accordance with what is right and is himself the final standard of what is right".[note]

God is volitional: God's volition "is that attribute of God whereby he approves and determines to bring about every action necessary for the existence and activity of himself and all creation".[note]

God's freedom: "God's freedom is that attribute of God whereby he does whatever he pleases. … God is not constrained by anything external to himself."[note]

God is omnipotent: "God's omnipotence means that God is able to do all his holy will."[note]

God is Triune: "God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God."[note] —— "God has eternally existed in three Persons and between these Persons there is an eternal unchanging love that is primary to any expression of Moral Law for man. Thus what man should do depends upon what God is and what God's laws are cannot … be other than they are. … God above all perfectly knows and loves himself because there is nothing higher to know or more loveable to love."[note] God's nature is the source of eternal law, and therefore of natural law. The Three Persons of the Trinity are in an eternal covenant with one another.

God's creation: "God created the entire universe out of nothing; it was originally very good; and he created it to glorify himself."[note] —— In this process of creation: (i)God created the Spiritual, psychic, and physical realms as a single harmonious realm.[note] (ii)God created Adam and Eve directly, creating them in His image. (iii)God created chronological time. (iv)The Triune God created the universe through the Son, the logos (John 1:1-3), eternal law. Regarding the relationship between God and eternal law: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). Creation exists by way of the Word: "God said …" (Genesis 1:3). Therefore, "the Word" is intermediate between God and creation. God is transcendent. By way of the Word (i.e., eternal law) He is also immanent. Jesus is the Word. "All things came into being through Him" (John 1:3).

God is transcendent and immanent: God is both transcendent above creation and immanent in creation.[note]

God's relationship with His creation: God's relationship with His creation is providential, meaning that "God is continually involved with all created things in such a way that he (1) keeps them existing and maintaining the properties with which he created them; (2) cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do; and (3) directs them to fulfill his purposes.".[note] —— "Now it is evident, granted that the world is ruled by Divine Providence, as was stated in the FP, Question [22], Articles [1],2, that the whole community of the universe is governed by Divine Reason. Wherefore the very Idea of the government of things in God the Ruler of the universe, has the nature of a law. And since the Divine Reason's conception of things is not subject to time but is eternal, according to Prov. 8:23, therefore it is that this kind of law must be called eternal."[note]

God's decrees: God decreed "before the creation of the world" everything that comes to pass. God's "providential actions are the outworking of the eternal decrees that he made long ago".[note]

Human accountability: Even though God decreed everything that comes to pass, and providentially makes it happen, human beings are still morally accountable for everything that we do.

At the interface between eternal law and natural law are the covenant of redemption, the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace. We believe that it's a biblical fact that all biblical law is contained as terms within covenants. The covenant of redemption and the covenant of works overarch all natural law. The covenant of grace directly impacts the enforcement of natural law.

3^rd Iteration:

Natural Law I

(verified)

(topical approach)

Approach: To discern the nature of natural law, take a topical approach to the Bible to answer the question, "What does the Bible say about what is universally true about humanity?". —— Topical approach means that the study of this issue is not necessarily chronological.

What Is Natural Law?:

Twice within the first nine chapters of Genesis, God, through Moses, says that human beings are created in His image, meaning that every human being is created with the imago Dei, in the image of God (Genesis 1:26; 9:6). Even though every human is endued with the imago Dei, the entire race of humans has corrupted its ability to live, breathe, act, think, perceive, speak, have its being, etc., consistently with the imago Dei. In other words, in addition to being created in the image of God, people also have an innate, inborn propensity to violate themselves, and others. If humans didn't have this propensity to violate themselves and others, they would live easily and naturally in accord with the moral law, as they did in the garden of Eden. The behavioral boundaries of the imago Dei are the same thing as this moral law. The moral law that defines the behavioral boundaries of the imago Dei is the same thing as what we call the natural law. This moral law is called "natural" because it's built into the nature of every human being (Romans 1:18-23). Because of humanity's corruption of its ability to live compatibly with the imago Dei, no natural-born human being is capable of abiding by the natural law perfectly.

The only way that any human being can abide perfectly by this moral law / natural law, is by imputation. In other words, God judges all human beings as corrupted, rotten, in violation of the imago Dei, and worthy of eternal wrath. But our Advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ, stands before the bench of the Almighty, admitting that His client is guilty as charged, but asking nevertheless that the Almighty dispense mercy instead of justice, and claiming that in spite of His client's guilt, His client has His favor and therefore deserves to have His righteousness, the righteousness of Christ, imputed to him in place of the client's own guilt. Our Advocate is able to convince the Father that this mercy is just, because He has paid the penalty, death, that is owed by the accused.

By defining a universally applicable moral law that no natural-born human is capable of keeping, natural law defines a universal problem. This universal problem is the suppression of natural law (Romans 1:18-23). Christians typically call the solution to this universal problem the "gospel". The gospel is the earthly manifestation of God's work of redemption. It is usually associated with the New Testament. But the work of redemption starts early in the biblical chronology, in the first few chapters of Genesis. So instead of calling this solution the "gospel", we call it the "work of redemption" to avoid creating artificial barriers between the Old Testament and the New. God executes His work of redemption through special revelation.

We believe that all law is ultimately covenantal or contractual. In other words, all law exists as terms of covenants and contracts. This belief is based on many references in Scripture to God's inclination to make and keep covenants. We believe that God's creation of the universe was covenantal. We believe that God's creation of mankind was covenantal. We believe that God created mankind so that each human was party to the covenant of works, a covenant by which each human would have eternal life by being perfectly obedient to the moral law that governs the imago Dei, i.e., by obeying the natural law. We believe this means that the propensity to function by way of covenants is buried deep in human nature, in human societies, and in creation in general. As a result, we believe that all just laws are grounded as terms within covenants and contracts. We believe that while in the garden of Eden, the humans violated the natural law. As a penalty for violating the natural law, the humans deserved immediate death and eternal doom. Instead of executing immediate justice against the human race, the Three Persons of the Godhead, as part of their eternal covenant with one another, agreed that the Son would become human to fulfill the covenant of works vicariously for pre-selected humans. This agreement between the Persons of the Godhead to redeem some of Adam's race is what we call the covenant of redemption. Since the fallen humans were incapable of satisfying the requirements of the covenant of works, the covenant between God and humanity had to be modified to allow the human race to continue its existence.[note] This modified covenant is what we call the covenant of grace. It's called the covenant of grace because God had mercy on humanity instead of wiping us out, as justice required.[note]

So natural law, in the general sense, is that huge set of laws that are terms of the covenant of works, where such laws have been revealed by God to mankind, awareness of which mankind generally suppresses, the suppression being a by-product of the fall. Natural law is the laws contained within general revelation. In other words, natural law was revealed to humanity in general before the fall, and it is basic to human nature. But since the fall, this revealed knowledge has been overlaid with a deeply engrained inclination in every human being to suppress awareness of natural law. According to this classical view, natural law was written on the heart of the human being in the garden of Eden, but it has been suppressed ever since the fall.

It's reasonable to wonder how this view of natural law aligns with the New Covenant. In Jeremiah 31:33, the prophet indicates that the New Covenant is God's law written on the heart. But according to this classical Reformed view, such law is already written on the heart via general revelation (Romans 1:18-23). There appears to be a contradiction here. Was the law written on the heart in the garden of Eden, or was it (or will it be) written on the heart as prophesied by Jeremiah? This contradiction disappears if we understand this New Covenant as an act, by the Messiah, of revealing anew, reminding, of something already known, but suppressed or forgotten. Jesus in Luke 22:20 indicates that the covenant that Jeremiah is pointing to is the same covenant that Jesus activates in His blood. This natural law articulated in general revelation, and written on everyone's heart, is systematically delivered from suppression through the enabling of the New Covenant, according to Jeremiah. In the New Covenant, according to Jeremiah, God's people have both the natural law and the ability to perform it. The ability to perform the natural law has been lacking ever since the fall. Since no one on this planet is able at present to perform it via his or her own merit, the ability to perform the natural law is still lacking in concrete, everyday life on planet earth. But in the New Covenant, the ability exists by imputation. It existed by imputation before the activation of the New Covenant, evidenced by pre-Christian people whom God indicates as being saved (Hebrews 11), all of whom are necessarily saved through imputation of the attributes of Jesus Christ. But such imputation was not revealed canonically until Jesus activated the New Covenant. So (i)the natural law was written on the heart of every human being at creation. (ii)The natural law was universally suppressed at the fall. (iii)Before Jesus was born, God's elect were regenerated by Jesus Christ through special revelation, even though they had no written knowledge of incarnate Jesus Christ. The regeneration resulted in immediate partial deliverance from the suppression of the natural law (full deliverance via imputed righteousness). (iv)After Jesus' ministry, God's elect are regenerated by Jesus Christ through special revelation with the assistance of divine law in which Jesus' existence is articulated. The regeneration results in the immediate partial deliverance from the suppression of the natural law (full deliverance via imputed righteousness). But the partial deliverance tends to be more complete because Jesus' existence is articulated in the divine law. In accordance with Jeremiah 31:34, the more deliverance from suppression, the less the need to impose the law on others. (v)When Jesus returns, regeneration will result in the complete deliverance from suppression of the natural law. —— With these claims in place, it's clear that there is no contradiction between the classical Reformed view of natural law and the New Covenant.

In spite of whatever entrenched flaws may exist in Thomas Aquinas's theology, the following quote makes it clear that some (and perhaps a lot) of what he said about natural law is consistent with the classical Reformed view, consistent with the Bible, and consistent with the truth:

Now among all others, the rational creature is subject to Divine providence in the most excellent way, in so far as it partakes of a share of providence, by being provident both for itself and for others. Wherefore it has a share of the Eternal Reason, whereby it has a natural inclination to its proper act and end: and this participation of the eternal law in the rational creature is called the natural law. Hence the Psalmist after saying (Ps. 4:6): "Offer up the sacrifice of justice," as though someone asked what the works of justice are, adds: "Many say, Who showeth us good things?" in answer to which question he says: "The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us": thus implying that the light of natural reason, whereby we discern what is good and what is evil, which is the function of the natural law, is nothing else than an imprint on us of the Divine light. It is therefore evident that the natural law is nothing else than the rational creature's participation of the eternal law.[note]

One caveat: It may be true that natural law is "the rational creature's participation in the eternal law", but claiming that "natural law is nothing other than" that may signify a failure to adequately address the suppression issue, a failure that leads to an unrealistically exalted view of man and a palsied view of God. Even so, Aquinas' view of natural law was basically accepted by the Reformers; although the Roman Catholic Church's distortion of it was not.

Necessity of Natural Law:

The term, "natural law" is usually ambiguous. It has a long history, and has had a variety of definitions. The term generally applies to one or both of two sets of theories –– one set of theories being moral and the other set being legal. We distinguish the moral set of theories from the jurisprudential set of theories typographically, natural law being moral and natural law being jurisprudential (i.e., human law). We define natural law strictly in terms of morality and ethics.

It's beyond dispute among legal scholars that since the 19^th century, there have been two competing visions of what the foundations of human law should be, one vision holding to natural law and the other holding to legal positivism: (i)Natural law, as a collection of legal theories, always points to some moral theory, or to some system of morality, as the presumed foundation for human law. (ii)In contrast, legal positivism assumes that human law is whatever the human sovereign claims it to be.[note] We believe that the primary difference between the two can be found relative to Augustine of Hippo's famous dictum, "lex iniusta non est lex", meaning "unjust law is not law" (De Libero Arbitrio (Of Free Choice), i, 5).[note] This dictum puts Augustine and his followers automatically into the natural law camp because it assumes that human law should be judged by some morality higher than the human sovereign. Natural law, by definition, must adhere to this belief. In contrast, legal positivism does not adhere to this belief. These two facts relate directly to the difference between natural law and