Natural Law
A moral order written into human nature, legible to reason without revelation
Natural law is the idea of a moral order built into human nature and knowable by reason, understood to reflect God's eternal law. Romans 2 speaks of a law written on the heart, and Aquinas developed the theme at length in the Summa Theologiae. Traditions weigh it differently: it is central to Catholic moral theology, while Orthodox and Protestant ethics receive it with varying emphasis.
How it traveled
- RomansCorinth · 67explains
- MatthewAntioch · 80explains
- LukeRome · 84explains
- The Instructions of Commodianus.— · 220explains
- Apology.— · 220explains
- The LettersCaesarea (Cappadocia) · 379explains
- The HexæmeronCaesarea (Cappadocia) · 379explains
- On the Duties of the ClergyMilan · 397explains
- The Homilies of St. John ChrysostomConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- Homilies on First CorinthiansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the RomansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- A Commentary on the Acts of the ApostlesConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and ThessaloniansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and EphesiansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Timothy, Titus, and PhilemonConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. JohnConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies on the Statues to the People of AntiochConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the HebrewsConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- City of GodHippo Regius · 430explains
- Letters of St. AugustinHippo Regius · 430explains
- Expositions on the Book of PsalmsHippo Regius · 430explains
- On LyingHippo Regius · 430explains
- On Christian DoctrineHippo Regius · 430explains
- Reply to Faustus the ManichæanHippo Regius · 430explains
- Against LyingHippo Regius · 430explains
- A Treatise on the Spirit and the LetterHippo Regius · 430explains
- Our Lord’s Sermon on the MountHippo Regius · 430explains
- The ConfessionsHippo Regius · 430explains
- The Book of Pastoral Rule, and Selected Epistles, of Gregory the GreatRome · 604explains
- Selected Epistles of Gregory the GreatRome · 604explains
- Treatise on Man (qq[75]-102)Paris · 1274explains
- Commentary on GalatiansWittenberg · 1546explains
- Book Second. of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the GospelGeneva · 1564explains
- Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from ItGeneva · 1564explains
- Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic ChurchGeneva · 1564explains
- The great christian doctrine of original sin defendedNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- XIV Five discourses on the soul's eternal salvationNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- a careful and strict inquiry into the prevailing notions of the freedom of willNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- A Dissertation on the Nature of True VirtueNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- Seventeen Occasional SermonsNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
Key passages(20)
Mere Christianity · C. S. Lewis
Love and Responsibility · Pope St. John Paul II
A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 43 [XXVI.]—A Question Touching the Passage in the Apostle About the Gentiles Who are Said to Do by Nature the Law’s Commands, Which They are Also Said to Have Written on Their Hearts. Now we
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Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
16. What I have said will become plain if we attend, as we ought, to two things connected with all laws—viz. the enactment of the law, and the equity on which the enactment is founded and rests. Equit
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On the Duties of the Clergy · Ambrose of Milan
17. The very form of thy body and the uses of thy limbs teach thee this. Can one limb claim the duties of another? Can the eye claim for itself the duties of the ear; or the mouth the duties of the ey
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The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X · John Cassian
An objection, as to how an unlawful intermingling with the daughters of Cain could be charged against the line of Seth before the prohibition of the law. Germanus: If that command had been given to t
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The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans · John Chrysostom
Verse 12 assigns the ground of v. 11. “Sin brings penalty and death whether committed under the Mosaic law or under the ethical law of conscience.” The first member of the sentence (v. 12) applies to
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The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch · John Chrysostom
8. One mode, then, of knowing God, is that by the creation, which I have spoken of, and which might occupy many days. For in order that we might go over the formation of man only with exactness, (and
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
Objection 1: It seems that children of Jews or other unbelievers should be baptized against the will of their parents. For it is a matter of greater urgency to rescue a man from the danger of eternal
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A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 46.—How the Passage of the Law Agrees with that of the Prophet. If therefore the apostle, when he mentioned that the Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the law, and have the work o
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A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 19 [XII]—The Knowledge of God Through the Creation. And then the apostle very properly turns from this point to describe with detestation those men who, light-minded and puffed up by the sin
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Against Heresies: Book IV · Irenaeus of Lyons
1. And that the Lord did not abrogate the natural [precepts] of the law, by which man 2. For the law, since it was laid down for those in bondage, used to instruct the soul by means of those corporea
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Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
14. In states, the thing next in importance to the magistrates is laws, the strongest sinews of government, or, as Cicero calls them after Plato, the soul, without which, the office of the magistrate
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Book Second. of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the Gospel · John Calvin
EXPOSITION OF THE MORAL LAW. This chapter consists of four parts. I. Some general observations necessary for the understanding of the subject are made by way of preface, sec. 1–5. II. Three things al
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Book Second. of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the Gospel · John Calvin
54. Let us therefore hold, that our life will be framed in best accordance with the will of God, and the requirements of his Law, when it is, in every respect, most advantageous to our brethren. But i
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By whom also we exhort you in the Lord to abstain from your old conversation, vain bonds, separations, observances, distinction of meats, and daily washings: for “old things are passed away; behold, a
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City of God · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 14.—Of the Order and Law Which Obtain in Heaven and Earth, Whereby It Comes to Pass that Human Society Is Served by Those Who Rule It. The whole use, then, of things temporal has a reference
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City of God · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 13.—Of the Universal Peace Which the Law of Nature Preserves Through All Disturbances, and by Which Every One Reaches His Desert in a Way Regulated by the Just Judge. The peace of the body th
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Homilies on First Corinthians · John Chrysostom
Let us not then despair, but even though thou be a reviler, or covetous, or whatsoever thou art, consider that Paul was (1 Tim. 13, 16.) “a blasphemer, and persecutor, and injurious, and the chief of
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Homilies on First Corinthians · John Chrysostom
βδελύγματα. rec. text. πορνείαν. And again, Paul rebuking the unclean among the Romans thus aggravates the accusation, saying, that their usage was not only against the law of God, but even against n
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Modern teachers who discuss this idea
Modern and living teachers whose books take up Natural Law. These works are still in copyright, so we can’t show the text here — each links out to the book.
- C. S. LewisMere Christianity(1952)View on Amazon→
- Pope St. John Paul IILove and Responsibility(1960)View on Amazon→