It seems that these theological concepts imago Dei and natural law cannot be dissonant members, but each reflect back on each other in some way. While some men have come to the point where they could consciously allow a partial birth abortion or even have a certain love for the unborn child they chose to abort, there is something, it seems, that makes man intrinsically dignified. Even the most derelict societies in the world have a concept of murder.
The relationship between the image and the law are reciprocal. Not only does the law show the image, but the image reflects the law. Carl H. F. Henry, a professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, says this in First Things magazine, “nothing [brings a moral cohesiveness] other than respect …show more content…
Adam and Eve where told not to eat of the tree, Israel was given the ten commandments, and followers of ‘the way’ were told to take up their cross. The question that this raises is whether God changes subjective morality. Is what is right only what God decides is right at the time? It would seem that this is not so. The thread that runs through all of these commandments is the movement of one’s actions towards the things that are good. And perhaps good is not the right word to use. Maybe summum bonum, the total of all good or highest good, is more accurate. This is the natural law. In order to obtain a theologically appropriate understanding of the natural law, it is important to make distinctions between the civil law, the ceremonial law, and the moral law. Both of the former have have faded into outmoded cultural expression of God’s holiness. That is not to say that they do not inform a significant doctrine of God, but they are no longer appropriate to the worship of God. The later is what remains. The moral law is indivisible from God. It is both comes from him and is part of who He is. It is this law that transcends time as an expression of God’s divine character; this is the natural …show more content…
One is to love God with and love others as themselves. These commandments encompass the ideals of human value, beneficence, justice, and others that run through all cultures. Humanity, at its core, has an inclination toward these values, although it transgresses them and may express them in different ways. There is a constant across all societies that tells them to direct their lives to the good. This is most nearly what Paul is saying in Romans 2:15. People understand that there is a good to be had and have a conscience that plagues their mind. In other words, “the Bible’s understanding of human nature presumes the existence of created human natural inclinations toward the goods of human