The Universal Moral Law

In today’s Western world, most people see morality as a matter of subjective belief. If you act according to your personal convictions, then you are a moral person. However, this is not a uniformly held view. Throughout human history, leading thinkers have taught that there is an objective moral law, binding on all people. The wise person lives his or her life in accordance with that moral law. The Scriptures likewise teach objective morality. Apart from the Scriptures, even the Gentiles know there is right and wrong, since the Law is “written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness” (Romans 2:15, NKJV). Martin Luther built upon this biblical concept, using traditional concepts from the Scriptures and the natural-law tradition. 

In what follows, passages from Luther and representative pre-Christian gentile sources are presented which concur in affirming the reality of a universal moral law and to a large extent agreeing about its basic content. The fact that these beliefs are so widespread confirms the biblical teaching that a universal moral law is inscribed on human hearts.

Martin Luther

Non-Lutherans frequently believe that Martin Luther rejected the idea of a universal moral law, assuming that the doctrine of Sola Scriptura would have led Luther to teach that only Jews and Christians could have knowledge of God’s law.

However, Luther took the broader view, since the Scriptures expressly teach that the law is written in every heart. He writes, “’Thou shalt not kill, commit adultery, steal, etc.’ are not Mosaic laws only, but are also the natural law written in each man’s heart, as St. Paul teaches (Romans 2).”[i] In another place, he asserts that “[T]he Gentiles have certain laws in common with the Jews such as these: there is one God, no one is to do wrong to another, no one is to commit adultery or murder or steal, and others like them. This is written by nature into their hearts; they did not hear it straight from heaven as the Jews did.”[ii] In this same work, he states the following:

[I]t is natural to honor God, not steal, not commit adultery, not bear false witness, not murder; and what Moses commands is nothing new. For what God has given the Jews from heaven, he has also written in the hearts of all men. Thus I keep the commandments which Moses has given, not because Moses gave commandment, but because they have been implanted in me by nature, and Moses agrees exactly with nature.[iii]

As he often did, Luther expresses the concept in dramatic terms: “If the Ten Commandments are to be regarded as Moses’ law, then Moses came far too late, and he also addressed himself to far too few people, because the Ten Commandments had spread over the whole world not only before Moses but even before Abraham and all the patriarchs. For even if a Moses had never appeared and Abraham had never been born, the Ten Commandments would have had to rule in all men from the very beginning, as they indeed did and still do.”[iv]

Finally, Luther shows the relevance of this to evangelism and calling people to repentance with a practical, pastoral observation. “[W]ere it not naturally written in the heart, one would have to teach and preach the law for a long time before it became the concern of conscience.”[v]

Egyptian Book of the Dead (c. 1600 B.C.)

Virtually all world religions believe that the soul survives death and then enters a state of reward or punishment. This belief is evident in one of the earliest surviving Egyptian inscriptions, which dates back to 3600 B.C., the dawn of recorded history. The inscription provided guidance to a dying person, to prevent his heart from “falling away from him into the underworld.”[vi] The person’s fate would be decided in a “hearing,” where his words would be weighed in “the Balance.”[vii]

A text from 2500 B.C. clarifies that the dead are judged by moral criteria. The person is condemned if “he has done deeds against that which is very right and true.”[viii]

Finally, around 1600 B.C., the time-tested Egyptian texts were gathered into a single scroll, the Book of the Dead. In this document, Egyptians learned what to expect in the next life. They would face a panel of judges, who would question them about specific moral breaches. They would have to defend their earthly conduct. The “feather of truth” was near their lips, and would judge the accuracy of their words. To avoid eternal punishment, each person would have to prove that he had led a life free from specific acts of immorality:

I have done no wrong . . . I have not robbed . . . I have not murdered . . . I have not told lies . . . I have not trespassed . . . I have not gossiped . . . I have not committed adultery . . . I have not made myself deaf to the words of right and truth . . . I have not judged hastily.[ix]

Only the person who passed this rigorous test would be admitted into eternal life. The remainder would be condemned to punishment in the underworld.

Zoroaster (630–550 B.C.)

Zoroaster was born in the Persian land of Airyana Vaejah. While still a young man, Zoroaster began teaching that there is one God, the Creator, who will reward good and punish evil in the next life.

Initially, Zoroaster’s teachings were strongly resisted by priests of the traditional Persian religions. However, he eventually gained the support of Vishtaspa, the king of Chorasmia, which is now Turkistan. With the king’s help, Zoroaster’s doctrines became widely known and accepted. 

Zoroaster believed that every person faces a moral conflict in this life—a battle between good and evil. However, in the next life, there will be no such conflict. God has total domination, and will reward and punish all evil thoughts, words, and deeds.

Zoroaster taught that after a person dies the soul faces judgment on the “Bridge of the Requiter.” There the person’s good and evil deeds flash before his eyes. Those whose “thoughts and words, deeds and religion are good” can cross the bridge and enter the kingdom of everlasting joy and light.[x] However, those whose deeds are evil are dragged off the bridge into “nethermost hell,” a region of punishment and darkness.[xi]

Confucius (551–479 B.C.) 

Confucius is one of the most influential figures in Chinese history. However, his life began inauspiciously. He was born in the state of Lu, the present-day province of Shantung. Feudalism had degenerated in China, and crime and corruption were rampant. Confucius’ father died three years after he was born, leaving the family in poverty.

Confucius did menial work until the age of twenty-three, when his mother died. With family ties severed, he began his career as a teacher, traveling about China and instructing a small group of disciples. He taught the ancient Chinese classics, focusing on the benefits of morality.

Confucius believed that moral leaders were the key to a prosperous society. If rulers would live virtuous lives, they would influence the common people by the power of their example. As a result, their states would become prosperous and happy. Confucius taught the need to harmonize life with the moral law. The life of the moral man is “an exemplification of the universal moral order.”[xii] On the other hand, the “vulgar person’s life” is a “contradiction of the universal moral order,” because in his heart he has “no regard for, or fear of, the moral law.”[xiii] 

Confucius believed that a moral law implied a Moral Lawgiver. To show “respect for the moral law” is to “understand the law of God.”[xiv]

Confucius recognized that the core principle of the moral law is unselfishness—avoiding harm to others. When one carries out the principles of “conscientiousness and reciprocity,” he is close to the moral law. “What you do not wish others should do unto you, do not do unto others.”[xv]

Socrates (470 –399 B.C.)

Socrates was born in Athens, Greece, the son of a sculptor and a midwife. After receiving the traditional education in literature and music, he taught himself philosophy.

Socrates taught the objective reality of moral principles such as justice, virtue, and love. Through Plato and other disciples, Socrates forever changed the course of Western philosophy.

However, Socrates’ teachings were not well received by the establishment of his day. Many Athenian leaders disliked his attitude towards the state and religion. In 399 B.C., he was charged with neglecting the Greek gods, and was sentenced to death.

Socrates’ disciples planned his escape from prison, but he preferred to comply with the law and die for his cause. He consoled his disciples that the real Socrates consisted not of his mortal body, but of his immortal soul.[xvi] Since every soul survives death, Socrates taught, its fate in the next world depends on how one has behaved in this world. Justice requires such a universal judgment:

If death were a release from everything, it would be a boon for the wicked, because by dying they would be released not only from the body, but also from their own wickedness together with the soul.[xvii] 

This doctrine of future punishment promotes “self-control, and goodness, and courage, and liberality, and truth” in this life.[xviii]

Cicero (106 –43 B.C.) 

Marcus Tullius Cicero was born into a wealthy family in Arpinu, in modern-day Italy. After receiving an excellent education in Greece, he served in the Roman military under the noted general Pompeius Strabo, the father of Pompey.

Cicero wrote several important philosophical and political treatises, and made many significant speeches in the Senate. Through these, he tried to uphold republican principles during the civil wars that destroyed the Roman Republic and led to Julius Caesar’s dictatorship.

Cicero’s central thesis was that a single moral law governs all people. It is “unchanging and eternal.” Its prohibitions deter people from wrongdoing. Its commands “call people to their duty.”[xix] Accordingly, Cicero taught, human laws couldn’t modify this universal law. “We cannot be exempted from this law by any decree of the Senate or the people.”[xx]

Behind this universal law is the universal lawgiver. God is its author, promulgator, and enforcer. He is the “lord and master of us all.”[xxi]

Summary

Both the Scriptures and human experience demonstrate that all people can see that there is a universal moral law. As confessional Lutherans, we can build on this common knowledge to show the need for the Gospel, pointing people to the Scriptures for a thorough understanding of this vital topic.

[i] Luther’s Works 40:97.

[ii] Luther’s Works 35:164.

[iii] Luther’s Works 35:168.

[iv] Luther’s Works 47:89.

[v] Luther’s Works 40:97.

[vi] Wallis Budge, Egyptian Religion (1899, reprint New York: Barnes & Noble 1994) 141-42.

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] Ibid., 143.

[ix] The Egyptian Book of the Dead, trans. E. A. Wallis Budge (Mineola: Dover 1967) Chapter 125.

[x] S. G. F. Brandon, The Judgment of the Dead (New York: Scribners 1967) 158-60.

[xi] Ibid.

[xii] Lin Yutang, ed., The Wisdom of China and India (New York: Random House, 1942) 846.

[xiii] Ibid.

[xiv] Ibid., 853-54.

[xv] Ibid., 848.

[xvi] Plato, Phaedo in Plato, The Collected Dialogues, ed. Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989) 63.

[xvii] Ibid., 89.

[xviii] Ibid., 95.

[xix] Cicero, The Republic, Book III, trans. Niall Rudd (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) 68.

[xx] Ibid., 69.

[xxi] Ibid.

Britton Weimer (JD, University of Minnesota Law School) is a confessional Lutheran (WELS) and a commercial attorney. He is the co-author of Britton Weimer and Paul Johnson, Searching for Answers: The Unquenchable Thirst (AMG Publishers 2002).