As we approach the 2024 Presidential Election, it’s easy to get caught up in particulars – particular positions of candidates, particular propositions to vote for/against, and so forth. While these are not irrelevant or inconsequential (far from it…they are hugely important!), it is nonetheless also true to say that we put the proverbial cart before the horse during election season. For to understand particulars, we have to step back to understand the role of law in God’s plan of salvation.
To state it simply, anybody with children can attest that chaos ensues when there are no rules! There need to be structure and behavioral expectations set upon children, with proper training in right living. So, too, with every group that we belong to – the school needs rules, the sports team, and on down the list. Civil society, as well, would fall into anarchy were civil society to be lawless. While few, if any, could disagree with this, there is much debate about what the frame of reference should be for that civil law. Is it merely a matter of majority rules, whichever political party/person holding power at liberty to enact whatever law(s) so desired? Or is there a certain way that we have been made by God to live, without which we cannot attain true happiness? What, exactly, is the role of lawgivers: to enact that which is voted upon or to enact that which will make citizens virtuous?
As the saying goes, “ideas have consequences”. Meaning, the way that we think directly affects what we choose, who and how we love. In the case of law, it is intimately connected to the spiritual life. When Ford or Toyota make a car, a manual is always issued teaching the owner how to drive the car, otherwise it will be run into the ground. Likewise, God has made us to live a certain way, so only when we live that way can we be truly happy. Law is thus part of God’s instruction in righteousness. As St. Thomas Aquinas writes in his Summa theologica, “We have now to consider the extrinsic principles of acts. Now the extrinsic principle inclining to evil is the devil, of whose temptations we have spoken…But the extrinsic principle moving to good is God, Who both instructs us by means of His Law, and assists us by His Grace.” We are supposed to become like Jesus Christ, that is what a life of holiness consists of. Law, properly understood, is one of the means of God’s instruction in Jesus Christ. Grace gives us the power to live like Jesus Christ…but God uses law to teach us how to live like Jesus Christ. And God is constantly teaching us like a good father, trying to train us in righteousness, law being one of His primary teaching tools. Laws with no frame of reference to God are like cars with no manual – you may be able to turn it on, but you definitely don’t know how to operate it!
Want to learn more about the law of God? Then check out Daniel’s Audio Course – The Law of God: The Love of a Father. 17 tracks with over 16 hours of material on the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas on law – the philosophy of law, the natural law, the civil law, the Divine Law, and so much more! Visit thewisdomofthesaints.com for more information and to purchase.
