T he law of nature is often taken to refer to the laws that govern physical nature, such as the law of gravity or Newton’s laws of thermodynamics. When Paul says Gentiles “do by nature the things contained in the law”, he was referring to the “law of human nature”. Just as the law of physical nature governs the operations of the natural world around us, the law of human nature governs the moral operations of man. There is, however, one difference. A person cannot choose to defy the physical laws of nature without immediate repercussions. He cannot reject the law of gravity, walk off the top of a tall building and not expect to fall to his death. But a man can choose to defy the law of human nature. What about the insane person? The fact some people are classified as insane means there is a standard of behaviour that is recognized as sane. And while we excuse the insane person who has committed a crime, we do not excuse the sane. The rest of society, who are sane, are expected to adhere to a particular moral standard. What about the people who live in a different culture – the old Indian custom of suttee in which a wife immolates herself on the funeral pyre of her dead husband, or cannibalism that was the practice of some early tribes? It must be pointed out that these and other inhumane acts are the more blatant examples of human depravity, recognized almost universally as dastardly and wrong. The point still is that there is a law of human nature universally recognized by the world at large.
LESSON
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves.
But for the grace of God and the restraint of the Holy Spirit [2 Thessalonians 2:7], there is no telling the depth to which human depravity will drive us.
THOUGHT
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