Image of God

HOW DO HUMAN BEINGS KNOW THE MORAL
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG?

An Excerpt from a course on Natural Law, the Noahide, and the Torah

So How do human beings know the moral difference between right and wrong even if they have no knowledge of a written Word (remembering that for the first two and a half millennium of human history there was no codified written Word - Torah)?  The answer to that question takes us back to the Imago Dei (the image of God).

The very idea of law whether natural, Noahic or Mosaic presupposes something of a sense of what is moral, and if such an idea is universal then an innate mechanism is required to comprehend such a sense.  That mechanism must be the image of God.

If that image is innate it must also be self-revealing.  That is, the moal image of God in us must express itself in choice - moral choice.  Every time we make a moral choice the image of God it reveals itself.  

That is why in all cultures of all times certain moral requisites have been universally and ubiquitously recognized and accepted.  Stealing is wrong, murder is wrong, and so is lying, cheating, adultery, and other innately recognized moral fundamentals or what might be understood as things which are either righteous or unrighteous.

This observable fact is often termed "Natural Law."  Natural law is a noun, and usually defined as:

"a body of unchanging moral principles regarded as a basis for all human conduct." ¹

The first (most ancient reliable) codification of natural law is regarded to be what is known as "The Seven Laws of the Noahide," a term (and foundation for universal morality) hardly known by most Christians, rarely mentioned in ministerial courses of study at the Bible College or Seminary level, and yet is a body of knowledge that is the foundation for Torah (Mosaic Law) as we have it.

The Noahide is the ancient standard for morality.  It has been said that:

"The Seven Noahide Laws" are a sacred inheritance of all the children of Noah, one that every person on the face of the earth can use as the basis of his or her spiritual, moral and pragmatic life." ²

Fundamentally Natural Law is a body of rules that govern moral conduct.  But that definition must be fleshed out, that is, expanded into actual human life and practice.  If it is natural, then it is not something externally acquired, but innately rises from within.  It is in fact, a reflection if the image of a righteous God.

In the next study we will take up the subject of Natural Law in a more comprehensive way.

For a deeper study, you are encouraged to consider enrolling in our 3 credit-hour academic course "THE LAW OF UNIVERSAL RIGHTEOUSNESS:  Natural Law, the Noahide, and the Torah."  You can check out all of our regular academic programs by clicking this link:  PROGRAMS.

Thank you for sharing time with me.  I hope this brief post will encourage you to want to learn more about the laws of universal righteousness, and the manner in which God has implanted the awareness of right and wrong within your own heart and mind.

Dennis D. Frey, Th.D.,

1.  https://www.google.com/search?q=natural+law&oq=natural+law&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.2119j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

2.  http://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/62221/jewish/Universal-Morality.htm

Moral Difference

HOW DO HUMAN BEINGS KNOW THE MORAL
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG?

An Excerpt from a course on Natural Law, the Noahide, and the Torah

The question, "How do human beings know the moral difference between right and wrong?" must then be answered by first acknowledging the image of God in all of us whether we live righteously or unrighteously.  This is what the Apostle Paul so strongly affirmed in his epistle to the church at Rome.

"For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, 'BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is know about God is evident to them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood though that which has been made so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:17-20).

To restate what was noted in the previous post - if we as human beings are a "shadow" of the spiritual image of God, we must be a shadow of His moral image.  That image, if created and not manufactured through experience, must be innate (inborn, native, natural, inherent, instinctive).

That is what the Apostle Paul is saying.  He is also pointing out the opposite of informing, enlightening and maturing through teaching, practice and experience of that same image.  That is, stifling, repressing, warping, and eventually perverting it.  

This is what he means when he adds "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks but became futile in their speculations, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" (Romans 1:21, 22).

The spiritual image of God in man may be nurtured, neglected or abused, but cannot be ignored.  It rises up to confront us with moral choices - and it does so every day.  This is why Paul concluded that "they are without excuse" (Romans 1:20b).  

So How do human beings know the moral difference between right and wrong even if they have no knowledge of a written Word (remembering that for the first two and a half millennium of human history there was no codified written Word - Torah)?  The answer to that question takes us back to the Imago Dei (the image of God).

What exactly is moral reflection of the image of God in man?  That is the question we will take up in our next post.

For a deeper study, you are encouraged to consider enrolling in our 3 credit-hour academic course "THE LAW OF UNIVERSAL RIGHTEOUSNESS:  Natural Law, the Noahide, and the Torah."  You can check out all of our regular academic programs by clicking this link:  PROGRAMS.

Thank you for sharing time with me.  I hope this brief post will encourage you to want to learn more about the laws of universal righteousness, and the manner in which God has implanted the awareness of right and wrong within your own heart and mind.

Dennis D. Frey, Th.D.,

Right & Wrong?

HOW DO HUMAN BEINGS KNOW THE MORAL
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG?

An Excerpt from a course on Natural Law, the Noahide, and the Torah

It is universally accepted among Christians and Jews that human beings were uniquely created in the "image of God."  As it relates to human life this is the most fundamental premise of the Bible as established in the first chapter of the first Book. 

"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'  God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:26, 27 NASV).

It is also universally understood by Christians and Jews that the image of God in mankind is not physical, but spiritual.  As Jesus (the Incarnation) Himself affirmed, "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24).

While a spirit is incorporeal, it is not without an image.  The Hebrew word "image" as used in Genesis 1:26, and 27 is צֶלֶם (teslem) coming from an unused root meaning to shade.  In other words, we are something of a "shadow" of God's spiritual image - an image that is infinitely holy.

On a practical level, God's infinite holiness is subsumed in His attributes.  Attributes such as justice, truthfulness, grace, mercy, compassion, faithfulness, and loving kindness. 

Holiness can only be observed in the light of its antithesis. The comparison requires a judgment between the two - a moral judgment.  The word "moral" whether defined when it is used as an adjective or a noun comes out about the same.  That is, it is a standard or principle of right and wrong.

Therefore, if we as human beings are a "shadow" of the spiritual image of God, we must be a shadow of His moral image as well (finite to be sure, yet still a shadow).  That image, if created and not manufactured through experience, must be innate (inborn, native, natural, inherent, instinctive). 

While it may be informed, enlightened and matured through teaching, practice and experience, it cannot be informed, enlightened or matured at all if it is not first innate.  Something that is not cannot be practiced, polished or matured.  Stated more concisely, something cannot come from nothing.

The question, "How do human beings know the moral difference between right and wrong?" must then be answered by first acknowledging the image of God in all of us whether we live righteously or unrighteously. Just what is that image of God?  This is the question we will take up in our next post.

For a deeper study, you are encouraged to consider enrolling in our3 credit-hour academic course "THE LAW OF UNIVERSAL RIGHTEOUSNESS:  Natural Law, the Noahide, and the Torah."  You can check out all of our regular academic programs by clicking this link:  PROGRAMS.

Thank you for sharing time with me.  I hope this brief post will encourage you to want to learn more about the laws of universal righteousness, and the manner in which God has implanted the awareness of right and wrong within your own heart and mind.

Dennis D. Frey, Th.D.,