Unbridled passions. Fiery protests. Sharp rhetoric. These realities characterize our nation as it waits with bated breath for the formal decision of the Supreme Court on the debate regarding abortion. The debate over abortion, however, and its constitutionality leads us to consider a more fundamental question: what is the purpose of law? To answer this question, we can look to the definitions of the eternal and natural law as means of perfection for the human person.
The perfection of the human person consists in the attainment of happiness that comes in knowing the truth and choosing the good. Consequently, every human being seeks this end of happiness when choosing to act. The old adage “everyone wants to be happy” rings true with this understanding of perfection. God has ordained in his loving wisdom that man know and love him as ultimate happiness. If the end of the human person is to know and love God as the term of his perfection, what are the means for attaining this end? Perhaps a definition of law is in order.
Every just law is an ordinance of reason made and promulgated by one who has authority over the community for the sake of the common good. All forms of law—including eternal, natural, and civil law—are ordered toward a common or sharable good, the greatest of which is the happiness that is man’s ultimate end. Let’s look to the eternal law and the natural law to better understand this point.
Eternal law is God’s knowledge of how he directs all of creation toward its good and perfective end. As the Divine Wisdom itself, it is the highest form of law. Since every man is a creature, the eternal law is imprinted in the very act of his existence. Man cannot avoid passively participating in the eternal law because it shapes and directs his human nature. All lower forms of law presuppose the eternal law and derive their character of ‘law’ insofar as they are consistent with it.
Man can understand how his nature is shaped by the eternal law and can govern himself and others accordingly. This active participation by man in the eternal law is called the natural law. God gave man precepts of the natural law written on his heart to aid him in knowing the truth and loving the good that perfects him. The most fundamental precept of the natural law is to do good and avoid evil. Among other precepts, the natural law forbids the deliberate taking of an innocent life. Any civil law that does not conform to the natural law leads away from the perfection of the human person and is no just law. This is the starting point for any debate about a particular law such as abortion in the public square.
As the protests continue and the emotions flare, let us remember that the purpose of every just law, the most fundamental of which is the eternal law, is to guide man to perfection. Man participates in this purpose by following the precepts of the natural law. For us as individuals and as a nation, ruling ourselves in accord with the natural law is not meant to be vengeful or punitive. It is a way to participate in God’s guidance of us to our shared perfective end, our happiness.
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Photo by William Cho
