Proverbs and Natural Law

Happy Monday again!

I continue my journey through Proverbs this week. As I have breached into the Proverbs "proper," starting with chapter 10, I have become familiar again with Solomon's pattern, at least a great deal of the time. "The righteous (conduct themselves in this way), but the evil (conduct themselves in a way that leads to their own destruction)." Obviously, I am generalizing. But with this pattern comes a question: Are these divine promises, or are they more like general principles that hold mostly true?

I would tend to lean toward the latter definition rather than the former. We can all likely cite examples where a child of God experiences disaster and an evil person seems to be prospering. In the resurrection, this will no longer be. But even now, even though there are exceptions from time to time, we can see the truthfulness of Solomon's words. I believe this is the case because we live in God's creation, and even though it is broken by the curse of sin, it still testifies to God's natural (built-in) law. Dr. Joel Biermann at Concordia Seminary provides a very helpful discussion of natural law in Session 2 of the Lutheran Hour Ministries video study "Who Am I? What Am I Doing Here?" As Dr. Biermann points out in the video, God doesn't have to cast lightning bolts from the heavens to smite evil-doers - they're often already built into the creation itself. Follow the design of the Creator as He intended, and life tends to work out better. Go against His design, and you will experience the pain that naturally comes with living out of sync with His will for creation. Consider, as an example, human sexuality. Within the marriage relationship, its exercise is a powerful force to draw husband and wife together as each seeks to selflessly love the other. Outside of those boundaries, it produces all kinds of consequences - shallow relationships, loss of personal dignity, stress, broken homes, disease, and even death.

The Proverbs aren't divine mandates in the same way as the 10 Commandments. And they aren't a roadmap to salvation in that they don't explicitly proclaim Christ's work for us. But they are invaluable as they remind the people of God (and all people) that we are God's creatures living in His creation, where His will ought to be done. As recipients of Christ's saving work and His life-giving Spirit, we are empowered to live as the creatures God always intended us to be - fearing, loving, and trusting Him above all things.