Santos, Mark Roland S.

2022-00485

Section-1J

Introduction:

The book “Genesis of Justice” argues that the narratives in the book Genesis from the bible

which shows stories of injustices, and various stories of man’s commission of sins are the

foundation of our legal system. And because of these narratives from the book of Genesis, the

author also pointed out that God’s divine law evolved to a codified rule of man. As I read the

material, I somehow agree to the extent that natural law gave birth and serves as the basis of

legal system as shown in the book of Genesis which reflects stories of man’s natural nature of

committing good and evil. But I do not agree that divine law evolved and serves as the basis of

the modern legal system. In this paper, I would want to emphasize that we need to differentiate

divine law, and natural law. My position is that natural law alone is the basis of human law.

Body:

The stories of trial and error of man in determing what is right and just from the book of

Genesis is only a part on how natural law became the foundation of modern legal system. The

nature of man to commit good and evil is the basis of modern legal system. The book of Genesis

is a mixture of natural and divine law because God’s will serve as the limitation of man’s nature.

But we must remember that the main intention of the book of Genesis is to strengthen faith to

God by following His will, it is a matter of religious belief and not mainly to promote peace and
order as what our modern legal system have been designed to. I remember very well the question

of my Professor in my Constitutional Law 1 had given us, the question is “is the will of the

sovereign, the will of God?” As some of my classmates answered yes, he immediately corrected

the class and told us that we need to differentiate early law such as the Constitution created by

man, from Divine law. My point is that, if we are to subscribe to the arguments of the author of

the book Genesis of Justice, that God’s law evolved to man’s legal system then we are creating

exclusivity. We must remember that human society is so diverse, we have various religious

beliefs, traditions, and cultures. That is the reason as to why I only agree with the author on how

he represents the stories of Genesis as a development of man’s natural law serving as the basis of

the legal system but not up to the extent of divine law. For me, Divine law is beyond man’s

capacity to comprehend, especially by the members of human society who have different faiths

or have no faith at all. If we insist that Divine law is the foundation of human law, then why

cannot we punish act of God and we only do so to the act of man. On the other hand, natural law

is what makes us human, this is our common knowledge as human beings, our intrinsic values

govern the way we think, and we reason out. This is the very foundation of human law; it is like

the concept of yin and yang that there is good in evil and vice versa. Every person has a different

percentage of good and evil within himself, and what is right and just from not is a very

subjective matter and will still depend on how we think and reason out. This is the very reason as

to why our modern legal system is created, we apply laws created by man to assert our very own

existence, our rights in this society.

Conclusion:
 The author is right that stories of the commission of sins from the book Genesis reflect

man’s trial and error into seeking justice. However, Divine law is not the basis of human law

because God’s will is beyond man’s capacity. Natural law alone is the basis of human law.

Man’s struggles from injustice committed by another due to man’s nature reflect the process of

developing our modern legal system throughout the history of humankind.