Divine law and human law

Somehow, when Christ said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not abolish but to fulfill," (Mt 5,17) we are led to realize that there must be different categories and levels of law and that in the end, the ultimate distinction is between divine law and human law.

- Fr. Roy Cimagala

Divine law, of course, comes from a higher power, no less than God himself, and covers everything in our life since it focuses on the moral and spiritual dimensions of our life. Human law is made by men through a variety of agencies, and it mainly focuses on rules for social order, rights, and governance.

This divine law has been embodied, revealed, and commanded of us by Christ, the son of God who became man to redeem us and the very pattern of our humanity. As such, he rightly claims to be the fulfillment of all the laws we have.

We have to disabuse ourselves from the thought that our laws can be based only on our common sense, or on our own estimation of what is good and evil according to the values of practicality, convenience, etc., or on our traditions and culture, etc.