Render to God What Is God’s

In November of 1946, the trials of the infamous Nazi war criminals took place in Nuremberg, Germany. The United States charged these men with heinous crimes, and they were tried and found guilty on four counts: conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It is interesting to note that every act committed by these men was legal under the German system of government. Despite this, the United States determined that they were guilty and further, that their culpability was so grave that twelve of them were executed. Therefore, it had been determined that they had committed a serious offense against justice—against law. But what law is this? Why did this country think that we had the right to end the lives of these men by imparting a seemingly particular legislation of justice? Clearly, these punishments were imparted by an appeal to a law that transcends particular human institution.

The very notion of a crime against humanity points to a natural law which must be recompensed when broken. Further, if a law such as this corresponds to our natures, human nature must be its principle, acting as the rule and measure of a justice that speaks to a law which is unalterable and to which every man is subjected. Thus, this law must lie beyond the courtroom and beyond a particular country—even beyond all human societies.

Lately, we have begun to move away from the concept of human institutions being a part of a larger order, but the natural law points to this. Christ said in Scripture to “Render to Caesar what is to Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” He looked at the inscription on the coin He was handed, and the image on it was Caesar’s. But we must always ask ourselves: what image is on man? As such, he does not belong firstly to a solely human political community. If this is true, he will be judged first as a man, not as a citizen.