BENEDICT DE SPINOZA: Theological-Political Treatise

Sovereign powers and religion
[3 ] I sp e ak expre s sly of p ious c onduct and for mal relig ious worship and
not p i e ty its elf or pr ivate worship of Go d or the me ans by which the
mind is in te r nally directe d wholehe ar te dly to reve re Go d. For inte r nal
ve n e rat ion of Go d, and p i e ty, a s such are u nde r eve r yon e’s individual
ju r is diction (a s we showe d at the e nd of ch. 7), and c annot b e transfe r red
to anothe r. Fu r the r m ore , what I me an by ‘kingdom of Go d’ he re is plain
e nough, I supp o s e , fro m chapte r 14. We showe d the re that a p e rs on ful ¢ls
the law of Go d by pract is ing just ice and char ity at Go d’s c o mma nd, fro m
which it follows that a kingdom of Go d is a kingdom in which just ice and
char ity have the force of law and c o mma nd. I c annot s e e that it make s
any di¡e re nce he re whe the r Go d te ache s and c o m mands the tr ue prac -
t ice of just ice and char ity by the natural ligh t of re a s on or by revelat ion.
It make s no di¡e rence how such pract ice is reve aled 1 to me n, provide d
that it p o s s e s s e s supre me author ity and s e r ve s me n a s the ir highe st law.
Just ice and char ity I must the refore now show c an only rece ive the
force of law and c o mma nd via the author ity of the st ate , and the n I will
e a s ily b e able to c onclude (s ince the r igh t of gove r n me n t b elong s only to
the s ove re ig n author it i e s) that religion ha s the force of law exclus ively by
de cre e of tho s e who p o s s e s s the r igh t to exe rc is e gove r n me n t. It follows
that Go d ha s no sp e c ial king ship ove r me n except through tho s e who
exe rc is e gove r n me n t.
[4 ] That the pract ice of just ice and char ity ha s the force of law only via
the author ity of the st ate is cle ar fro m what wa s s aid ab ove. We have
prove d in chapte r 16 that , in the natu ral st ate , re a s on ha s no m ore r igh t
than ha s app e t ite ; b oth tho s e who live by the laws of app e t ite and tho s e
who live by the laws of reason there possess the right to do everything
they can. This is why, in the state of nature, men were not able to conceive
of wrong nor of God as a judge punishing men for wrongdoing, but
rather recognized that all things happen according to the common laws
of universal nature and that the same chance (to use Solomon’s words) 2
a¡ects the just and the unjust, the pure and the impure, and so on, and
there is no room for justice or charity. And if the teachings of true reas
on, which are the divin e te achings the ms elve s (a s we showe d in ch. 4 on
1 Spinoza means here that it makes no di¡erence whether men base their conduct on justice and
charity because they think religion teaches this, or whether they grasp that this is the highest morality
through use of their reason.
2 Ecclesiastes 9.2.
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