BENEDICT DE SPINOZA: Theological-Political Treatise

Theological-Political Treatise
the divine law), are to have the full force of law, it is necessary that each
230 person should give up his own natural right and that all should transfer
their right to all men, or else some men, or else one man; and it was then
and only then that we ¢rst learned what justice and injustice, equity and
inequity are.
[5] Justice therefore and all the doctrines of true reason without
exception, including charity towards our neighbour, receive the force of law
and command from the authority of the state alone, that is (as we showed
in the same chapter) solely from the decree of those who have the right to
rule. Now because, as I have already shown, the kingdom of God consists
solely in the law of justice, charity and true religion, it follows that God has
no kingdom over men except through those who hold power.This is what
we have been seeking to demonstrate. It makes no di¡erence, I say, whether
we conceive of religion as revealed by the natural light of reason or by the
light of prophecy. The demonstration is universal, since religion is the
same and equally revealed by God, whichever way men are supposed to
have learned it.
[6] Therefore, in order that even prophetically revealed religion should
have the force of law among the Hebrews, each of them had ¢rst to give
up his natural right, and all had to decide by common consent to obey
solely what was prophetically revealed to them by God. This is exactly
the same thing as we have shown occurs in a democratic state, where all
decide by common consent to live by the dictate of reason alone.
Although the Hebrews also transferred their right to God, they could
only do this in intention rather than reality, for in fact (as we saw above)
they retained the absolute right of government until they transferred this
to Moses. Thereafter, Moses remained absolute ruler, and it was through
him alone that God ruled over the Hebrews. For the same reason also,
namely because religion receives the force of law by the authority of the
state alone, Moses could not punish those who violated the sabbath
before the covenant since they then, in consequence, still possessed their
own right (see Exodus 16.27). After the covenant, on the other hand (see
Numbers 15.36), i.e., after each one gave up their natural right, the
sabbath received the force of command by virtue of the right of the state.
On the same grounds, revealed religion no longer possessed the force of
law after the destruction of the Hebrew state. For there can be no doubt
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