divine command
Heaven's spoken will
Divine command refers to an instruction, law, or moral requirement believed to originate directly from God or a deity.
In philosophy and theology, divine command theory holds that actions are morally right or wrong solely because God commands or forbids them—what God wills defines goodness itself.
The phrase appears in religious contexts when believers cite scripture or revelation as the basis for ethical behavior: She followed the divine command to love her neighbor.
Critics question whether morality can be grounded entirely in divine authority.
- obedienceCompliance with authority
- sacred lawDivinely mandated rules
- voiceSound from throat
- revelationSurprising disclosed truth
- burning bushDeciduous shrub, vivid fall color
tablet · commandments · God's will · theism · sacrifice · pronouncement · moral law · Ten Commandments · moral obligation · Abraham · act of faith · stone tablets · sin · covenant · worship · righteousness · duty · voluntarism
- ethicsmorality, deontology, dignity, sanctity of life, utilitarianism
- philosophy termstruth, reason, knowledge, wisdom, logic
- Christian ethicsChristian morality, Christian values, Christian virtues, natural law, moral virtue
- religious ethicsChristian ethics, moral law, love thy neighbor, sacred law, natural law
- Islamic TheologyAllah, tawhid, creed, predestination, God's will
- Jewish ThoughtKabbalah, Jewish ethics, Jewish mysticism, Torah study, Jewish tradition
divine commandsecular law
Legal code without religious basis
civil law · social contract · executive order · state authority · state mandate
divine commandhuman reason
Mental faculty for logic
natural law · moral intuition · consequentialism · logical deduction · moral relativism