Referring to the concept of Indonesia as a sovereign nation, it can be observed that Indonesia is a law-based country (Rechtsstaat), meaning that Indonesia recognizes the supremacy of law as a concept in which law is used as an instrument for governing the country. The supremacy of law means that both the government and the people are subject to all prevailing regulations within the state in order to maintain an orderly social life. This concept is recognized in the 1945 Constitution, specifically in Article 1 paragraph (3), which expressly states that "Indonesia is a country based on law" (Tursin et al., 2023). The supremacy of law in the country was established and recognized in order to prevent any forms of authoritarianism in government. This is because in a system of supremacy of law, the government must also comply with the prevailing laws, so that the government cannot act arbitrarily (Wiratraman, 2025).
In a country that recognizes the supremacy of law, an abstract basic norm (grundnorm) is required in order to serve as the main reference of value in creating all forms of legal products so that the legal products do not contradict the abstract values determined by the basic norm itself. In Indonesia, Pancasila is the grundnorm that serves as a basic philosophy of the country (Suhenriko, 2023). Pancasila, as the country’s philosophy, means that the values contained in Pancasila must be the primary reference for policymakers to make any form of legal products in order to direct the legal products to the basic values, which can lead to the prosperity of the community (Malida, 2025). This concept is just as stated in Article 2 of Law Number 12 of 2011 concerning the Formation of Legislation, which states, "Pancasila is the source of all sources of state law" (UU No. 12 Tahun 2011). The five principles contained in Pancasila become the primary philosophy, or basic guidelines, in forming all domestic legislation.
In the five principles contained in Pancasila, the first principle expresses its recognition of the Oneness of God. At first glance, the recognition of these principles seems to imply the inclination of Indonesia as a theocratic country. Even so, some experts argue that Indonesia cannot be said to be a theocratic country, but rather a more secular country since there is no enforcement for people to bow down to one particular religious law, and thus they have the freedom to affiliate themselves with any religion (Syarif et al., 2024). However, Indonesia also cannot be categorized as a secular country like the United States, which strictly separates religious affairs from public affairs. This makes Indonesia to be in a middle position between a theocracy and a secular country (Sutomo & Budihardjo, 2021).
The recognition of the Oneness of God within the state indicates that Indonesia recognizes the existence of universal virtues contained within the divine value. Consequently, this philosophy influences the process of law-making along with the legal products of any prevailing laws in Indonesia. However, understanding the nature of God can only be influenced by religions, and each religion has its own concept of the nature of God. Since Indonesia does not recognize any particular religion as the official state religion, there will be order in society to maintain harmony in a pluralistic society (Abdillah, 2020). Therefore, understanding the meaning of the philosophy of Oneness of God within Pancasila as a grundnorm that influences the formation of legal products requires an in-depth study of the meaning of Godness within Pancasila as a state philosophy in a pluralistic society. Interestingly, the philosophy of Oneness of God within Pancasila indirectly intersects with the philosophical thought of a late-antiquity philosopher and theologian, St. Augustine.
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) was a Catholic philosopher and theologian who served as Bishop of Hippo Regius and is also one of the Doctors of the Catholic Church, whose thoughts strongly influenced the shaping of Catholic teachings. Not only did he understand Catholic theology, but he was also a philosophical thinker whose ideas contributed to the formation of the political systems of European countries from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. His teaching on the form of the state that should be built on the divinity of God is primarily contained in one of his most famous works, The City of God (Civitas Dei) (Russell, 2002). What is interesting about this thought is that his teaching on the City of God has some relevance with the first principle of Pancasila, which recognizes God as the source of all good values, as the main guideline for a state’s basic philosophy. St. Augustine's doctrine can provide clarity regarding the importance of the value of God as the basic philosophy of a state, which is in line with the philosophy of God in Pancasila, and therefore is very worthy of in-depth study.
Previous research has examined how St. Augustine’s idea influenced political thought in Medieval Europe due to the influence of divine law that is derived from God as the source of all good (Afifah & Luthfy, 2024; Azizah et al., 2024). However, no research has analyzed the relevance between St. Augustine’s philosophy and Pancasila and how the idea of Oneness of God acts as a grundnorm in influencing legal products of Indonesia. Ancient philosophy's influence on European civilization during Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages is important and worthy of study to see the continuity and relevance of the concept of ancient political doctrine and its development with the concept of the modern state. This research is done to obtain a more holistic picture of the development of political philosophy based on the history of thought in human civilization.
Based on the background explained above, this study aims to examine the similarities and differences of St. Augustine's Civitas Dei to the philosophy of the Oneness of God in Pancasila as one of the philosophies that serves as the grundnorm for all legal products in Indonesia. Furthermore, this study will also examine the influence of the philosophy of the Oneness of God as the basic philosophy in influencing legal products in Indonesia in accordance with the hierarchy of legislation that is in line with Hans Kelsen’s Stufenbau theory. This research is important to be conducted in order to clearly understand the country’s idealism embodied in the legal products of Indonesia as a Pancasila-based country that stands in the middle between a religious and a secular country.

This study employs a normative legal research with a philosophical and conceptual approach. Normative research emphasizes positioning law as a system of norms, rules, or legal regulations (Sihombing & Hadita, 2022). Philosophical approach is used as a means to explore the legal issue in a deeper analysis due to its comprehensive, fundamental, and speculative nature. Conceptual approach is also used as a way to find the relation between the philosophical value and the doctrines that have developed in legal science (Widiarty, 2024). This research mainly refers to St. Augustine’s Civitas Dei as the philosophical comparison with the first principle of Pancasila, and connects the philosophy with Hans Kelsen’s Stufenbau theory to see the concept of Oneness of God as the basic norm of legal products in Indonesia.
Normative legal research is chosen to provide qualitative-descriptive results of research. Qualitative results of this research focus on theoretical studies to provide descriptive philosophical research (Fuady, 2018). The materials used in this article can be divided into three: 1) Primary legal materials, namely legislation; 2) secondary legal materials, which include academic journals, books, and internet sites; 3) tertiary legal materials, which are legal dictionaries to interpret technical terms in legal science. The legal material collection technique used in this article is a literature study by analyzing how philosophical values are able to shape the basic norms of the state and its legal products.
Sources of this research are selected by, firstly, referring to the books and academic journals that are relevant to the ideas of St. Augustine to provide the philosophical background of his argument. Then, by using primary legal sources, the philosophical thoughts are carefully connected with the prevailing regulations to see some similarities and differences between the philosophical thoughts of St. Augustine and the legal sources that justify Pancasila as the basic philosophy of the state of Indonesia. By analyzing St. Augustine's Civitas Dei and Hans Kelsen's Stufenbau theory, we will see some similarities and differences between St. Augustine's Civitas Dei and the Oneness of God in Pancasila philosophy, which, as a consequence, serves as the basic norm for the formation of legislation in accordance with the applicable constitutional hierarchy. The analytical steps taken are to first outline St. Augustine's thoughts, then analyze the similarities and differences between his thoughts and the Pancasila philosophy, and finally describe how divine philosophy, namely the Oneness of God, influences Indonesia’s legal products.

3.1. St. Augustine’s Philosophy on the Civitas Dei (City of God)
In understanding St. Augustine's philosophical thought, it is wise to begin with his understanding of the purpose of knowledge. According to St. Augustine, knowledge is primarily intended to achieve happiness in life (eudaimonia). Happiness, according to St. Augustine, cannot be found in worldly and material things. This is because everything worldly is always in a state of becoming, and therefore always changing and interdependent on one another. Therefore, true happiness can only be found in the world of ideas where eternal and unchanging things reside, and these ideas can only be accessed by the mind contemplatively, not by the senses. From this thought, it can be seen how St. Augustine was deeply influenced by Platonic philosophy (Coplestone, 2021). Contemplation on happiness led St. Augustine to conclude that humans, as finite beings, can only achieve true happiness if they direct their thoughts to freedom. The idea about freedom is that human, as finite creatures, has to be in relationship with the infinite, because if humans direct their thoughts to finite things, namely material things, all they get is a deceptive, illusory happiness from the things that are always in the state of becoming (Warchał, 2023).
St. Augustine stated that sensory knowledge is fundamentally inferior to knowledge of the soul. Because the soul is a higher substance than the body, it is the soul that uses the sensory organs as instruments to operate in the material world. Thus, St. Augustine's metaphysics states that sensory activity is essentially the activity of the soul through the body; in Latin, this idea is embedded in the phrase "entire non est corporis sed animae per corpus" (Coplestone, 2021). Thus, it is the soul that moves the body, the metaphysical moves the physical, not the other way around. Human happiness can be achieved by understanding that humans should always direct the movement of their souls towards things that are eternal and unchanging.
But how do we know that the soul can comprehend eternal and unchanging things? This question can be answered by the fact that the soul can judge for itself that, for example, one painting is more beautiful than another, or a certain legal system is more just than another. Such judgments necessitate objective standards of qualities such as objective justice and objective beauty (Pratiwi et al, 2024). St. Augustine, like other Platonic philosophers, agreed that if humans can judge justice in the material world, even if it is not perfect justice, there must be a true objective justice from which all less-perfect justices are derived. The perfect and unchanging eternal ideas, according to St. Augustine, reside in the divine intelligence, namely, God (Irawan et al, 2024). Therefore, humans can only achieve true happiness if their souls are constantly directed towards the divine until they arrive at the divine, for in the divinity they will find the eternal, everlasting truths that contain the objective beauty and objective justice that humanity has always longed for on this planet.
Since true happiness can only be found in God by contemplating objective ideas, all material and sensory things cannot lead humans to true happiness, because God is the source of all ideals and the source of happiness itself, while the material world can not contain such ideals. The peak of happiness, according to St. Augustine, is the loving union between a man and God. Love is a central theme within St. Augustine’s philosophical ideas. Humanity's search for union with God is a loving union between the Creator and His creation (He, 2025). This idea is part of St. Augustine's ethics, which is an ethic of love that states that a good life is a life lived by always loving God and His creatures. However, in reality, many people do not live in love as idealized by St. Augustine. This is because humans have free will, which means humans have the freedom to choose to live in love or not. But free will must, ideally, always be directed towards love for God, because only then can true happiness be achieved (Sandlin, 2021).
By having free will, humanity is divided into two classifications: those who live by loving God, and those who live by loving themselves. The first group is the inhabitants of the City of God, or Civitas Dei, represented by the City of Jerusalem, while the second group is the inhabitants of the City of Men, or Civitas Terrena, represented by the City of Babylon. History, according to St. Augustine, is a dialectical conflict between these two cities, where the people who love God clash with the people who love themselves. A good state should be like the City of God, where people are always directed towards love of God, the source of all perfect qualities. Society is a group of rational humans who act according to what they love (Dupont et al., 2023).
The value of divinity in a nation, by directing the state towards loving God, is central to St. Augustine's thought. It is in God that all that is perfect is contained, so that the value of God in the abstract is a pure concept that can guide the formation of legislation based on true justice. Loving God, in this case, becomes more than just a personal religious feeling, but is expanded in the context of social life so that people do not focus on themselves, which leads to an ego-centric idea, but rather focus on God, the source of all ideal virtues for achieving happiness in life.

3.2. Intersection between St. Augustine’s City of God and Pancasila
St. Augustine's idea of Civitas Dei posits that divinity must be the primary value in a nation's philosophy. In engaging with societal life, speculation and contemplation (prattein) are as necessary as any social activities. This idea promotes that men do not live only by what is necessary for their physical well-being in the material world, but also aim for something higher than themselves (Celano, 2024). By contemplating eternal values, men will find that they should aim for the common good within the divine value that will become the foundational norm of a state. This is intended to prevent the nation from being based on the selfishness of its rulers, which in St. Augustine's view is Civitas Terrena, thus preventing the nation from being influenced by the worldly ambitions that deviate from the true justice (Boersma, 2021). True justice, according to St. Augustine, is the inherent nature of humans, which can be found within their souls by obeying God’s order since the body is inferior to the soul, while the soul is inferior to God, and God is far superior to the body and soul. Humans will be able to deliver true justice if they direct their souls to loving God because men can only love others if they put their love in God, for it is the nature of Civitas Dei (Joseph, 2021). So, loving God not only makes people live a life full of happiness, but this idea is also central to bringing society towards true justice by avoiding the idea of a selfish, ego-centric way of living, like that of Civitas Terrena, and embracing the social-universal way in loving others by loving God. The idea that putting the value of divinity as the primary value aimed at absolute goodness in God, in some sense, is similar to the idea of the Oneness of God that is embedded in Pancasila as the Indonesian grundnorm.
The Founding Fathers of Indonesia agreed on the philosophy of God in the first principle of Pancasila, which reads as "Oneness of God," one day after Indonesia proclaimed its independence, namely on August 18, 1945, by the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence (Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (PPKI)). Initially, the philosophy they wanted to put forward was "Oneness of God with the obligation to implement Islamic law for its adherents," which was first drafted in the Jakarta Charter by the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Indonesian Independence (Badan Penyelidikan Usaha-Usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (BPUPKI)) (Arif, 2024). The idea proposed by the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Indonesian Independence (BPUPKI) immediately received criticism from non-Muslims community because it was considered to only favor one religion, namely Islam, which is the majority religion of the Indonesian people. Because Indonesia is a multi-ethnic country with diverse beliefs, the concept of Oneness of God, which initially focused more on 'Islamic law', was later replaced with a more pluralistic concept of Oneness of God so that it could be accepted by all religious groups in Indonesia (Sidabutar, 2023).
In more detail, the explanation of the principle of Oneness of God in Pancasila is explained in more detail within the points of Pancasila as stated in MPR Decree No. I/MPR/2003 concerning Amendments to MPR Decree No. II/MPR/1978 concerning Guidelines for Understanding and Practicing Pancasila (Ekaprasetia Pancakarsa). The points of the first principle are divided into seven, namely: First, The Indonesian people express their belief and devotion to One God Almighty. Second, Indonesian people believe in and are devout towards One God Almighty, in accordance with their respective religions and beliefs, according to the principles of just and civilized humanity. Third, To develop an attitude of respect and cooperation between religious adherents and believers of different beliefs in the One Almighty God. Fourth, To foster harmony among fellow religious communities and belief in One God Almighty. Fifth, Religion and belief in the One Almighty God are matters concerning the personal relationship between humans and the One Almighty God. Sixth, To develop an attitude of mutual respect for the freedom to practice worship according to one's own respective religion and beliefs. Seven, To not force a religion and belief in God Almighty on other people (Jurdi, 2019).
The first point of Pancasila explicitly states the recognition of the divine value within the state of Indonesia. This first principle of Oneness of God is then synthesized with the nation's pluralistic nature, thus recognizing religious differences and maintaining religious practices based on the principle of just and civilized humanity. Maintaining and respecting religious plurality within the country can lead to tolerance between religious communities, which, ideally, can guide the state in creating harmony between them. Thus, the value of God serves as the foundation of all values, leading society to ideal justice in God.
Apart from acknowledging the idea that true justice can be found in God, Pancasila also aimed towards the happiness of the social life of the people, thus making the idea of God, embedded in religion as the medium to know God, as the primary guide (Soleha & Nurmayanti, 2025). In Pancasila, happiness is put in the framework of humanity, where everyone has the right to understand God according to their respective religions and beliefs, so that there is no discrimination on religion in order to realize social justice (Sukadi, 2025). It is interesting to see the intersections between St. Augustine's Civitas Dei and the Oneness of God in Pancasila in two ways: 1) Recognition of God as the source of all goodness, and thus should be the basic norm of living; and 2) God as a means for humans to achieve happiness in life.
However, there are also important philosophical distinctions between St. Augustine’s Civitas Dei and Pancasila’s Oneness of God. St. Augustine's Civitas Dei conceptualized divinity based on Christian doctrine. He stated that the true God is the God that is revealed within the framework of Christian tradition, understood through the concept of the Trinity. St. Augustine's Civitas Dei is based on divine grace contained in Christian Scripture, which is believed to be a revelation from God (Torseth, 2022). Meanwhile, Pancasila places more emphasis on religious freedom as a response to the pluralistic nature of the Indonesian state. This can be understood considering that Pancasila was born in the 20th century, influenced by the concept of human rights, which emphasizes religious freedom as one of the fundamental human rights. (Sari et al., 2024). On the other hand, St. Augustine developed his doctrine in the 4th century as a response to the tragedy of the Sack of Rome where he believed that the destruction of Roman civilization at that time was caused by moral decline due to a lack of faith in the true God, namely God in the Christian context (Russell, 2002).
From the explanation of the philosophy of God in Pancasila and the concept of the City of God from St. Augustine, it can be seen that these two ideas have an intersection in making the philosophy of God as the basic philosophy of a state. However, it is also important to notice the differences that become the basis for both philosophies. St. Augustine’s philosophy mainly refers to the Christian theology, while Pancasila mainly refers to human rights. In God is where all that is ideal and perfect resides, and therefore, the state must always refer to God as the source of perfect ideals. The philosophy of God also plays a vital role in maintaining the harmony of religious plurality in Indonesia, as it is through religion that humans can reach God, albeit through different rituals and methods. Now, it is important to continue the discussion to see how this divine value, embedded in the Oneness of God as a grundnorm, influences the legal products within the state of Indonesia.

3.3. The Influence of Divine Value within Pancasila in Shaping Indonesia’s Legal Product
As the fundamental philosophy of a nation, Pancasila serves as a fundamental norm (grundnorm) that serves as a "map" for the formation of domestic legislation. This is as stated in Article 2 of Law Number 12 of 2011 concerning the Formation of Legislation, which states, "Pancasila is the source of all sources of state law" (UU No. 12 Tahun 2011). This statement is also emphasized in MPRS Decree No. XX/MPRS/1966 in conjunction with MPR Decree No. V/MPR/1973, which states that Pancasila is a source of positive law. Now, we will discuss further how Pancasila, as the grundnorm of the state, influences legal products in Indonesia by referring to Hans Kelsen’s Stufenbau theory, which directly influences the system of hierarchy of law in Indonesia.
Kelsen's Stufenbau theory stipulates that laws must be made based on norms agreed upon by society itself. Lower norms must not contradict higher norms, while the highest norm is the most abstract norm or grundnorm, which serves as a reference for all norms below it (Kusumohamidjojo, 2019). Thus, there must be a hierarchy of norms in the legal system of a state. This idea is then applied to the legal system in Indonesia as outlined in Law No. 12 of 2011 concerning the Formation of Legislation, specifically in Article 7 paragraph (1), which explains the hierarchy of legislation. The position of Pancasila in Indonesian legal norms is as a grundnorm or basic norm in abstract form, which is the source of all legislative products. Thus, the value of divinity in Pancasila is recognized as a basic source that contains all ideals because all ideals are in God, a view that is also in line with the spirit of Indonesian society (volksgeist).
The position of the divine value in Pancasila as a grundnorm serves as a reference for the spirit of society (volksgeist), or can also be translated as the soul of the nation, to guide the state in creating legislative products as a tool to regulate society in accordance to the legal ideals of the state (rechtsidee) (Suhenriko, 2023). Therefore, laws that do not align with the spirit of society itself will not be obeyed because they contradict the will of the people. The spirit society is essentially born from the history of the nation itself, so that values and norms regarding what is considered good and bad, just and unjust, do not simply emerge but are derived from the historical roots of each nation (Hangabei et al., 2020).
As an example, Indonesia has a mixed legal system, especially a mixture of civil law and the Islamic legal system, given that Islam is the religion that has been adopted by the majority of Indonesians. This idea can be seen from the fact that Indonesia has adopted the Religious Courts as a means to resolve all civil issues based on Islamic doctrines, given that the majority of Indonesians are Muslim. The legal basis for the establishment of the Religious Courts is stipulated in Law No. 7 of 1989, as amended by Law No. 50 of 2009. The state has then created the Compilation of Islamic Law (CIL) as an official guideline for judges in Religious Courts to resolve disputes over marriage, inheritance, waqf, and grant for the Muslim community (Hariati, 2025). Another example can be seen in the recognition of Aceh as a region that has received special autonomy to base its territory on Islamic law more broadly, as contained in Law No. 18 of 2001 concerning Special Autonomy for the Special Region of Aceh Province, as the Province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (Haryanto & Syamsuddin, 2021). Then in Bali, the caste system is still recognized as part of the Hindu teachings adhered to by the majority of Balinese people within a more flexible framework (Masari et al., 2023). Most importantly, the country has ratified Law No. 39 of 1999 concerning Human Rights, which includes protecting the right to freedom of religion as one of the fundamental rights that must be protected.
All of the examples outlined above demonstrate the idea of how legal products in Indonesia are based on the values of the Oneness of God embedded in Pancasila. The establishment of Religious Courts, the Compilation of Islamic Law, Law No. 18 of 2001, and Law No. 39 of 1999 reflect legal products that recognize plurality in domestic social life, in accordance with the principle of Oneness of God. The establishment of laws based on the philosophy of the Oneness of God is crucial, given that law is a political product of those in power. This philosophy of Oneness of God can serve as a guide, directing legal formation so that it is not based on the personal will of those in power.
The formation of legal products, however, is carried out through a political process, and this political process must be based on values and culture that align with the spirit of the nation at that time. The basis for the formation of law that aligns with prevailing values in society is a crucial foundation for achieving the nation's ideals (Wahidin, 2017). Since the formation of law can only be done through politics, personal interests of those in power are also often put into the legal products, creating legal products that only benefit the elites in consequence (Sari, 2023). Therefore, to prevent or minimize the formation of law based on personal interests, divine values can serve as a strong foundation for guiding the state in a direction consistent with the source of goodness itself, God.
The divine value, which becomes the basic norms of all legal products and is also adapted to the national spirit of the people, is referred to as the main guideline in the development and renewal of law in Indonesia (Wardhani et al., 2020). Divine value, borrowing the thoughts of St. Augustine, plays a crucial role, especially in ensuring that the formation of law in the country is aligned with the ideal, namely God, and not adjusted to the worldly desires, especially of the rulers, so that the country is directed towards the concept of Civitas Dei. By adhering to the divine, policymakers must be directed towards creating laws in accordance with ideal values so that they can create laws aligned with the values of true justice. Otherwise, the formation of law will be aligned with worldly interests, so that instead of creating just laws, legal products will be directed based on the personal interests of the rulers. Therefore, the concept of God is important and central in guiding the state towards God, namely the ideal, in order to avoid the worldly ambitions of the rulers to create a just state.

This research found the relevance and differences between St. Augustine’s Civitas Dei and Pancasila’s Oneness of God primarily lie in the idea that Godliness should be the basic foundation of human life, although both philosophies state it in a different nuance. St. Augustine’s philosophy emphasizes the importance of directing the soul to universal and eternal values in God ​​instead of directing the soul toward personal desires like those of the City of Men (Civitas Terrena). Pancasila interprets the Oneness of God as the foundational norm that becomes the main source of legal products for the state of Indonesia. St. Augustine also emphasizes that the purpose of human life is to seek eternal happiness, which lies only in the relationship between human and God as the source of happiness. Pancasila also highlights the happiness of the people as the legal ideals (rechtsidee) that is directed based on civilized and just humanity. However, the difference lies in the way that St. Augustine framed his philosophy based on Christian doctrine, while the Oneness of God in Pancasila is framed by the development of human rights, which makes Pancasila more pluralistic and in accordance with the condition of Indonesia.

Since Pancasila is the grundnorm, it is the source of all legal products in Indonesia, which, as a consequence, legislative products must be based on the principle of Oneness of God, which contains all the qualities of eternal virtue. This idea is in line with the Stufenbau theory of Hans Kelsen. The influence of the philosophy of the Oneness of God in Pancasila is proven to have an impact on several legal products that are in accordance with the spirit of society. Oneness of God becomes the primary norm of policy-making, as well as to prevent and minimize legal politics that are influenced by the personal interests of a particular group. Overall, Indonesia, as a country that is based on the principle of Oneness of God, has a clear direction that refers to the values ​​of virtue, so that it becomes a guide for the creation of future legislation based on the eternal and perfect source, God Himself