THE PLACE OF LAW IN LIFE AND GOVERNMENT
The primary purpose of RAC Ministries is to promote the Judeo-Christian worldview. The Judeo-Christian worldview shapes many various areas of philosophy (thinking and understanding) and culture (lifestyle and practical life) for the Christian. This worldview should be promoted to produce challenge and change in the culture around us.
This article will focus on the nature of morality including the role of Christian faith and the role of government regarding morality. We will first consider law and its role from a biblical perspective and afterward we will contemplate how law, as imposed by government, should support morality.
Many of us have heard it said: “You cannot legislate morality.” Now let me be clear - or in this case unclear! That statement is both true and not true. What is great about discovering why it is true and why it is untrue is that in answering that we discover some important and vigorous principles.
The statement that says, “You cannot legislate morality,” is true in one sense. It is true in that legislation or law cannot change people’s hearts and character. Law simply does not have the power to do so. This is implicitly taught to us by the Word of God. Law has no power to change people’s hearts and character as is ostensibly stated in Romans chapter 7. The dramatic contrast the Apostle Paul then presents as a conclusion clenches his argument: For what the Law could not do, [a]weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of [b]sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4 NASB 95).
Human nature is depraved, incapable of sustaining personal human morality and therefore law is weak and incapable of producing human morality. The Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ broke the power of sin through his death. It teaches us that the Holy Spirit is the one who enables sanctification, purity and morality, and that the Word of God and prayer are the graces given to us to aid us in living morally. But law cannot produce morality.
There is another principle, however. The Law is a reflection of the character of God – a standard of absolute perfection: goodness (love), truth and righteousness (rightness or justice). When God gave the Jewish nation the Law He was giving them boundaries, discipline and corrective consequences in order to support and sustain morality in their culture and community. The restrictions of law, while unable to produce morality in the heart and character of individuals, was able to check or restrain the growth and spread of immorality.
As far as human government is concerned two principles flow from the historic example of God using His law to curtail immorality, and thus to support morality. The first principle is that human laws, as they reflect God’s law, can set a bar or standard of behavior for society. In doing so the law, as it reflects God’s law, becomes a North Star. It becomes a constant and consistent point of reference to remind society that there is a standard of morality, of right and wrong, and that society is required to adhere to that standard. Doing this, with consequences for failing to keep the law, becomes a practical deterrent to immorality and a means of supporting morality.
Sad to say, when a people or nation reject the moral absolutes of the Bible, no authoritative and just foundation remains to build human laws on. Human laws without the sustaining authority of divine law, have only weak human authority and no constancy of principle. And since human depravity possesses a propensity to call evil good and to call good evil, those who have rejected God’s authority and law create laws to support whatever twisted form of depraved immorality is desired. In time this humanly depraved political correctness is easily fanned into a feverish, emotional frenzy. The politically correct then create human laws designed to suppress any objection to their lifestyle. They demand laws that will endorse and affirm their lifestyle. The politically correct will strive to silence those who object to their lifestyle. They will attempt to force those who object to their lifestyle into compliance and tacit acceptance.
“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3) The Hebrew word for foundations means the moral and spiritual underpinnings of a society or nation. What can the righteous do? The answer is: We can (and must) rebuild the foundations! See the basic strategy of how to do this in chapter 6 of my book, Reclaiming Authentic Christianity. A new book I am currently writing will, with perspicuity, present the precise areas where this war is raging and a practical, strategic plan to effectively wage counter warfare. The challenge is before us!
Whatever happens, we must not despair. We have One greater in us than the one in the world! And this is the victory that overcomes the world – our faith. That shield of faith will quench all the fiery darts of the Evil One. With the Sword of the Spirit, the truth, the all-powerful Word of God, we will be able to fight this spiritual war with mighty weapons!
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9 NAS 95)
Yours for God’s glory,
Calvin Dollar