by Steve C. Halbrook
“Oh no, we couldn’t implement biblical civil law! Look at
all the atrocities committed in history due to this very thing!”
This is a common argument leveled against biblical civil law—since
history is said to be replete with atrocities in the name of implementing
biblical civil law, then biblical civil law should no longer be enforced.
But besides the fact that A) this argument is based on exaggerations and ignorance; B) atrocities, by the nature of the case,
are deviations from biblical law; C) the worst atrocities have been
committed by civil governments that most consistently reject biblical law (e.g., communist and Nazi governments, and pro-abortion Western governments), and D) the enforcement of biblical civil law is not optional (God commands it), let’s
consider the matter this way: when doctors make mistakes, we don’t jettison the
medical profession (and thus create more problems in the process). Rather, we work to make the medical profession safer in the future. Similarly, when rulers who claim to hold to biblical civil law make mistakes, we don't jettison biblical civil law. Rather, we work to make civil law safer (i.e., more consistently biblical) in the future.
When Adam and Eve
fell in the Garden of Eden, God did not do away with woman as
man’s helpmeet—despite Eve’s involvement with Adam’s sin. Thus the 7th
commandment remained intact, even though Adam blamed Eve for his sin (just as, as
we’ve noted, some blame biblical civil law for sin). Marriage—and therefore God's laws concerning marriage—is still a good thing.
God’s response, then, was not to blame His law, but rather
to blame Adam and Eve. The problem is man, not
God’s law. God dealt with man’s law-breaking not by nullifying the
law, but rather by providing ways for man to better keep the law. The most
important means was of course the Gospel, through which those who come to saving faith are enabled to keep God's law much better by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And another means that God provided was, interestingly enough, biblical civil law. Biblical civil law helps minimize outward sinful acts by being a terror to evildoers (Romans 13:1-5; Deut. 19:20). When properly applied, it does not cause atrocities, but prevents them. And so while humanists see eliminating biblical civil as a way to eliminate evil, God sees enforcing biblical civil law as a way to eliminate evil. By extension, God sees attempts to eliminate biblical civil law as evil—and evil is the very thing that fosters tyrannical civil government.
And another means that God provided was, interestingly enough, biblical civil law. Biblical civil law helps minimize outward sinful acts by being a terror to evildoers (Romans 13:1-5; Deut. 19:20). When properly applied, it does not cause atrocities, but prevents them. And so while humanists see eliminating biblical civil as a way to eliminate evil, God sees enforcing biblical civil law as a way to eliminate evil. By extension, God sees attempts to eliminate biblical civil law as evil—and evil is the very thing that fosters tyrannical civil government.
Naturally, then, when society rejects biblical civil law, the state becomes not a terror to evildoers,
but to the innocent. That is how we get atrocities. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and since sin is violation of the law (1 John 3:4), the wages of rejecting biblical civil law is death—manifested in destruction, tyranny, genocide, and the proliferation of soul-damning religions and heresies. This is one of the reasons the West is self-destructing, as all nations that hate God's law eventually do.
2 comments:
That's a good article. However it seems to me according to the direction Christ addresses that civil order of things are heading near to the end of the age, lawlessness increasing to a degree that if He doesn't do something the entire Elect group in the world would be molested to some degree, it isn't logical that we should expect or conclude biblical civil law will be taking root anytime soon in any nation open to and liberal enough to allow for our public and private worship and devotion?
Mat 24:9 "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.
Mat 24:10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
Mat 24:12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
Mat 24:13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
“Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just,’ when it is their own way that is not just. ~Ezekiel 33:17
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