The foundation of our rule of law, biblical perspective. How are enjoyment of the rule of law comes from Christianity and the King James Bible. Civil government is grounded in the scriptures. The state must recognise that it is under God's law. Our rule of law establishes the rights and freedoms of every member of the nation.

1. God And the Rule of Law
Some thoughts by Dan Wooldridge
From a biblical prospective

2. God And the Rule of Law
• An understanding of the rule of law in
Western democracies
• Our Common-Law comes to us from a long
and trusted tradition
• Particularly coming from the UK foundation

3. How an atheistic state destroys
• Our heritage of a rule of law
• From the perspective of an observer

4. As the concept of
• atheism & humanism infiltrate the state’s
law making machine
• We see a decline in true justice
• Abandoning jury trials
• Restricting the judgements of magistrates
• Following after the trend to “Positive Law”
that is growing in America

5. We enjoy the benefits of
• the Rule of Law our understanding of our
subjection to a rule of law helps us treasure
our society
• Let’s look at how our rule of law came to be
and how we, believing Christians, are
scripturally called to abide in it

6. Civil disobedience
• Are there times for civil disobedience?
• We will consider the whys and the
wherefores of this after we have seen where
our foundation of our rule of law comes from

7. These days we live as nations
• Basically there are individuals, families,
tribes and nations and now we have groups
of aligned nations

8. Mankind is of one blood
• Acts 17:26
• And hath made of one blood all nations of men
for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath
determined the times before appointed, and the
bounds of their habitation;
• Deuteronomy 32:8
• When the most High divided to the nations their
inheritance, when he separated the sons of
Adam, he set the bounds of the people
according to the number of the children of
Israel.

9. God sets the boundaries
• We might have a multicultural society but it
is still a nation
• It starts with an individual who, in our
society, eventually understands they are part
of the nation.
• Being an individual, part of a family or of a
tribe does not negate this fact.

10. There is a new call
• That might be called Internationalism
• We are one people
• The trouble with this is that we could easily
descend back to the time of mankind before
the worldwide flood of Noah’s day

11. The flood of Noah
• There was no state as such, no nation
• Those of us who live in countries like England
and Australia are subjects
• We at least acknowledge now and
particularly ought to acknowledge that we
are subject to, ultimately, God.

12. You might say that
• We are subjects of the realm.
• The realm is itself subject—subject to God
• In our society we are all subjects, including
the monarchy, judiciary & Parliament.
• We are all subjects under God & we publicly
acknowledge this in every aspect

13. Nations are governed
• Whatever the structure of the government it
represents the state.
• We ought to look at what the Bible says
about civil government and to look at the
history of the formation of the rule of law
under Christianity.

14. The Christian foundation
• Of the rule of law in the West is a legacy of
enjoying liberty and resisting tyranny
• The Bible is the most important book
concerning both the rule of law and our
democratic Western civilisation

15. Unfortunately we are led to
• believe that our democratic roots come from
ancient Greek philosophy
• The democracy of ancient Greece was only
applicable to the ruling classes

16. The discovery of the individual
• Christianity is the foundation of our
individual rights and freedoms that we enjoy
today
• The recognition by the rule of law of our
individual rights and the value of each
individual person did not exist in ancient
times.

17. The 5 world empires
• The Babylonian Empire
• The Medes and Persians Empire
• The Greek Empire
• The Roman Empire
• The British empire

18. The British “empire”
• This empire cannot be classed with the other
4 as it never owned and controlled its peers
• It concerned itself with conquering and ruling
nations that were not as civilised or
sophisticated as they were—the ruling
powers of the world today are like iron and
clay

19. The British empire
• Did, however, spread its influence all across
the globe and with it travelled the King
James Bible and the English language

20. According to Bible prophecy
• The image that Daniel saw had feet of iron
and clay and that is what we have got today
• Until Jesus comes back there simply will not
be a world order/state that surpasses all the
nations regardless of what people may think.

21. Look at the image
• The image has feet of iron and clay
• These do not mix and do not bind together so
there will always be divisions and no one
force will be able to rule in total control.

22. The Babylonian empire
• The Emperor held absolute right of life and
property over every one in his domain which
was really a world empire

23. The Medes and Persians empire
• The Emperor held the power of life and death
over everyone in the domain—see the book
of Esther for instance

24. The Ancient Greeks
• Did not acknowledge the right of all
individuals but rather a higher class
separated from the masses
• Consider Utopia and the like in the general
writings of the gang of three—Plato,
Aristotle & Socrates

25. Their democratic system
• Only applied to the elite
• If you were not part of the elite then you
were part of the Hoi polloi
• Their democracy and law giving system relied
on voting from the citizenship who were the
elite class

26. Roman law protected
• Social institutions such as Roman citizens and
the patrician family but did not safeguard the
basic rights of every individual
• The ordinary low born people were called
plebs

27. The Romans didn’t practice
• Or have provisions for personal security,
freedom of conscience, freedom of speech,
freedom of assembly, freedom of association
for the common people who were considered
plebs

28. For the Romans
• The individual was of value only as part of
the political fabric and contribution to the
end of the state being glorified
• As the rule of the patricians descended into a
more generalised republic, the balance of law
and justice tilted towards law.

29. Justice and mercy were not seen
• There was no need to establish intention
• There were no mitigating circumstances
• “Positive Law” is heading back to this state of
affairs.

30. Law, today, is moving
• away from justice
• Justice implies mercy and this brings into our
considerations the need to establish
“intention”
• Our rule of law consists of a balance between
law and justice

31. After the Romans withdrew
• from England - The English kings continued in
a barbaric fashion and considered they
owned the right of life over every one,
including their possessions

32. It took a massive change so that
• Even the Kings of Christendom could not
violate certain rights of the subject because
the idea of law was attached to the Bible
based concept of Christian justice

33. The rule of law and individual liberty
• Christianity has a legacy that law and liberty
are inseparable to each other
• God’s revealed will is the “higher law” and is
placed above human law

34. Liberty is found under God’s law
• because the Bible says
• Psalms 19:7
• The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the
soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple.

35. The moral duty of people
• People have a moral duty to disobey a
human law that perverts God’s law
• The purpose of civil government is to
establish all societies in a godly order of
freedom and justice

36. Rulers Who Enact Unjust Laws
• Any ruler who enacts unjust law ceases to be
an authority in the rightful sense and become
mere tyrants
• The word tyranny comes from the Greek for
secular rule which means rule by men instead
of the rule of law where the rule of law
implies rule under God’s law

37. The Romans conquered England
• they landed in 55 B.C. and brought order,
roads and stabilised, if harshly, society and
were gone by 410 A.D. that is over 500 years
• they left a legacy of rule that did not
recognise the basic rights set out by God’s
law.

38. William the Conqueror continued
• this legacy and it wasn’t until 1215 when the
barons compelled King John to sign Magna
Carta at Runnymede in England on June 15
1215

39. His brother Richard
• was off fighting a miss intentioned war called
for by the Roman Catholic Church to reclaim
Jerusalem and the Temple from the Moslem
invaders

40. It’s interesting to note
• That God has moved the high priest, the
sanctuary et cetera out of this earth into
heaven and I do not believe has ever
intended to re-establish any temple in
Jerusalem.

41. The old Temple
• with all of its procedures was dissolved when
the veil of the Temple was ripped in twain
and, later, demolished in A.D. 70.
• Even the physical return of the Lord Jesus
Christ will not change this

42. The Magna Carta
• The Charter Underlines Basic Rights of the
Individual According to God’s Law Found in
the Scriptures

43. The tyranny of man
• was finally overturned by declaring the
equality of all people in the sight of God,
Christianity compelled the Kings of England
to recognise the supremacy of divine law
over their arbitrary will and the laws that
they made.

44. Our common law is based
• on the balance between two principles of the
just and the unjust.
• This means that State law should never
depart from God’s higher law

45. Roman Law left an inheritance
• of absolutist monarchy and Magna Carta tore
it down and transformed monarchy explicitly
under law—God’s law
• Christianity works as a civilising force and is a
complete stranger to despotism

46. There are 2 landmarks
• that we ought to appreciate
• Magna Carta June 15 1215
• The Reformation October 31 1517

47. Christianity turns
• Barbarians into decency
• This becomes the foundation of common law
which is in actual fact God’s law or the law
that recognises the rights and responsibilities
of the common man (not just the elite)

48. In essence state law can never
• depart from God’s higher laws
• Jurisprudence is the science of the just and
the unjust

49. It follows that
• the state is under God and his law
• God’s law makes the King or whatever
controls a state
• This is fundamentally true because where will
rules rather than law there will be no state or
government that honours the individual
rights of everyone

50. England got its state of liberty
• from the Christian faith and biblical principles
• This liberty rests on the presumption that
God’s law always worked for the good of
society

51. The converted Kings of England
• would no longer possess an arbitrary power
over the life and property of individuals and
be able to change the basic laws of the
kingdom at their own pleasure

52. People who attempt to
• change or instigate laws should remember
the book of Isaiah and God’s promise to deal
with civil authorities who enact unjust laws

53. Consider these scriptures
• Isaiah 10:1-2
• Woe unto them that decree unrighteous
decrees, and that write grievousness which
they have prescribed;
• 2 To turn aside the needy from judgment, and
to take away the right from the poor of my
people, that widows may be their prey, and
that they may rob the fatherless!

54. Many biblical passages
• condemn the perversion of justice by godless
law makers
• Proverbs 17:15
• He that justifieth the wicked, and he that
condemneth the just, even they both are
abomination to the LORD.

55. • Proverbs 24:23
• These things also belong to the wise. It is not
good to have respect of persons in judgment.
• Exodus 23:7
• Keep thee far from a false matter; and the
innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I
will not justify the wicked.

56. Habakkuk 1:4
• Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment
doth never go forth: for the wicked doth
compass about the righteous; therefore
wrong judgment proceedeth.

57. Isaiah 59:14
• And judgment is turned away backward, and
justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in
the street, and equity cannot enter.

58. God has a rule of law that is fair
• And demonstrates pure justice
• The right of a man before the face of highest
authority
• The just cause of a man to be upheld by
authority

59. Lamentations 3:31–36
• 31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
• 32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have
compassion according to the multitude of his
mercies.
• 33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve
the children of men.

60. • 34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of
the earth,
• 35 To turn aside the right of a man before the
face of the most High,
• 36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord
approveth not.

61. Those in authority are to judge justly
• Deuteronomy 16:18
• Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in
all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth
thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall
judge the people with just judgment.

62. The truth is that tyrants cannot
• hang on in any land where the Bible is open
and the gospel preached
• The greatest security for any nation is that its
population read the scriptures for themselves

63. Jesus and his Christianity
• makes men think
• Despots are always threatened when men
think

64. Biblical reasons for civil government
• Civil government is introduced in the book of
Genesis
• After all, Noah and the flood came about
because of the increase of violence
throughout the world
• The earth was corrupt

65. Genesis 6:11–13
• 11 The earth also was corrupt before God,
and the earth was filled with violence.
• 12 And God looked upon the earth, and,
behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had
corrupted his way upon the earth.
• 13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all
flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled
with violence through them; and, behold, I
will destroy them with the earth.

66. Genesis 9:1–19
• 1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and
said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth.
• 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you
shall be upon every beast of the earth, and
upon every fowl of the air, upon all that
moveth upon the earth, and upon all the
fishes of the sea; into your hand are they
delivered.

67. • 3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat
for you; even as the green herb have I given you
all things.
• 4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the
blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
• 5 And surely your blood of your lives will I
require; at the hand of every beast will I require
it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every
man’s brother will I require the life of man.

68. • 6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall
his blood be shed: for in the image of God
made he man.
• 7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring
forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply
therein.
• 8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons
with him, saying,

69. • 9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with
you, and with your seed after you;
• 10 And with every living creature that is with
you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every
beast of the earth with you; from all that go
out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

70. • 11 And I will establish my covenant with you;
neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by
the waters of a flood; neither shall there any
more be a flood to destroy the earth.
• 12 And God said, This is the token of the
covenant which I make between me and you
and every living creature that is with you, for
perpetual generations:

71. • 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall
be for a token of a covenant between me and
the earth.
• 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a
cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be
seen in the cloud:

72. • 15 And I will remember my covenant, which
is between me and you and every living
creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no
more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
• 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I
will look upon it, that I may remember the
everlasting covenant between God and every
living creature of all flesh that is upon the
earth.

73. • 17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token
of the covenant, which I have established
between me and all flesh that is upon the
earth.
• 18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of
the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth:
and Ham is the father of Canaan.
• 19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of
them was the whole earth overspread.

74. Note verse 5 & 6
• 5 And surely your blood of your lives will I
require; at the hand of every beast will I
require it, and at the hand of man; at the
hand of every man’s brother will I require the
life of man. 6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood,
by man shall his blood be shed: for in the
image of God made he man.

75. The judgement of God on the world
• at the time of Noah was brought about
because of the violence of man to man—
people became murderers as a way of life
and boasted that they could get away with it
because all they received was a mark.

76. Genesis 4:23–24
• And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and
Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech,
hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a
man to my wounding, and a young man to
my hurt.
• 24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly
Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

77. The story of the 1st murder
• tells us about the need for the rise of the rule
of law now that mankind has sinned and
fallen out of close fellowship with God

78. Genesis 4:8–16
• And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it
came to pass, when they were in the field,
that Cain rose up against Abel his brother,
and slew him.
• 9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel
thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I
my brother’s keeper?

79. • 10 And he said, What hast thou done? the
voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me
from the ground.
• 11 And now art thou cursed from the earth,
which hath opened her mouth to receive thy
brother’s blood from thy hand;

80. • 12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not
henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a
fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the
earth.
• 13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My
punishment is greater than I can bear.

81. • 14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day
from the face of the earth; and from thy face
shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a
vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to
pass, that every one that findeth me shall
slay me.

82. No vigilante retribution
• 15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore
whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be
taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a
mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should
kill him.
• 16 And Cain went out from the presence of
the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on
the east of Eden.

83. Capital Punishment
• God now commands capital punishment for
those who take a person’s life because people
are always created in the image of God.

84. The Right to Execute Murderers
• This means that the right to execute
murderers does not belong to government
officials themselves but to God who is the
author of life and commands a death penalty
for murder in several places in the scriptures

85. • Genesis 9:6
• Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall
his blood be shed: for in the image of God
made he man.
• Exodus 21:12
• He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall
be surely put to death.

86. Numbers 35:30–31
• Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall
be put to death by the mouth of witnesses:
but one witness shall not testify against any
person to cause him to die. 31 Moreover ye
shall take no satisfaction for the life of a
murderer, which is guilty of death: but he
shall be surely put to death.

87. Numbers 35:33
• So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye
are: for blood it defileth the land: and the
land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is
shed therein, but by the blood of him that
shed it.

88. The scriptures also note
• the difference between murder and
manslaughter
• Under certain conditions asylum was granted
for the unintentional killing of another
person
• Such a person could return to their
inheritance after the death of the high priest

89. Numbers 35:6
• And among the cities which ye shall give unto
the Levites there shall be six cities for refuge,
which ye shall appoint for the manslayer,
that he may flee thither: and to them ye shall
add forty and two cities.

90. Murder or Manslaughter
• Determining murder or accidental death - if
there was any doubt whether the death was
accidental, deliberate or intentional
• Numbers 35:12
• And they shall be unto you cities for refuge
from the avenger; that the manslayer die
not, until he stand before the congregation in
judgment.

91. Conditions for Manslaughter
• The conditions for manslaughter were clearly
set out
• more than one witness is called
• the congregation judges the matter

92. The Case for Murder
• The killing had to be intentional
• there had to be more than one witness to
establish the case for murder
• it was imperative that witnesses were
truthful

93. The case for manslaughter
• was considered to be under the following
conditions

94. Death by a blow in a sudden quarrel
• Numbers 35:22
• But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity,
or have cast upon him any thing without
laying of wait,

95. Death by anything thrown at random
• Numbers 35:23
• Or with any stone, wherewith a man may die,
seeing him not, and cast it upon him, that he
die, and was not his enemy, neither sought
his harm:

96. Death by an axe & handle parting
• Deuteronomy 19:5
• As when a man goeth into the wood with his
neighbour to hew wood, and his hand
fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down
the tree, and the head slippeth from the
helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that
he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities,
and live:

97. Death by accident
• You could be held responsible for the
accidental death of another
• Deuteronomy 22:8
• When thou buildest a new house, then thou
shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that
thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any
man fall from thence.

98. Life can only be taken away
• from the individual with civil authority when
applied under God’s law and God’s
commission.

99. The sanctity of a person’s life
• is the ground on which capital punishment
rests
• A person’s life is so valuable and unique that
it demands, for the perpetrator, an exact
equivalent to the death of the victim.

100. There had to be proof of intent
• if there was any doubt about the intent the
congregation of the city of refuge judged the
matter
• the offender was punished by the loss of life
or by having to stay in a city of refuge away
from his inheritance until the death of the
current high priest

101. State has to be subject
• The State has to be subject to God’s higher
laws
• After sin entered into the world it became
necessary to establish civil government in
order to curb violence

102. Originally the state was not
• part of God’s plan for mankind
• The State places some people in position of
authority over others

103. In the beginning man and woman
• Lived in close fellowship with God under his
direct and sole authority

104. The entrance of sin
• eroded that authority and the willingness to
live under God’s direct authority
• The judgement of the flood established the
need and the reasonableness of civil
government

105. That state or civil government
• was always intended to be under and subject
to the law of God and his authority
• Understanding that civil government as the
result of our sinful condition justifies the
doctrine of limitation of the powers of the
State

106. Constitutional order is based
• on checks and balances between the
branches of government

107. Legislative, executive and judicial
• These divisions bow to a the biblical
revelation of God that is our supreme Judge,
Lawgiver and King
• Isaiah 33:22
• For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our
lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save
us.

108. Since all mankind are born
• of a sinful nature the functions of the state
should be legally checked because no human
being can be trusted with too much power.
• God has instilled in each of us a desire for
freedom from political tyranny

109. Godly State laws provide
• freedom to people only because those laws
are fully indebted to the scriptures
• Mark 2:27
• And he said unto them, The sabbath was
made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

110. If you understand the order of this
• then Kings are called to govern for the sake
of the kingdom and not the opposite

111. When you place God’s higher laws
• above human law the basic laws are not
designed by the State but written with the
finger of God in the human heart
• Any constitution ought to be sustained
primarily by God’s higher laws

112. No statute enacted by Parliament
• is valid if it does not respect God and the law
• God is the fountain and founder of all good
laws and constitutions

113. This is the problem of humanism
• as it attempts to make man the controller of
his own volition and then empowers the state
and thus the state is made absolute

114. The idea of evolution
• undermines the rule of law
• Theories of evolution challenge the concept
that human law should always be subject to
God’s higher laws
• Evolution replaces the existence of God’s
natural moral order as the primary source of
law

115. In this way evolution regards
• the “positive law” of the State as the major
result of sheer force and social struggle
• Positive law becomes a product of human
will
• Laws will then lose their dignity and any idea
of government under law loses its
philosophical foundations

116. The term “positive law” in the USA
• is said to mean law that comes about
through due legislation
• the current trend is that type of law limits the
power of a judge to mitigate or deviate from
it at all.
• It also removes the need to prove intent

117. As a result of this,
• societies start to lack the moral condition of
the legal culture that allows them to
effectively restrain the all-powerful state
from emerging

118. Man is born in sin, fallen by nature
• Where man is made the controller of his own
evolution by means of the state, the state is
made into the new absolute authority
• God’s law is dropped and the state becomes
the new god
• Evolution always leads not only to revolution
but also to totalitarianism

119. Since Darwin a revolution in thinking
• particularly higher education has brought
about the establishment of the new god, the
Socialist Scientific State. This develops a
feeling that higher education gives the right
to rule and that many “important” matters
cannot be left to the democratic process that
includes the many.

120. • We are already seeing this emerging in our
country where a retiring High Court judge has
suggested that the non-intelligentsia are not
equipped to make some executive decisions
based on a democratic outcome like a
referendum.

121. Who Is Fit to Judge?
• We are also seeing a push to rid the justice
system of jury trials because the jury is made
up of a cross-section of people, who are not
fit to make proper judgement seeing that
they are incapable of understanding the
situation in the “correct” light and context.

122. Establish Intent
• When there is no need to establish intent
• there is no need for a panel of your peers to
judge your heart and intention

123. Under this system we see the rise
• of the scientific socialist state
• one of the fundamentals of this is that body
and soul are not linked together in cause and
effect
• the body is merely an extension that can be
indulged without affecting the soul of man

124. The Scientific Socialist State
• Emerging in the West right now
• Behind every legal order there is always a
god
• Whether it is God himself or those who have
control over the state

125. The state becomes a “god” in itself
• if there is no ultimate appeal or subjection to
higher laws and authority of God’s own laws
and rule
• Whenever the law of the State is regarded as
the only source of legality then civil rulers
become all-powerful authorities over the life
and liberties of the individual

126. In these circumstances
• there is no legal protection reasonably
afforded against tyranny

127. If the supremacy of God’s higher laws
• is not made to prevail then the end result is
always tyranny
• If you want to ensure the defeat of our
happiness then adopt views and opinions
against God’s plan whether from a legislated
point of view or in judicial determinations

128. There is a Supreme Lawmaker
• just look at the complexity of the universe
and all things within it
• I don’t wish to get into the absurdity of
evolutionary thought but if you really think
that there is no order and law behind our
universe and that we randomly evolved then
maybe you deserve to live in tyranny

129. I believe the Genesis record
• and for the first long period before the flood
there was a form of individual, family, tribal
law system that ended in tyranny, corruption,
violence and wholesale murder. I see no
indication of this ever-changing in the history
of mankind where God’s higher law has been
overthrown in favour of man-made laws that
are subject only to themselves

130. God’s law is always
• above the state law
• Our intellect should not be our basic
reference in terms of legality because
everyone is affected by a sinful nature
• Our basic legal rights should be considered.
These are the ones revealed by God himself
through the holy scriptures

131. Our nature has been damaged
• by original sin and so law is not so much to
be based on the wisdom of this world as on
God’s wisdom and God’s own will

132. As the Bible says
• 1 Corinthians 1:25
• Because the foolishness of God is wiser than
men; and the weakness of God is stronger
than men.

133. The rule of law can only work
• if civil authorities are able to respect the
prevalence of God’s higher laws over the
state law

134. the law of God is always perfect
• because God’s wisdom is always perfect
human authorities are sinful creatures who
might have their minds controlled by desires
of the flesh

135. They may be slaves of sin and rebels
• against God of course, the people of a nation
who elect sinful people and obey their wicked
rulings are slaves of sin themselves

136. A basic question of the rule of law
• is to know which sort of authority we want as
the ultimate source of power ruling over us
• The authority of a loving God or the authority
of a sinful ruler

137. If we decide for the sinful ruler
• then we have no right to complain against
the reign of totalitarianism and the rise of
tyranny because we’ve asked for it

138. Human laws that contradict
• God’s higher law will always lead to this
because God’s higher law maintains and
regulates natural human rights to life, liberty
and property
• If we look at the physical universe it is
obviously held under certain laws by its
creator

139. This creator also created us
• but also gave us our own intelligence
• If we use this intelligence to supersede the
intelligence of our creator then we are foolish
• The world of intelligence is not nearly as well
governed as the physical one

140. • If we deliberately overturn the intelligent
laws that were given for our protection and
prosperity we ought to be considered
extremely unwise

141. The moral law infuses human nature
• our conscience gives us the basics of moral
law.
• As far as our behaviour to each other is
concerned

142. with a clear conscience
• We instinctively know what is wrong
• We don’t kill each other as in murder
• We don’t steal from one another
• We don’t bear false testimony
• We don’t covet what is not ours
• We don’t commit adultery

143. Since the New Testament
• God’s kingdom is not seen on this world as a
state or nation
• As such laws regulate what is wrong rather
than stipulate what is right

144. Laws limit behaviour
• and you can’t define, and so limit, what is
right you can only limit or define what is
wrong and particularly what is wrong against
your fellow man

145. The biblical understanding of
• lawful resistance against tyranny
• When God delegates His supreme authority
to human rulers, they have no liberty to use it
in order to justify tyranny.
• In fact, there are quite remarkable examples
in the Holy Scriptures where God explicitly
commands civil disobedience against the
state.

146. For example,
• Egyptian midwives refused to obey the
Pharaoh’s order to kill Hebrew babies.
• Exodus 1:17
• But the midwives feared God, and did not as
the king of Egypt commanded them, but
saved the men children alive.

147. 3 famous Hebrews did not obey
• Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar, when he
commanded everyone to bow down and
worship his golden image
• Daniel also refused to obey a decree enacted
by King Darius, which forced everyone not to
pray to any god or men except to himself.

148. In the New Testament,
• we have the example of the first Apostles’
attitude towards the Sanhedrin, a Jewish
council of priests and teachers of the law.

149. The council ordered them
• not to preach in the name of Christ Jesus.
• However, the Book of Acts says that the
Apostles refused to obey their ruling, and, as
the Apostle Peter boldly declared
• Acts 5:29
• Then Peter and the other apostles answered
and said, We ought to obey God rather than
men.

150. The zeal of the apostles for the Lord
• was so great that they refused to be silenced
by unfair rulers, even if such a refusal
resulted in arrest and/or execution.
• They considered themselves bound by God’s
Law in the first place, and kept on preaching
the Gospel as if it were no legal prohibition.

151. To be obeyed, therefore,
• civil authorities have firstly to obey God and
the law.
• Whenever laws are enacted which contradict
God’s law, civil disobedience becomes a
Christian duty.

152. Although the first apostles regarded
• it as totally lawful to disobey ungodly
legislation, today’s followers of Christ like to
quote from chapter 13 of Paul’s letter to the
Romans in order to justify their compliance
with immoral rules

153. Some like to use Romans 13
• as the case for always obeying the state
regardless of the States subjection to the law
of God
• And to condemn any form of resistance
against the government, as a resistance
against God Himself

154. Romans 13:1–14
• Let every soul be subject unto the higher
powers. For there is no power but of God: the
powers that be are ordained of God. 2
Whosoever therefore resisteth the power,
resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that
resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

155. • 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works,
but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of
the power? do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the
minister of God to thee for good. But if thou
do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth
not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of
God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him
that doeth evil.

156. • 5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not
only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 6
For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they
are God’s ministers, attending continually
upon this very thing.

157. • 7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to
whom tribute is due; custom to whom
custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom
honour. 8 Owe no man any thing, but to love
one another: for he that loveth another hath
fulfilled the law.

158. • 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery,
Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou
shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not
covet; and if there be any other
commandment, it is briefly comprehended in
this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself.

159. • 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour:
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 11
And that, knowing the time, that now it is
high time to awake out of sleep: for now is
our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand:
let us therefore cast off the works of
darkness, and let us put on the armour of
light.

160. • 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in
rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering
and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make
not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts
thereof.

161. The conditions are in verse 3 & 4
• 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works,
but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of
the power? do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the
minister of God to thee for good. But if thou
do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth
not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of
God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him
that doeth evil.

162. Paul, however, argues here
• that we obey the civil authority because they
are not a deterrent to good works
• Rulers who are not “a terror to good works”

163. Are civil authorities
• ministers for good works?
• Then they are ministers of God
• When you do evil—fear
• We have inherited a justice system that has
declared itself under God’s law

164. If the person who holds
• state power abuses his or her God-given
power, ‘our duty is not to submit, but to
resist.’
• the state is to be an agent of justice, to
restrain evil by punishing the wrongdoer, and
to protect the good in society.

165. When it does the reverse,
• it has not proper authority.
• It is then a usurped authority and as such it
becomes lawless and is tyranny.

166. God has established the state
• as delegated authority, not an autonomous
power above the law.
• When we obey the state it is not that we
obey individuals who are in charge of the
state machinery, but it is rather for obedience
to a God-given authority who is commanded
by God to promote natural principles of
liberty and justice.

167. Paul also says that
• Even though he was held as an evil doer
• the Word of God is not to be bound
• 2 Timothy 2:9
• Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even
unto bonds; but the word of God is not
bound.

168. Right of resistance
• The right of resistance against tyranny is an
important element of the rule-of-law system
ordained by Him.
• As a democracy we are responsible for
electing those governors under God’s law
• The rule of law, Christianity and human rights

169. Where do we get our rights from?
• According to the biblical worldview, human
beings were created by God and, as such,
have never ‘acquired’ their basic rights from
the state.
• Nor are such basic rights a result of any work
performed by them, but it flows directly from
the nature of each human being who is
always conceived in the image of a loving
God

170. Our basic rights come from God
• Genesis 1:26–28
• And God said, Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness: and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and
over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth.

171. • 27 So God created man in his own image, in
the image of God created he him; male and
female created he them. 28 And God blessed
them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth, and
subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
every living thing that moveth upon the
earth.

172. God created all mankind,
• male and female, in His own image,
commanding them to fill the earth and
subdue it.
• We find here a very complex meaning for the
recognition of personal dignity, as the result
of the relationship between God and His
people, which the Fall has distorted but not
destroyed.

173. From this fact it follows,
• for instance, that widows will not be burned
on their husband’s funeral pyre
• that people will not be sold to slavery
• widows & orphans not left in abject poverty

174. The majority-Protestant nations
• Are the most rights-based and democratic
ones.

175. On the other hand, the various “isms”
• seem to offer the most serious obstacles for
the realization of democracy and personal
rights.
• In contrast to Islam, Christianity has
democratized political manners, and still is
the main moral force that holds democratic
values together in the West.

176. It can be said that no other
• religion, philosophy, teaching, nation,
movement—whatever—has so changed the
world for the better as Christianity has done
• In declaring that we all stand on equal
ground before God, Christianity gives the
best moral foundations for social and
political equality.

177. If Christianity is found to be true,
• the individual, male or female, is not only
more important but incomparably more
important than the social body or the state.
• The sum is not greater than each individual
part

178. Conclusion
• A visible fact, in these days of moral
relativism, is the gradual abandonment of
the Christian faith and culture in the Western
world.
• As a result, the moral foundations for the rule
of law have been seriously undermined.

179. Westerners, who believe that
• abandonment of Christianity will serve for
democracy and the rule of law, are blindly
ignoring that such abandonment has already
brought totalitarianism and mass-murder to
several Western countries.

180. Any honest analysis of
• Contemporary Western history would have to
recognize that no effective legal protection
against tyranny can, in the long run, be
sustained without the higher standards of
justice and morality brought into the texture
of Western societies by Christianity.

181. Westerners who disparage
• Their Christian heritage should get much
better informed .
• Were it not for this religion, we would not
have the freedoms we enjoy today, for
instance, to dishonour the very source of
these freedoms, namely Christianity.

182. Regarding the present climate
• of multiculturalism, it would be better for us
to think much more carefully about these
matters
• Wherever Christian ideals have been
generally accepted and their practice
sincerely attempted, there is a dynamic
liberty; and wherever Christianity has been
ignored or rejected, persecuted or chained by
the state, there is tyranny.

183. Conclusion
• Let us pray for the machinery of state
• let us pray for all ministers of Parliament
• let us pray for all the officers of the court
• let us use our democratic privileges to make
certain that the state stays subject to the rule
of law under God