And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22.37-40

As we have seen, the economy of ancient Israel was designed in all its parts, not primarily to advance the material wellbeing of the people, but to achieve and maintain justice.

A just society and nation would bring honor to God among the nations of the world, and God’s Law was intended as the means to this end. The goal of God’s Law is not material prosperity; such prosperity as comes to those who keep God’s Law is merely incidental and, at any rate, not particularly important to their overall wellbeing (cf. Phil. 4.11-13, 19).

The goal of God’s Law is, as we have seen, justice, which is another way of saying, love.

We have defined justice as the expression of God’s character and will in the arena of human affairs. The purpose of human life, in seeking the glory of God, is thus to work for justice in all things. Justice is defined above all in terms of love for God and neighbors, as Jesus explained in His answer to the lawyer’s question.

The purpose of the Law therefore, in pointing the way to a just society, is to promote the practice of love. Public policies that do not promote love are, at best, a diversion from God’s purpose for human beings, at worst, an inducement and encouragement to idolatry – loving things other than God and neighbor.

All public policies should be required to pass the test of love. Love is the purpose of human life; therefore, policies should be established which cherish and preserve life and which encourage every living person to invest his life in just and loving ways.

Further, public policy should reflect an awareness of the preciousness of life, precisely because it is the gift of God and its purpose is defined in terms of His glory. The Law of God requires those who would live under it to work for policies that take seriously God’s understanding of the purpose and preciousness of life.

In this section of our series on the Law of God and public policy we will be looking at what the Law of God teaches concerning the value of life. And we will consider ways of working to achieve this perspective in the public policies of the land.

The Law of God provides a sound basis for working to insure justice and love for all creatures, especially for every human being. But if we will not appeal to this source for public policy decision-making in our day, then we will be governed by the changing whims and standards of an increasingly sensual and materialistic generation.

T. M. Moore

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