T.M. Moore

The Language of Public Policy (2)

October 09, 2011

The Language of Public Policy (2)

The Law of God and Public Policy: First Things (14)

We must let wisdom and understanding speak for themselves.

“See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’” Deuteronomy 4.5, 6

Making public policy is not a work of evangelization. Of course, Christians must be always ready to give a reason for the hope that is within them to anyone who asks (1 Pet. 3.15). But in making public policy we are seeking to influence government not for the salvation of souls but for the kind of society where such salvation can be freely proclaimed and lived (1 Tim. 2.1-8).

Thus the language of public policy-making must not be the language of preaching; indeed, it will probably not even be the language of God’s Law, at least, not obviously. Nothing shuts down conversation in the public policy arena in contemporary America quite as fast as someone who feels obligated to preface all his opinions with, “Thus saith the Lord.”

But just because we do not use the words of God’s Law does not mean that we are not seeking to achieve in public policy the spirit of what it encodes. We need to present God’s good and perfect will to people in language that makes sense to them. We must seek to persuade policy-makers that what we propose embodies true wisdom and understanding and will contribute to a peaceable, quiet, safe, just, and good society. As Jesus became incarnate in a form men could recognize, doing works they could admire and speaking words they could readily understand, so Christians who are seeking to affect public policy according to God’s good Law must couch their proposals in forms, the wisdom and goodness of which can be properly argued and debated within the public square.

Here it is important that we understand everything the Scriptures teach about how we use our speech. We must seek to edify others, show them reverence and respect, propose scenarios that appeal to the most basic human needs and concerns, speak the truth in love, and do our very best to explain, persuade, and justify our views, without feeling the compunction, at every turn, to cite chapters and verses from the Bible. Certainly all we do and all we propose will derive from our understanding of God’s Law, and of all His Word. And, if asked, we must be ready to explain our Biblical perspective.

But if we lead with Scripture, or if we give the impression that only by believing Scripture can our proposals be agreed, then we will lose the argument before it even starts.

We must be as wise as serpents and as harmless of doves in helping policy-makers to see the wisdom, understanding, and good that can come from public policies based on the teaching of God’s Word. The language of public policy begins in the words of prayer, but its vernacular is that of the best and most winsome argumentation of the age in which we live.

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