Taking every thought captive for obedience to Christ (2 Corinthians 10.5)

Vision
Government and Law
It’s not too late for American Christians to begin thinking with the mind of Christ about the upcoming elections.

Two passages can guide our thinking about the kind of people we should support for public office, or the expectations we should hold out for those who, falling short of what these passages require, we nonetheless intend to urge on them.

These are Deuteronomy 17.18-20 and Romans 13.1-4. The first establishes the duty of rulers to prepare themselves and order their administrations according to the teaching of God’s Law of liberty and love. The second reminds all civil magistrates that they are servants of God for bringing His good order to bear on earth.

Because I have written more extensively on the teaching of Romans 13.1-4 concerning the role of government as a servant of God, I want to offer a few words on Deuteronomy 17.18-20 and its teaching about the duties of magistrates in relation to the Law of God.

This passage brings together two disparate ideas into one new vision for social order. The first idea is that of civil order generally. The idea that societies should be ordered, rather than chaotic, derives from humankind’s having been made in the image and likeness of God. We are creatures who require order and governance if we are to live together for mutual benefit. Our civil orders reflect, in varying degrees, the relationships of wisdom and mutual love which exist within the Godhead.

Even the ancient pagan nations knew they required some form of order to survive and, hopefully, flourish – even if flourishing meant only those at the top of the social order. The nations surrounding Israel had provided kings for themselves, although this was not an institution familiar to the people of God, except as an agent of oppression. Order in Israel was primarily to be a local matter, overseen by wise judges who ruled as anointed agents of God.

But, as God shows in our text, monarchy can be an acceptable way of organizing a people for a just and fruitful civil order, and God was not averse to His people adopting such a polity at the national level.

The second idea here is completely new, and by it God prescribes a form of civil order that will ensure blessedness for His people and guide the nations in organizing themselves wisely. Israel’s king, and the civil order over which he presided, were to be governed by the Law of God. Rulers as individuals, judges at the local level, the people they governed, and the social order in all aspects were to be established in line with the teaching of the Law of God. The Law of God, fully embraced and justly implemented, would produce a social order characterized by wisdom, an order that would appeal to other nations, so that they would study and emulate it. Even those who were declared enemies of God would accept His order as being in their best interest (cf. Deut. 4.6-8; Mic. 4.1-8; 1 Kings 10; Ps. 81.15; etc.).

It would be the duty of prophets and priests to monitor and comment on the extent to which this condition was being maintained in any generation (cf. Deut. 18.15). That duty devolves upon the followers of Christ in our day (1 Pet. 2.9, 10).

The nation under the rule of God’s Law would bear witness to the world of the wisdom, majesty, grace, justice, and truth of God; and nations far and near would come to learn from such an order how they may know similar wisdom and benefits for themselves.

In America today the vestiges of divine Law remain as underpinnings of our social order, the rapidly-eroding heritage of our Founders’ vision for America. Doubtless we will continue to believe that offenses such as murder, rape, stealing, perjury, fraud, and the like are not in the best interest of the social order or its people. But the architects of the secular, individualistic, and narcissistic worldview have been chipping away at the Biblical foundations of law in America, so that only the barest outline yet remains. How long will it take for this to be sapped as well?

We are not thinking with the mind of Christ or of the Spirit when we refuse to follow the Law of God as the basic rule for our lives, and for the social order of which we are a part. We will be called legalists, fanatics, theocrats, fundamentalists, and worse for insisting on this, but we will be right nevertheless. And we may expect our nation to be blessed – and the erosion of our Founders’ heritage to be slowed, if not reversed – to the extent that we take our stand on the holy and righteous and good Law of God as the platform and agenda for our lives and social order.

It’s not too late to begin thinking with the mind of Christ and His Spirit concerning the political and social order. If we fail to make the most of this opportunity, what may we expect but the continuing infusion of disorder, indecency, disruption, and despair into the social order (Eph. 5.15-17)?

For reflection
1.  If we will not be ruled by the Law of God – personally and as a people – then what rule of law will guide us?

2.  The Law of God outlines a divine economy for blessedness. How much do you know about what the Law of God teaches concerning such matters? Since the Law is holy and righteous and good (Rom. 7.22), wouldn’t it be a good idea for Christians to be more familiar with what it teaches?

3.  Suggest some steps Christians might take to inject the Law of God into current political debates.

Next steps: What does your church teach about social order, political responsibility, and individual ethics? Ask a pastor or church leader.

Two new series you’ll want to follow: This week, in our In the Gates column, we begin a series on “The Rule of God’s Law”. Everyone is ruled by some law; this series argues for God’s rather than man’s. Next week in our ReVision column we begin a series on “The Divine Economy”. Here we’ll glimpse the mind of Christ concerning how a social order ought to work. Be sure to follow each of these studies, as they offer important Biblical insights for our lives and societies.

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