Are You Under the Law?

Are You Under the Law?

Government: We have thousands of laws in the United States of America. 

Federal laws...

State laws...

But, what about The RULE of Law?

"The most important demand of the Rule of Law is that people in positions of authority should exercise their power within a constraining framework of well-established public norms rather than in an arbitrary, ad hoc, or purely discretionary manner on the basis of their own preferences or ideology. It insists that the government should operate within a framework of law in everything it does, and that it should be accountable through law when there is a suggestion of unauthorized action by those in power."

Government is not the law. The government is not supposed to behave as tyrants or oppress the rights of citizens or violate the Constitution.

The government is supposed to be constrained by the established laws and held accountable by the people who are also under those same laws. 

The problem with government rulers is that humans do break the law, and governments are just people who are imperfect and corruptable, so they need to always be held accountable and government powers must always be limited. See Hobbes and Social Contract Theory.

What about the Moral law? (Be good for goodness sake!)

Should the law just serve the greatest good or the majority? See Utilitarianism.

What about Social Justice and serving minorities? This is a common debate in healthcare.

Immanuel Kant came up with a Categorical Imperative, believing that people are by nature, free and rational, and should judge an individual action by thinking how it would affect the individual if everyone were to do that action. Example: I should not commit (any given crime) because if everyone did it, the world would be horrible for everyone, including myself. 

I see similarities in the Bible, where people have free will and are rational creatures, made by a Holy God who wants His people to keep Laws that will protect and prosper them.

God's Law (Written on our Hearts!)

Old Testament or Mosaic Law pertains to the Jews.

Christians are not under Mosaic Law, which was given to the nation of Israel, but the law of Christ Jesus.

This is freedom in Christ from the Mosaic Law! Not freedom to sin, but freedom from the bondage of sin and subsequent condemnation by the Law.

In the New Testament, Jesus said that He came not to abolish, but to fulfill the Old Testament laws and the Prophets.

How can we summarize all the Biblical laws? Love God, keep His commands, and love one another.

The reality: People cannot fulfill the commands of a Holy God, since we are sinful, but we can by faith accept Jesus, who fulfilled the Law and paid our debt of sin with death on the cross. He became our sin, and that sin died with Him on the cross. Then, God rose Jesus from the dead, so both our sin and death are conquered through Christ Jesus. God worked this through His only son, in order to save His people, whom He loves. 

We have been bought with the price that Jesus paid, and we are free if only we believe.

Therefore, we look not to the Law to save us but to Jesus and we are saved by the grace of God. 

The Laws reveal not only the Holy nature of God but the sinful nature of humanity and the gap between the two is bridged only by faith in Christ. 

What if you never read the Bible? God's Law is written on our hearts, it is in our conscience!

Which is the most important of all God's Laws?

Jesus was asked this very question by a Pharisee who was considered to be “an expert in the law” (Matthew 22:34–36). Jesus answered by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37–40).

You are my neighbor! We are all neighbors. As Mr. Rogers said,

"The toughest thing is to love somebody who has done something mean to you. Especially when that somebody has been yourself." — From Episode 1665 of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

💗Wishing you Amazing Love & Awesome Style
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