Is it Fair why People must Be Restrained by the Law and Government? by Samuel Johnson

Today I will address the reasons why the law and the government must restrain people. Why society must be restrained must be limited in their actions and their behavior by the law and the government. We are speaking about the restraining hand of government. But we have questions. What about unjust laws? What about a repressive government? What about unjust government officials? Should we pray for a government who breaks or suspends the laws? We will address these questions.

In the past, we spoke about why we have conscience. That is to restrain us, because we need to live based what's right and wrong. You also spoke about parents. Parents are important in the role of restraining children and teenagers from wrong so they can develop the character of doing the right thing. Why the restraint? 

Because the foundational issue is that all humanity is born with a sin nature, with the nature to be independent of God and to do whatever they feel like doing. Hear what the Bible says in the book of Romans 10: 10-12  As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

So, none of us is good, we are all born with a sin nature. I know that this is hard to hear. Our education system, and those who study human psychology would claim that everyone is basically good. Not true. This means that we all need a restraining force, a restraining rule to keep order, to keep peace so society can develop and grow in an orderly way. 

Now, if we were to allow people to behave the way they want to at any time, in any circumstance, we would have chaos in society. We will have Disorder in society. Hence. The role of law and government. 

Now the originator of law and government is God. We would like to think that humans developed the concepts of law and government. Sorry but was God who established the first moral law to our human parents, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the law of good and evil, the law of right and wrong. God is the ultimate authority and all leaders, all presidents, all rules, and all governments owe their authority to God. 

For example, English common law is the foundation of American law. And the Bible, especially the book of Romans is the foundation of English common law. So, the foundation of American Law can be traced back to the Bible. In fact, the Book of Romans was required reading and study in American Law schools. So, people who prattle that “the Bible is irrelevant”,” the Bible is old fashioned and not needed in our modern society” lack the knowledge about the foundations of our legal system.

This is the ultimate reason Christians are commanded to uphold the laws of the land and to pray for the Government. Many questions will arise from this statement which I will discuss shortly.

First hear what the scriptures say in Romans 13:1 – 7. 

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil works. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.

Let’s break this down. The Bible says that we must honor governing authorities – Government and the Laws, the Constitution 

Why? because authority of the Government and the Laws, the Constitution comes from God; These institutions are God’s instrument to reward good and punish evil and rebellion. The scripture says that the governing authorities are God’s ministers.

So, in America, we expect the government to make and uphold just laws. We expect those who disobey the law to be punished regardless of social status, ethnicity, male or female, lifestyle, economic or political position. Those who obey the law should have no fear of the government. That’s what Romans 13 is saying. 

So, what if the government fails to uphold the standards it is authorized by God to implement? This is a challenging question for Christians and also for unbelievers. There are many scenarios that we can address.

How do we manage oppressive government and laws? How about unjust laws? 

It’s interesting that Jesus walked the earth at a time when the Roman government oppressed the people in Israel and other surrounding provinces and nations. Yet there is no documented statement where Jesus called for the removal of the Roman authorities although he had to power to do so. Everywhere, the commandment in the scriptures is that Christians pray for the government and obey the laws. This is why Liberation Theology is contrary to the scriptures, to the Bible and to the Christian faith - Liberation Theology is not focused on saving souls, it is focused on the transfer of civil power to the poor, the oppressed etc. However we find many examples in the last 100 years, that the majority former oppressed become the new abusers of power. Why? Man is basically not good, born in sin and shaped in iniquity. In other words, every person is born with a sinful nature. Only a change in nature can achieve an peaceful extended society. The Bible is clear that oppressors shall not enter the Kingdom of God, and will face the wrath of God. Christians have to trust God who has all authority. 

Dealing with unjust laws is a different issue. Slavery laws, Jim Crow laws, restrictions of voting rights are opposed to scripture and requires the active participation of Christians to change these unjust laws. We must have a clear understanding between unjust laws and the failure to implement just laws in any nation. The occurrences of racial discrimination, racism etc. does not necessarily require actions to remove the government. Replacing one set of sin nature leaders with another set is not the solution. Sure, there must be legal avenues to vote out bad governments within the law. This is the restraining effect of the law. The key endeavor of Christians is to win souls, to change people internally, one person at a time. This is the basic way to change a society not through many diverse types of man-made philosophies and sociopolitical movements. At another time, I will discuss why all man-made philosophies ranging from socialism, communism, capitalism and even democracy have failed, or will fail. Because any man-made system is full of fallen mankind and their systems eventually fail. The coming Kingdom of God 1,000 years rule (See the Book of Revelation chapter 20) will demonstrate how a just society is governed. But I’m getting off topic. 

The bottom line is that the authority all governments and laws (regardless of type), are subject to God’s authority. They are God’s instruments to reward good and punish evil commensurate with just laws. The government and laws are God’s instrument of restraining evil so we can have a peaceful and orderly life. This is why we Christians must pray for the government. We demonstrate our trust in God and His commandments. It is indeed better to share the Gospel is a peaceful society.