OPINION:
Who doesn’t crave justice, fairness and the freedom to flourish? These noble outcomes benefit all societies. Yet what catalyzes these outcomes? What predicates or conditions must exist for flourishing to occur?
The answer must begin with reality. Reality begins with the self-existent triune God, the creator, who creates all that is.
This God ordered and structured his creation and governs it by his word, his verbal command or law. Human laws are derived from God’s supreme law. This is why at his trial, Jesus can unequivocally tell the magistrate, Pontius Pilate, “You would have no authority over me unless it had been given to you from above” (John 19:11).
This is also why the Apostle Paul can say unequivocally in Romans 13 that rulers derive their authority from God and are to be servants not saviors applying God’s standards to instantiate God’s life-giving ordered liberty.
Law, as a human endeavor, therefore, should be applied to the world as it exists and as it has been designed to exist: dependent on and designed by God. Severing life from God and his word never produces optimal human flourishing. Believers and non-believers alike are to “live by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
Law is a predicate for life. Any ethical system that severs itself from God’s word is suspect incomplete at best and dangerous at worst.
God not only spoke the cosmos into existence, but he directed his will to his image-bearers (Adam and Eve) verbally. In other words, the Lord did not place Adam and Eve in the garden to “figure out life” for themselves aided only by their own empirical observations and reasoning. God verbally instructed them to act in accordance with his command or law. Law thus comprises an inescapable component for humans living in God’s world; it’s baked into the very DNA of what it means to be created.
Often pundits place liberty and law in opposition, like oil and vinegar. Is this correct?
Consider perhaps the greatest demonstration of liberation history has seen: the Exodus. There, God dramatically liberated a people crushed under the oppressive totalitarian law of the Egyptian pharaoh.
Then what happened? Did he dispense with law? The answer is no. God provided them a comprehensive alternative law by which they were to live.
Liberation necessitates law. A society properly ordered by law is the condition for true liberty.
The rule of law provides structure to society as well as social coordination, predictability and reliability, protection of persons, relationships and property, and other conditions for flourishing. Consider freedom of speech. In the context of the United States, many cite the First Amendment as a protector of free expression. But did this freedom exist prior to the amendment’s ratification in 1791? Yes, but why?
Before the Fall, God directed Adam and Eve with a particular task derived from their being his image bearers, the “Imago Dei.” They were told to exercise dominion over the entire created order in what is often called the cultural mandate (Genesis 1:27-28).
Now, this task at the outset no doubt seemed daunting; it would require development, expansion, other persons, a division of labor and a law protecting these efforts. It would also require acquiring and processing raw materials that existed outside the Garden. This task therefore presupposed coordination, collaboration and, therefore, communication.
Speech therefore would facilitate the mission God conferred upon Adam and Eve. This same cultural mandate remains mankind’s mission after the Fall (as seen with Noah in Genesis 9) and, accordingly, protecting free speech remains a crucial component of ordered liberty. Moreover, Jesus commanded that his followers execute another mandate: The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Plainly, this mandate likewise required and continues to require robust legal protection for publicly proclaiming the gospel.
We must pursue these mandates personally, culturally and politically for our good and our neighbor’s good. The rule of law, rooted in the source of reality and the creation of the cosmos, provides the necessary foundation for cultivating vibrant human flourishing.
• Jeffery Ventrella, PhD, is a visiting professor of constitutional law and jurisprudence and directs the Center for Public Legal Theology at Trinity International University. He previously served as senior counsel and senior vice president of academic affairs and training at Alliance Defending Freedom.
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