Civil Authorities – The Kingdom Curriculum IX (1)

Civil Authorities

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16

“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the LORD your God is giving you…” Deuteronomy 16:18

The Blessings of Authority

With the fifth commandment we begin something of a recapitulation and extension of the Law of God into the civil and social realms. As in the first commandment God established Himself as the supreme Authority for Israel’s good, now here in the fifth commandment He begins to extend His authority into the daily lives of His people, so that, by the proper exercise of authority in the social and civil realms, His blessings may be obtained in Israel.

The recognition of civil authority begins in the home, where children learn to honor their fathers and mothers simply because they are their fathers and mothers. This is the first commandment with a promise, as Paul noted (Eph. 6:2), and so it is a good idea to explain to children the benefits that come to them, and to society as a whole, when order and proper authority are acknowledged. Parents must be specific to teach their children that respect for persons, property, and truth (the remaining commandments) all flow out of respect for those who have been entrusted with the responsibility to preserve these God-given blessings.

The judges and officers called for in our text represent an extension, not only of God’s rule, but that of parents as well. Because of our sinfulness we must be maintained under the continuous rule of Godly people, who, understanding the Law of God and acting as its agents, will serve to ensure that His blessings prevail by carrying out the judgments of God’s holy, righteous, and good Law.

In a secular society such as ours we may not expect people to embrace the civil standards of God’s Law if we come to them thumping our Bibles and hollering, “This is what the Lord says!” But the works of the Law are written on the hearts of every person (Rom. 2:14, 15); thus, we may expect that appealing to the wisdom and benefits that come from adhering to divine precepts will resonate with many of those with whom we share the civil arena. If we can exemplify that wisdom and those benefits, and learn to speak of the justice, goodness, and beauty of God’s Law in terms our unbelieving neighbors–and aspiring civil authorities–can understand, we may find them agreeable to establishing the civil order on foundations that rest on the holy and righteous and good Law of God–even if they themselves have no regard for the divine Law-giver (Ps. 66:3; Ps. 81:15, NASB).

Daily meditation in God’s Law is the mark of a righteous person (Ps. 1). Order your copy of The Law of God today, and begin to discover the beauty, goodness, and truth of God’s Law for yourself. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, point your browser to “Publications,” then click on the drop-down option, “Waxed Tablet Publications.”

—

In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore.

T.M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.