For Godliness – The Law of God and Public Policy

For Godliness
The Law of God and Public Policy

Governments are God’s servants for good.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 1 Timothy 1:1, 2

As Paul explains in Romans 13:1-5, civil government is God’s servant for good. Society is good, in the first instance, when governments maintain order and civility—when people are able to live together in peace and quiet. Any government which, without repression or violence, is able to create an atmosphere of peace and quiet is serving the purposes of God, whether the powers-that-be acknowledge this or not.

Governments today, at least in the West, are secular; they feel no particular compunction to pursue policies in line with the Law of God. Nevertheless, the Law of God is holy and righteous and good. We should expect it to provide valuable insights and guidelines for creating a good and just society.

All governments, furthermore, are accountable to God and have been established to create and maintain just and good societies. Moreover, all people have a sense of what “goodness” and “justice” look like, and know when they are living in peace and quiet with their neighbors. This is because, at least in part, God has created people with the works of His Law written on their hearts. Something in the human soul—and in the corporate soul of society—inclines toward and yearns for a state of goodness, justice, peace, and quiet such as is encoded in the commandments, statutes, and rules of the Law of God.

To the extent that Christians, drawing on the Law of God, can influence the policies of government to promote a peaceful and quiet society, they must certainly do so.

Visit our website, www.ailbe.org, and sign up to receive our thrice-weekly devotional, Crosfigell, featuring writers from the period of the Celtic Revival and T. M.’s reflections on Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition. Does the Law of God still apply today? Order a copy of T. M.’s book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, and study the question for yourself.

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