Legislating Morality – The Law of God and Public Policy

Legislating Morality
The Law of God and Public Policy

Morality is all you can legislate.

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

The second characteristic of the good or just society, according to the Apostle Paul, is that it promotes the flourishing of virtue—godliness and human dignity.

Here is precisely where Christians may expect to hear the objection, “You can’t legislate morality.”

In fact, morality is the only thing you can legislate, for all public policies are grounded in and expressive of some moral system. In our secular society, public policies increasingly reflect utilitarian, pragmatic, and relativistic ends. But such views, because they reject unchanging or absolute standards of goodness and justice, only create conflict and uncertainty (as at present in the economy), and lead to political gridlock (again, as at present).

When the only standards guiding the creation of public policy are grounded in worldly aspirations and hopes, disappointment all around will be the order of the day. And the more such worldviews are put in force by legislation and public policy, the less we can expect peace and quiet—much less godliness—to obtain.

Christians must work to help government serve for a just and good society. This means we must seek to interpret the canons of godliness, revealed in God’s Law, into the public policy agenda of our nation. And that means working for laws and policies that reflect the teaching of the Law of God.

But we cannot expect unbelieving magistrates and voters to embrace the Law of God in the same way we do. Keeping the Law will not save lost people. However, a society informed and shaped by God’s Law can expect to know more of His blessings than one that defies or ignores His holy standards.

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.