America Is Not Israel — The Law of God and Public Policy

America Is Not Israel
The Law of God and Public Policy

We need to think carefully about God’s Law for America.

“And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live…. And you shall again obey the voice of the LORD your God and keep all his commandments that I command you today.” Deuteronomy 30:6, 8

From the beginning, God intended His Law as a standard of wisdom, righteousness, and justice for all nations (cf. Deut. 4:5-8). In its original form and context, the Law of God was altogether appropriate for the times in which it was given. Especially was it appropriate for a people who did not have a heart for God and who needed to have their most sinful passions and tendencies reined in by rigid strictures of punishment and enforcement (cf. Deut. 5:29).

But Israel’s condition of hardness would not always be the case. God explained to the people of Moses’ generation that a day was coming when He would cleanse the hearts of His people and enable them to obey His Law. Subsequent revelation explains that this day would come with the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon His people (cf. Ezek. 36:26, 27). When God gives a new Spirit to His people, then they will understand and keep His Law. The coming of the Spirit brought the Kingdom of God to the world in a new and more intimate way. Greatness in that Kingdom is associated with learning, obeying, and teaching the Law of God (Matt. 5:17-19).

We now live in an age of grace, when, by the striving and wooing of God’s Spirit and the preaching of the Gospel, people might be led to seek a heart for God and a right relationship with Him. This He has provided through the salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ. All who, by the inward working of God’s Spirit, believe in Jesus enter His Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17, 18).

In this new era of the Kingdom of God, the Spirit—and, with Him, the Law of God—is extended to Gentiles and Jews alike (Mic. 4:1-5; cf. Acts 15:8-21). Thus, as the Gospel comes to the Gentiles, through the holy lives and faithful witness of God’s people, the benefits of God’s Law break loose from their ancient moorings into new cultures and among new peoples. The wisdom and understanding of the Law come to light in new ways by the illuminating and enabling power of the Spirit of God.

We can see this pattern already beginning to be employed in Israel’s own history. In Ruth 4 a situation arose which was not expressly covered by any of the statutes of God’s Law. It fell to the judges and elders to consider the words of the Law in order to discern the spirit which it intended for the specific circumstances of their day. Their decision received the blessing of God.

We expect that, in this age of the Spirit, when all nations are commanded to believe the Gospel, that there should be some changes in the way we understand, practice, and administer the Law of God. This is so (a) because the Law does not speak specifically, that is, in its words, to the unique social and cultural circumstances of our day; (b) the Church—the contemporary Israel (Heb. 12:22-24)—is not the State and does not possess the powers God has reserved to the State for doing good (Rom. 13:1-4); and (c) grace and forgiveness are extended to all peoples through the message of the Gospel.

Because America is not ancient Israel, and America exists during the era of God’s Kingdom, we do not expect to apply God’s Law in exactly the way it was given to Moses. Apostolic example shows us that the spirit of the Law inclines toward grace rather than retribution (1 Cor. 5; cf. Deut. 22:30; 2 Cor. 3:6). The letter or words of the Law remain the starting-point for defining and exposing sin, but the grace of the Spirit and the Gospel must now guide us in determining the application of the Law to the needs and circumstances of our day.

And since, in every nation, making and administering law is in the hands of government, and governments are not populated exclusively by believers, the people of God must discover ways of commending obedience to the spirit of the Law as a matter of public policy in ways that government, as the servant of God for good, can ultimately embrace.

We continue to believe that the Law of God is a good law for all nations; however, we look to the Spirit and the Gospel to help us in being wise as serpents and harmless as doves in bringing the holiness, righteousness, and goodness of God’s Law to bear in appropriate ways on the public policy concerns of our day.

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.