“Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:17). God’s people have lived under various forms of government. This Fourth of July weekend, it’s profitable to look at principles of our democratic republic in light of God’s Word.
The Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men…”
It is significant, first, that the Founders said it is the Creator who has given rights to individuals and, second, that the role of government is to secure the God-given rights of individuals. The definitions of “life” and “liberty” haven’t changed over the years, but the meaning of “happiness” has. It did not mean “pleasure” but “a steady, durable state of worthy satisfaction with life” (George Will, “The Conservative Sensibility,” 231). The Ninth Amendment adds there are other rights, not listed in the Constitution, that belong to the people. But today? Many of our fellow citizens imagine it’s government that gives us our rights. We regularly see various self-interest groups going to the government to give them rights, not in a spirit of securing God-given rights as the Founders said. Gene Healy described it most succinctly, “The state stepping in for Yahweh” (in George Will, 109).
How should a Christian think about rights today? “Honor everyone” tells us to think of every human as a creature created by God, whether or not we like or approve how they live. I don’t think that’s too controversial, but this might be. “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants (literally slaves) of God” (1 Peter 2:16). That is, there are times when followers of Jesus Christ, the suffering servant, do not exercise our rights but “let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Peter 4:19). How that works out in a democratic republic in which due process is guaranteed to everyone is a topic for another day. For now, may this Fourth be a civics lesson for all Americans, and for us reflection based on God’s Word.
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