Power, Family, Community and Law

Power and the Law

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Sociology

Genre: Speech

Lesson: 3

Track: 34

Dictation Name: RR110B3

Date: 1974

The Gospel According to St. John 1:1-4 and our subject is “Power and the Law.” John 1:1-4, “Power and the Law.”

[John 1] “1In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

Last week Friday, a British survey of North Oreland was released. The blood y conflict in North Ireland between ostensible Catholics and ostensible Protestants (but in reality between various revolutionary forces) has led to well –over a thousand deaths. It has destroyed vast amounts of property. It has seriously endangered the economy of North Ireland, made life difficult in that area. The survey showed, however that 96% of the people of North Ireland did not approve of violence and were definitely against what had taken place. Two percent could not make up their minds, and only two percent favored violence, and of that two percent, only a fraction were involved. And yet, the whole life of North Ireland has been disrupted. Its economy endangered, and life there made perilous because of a very small minority.

Let’s turn now to Ancient Rome. There are scholars who tell us, and have written very seriously and at length about this, that our usual picture of Rome in its decline is a rather unfair one to Rome. That the average Roman family, in fact, continued to practice the ancient Roman virtues. They tell us moreover, that the welfare mobs did not represent the majority of the Roman people, nor the sexual revolution people of Ancient Rome the life of the average Roman. But the overwhelming majority of Romans were quiet, moral, family men and women. Again, there is more than a little truth to that statement.

The same statement has been made with respect to France before the French Revolution. Again, studies with regard to Russian, under Czar Nicolas have been very emphatic about the peace, the prosperity, the tremendous progress of the people there. No other country in the world was more like the United States, scholars assure us—and with good reason—in its inventive ability, in the amount of freedom people had, and in extent of the prosperity of the average man, that Czarist Russian 1900-1917. So we could say that, as with North Ireland today, it was only a very, very small group in Ancient Rom, and France, in Czarist Russia that were genuine sexual and political revolutionaries. And yet we know what happened.

On the other hand, let’s look at another study, a two-volume study published a few years ago by the University of Pennsylvania Press, was a detailed study of the records of 17th century England—of the Puritans. The results were astounding. The highest percentage that the Puritans comprised of the population of England was 4%. And yet that four percent for a time dominated and ruled that country, their army under Cromwell was the most powerful on the face of the earth, never suffered a defeat after the first battle of the war, established peace wherever they went and for a time dominated European politics. Only four percent! What does this mean?

It means that no country is ever dominated by majorities but by small groups with dedication and faith. And the majority may be moral. It may be law-abiding as I believe the majority probably is in the United States today. But if there is not a vital conquering faith behind their morals and their standards, they will not stand. They will be pushed around; they will be dominated by the 2% or the 1% as in North Ireland today.

Let me illustrate. Again and again surveys have shown that the overwhelming majority of Americans are opposed to abortion. But it is now a matter of law. And I don’t think you can just blame the Supreme Court for it, guilty though they may be. I’ve talked to many people who oppose it: doctors, lawyers, church members, and more than once I have had this response: “I don’t believe in it. I think it is a horrible thing. But I just wonder whether I have the right to legislate for everybody or to impose my standards on other people.” Or to take a like matter: homosexuality. Condemned by scripture; in fact the death penalty is required for it. And I have talked to Christian groups again and again and I have asked, do you feel that homosexuality is wrong? And very rarely is there anyone who does not—they all feel it is wrong! In fact, many of them will say it is a particularly repulsive kind of perversion. But when I say the Word of God requires the death penalty (the closing verse of Romans 1 emphasizes that fact again), are you in favor of the death penalty for it, I don’t find anyone who agrees. And their attitude is, as with abortion, well I don’t like it, but I don’t know about imposing my standards or my church’s or the scripture’s standards on everybody.

Do you see what has happened? It is no longer the absolute Law of God to people, valid for all men and nations, their views on homosexuality and abortion are their purely personal standards. And if it’s purely personal, it’s a matter of taste. It isn’t a matter of absolute sovereign law, of the binding Word of God requiring us to obey. Because today God does not command church members and the average American, neither the church members nor the average American can command society.

The Communists have made it clear that all they need to command any society is 1% with another 9% following that 1% and they can take over any organization, any country, any institution. The only thing that can prevent it is if there is another 1% and 9% at the other end of the spectrum. Men cannot command if they are not commanded by a faith, if they are not men under authority.

It has been interesting to me to talk to some ex-Communists and to look at some of the literature. I have quite a collection of Marx and Lenin’s writings which in some cases I’ve gained from former party members; very interesting to read them. They’re very difficult reading. The vocabulary is complex and often technical, but to me the thing that was impressive was this: whether they were just longshoremen with an eighth-grade education of sixth-grade education, or college graduates, they could not be a party member until they mastered what was in those books and were under the authority of the word according to Karl Marx.

And today the church commands millions. The estimate of the Bible-believing Christians is 40-45 million. They don’t command anything in the country, because they are not commanded by the Word of God. The Word of God is to them a matter of option. They’ll tithe if they feel like it, or if they get around to it and they’ll obey as far as it’s convenient. There’s no point, you know, in going overboard on this. But God says in His Word, as He speaks to Adam, that the moment he begins to disobey, the moment it is not the absolute and sovereign Word of God that commands him, at that moment, dying, ye shall die; the process of death will begin to operate in you. Again, God makes it clear to His covenant people in one of the greatest chapters of all scripture, one on which the open Bible was placed before all officers in this country, a century or more again, from the President on down: Deuteronomy 28. And according to Deuteronomy 28, God says if ye will obey my words, all the statutes which I command you, blessed shalt thou be in the field and in the city, in they going out and thy coming in. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of the field, and all these blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee. You cannot get away from my blessings. Irresistible blessings, if we believe and obey; but if ye will not harken to my word, if you will not obey my law, then irresistible curses will follow. Cursed shalt thou be in the field and in the city and the fruit of the field and the fruit of thy body and thy going out and thy coming in. This is God’s principle of action.

The death penalty begins on men and nations when they separate themselves from God and will neither believe nor obey. And thus what is God’s principle—God’s Law, the death penalty for disobedience, the blessing of life and prosperity for faith and obedience must be our basic principle of justice. The State, therefore, has a duty to apply it and the death penalty is one facet of its application.

We believe in the death penalty on theological principles. God has declared that when you disobey me, He says to Adam, dying, ye shall die. And He tells the covenant people in Deuteronomy 28 ye shall be cursed and death shall pursue you and your culture, you and your household, you and your nation when you will not believe and when you will not obey. And so when we establish a Christian order, we must make it one that blesses the law-abiding by protecting them, and which curses the ungodly by bringing the wrath of God’s Law upon them.

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men,” John declares. When we are in Christ, when we believe and obey, He is our light and we are blessed when we walk in Him. But when we separate ourselves from Him who is the light and the life of men, we give ourselves over to death as individuals and nations.

Again, John says in I John 5:12, “He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” Now this is not merely a matter of theology. If we say that these things are true, for theology alone, for the Church alone, we deny the kingship of Christ. And this institute is about the kingship of Christ.

This is true in every area of life because Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In our family life, in our Church life, in our vocations, in our civil government, this must be the basis of operation. “He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” And so the justice of God must be firmly applied everywhere and a recognition that separation from Him is death! And faith and obedience is life.

Then there is a second principle in the law structure of scripture. Restitution. In Exodus 22 as well as in other passages, we have a great deal that is said about restitution. Made very simple, it is this: if I steal $100, I must restore that $100 and be penalized another $100. If I steal a sheep, I must restore that sheep (and because that sheep has productivity, it can multiply), I must restore four-fold. If I steal an ox, which has a number of uses (as a beast of burden as well as food and its hide has value, and so on), I must restore five-fold. And that’s why it used to be said—it can no longer be said—that crime does not pay. The Word of God didn’t permit it to pay! You had to make restitution. But what about crimes that were not solved? The community made restitution then. And if a murder were out in the field, the town to which it were nearest according to the scripture, had to make atonement to God for that violation of His peace and of His order. Because restitution has to be made according to the Word of God for every offense, either by the death of the offender, and if he is a habitual criminal or an incorrigible delinquent, he has to be executed. “So shall ye put iniquity out of the land,” according to scripture. But there must be restitution.

God’s order must be restored. And we who are the regenerate people of God are told that the goal of God in all tings is regeneration and the restitution of all things, according to Matthew 19:28 and especially Acts 3:21. And so it was, in terms of the Biblical standard, when Zaccheus was born again, he said, “If I have defrauded any man, I will restore four-fold,” and then our Lord said, “This day has salvation come to this household.”

God takes His Law seriously. He expects us to do the same. We were not redeemed to set the law aside. Now that we are redeemed, we are only dead to the law as an indictment, a death penalty against us. In that sense, we are dead to the law. We died in Christ. But we have been born again in Jesus Christ. And as St. Paul declared in Romans 8, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. Now it is our way of life—not a death penalty. We are not criminals fleeing from the Law of God, we’ve died to it. The death penalty has been fulfilled in Christ and now it is the righteousness of God. It is our way of life, our means of sanctification. We are justified by the sovereign grace of God through the atonement of Jesus Christ. We are sanctified by obeying the Law of God.

Then there is a third principle. First, God’s basic principle is justice. This required the death of His only begotten Son. It means death against sin. It means God’s blessing and prosperity upon faith and obedience. Then second, restitution. God who created all things very good requires that by means of restoration, restitution, we establish His order. And third, dominion. To exercise dominion and to subdue all things to Christ; to bring all areas of life, every area of thought, all things into captivity to Jesus Christ, to carry the Gospel to every creature, to make disciples of all nations, that He might be King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

For the ungodly, power means changing men by external coercion. For us, power means the Almighty One, His power unto salvation manifested to save us from sin and death; his power now working in us to bring about the restitution of all things, to carry the Gospel to every creature, to exercise dominion and to subdue the earth, to develop the arts and sciences, all things to the glory of God in Christ. And we are promised that this power, the power of God, is available to us and in and through us when we obey Him, when by faith we follow His Word. All these blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee, so that we cannot escape His blessings any more than we can escape His judgment.

“In Him was life and the life was the light of men.” And apart from Him, death. In him, life. Therefore, the summons of scripture to the people of God over and over again is to walk in the light, to dwell in Christ. “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” To go forth and to conquer in His name. And the Word of God age after age is, “If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Let us pray.

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we give thanks unto Thee that Thou hast forgiven us our sins in Jesus Christ, and that we are now dead to the law as a death penalty against us. Make us, oh Lord, alive unto Thy Word now as Thy righteousness, as the way of blessing, of sanctification, and heal our land, we beseech Thee. Heal our churches, our families and make them powerful and great in Thee that wherever the soles of our feet may tread, there we may have holy ground, Thy dominion established, Thy name glorified and magnified. Bless us to this purpose, we beseech Thee, in Jesus’ name. Amen.