There Will Be Consequences
Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing right you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
When people submit to God's Law, man's laws are superfluous.
When people reject God's Law, man's laws are irrelevant.
Any rational understanding of how man's laws relate to God's Law begins with accepting these two principles.
No law made by man can establish moral right or moral wrong. No law made by man can make the actions of men right or wrong.
Moral right and moral wrong are established by God’s Law and by only God’s Law. Only God’s Law can make the actions of men right or wrong.
If we scorn God's Law, our obedience to man's laws is no defense of our conduct before God.
If we embrace God's Law, our obedience to man's laws adds nothing to our righteousness or virtue.
Every choice we make, every action we take is either right or wrong according to God's Law. For every choice and every action, there is no third option.
For every choice and every action, there is a consequence. That is indisputably God's Will. Even right choices and right actions come with consequences, and not always pleasant ones. Sometimes suffering the unpleasant consequence is what God has ordained even when we do what is right.
So it is that while man's laws are morally superfluous and irrelevant, those who enforce man's laws are generally extremely relevant. Regardless of whether our actions are right or wrong, moral or immoral, those who enforce man's laws will frequently be the agents of consequence.
We have seen many examples recently of people scoffing at man's laws, and even flagrantly disobeying those laws, going so far as to confront with violence those charged with enforcing those laws.
We have watched a young woman, a mother, be shot and killed while accelerating her vehicle towards immigration officers, striking one of them.
We have watched the people of Iran defy the authorities of the Islamic Republic to protest deteriorating conditions in that country. We have watched those same authorities respond with bloody brutal violence, killing more than two thousand.
We have seen government officials complaining bitterly that they are being investigated for having possibly lied under oath, for having committed the crime of perjury.
In each case, we see people defying man's authority and rejecting man's laws. In each case we see people enduring the consequences—or apparent lack thereof—for daring to challenge man's authority.
What do we say to such people? How shall we apprehend their actions?
This much is certain: no matter what we choose to do with respect to man’s laws, the righteousness of our choices will always be governed by God’s Law. Whether we choose to obey man’s laws or defy them, if we yet thirst for righteousness we are obligated to adhere to God’s Law in every choice.
Whether we choose to obey or defy man’s authorities, we are still obligated to do so in accordance with the Great Commandment of loving God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. Whether we choose to obey or defy man’s authorities, we are still obligated to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, for such is the inseparable corollary to the Great Commandment.
All government officials, all officers of the law, all agents of human government are indisputably among our neighbors. They are people even such as we, and we are called to love them even as we love ourselves.
Likewise all government officials, all officers of the law, all agents of human government are called to love their neighbors even as they love themselves. Government service does not exempt a man from God’s Law. Government service does not give conscience carte blanche.
Can there be love of neighbor when a person attacks an officer of the law, seeking to do that officer bodily harm?
Can there be love of neighbor when agents of human government meet peaceful demonstrations and protests with lethal violence?
Can there be love of neighbor when government officials object to officers of the law investigating when an accusation of crime has been levied? Can there be love of neighbor if such accusations are made falsely?
If we are considering these things rightly, no great insight is needed to see that there is no love of neighbor when people propose violence against those who are discharging their sworn duties. There is no love of neighbor when agents of human government respond with violence to peaceful objections to government miscreance. There is no love of neighbor when government officials feign outrage that an accusation leveled against them would occasion an investigation, but neither is there love of neighbor should said government officials be accused falsely.
If there is not love of neighbor, there can be no love of God.
How does one demonstrate love of one’s neighbor when that neighbor works for the government? As the Apostle Peter reminds us, we do so by honoring them. The Apostle Paul taught a similar reminder in Romans 13, encouraging us to “pay all of them their dues.”
The government official who carries out their sworn duty honestly and conscientiously should be accorded the respect due anyone who proceeds uprightly about their daily tasks.
The law enforcement officer who faithfully and conscientiously enforces the law, aspiring to sobriety and professionalism while carrying out their daily tasks absolutely deserves respect and even a bit of deference, for theirs can be a dangerous profession.
Those who investigate when accusations are levied should be understood to perform an invaluable service, for only through their efforts can we ever learn the truth of a matter.
Honoring those who faithfully carry out their sworn duties is always the right and righteous thing to do.
But what about those who are faithless in discharging their duties? What of the Iranian paramilitary member who shoots unarmed protesters? What of the police officer or investigator who seeks to use the law as a weapon against personal or political opponents?
Certainly if they are violating the laws they are sworn to uphold, they have forfeited any honor or deference. If they are seeking to use the law as a weapon to hurt people, they have forfeited any honor or deference. The moral obligation to love our neighbors as we love ourselves translates into exactly what the Apostle Paul taught: give that honor that is due. A person acting dishonorably is clearly due no honor.
Yet whether a person is acting honorably or dishonorably, they are still a person. Whatever sins they may be committing, we are still called to act towards them with righteousness. We are still called to bear true witness to the world around us. We are still called to adhere to God’s Law.
Honoring that call may mean opposing human authority, and standing in defiance of it. Circumstances may offer no alternative to challenging authority, and even rebelling against it. As we can easily see in countries such as Iran, that can and does happen.
Honoring that call may even lead us down a path of violence. Insurrection and rebellion may be the moral choices to make.
Yet we must understand that no matter how we honor that call, there will be consequences. If we oppose authority, authority will surely mete out those consequences, and they are not likely to be pleasant. There may be violence. There may be arrests, detentions, confinements.
We may even be killed.
All these things can be the consequence of choosing to oppose authority. All these things are outcomes we must understand may happen if we choose to oppose authority.
There is but one way to avoid the consequences which attend on a particular choice: do not make that choice. Do not defy law enforcement if one wishes to avoid being arrested. Do not resist arrest if one does not wish to be violently treated during an arrest. Especially do not seek to use lethal force if one wishes to avoid being in turn the target of lethal force.
Whatever choices we make, whatever consequences we accept, we can only be righteous if our choices are reconciled to God’s Law. Whatever choices we make must be the right choices before God, or they are the wrong choices. If we cannot be reconciled to God in our choices, that is the surest sign of all that our choices must change.
And so my prayer this day is that all people will have their eyes and their hearts opened, that they may be reconciled to God in all their choices. My prayer this day is that those who choose to stand against human authority especially may choose those actions which are still in obedience to God’s Law even as they are in defiance of man’s laws. My prayer this day is that people will have the clarity of thought to understand the consequences arising from their choices, and the strength of purpose to accept whatever consequences arise from their choices.
The moral obligation to love our neighbors as we love ourselves translates into exactly what the Apostle Paul taught: give that honor that is due. In every situation giving exactly that honor which is due is always the righteous choice.
Whatever choices we make, whatever consequences we accept, we can only be righteous if our choices are reconciled to God’s Law. Whatever choices we make must be the right choices before God, or they are the wrong choices. If we cannot be reconciled to God in our choices, that is the surest sign of all that our choices must change.
This much is certain: If there is not love of neighbor, there can be no love of God. If we do not choose to love our neighbor in all things, we cannot love God in anything.
So eloquent, and so true. Really, Peter, you are a JOY! Bless you always, as you are truly doing God’s work with your powerful mind and precise writing. You matter so much!