By Dr. Josh Wilson
Introduction
Growing up in a small town in western Colorado, I remember doing some real boneheaded things as a kid. When I was a very young preschooler, I would frequently terrorize our pet cat, Smokey, who would usually return the favor by clawing up my hands. One time, the cat scratched me so bad that I went in search of my father’s guns in order to shoot her. Thankfully, my parents caught on to what I was attempting to do, and I was disciplined for this boneheaded decision. I never ever repeated it again. One time, when I was in middle school, my parents had left me home alone with some friends for an afternoon. At my prompting, we all decided to get up on the roof of the house and jump off onto some sleeping pads that we had stacked on the ground. I was not disciplined for this boneheaded decision because my parents never found out about it, and I can neither confirm nor deny if I ever did it again. (Sorry about that if you are reading this, Mom and Dad! Also, Wilson kids, if you are also reading this, you are not allowed to ever do this!)
Don’t draw the wrong conclusion about my upbringing. My parents upheld good standards within our household to which my sisters and I were to conform. I knew that I was to obey Mom and Dad, maintain a good behavior, and most importantly, not do boneheaded things. Not only did they have these standards among others, but they also had a means of enforcing this standard within the household. My parents had a ping pong paddle which they used as their rod of discipline (Prov 23:13-14). Sometimes my parents would spank me with the ping pong paddle because of my penchant for misbehavior and doing boneheaded things. However, the ping pong paddle did a very good job of keeping me from other forms of misbehavior and other more epic boneheaded shenanigans. (My parents kept it hanging on the door of the hall closet, and every time they opened the closet door, the ping pong paddle would rattle against it, making a sound that always struck a healthy fear into my heart.) The ping pong paddle kept me and my sisters conformed to the household standards my parents had set in place.
Now in the previous article, we examined the theological concept of human civil government being a temporary, delegated authority given by God to restrain sin and preserve the created order from societal breakdown and the judgment of God until the return of Christ. Earthly rulers are to do this work of restraint and preservation through the application of the Lex Talionis, the law of retribution. Remember these passages from the last article:
Genesis 9:5-6 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
Deuteronomy 19:18-21 18 The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 20 And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. 21 Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
However, Christians live in a world where the application of the Lex Talionis varies from civil magistrate to civil magistrate and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. So, what then is the biblical standard by which earthly rulers are to apply the Lex Talionis in governing their citizens? What also is the means or instrument by which they are to enforce and uphold that standard?
The Means of Governance
Let us consider again the language of Romans 13.
Romans 13:3–4 (ESV) — 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
Notice how this passage parallels with Deuteronomy 19:18-21 from above. Here, the Apostle Paul communicates that evil doers are fearful of civil magistrates because of their God-given power and authority to punish evil actions. Again, in this way, civil magistrates restrain sin and preserve the created order. However, notice also the instrument with which civil magistrates carry out their task of punishing evildoers, the sword! In Romans 13:4, Paul communicates that the sword in the hands of earthly rulers, rather than a world-wide flood, is one of the means by which God pours out His judgment and wrath on evil doers. The sword is also the means by which civil magistrates shed the blood of the blood shedder (Gen 9:6). It is the means by which civil magistrates exact life for life, eye for eye, and tooth for tooth, and so on (Deut 19:21). The sword is the means by which civil magistrates mete out retributive justice upon the evil doer, and thereby, it is the means by which they terrorize and restrain the hearts of evil doers from carrying out evil actions (Rom 13:3). Today we would say that God has given civil magistrates the power and authority to enforce law and order by the barrel of a gun. Paul even goes so far as to argue that Christians should pay their taxes in order to support this God-given work of their earthly rulers (Rom 13:6).
Notice in also in Romans 13 that apart from having the power of the sword to punish evildoers, civil magistrates are also given authority by God to commend and give approval to those who do good (Rom 13:3). Consider also the words of the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2.
1 Peter 2:13–14 (ESV) — 13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.
Good behavior promotes a peaceful and stable society. A peaceful and stable society preserves the social and created order. Since the preservation of society and the created order is the purpose for the establishment of human civil government, then it makes sense that earthly rulers should not only commend and praise those who do good, but they should use the power of the sword to defend them as well.
Thus, the sword in the hand of civil magistrates is a good thing that God has given. It is a common grace from His hands. It is not a saving grace, but it is a grace that people receive from Him just as they receive the rays of the sun and the rains from the heavens from Him (Ps 104:14-15; Matt 5:45; Acts 14:17). God gives the sword to civil magistrates in order that they might preserve and promote peace and order, civility and stability for human flourishing and survival. Civil government does this by praising and commending those who do good, and it does this by punishing those who do evil. It not only preserves the created order and civil society from the wrath of God, but it restrains the moral breakdown of civil society from devolving into the violence-filled world of Genesis 6. This is how God preserves the social order until the return of Christ.
The Standard of Governance
So if God has instituted civil government to preserve society and the created order by punishing those who do evil and praising those who do good, then by what standard of good and evil are earthly rulers to do this? Do earthly rulers get to decide what is good and evil or does civil society decide what is good and evil? Will the standard for good and evil vary from earthly ruler to earthly ruler and from civil society to civil society? These are valid questions considering that the vast majority human beings who have lived throughout history, along with their earthly rulers, have lived outside of the knowledge and influence of the Bible. How could they have ever known the standard of good and evil has been revealed in the Scriptures?
According to the Apostle Paul, in the same book of Romans, the biblical standard of good and evil has not only been written and revealed in the Bible, but it also exists on the human heart, so that all people everywhere and in all times have known this singular standard of good and evil. Consider the Apostle’s words in Romans 2.
Romans 2:14-16 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
This law to which the Apostle Paul is referring is what is known as the Moral Law, which is itself summarized in the Ten Commandments. (Paul cites three of the Ten Commandments just a handful of verses later in Romans 2:21-22.) Now the Ten Commandments were given by God Himself to Israel alone. However, Paul’s argument in this passage is that the Moral Law, summarized in those Ten Commandments, does not just exist on those tablets of stone that were written by the finger of God. It also exists on the hearts of all people everywhere and in all times. Furthermore, according to Paul, it is by this law that Christ himself will judge the secret intentions of the hearts and actions of all people on the last day (Rom 2:12-13). No one will be able to say to Christ, “I didn’t know this law.”
According to Paul in Romans 2, the evidence that the Moral Law exists on the hearts of all people is that they naturally do what the Moral Law requires. All people everywhere, whether they have knowledge of the Bible or not, naturally know it is wrong to murder, lie, steal, and act in a sexually deviant manner. God did not need to explain to Cain that his murder of his brother Abel was wrong; his action of lying to God about the matter proved that he already knew it was wrong (Gen 4:9). Paul states in the book of 1 Corinthians that even pagans who have no knowledge of the Bible know that sexual deviancy is wrong.
1 Corinthians 5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.
Another evidence that the Moral Law exists on the hearts of all people is cited earlier in Romans 2. There, Paul also argues that people by nature judge others for not upholding the standards of that Moral Law, and they expect something to be done to those who do not do so. They, by nature, have a sense and understanding of retributive justice that is in accordance with the Moral Law. (See Lamech’s own testimony in Gen 4:28.) Paul then argues that this sense of retributive justice also leaves people without any excuse on that day of Christ’s Judgment.
Romans 2:1-5 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who do such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man- you who judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself- that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
There is indeed a standard of good and evil that is known by all people everywhere and in all times, and that standard, the Moral Law, is not just written and revealed in the Ten Commandments. It also exists on every human heart. Paul’s entire argument in both Romans 1 and Romans 2 is that all people will be judged by God on the last day by that Moral Law, and no one will be able to say, “I didn’t know it.” If, therefore, God has instituted civil government to preserve society and the created order by punishing those who do evil and praising those who do good, then it is by the standard of the Moral Law that civil magistrates are to do this work. However, this begs a very important question. Should civil magistrates punish those who worship other gods and do not worship the Triune God? Should civil magistrates punish those who are idolaters?
Which Portion of the Moral Law?
If the Moral Law is summarized in the Ten Commandments, then in the Moral Law there is indeed a command to worship the Triune God alone and a prohibition against giving worship to anyone or anything else. Furthermore, if the Moral Law exists upon every human heart then that means all people know this requirement of the Moral Law. The Apostle Paul even argues this point in Romans 1:18-25. Furthermore, the Apostle argues in Romans 1:26-32 that it is this idolatry which eventually leads to many other evil actions and violations of the Moral Law. In not worshiping the Triune God, idolators are carrying out an evil that comes from their post-fall, corrupted, sinful heart. Thus, should civil magistrates use the sword of retributive justice to punish idolators in order to curtail and restrain their idolatry?
To answer this question properly, we must first understand that the Moral Law, summarized in the Ten Commandments, is made up of two types of laws, two types of commandments. The first set of commandments (1-4) are those types that define how humans are to act toward God, and the second set of commandments (5-10) are those types that define how humans are to act toward one another. Think of Jesus’s teaching that love of God and love of neighbor are the two greatest commands to keep (Matt 22:37-29; Mark 12:28-31). Love for God causes Christians to obey the first set of commandments, and love for neighbor causes Christians to obey the second set of commandments.
The Apostle Paul makes it very clear in Romans 1-2, that on the last day Christ will judge all people for how they acted toward God and how they acted toward their fellow man. He will judge them for how they obeyed both sets of commandments in the Moral Law. However, let us return to the covenant of Noah and the establishment of civil government in Genesis 9:6
Genesis 9:6 (ESV) — 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
As we have unpacked this passage, we have seen that civil government bears the sword of retributive justice in order to exact blood for blood and to a lesser degree eye for eye and tooth for tooth and so on. Yet what this passage also shows is that civil government is to adjudicate violations of the Moral Law that occur between man and man, not between man and God. (If civil magistrates were to use the sword against idolators, then only Christians could act as civil magistrates since they are the only ones who worship the Triune God. However, outside of the theocracy of Israel, there is no place in the Bible that requires this of earthly, civil magistrates.) In other words, civil magistrates are to enforce the second set of commandments, those that define how humans are to act toward one another, not the first set of commandments, those that define how humans are to relate to God. This does not mean civil magistrates cannot promote and encourage the worship of the Triune God. Civil magistrates certainly can and should do so, but they cannot compel the worship of the Triune God by the power of the sword. God has not put it into their hands for that purpose.
Nevertheless, civil magistrates are to establish and enforce laws that punish those who do evil and praise those who do good according to the standards of the Moral Law that define how humans are to act toward one another. There is much leeway and variance in how this kind of governance can be carried out from civil magistrate to civil magistrate and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. However, all such governance must be done within the bounds of the standard of the Moral Law. As we will see in the next article, any civil magistrate that neglects this responsibility will be answerable to God, and any civil magistrate who enacts laws that punish those who do good and praises those who do evil will also be subject to not only eternal judgment, but also earthly judgment. All those in positions of a temporary, delegated authority will not only have to give an account for their own lives before God, they will also have to give an account for how the acted as civil magistrates.
Conclusion
God has instituted civil government to preserve civil society and the created order from the kind of social breakdown that filled the earth with violence in Genesis 6. Civil government carries out this work by praising those who do good and by punishing those who do evil through the exercise of the sword of retributive justice. The standard by which civil government is to do this work is by the standard of the Moral Law summarized in the Ten Commandments, most specifically those commandments that define how we are to act toward our fellow man. Civil government is to continue this preserving work until the return of Christ.
Josh Wilson is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Park Hills, MO, and is a professor of Bible at Missouri Baptist University, professor of Old Testament at International Reformed Baptist Seminary, and professor of Hebrew at Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a part of the leadership team for Founders Midwest and has been a speaker at the Founders Midwest Conference. If you would like more information about Founders Midwest and the annual conference, be sure to check out our Facebook page or visit our website for more information.