Ethics & Law

Controversial Issues
Confronting Contemporary
Christians
© 2014 by Faith Bible Church
(www.http://faithbiblechurchefc.com)

1. Authority: to control, direct or strongly
influence the actions & conduct
of someone or something

2. Law: • A law is a set of rules and standards
by which a society governs itself
• Implies imposition by a sovereign
authority and the obligation of
obedience on the part of all subject
to that authority;


3. Govern: to control, direct or strongly

4. Government: a system by which a state or
people are governed or controlled by the use of force

5. Politics:

to control, direct or strongly

6. Anarchy: The absence of government
What is the problem with this?

James Madison: “If men were
angels, no government would be
necessary.”

John Adams: “Whoever would
found a state, and make proper
walls for the government of it,
must presume that all men are
bad by nature.”

History shows that when a society
rejects transcendent,
universal norms for
its art, culture, laws,
institutions and
families, then the
inevitable result is
anarchy leading
to tyranny.

R. J. Rushdoony

Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in
Israel; everyone did what was right in his own
eyes.

It is said that after God died in the 19th century,
man died in the 20th. For when God is dead,
man becomes an untamed beast.


• Man is finite and
imperfect (sinful), as
such we cannot know
what is true, what is
moral or what is real
apart from God
• God in Christ reveals to
all mankind the way
(salvation), the truth
(epistemology), and
the life (ethics)

Ministry of
Education

Ministry of
Grace


Ministry of
Justice

• Revealed Law: that which is revealed by God
in the Bible.
• Natural Law:

revealed by God through conscience & reason (Rom. 2:14-16)

• Municipal Law: man-made law developed
through legislation & enacted
by government; valid only as it
conforms to revealed and
natural law

• Case Law:

a system of evolving law
based on precedent setting
decisions of judges on a caseby-case basis

• Common Law: the body of precedents based
on natural and revealed laws
set by judges over many years;
began in the church and
developed mostly independent
of state government

1. Ordained by God
• Daniel 4:17, 25 ‘This decision is by the decree of
the watchers, and the sentence by the word of the
holy ones, in order that the living may know that
the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it
to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of
men.’ 25 They shall drive you from men, your
dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and
they shall make you eat grass like oxen. They shall
wet you with the dew of heaven, and seven times
shall pass over you, till you know that the Most
High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to
whomever He chooses.

1. Ordained by God
• Isaiah 33:22 (For the LORD is our Judge,
The LORD is our Lawgiver, The LORD is our
King; He will save us);


1. Ordained by God
• John 19:10-11 Then Pilate said to Him, “Are
You not speaking to me? Do You not know
that I have power to crucify You, and power
to release You?” 11 Jesus answered, “You
could have no power at all against Me
unless it had been given you from above.
Therefore the one who delivered Me to you
has the greater sin.”

2. Protectors of the Law
• Exodus 20:1-17

• Deuteronomy 16:18-20 “You shall appoint
judges and officers in all your gates, which the
LORD your God gives you, according to your
tribes, and they shall judge the people with
just judgment. 19 You shall not pervert justice;
you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe,
for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and
twists the words of the righteous. 20 You shall
follow what is altogether just, that you may
live and inherit the land which the LORD your
God is giving you.

• Deuteronomy 19:14-19 “You shall not remove
your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old
have set, in your inheritance which you will
inherit in the land that the LORD your God is
giving you to possess. 15 “One witness shall not
rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any
sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or
three witnesses the matter shall be established.
16 If a false witness rises against any man to
testify against him of wrongdoing,

• Deuteronomy 19:14-19 17 then both men
in the controversy shall stand before the
LORD, before the priests and the judges
who serve in those days. 18 And the judges
shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if
the witness is a false witness, who has
testified falsely against his brother, 19 then
you shall do to him as he thought to have
done to his brother; so you shall put away
the evil from among you.


• Romans 13:1-4 Let every soul be subject to
the governing authorities. For there is no
authority except from God, and the
authorities that exist are appointed by
God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the
authority resists the ordinance of God, and
those who resist will bring judgment on
themselves.

• Romans 13:1-4 3 For rulers are not a terror
to good works, but to evil. Do you want to
be unafraid of the authority? Do what is
good, and you will have praise from the
same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for
good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he
does not bear the sword in vain; for he is
God’s minister, an avenger to execute
wrath on him who practices evil.

Marijuana Overdoses Kill 37 in Colorado on
First Day of Legalization

Rocky Mountain
News
January 2, 2014

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper: "We can't sit
idly by and allow this slaughter to continue.”

3. Sometimes evil
• Mark 6:14-29 16 But when Herod heard, he said,
“This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been
raised from the dead!” 17 For Herod himself had
sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in
prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother
Philip’s wife; for he had married her. 18 Because
John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you
to have your brother’s wife.” 19 Therefore
Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill
him, but she could not; 20 for Herod feared John,
knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he
protected him. And when he heard him, he did
many things, and heard him gladly.

4. Sometimes good
• Nehemiah 2:1-9 …in the twentieth year
of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before
him, that I took the wine and gave it to
the king. Now I had never been sad in his
presence before. 2 Therefore the king said
to me, “Why is your face sad, since you
are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of
heart.” …4 Then the king said to me,
“What do you request?” So I prayed to
the God of heaven.

• The Code of Hammurabi, the
6th Babylonian king, is the
oldest preserved law code
created in 1790 B.C.
• The code contained 282 laws
written in 12 tablets in the
Akkadian language which was
common in Babylonia.
• One nearly complete example
of the Code is left today,
inscribed on a seven foot, four
inch tall, in basalt stele.

• This work is also a great • Society wouldn't
source of information
be the same if it
about the society,
weren't for this
religion, economy, and
code of laws. It
history of this period.
was the start of a
civilized group of
• Each part describes in
people.
detail a crime or
incident, and the
punishment/procedure
for it.


• Revealed by God to Moses
at Mount Sinai (1450 B.C.)

• Revealed Israel’s covenant
with God distinguishing
them from all the other
nations

Exodus 19:5 Now therefore, if you will indeed
obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you
shall be a special treasure to Me above all people;
for all the earth is Mine.

• 1215 first document to
limit the king’s power
by law and protect
their rights.


• 1697 government must
tell you what you are
being held for an show
evidence against you
• Passed during the reign
of Charles II by
Parliament to force the
courts to examine the
lawfulness of a
prisoner’s detention.
• Right of Petition

• 1628 Established “due process”
• government could not tax without
consent
• Government could not quarter
troops
• 1689 Parliament replaced dominant
power of King (legislative
supremacy)
• Trial by jury
• No cruel and unusual punishment
• Right to bear arms

1. Pray for
• I Timothy 2:1-3 Therefore I exhort first of
all that supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and giving of thanks be
made for all men, 2 for kings and all who
are in authority, that we may lead a quiet
and peaceable life in all godliness and
reverence. 3 For this is good and
acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

2. Pay taxes to
• Matthew 22:15–21 Then the Pharisees went and how
they might entangle Him in His talk. 16 And they
(Pharisees ) sent to Him their disciples with the
Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true,
and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about
anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. 17 Tell
us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes
to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus perceived their
wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you
hypocrites? 19 Show Me the tax money.” So they brought
Him a denarius. 20 And He said to them, “Whose image
and inscription is this?” 21 They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the
things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are
God’s.”

2. Pay taxes to
• Matthew 22:15-21 16 And they sent to Him
their disciples with the Herodians, saying,
“Teacher, we know that You are true, and
teach the way of God in truth; nor do You
care about anyone, for You do not regard
the person of men. 17 Tell us, therefore,
what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes
to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus perceived
their wickedness, and said, “Why do you
test Me, you hypocrites?


2. Pay taxes to
• Matthew 22:15-21 19 Show Me the tax
money.” So they brought Him a denarius.
20 And He said to them, “Whose image
and inscription is this?” 21 They said to
Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them,
“Render therefore to Caesar the things
that are Caesar’s, and to God the things
that are God’s.”

3. Be subject to
• Romans 13:5-6 Therefore you must be
subject, not only because of wrath but
also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because
of this you also pay taxes, for they are
God’s ministers attending continually to
this very thing.


4. Resist when evil
• Acts 4:17-21 But so that it spreads no
further among the people, let us severely
threaten them, that from now on they
speak to no man in this name.” 18 So they
called them and commanded them not to
speak at all nor teach in the name of
Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and
said to them, “Whether it is right in the
sight of God to listen to you more than to
God, you judge.

4. Resist when evil
• Acts 4:17-21 20 For we cannot but speak
the things which we have seen and
heard.” 21 So when they had further
threatened them, they let them go,
finding no way of punishing them,
because of the people, since they all
glorified God for what had been done.


5. Dual Citizenship
• Acts 5:29 But Peter and the other apostles
answered and said: “We ought to obey
God rather than men.”
• Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in
heaven, from which we also eagerly wait
for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke
to them, saying, “All authority has been given to
Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and
make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all
things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am
with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Amen.

Ethics & Law

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