Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
Romans 5:12-14
Aligning civil law with Biblical law aids the gospel because it informs society of God’s righteous requirements even if the society breaks the civil law. When civil law is contrary to God’s law, it communicates to a population that there are no restraints on sinful conduct and no accountability. When civil law aligns with God’s law, people are informed daily of God’s righteous requirements, and when those requirements are ignored, there are consequences. In the case of civil law, it may be a fine or a day or two in jail for minor offenses. Greater offenses include up to capital punishment. Lawbreaking has consequences.
Paul makes the case that even when there is no law, there is still sin, and the proof of that is that people die. Death entered the human experience through sin. Everyone dies, which proves that everyone is guilty of sin even if there is no law to transgress.
One of the great efforts of those who choose to suppress God’s truth in unrighteousness is to remove God’s law from our civil law. This gives more freedom to sin and, ostensibly, removes some of the guilt and shame of sin. I believe this is much of the motivation to remove all laws that prohibit sexual relationships outside of marriage between one man and one woman. The great push is to legitimize the entire LGBTQ+ agenda. The effort to remove these laws from the civil books does not remove them from God’s law. There will still be God’s consequences upon those who choose to ignore God’s law.
The principle applies to the continuing effort to maintain the legal murder of pre-born babies. I know this is not politically correct to state it this way, but it is also obfuscation to refer to it as women’s health and reproductive rights. This has nothing to do in the vast percentage of cases with a woman’s health; it has to do with the death of a woman’s child. But, if civil law allows this conduct, some women are led to believe it is an acceptable practice. It fails to deal with the truth of, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). The practice is still a sin.
One of the needs for humans to recognize their need for the Savior is realizing their guilt. It is helpful if the law of the land is aligned with God’s law in communicating guilt for sinful conduct.
The good news only follows the realization of sin, and then it is really good news. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, has come and paid the price of death for all of our sins, whether they be sexual sins or the sin of murder. Faith in the finished work of Christ, who lived a perfect life on our behalf, suffered an died to pay the price of death that we should experience, and to prove the sufficiency of his work, he rose from the dead to new life on the third day after his crucifixion. In this, he provided for the forgiveness of all of our sin.
I am bringing this up because next week will be the Presidential election in the United States. When we elect a President, we are not only picking a man to lead the country; we are also endorsing the platform on which he and his party has campaigned. I believe it has gospel implications when we elect a particular platform. If that platform is essentially contrary to God’s law, we are making the gospel’s communication harder. Allowing sin to dominate our culture with no restraints not only harms the society temporally, but it also aids the enemy of our souls in condemning souls to hell.
Don’t misread what I just wrote. I didn’t write that electing the wrong platform automatically sends people to hell. I did write, in effect, that the enemy of our souls delights in such an election. He is given free rein to lead immature people down the path to destruction. Christians should, and yes, I wrote “should” try to elect a platform that will conform with God’s law as much as possible. No human platform will be perfect, but we can lobby for one as near as we can get it. The government’s Biblical role is to support good conduct and punish evil (Romans 13:3-4). Therefore, it is in a representative government the responsibility of Christians to influence legislation to perform the God-ordained role of government.
As we head to the polls next week, I pray you to consider these thoughts and take them into account as you vote. If you have not done so, I encourage you to Google the platforms of the two major parties and compare them with the question in mind, “Which of these platforms most conforms with God’s law?” Then vote accordingly. I don’t have room to do this for you in this post, but I encourage you to do it. Forget what you have heard on television or social media until you have investigated for yourself the platforms of the two parties in light of God’s law.
