CA Farmer 257:3 (Sept. 4, 1982), p. 25.
When we are told in Deuteronomy 1:17 that in courts of law “the judgment is God’s,” it means the judge administers God’s law faithfully. Similarly, we are told that just weights and balances are the Lord’s (Prov. 16:11).
All courts of law therefore are to administer God’s justice, not man’s. In the Bible, the words for “justice” and “righteousness” are identical. God’s salvation means for us Christ’s righteousness applied to us, to give us a new standing before God. In our relationships with our fellow men, we are to apply God’s righteousness, justice or law.
One of our problems today is that humanism enthrones man’s word above God’s Word, and man’s law above God’s law. Benjamin Franklin said, “Honesty is the best policy”; Friedrich Nietzsche later held that dishonesty is the best policy. Our Biblical requirement is that we be honest, whether or not it is the best policy for us. Our human situation or judgment cannot take priority over the Word of God.
We are very much in need of a return to God’s Word as the command word, the judgment word which must stand. Our humanistic judgments have damaged our courts badly, and they have messed up many human lives. I hear too many church people say, “I think,” instead of, “Thus saith the Lord,” when they are talking about matters where Scripture is plainspoken. We can edit, amend, revise, or vote down a legislative measure proposed in state chambers, but we have no such amending or veto powers with God’s Word. If His Word does not stand with us, we cannot stand before Him.
- R. J. Rushdoony
Rev. R.J. Rushdoony (1916–2001), was a leading theologian, church/state expert, and author of numerous works on the application of Biblical law to society. He started the Chalcedon Foundation in 1965. His Institutes of Biblical Law (1973) began the contemporary theonomy movement which posits the validity of Biblical law as God’s standard of obedience for all. He therefore saw God’s law as the basis of the modern Christian response to the cultural decline, one he attributed to the church’s false view of God’s law being opposed to His grace. This broad Christian response he described as “Christian Reconstruction.” He is credited with igniting the modern Christian school and homeschooling movements in the mid to late 20th century. He also traveled extensively lecturing and serving as an expert witness in numerous court cases regarding religious liberty. Many ministry and educational efforts that continue today, took their philosophical and Biblical roots from his lectures and books.