Will We Witness the Twilight of Lex Rex?

Lex Rex.

The Law is King.

This philosophy of government is expounded upon in Samuel Rutherford’s book of the same title which was written in opposition to a “seditious pamphlet”  titled Sacro-Sacta Regum Majestas, translated as “The Sacred and Royal Prerogative of Christian Kings.”

Rutherford stood against the long tradition of the “divine right of kings” where rulers claimed because they were providentially appointed to their earthly realms by sovereign hand of God, they had the right to do whatever they wanted.  The rulers developed this paradigm from Romans 13.  Before I go any further I will just say that the Tea Party is focused on the following three areas.

1. Fiscal Responsibility
2. Limited Government
3. Free Markets

The Tea Party is not a proponent of a theocracy.  The reason I am going to be analyzing and discussing the Christian Bible is because the issue flows from the Bible.  Anyway, Cornelius Van Til once said, “Culture is religion externalized.”  In essence, your presuppositions and what you deem as the “ultimate authority” determine what you do.  You may be epistemological self-conscious of your base presuppositions or you can be absolutely ignorant of your motives, but you are inherently influenced by whatever they happen to be.

Both the ruler and the people read and interpreted the following passage:

¹ 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. 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. ⁵ 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. ⁷ Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. (Romans 13:1-7)

The Tyrannical Ruler’s Interpretation

Ah-hah!  Everyone is to be subject to me and I exist in authority because God placed me here.  If people resist me then they are resisting God.  People who resist me are bound for hell and I can frighten people with this threat.

Concerned and Informed Citizen Interpretation

Rulers are not to be a terror to good works, but to evil.  The king’s job is to preserve justice and punish those who violate just laws.  The king does not get to define what justice is because God defined justice in the Bible.  He must remain accountable to God in maintaining a Biblically consistent justice system.

 How is this relevant today?

I received two emails this past week from the Heritage Foundation talking about the executive branch’s (Rex) total ignorance of the U.S. Constitution (Lex).  You can read the detailed and well researched article here.  Under the battle cry of America “can’t wait” for Congress to make decisions, the U.S. Constitution was absolutely bulldozed.  This is the modern example where a magistrate decides that the law is not good enough for him and that he knows what is best for the country.  We all live under authority and United States of America crafted a document that was designed to place everyone under the same law and be held to a standard.  No one is above the law and any claims of autonomy are atrocious and arrogant.

Word of the Day: Autonomy –>auto/nomous–>self/law –> law unto oneself

Any political history buff should be familiar with the Doctrine of Interposition or the Lesser-Magistrate Doctrine where it is the duty of the government officials to hold other government officials accountable to the Laws of the Land.  In America, our government is designed where we, as voters, are given the privilege and duty to hold government leaders accountable to the laws of the land.  Our vote is a tool we can either endorse or thwart those who swear to uphold the U.S. Constitution.