Christians and the Legal System
Christian Relationship to the Legal System
As many individuals understand, despite any religious affiliation, the legal system is set in place in order to foster the creation and continuation of a good society. This good society can then be achieved by promoting the good and eliminating the bad. It is in this elimination of the bad, that societies and their legal systems begin to differ. While certain legal systems enforce the law through right and just ways, other legal systems are deemed cruel and unnecessary. In viewing the American legal system and its relationship to Christianity, one can better understand which portions of the legal system are represented within Christianity within the Bible and its religious teachings. Further, one can understand the beliefs of the Christian legal system, which exists to focus on human equality before God along with a Christian duty to serve God by serving each other. In understanding the basis of Christian teachings and beliefs, one can form their own personal opinions as to what the relationship should be between Christians and the legal system.
Christian View of the Legal System
Author Thomas Samuelian (2008) notes that Christian view of the legal system has stemmed largely from the most pivotal event in Christianity -- the crucifixion, an event that "underlies most of our law to this day" (Samuelian, 1). The crucifixion is understood by Christians as one of the most significant societal and legal injustices of all time, in which an innocent man was publically and cruelly punished for crimes he did not commit. Samuelian notes, "Honest people who understood Christ's innocence were probably a minority, although had they even been a majority, they would have been helpless to prevent it" (Samuelian, 1).
It is largely because of this event within history and...
However, in a country that clearly divides
church and state, a Christian view is rarely found, and even more rarely publicized within the context of the American legal system. What, then, should the relationship be between Christians and the legal system?
Applicable Bible Verses
The Bible provides "specific instructions for establishing earthly legal systems, and he requires such systems to be orderly and equitable" (Worldview, 1). The teachings of God portrayed in the Bible set forth an expectation of legal systems to hold individuals responsible for their actions and to aid in the
rehabilitation of these individuals in a manner that restores God's order in any circumstance possible. The most widely-accepted view of God and the legal system is that he does not expect earthly legal systems to have the capacity to declare every earthbound
sin to be illegal, but earthly legal systems do have the ability to "maintain order and
liberty by promoting justice" (Worldview, 1).
Micah 6:8 tells us, "to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God," with our
motivation to "do justly" coming from the knowledge that "the Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked" as depicted in Nahum 1:3. In understanding these verses for their applicable contemporary world use, one can see that as God commanded humanity to act justly and mercifully, so shall our laws abide by this standard.
This by no means suggests that worldly laws and standards should not be set forth, as seen in Romans 7:7, which reads, "What then shall we say?…
