上帝, “圣经”和政治正义: 章 7

第二部分: 摩西和“指令性”

章 7

法律的模板

Nowhere does the Law weave the values of the Kingdom more delicately and beautifully than when applied to public justice. It is so intricate that it is difficult to know which value thread to begin with in unweaving it. There are innumerable ways to look at and analyze what God is giving us in these passages. For our purposes in this volume on government and civil law I am using a matrix of three categories of crime: 失去生活, 人身伤害和失去财产和四类后果: 死刑, 被判终身监禁, 恢复和惩罚. 这些类别中，我们可以看看所有的规范性法律规定为犯罪.

我想象的圣经的研究，精神unweaving线程一个华丽的挂毯，以了解部分，使整个. 线程不站在自己; only together do they produce the picture. But the threads are the foundational parts of the whole and lay out the grid work that makes the tapestry possible. 扁盒家具像逆向工程, 我们取整除了圣经，并找出上帝强调的元素，以了解它，并使其更容易重新组装走进我们的生活.

在申命记第1章, God initiates a revolutionary idea to curb man’s great appetite for violence and injustice. God makes the human race responsible for governing themselves. They will choose their leaders. They will choose the laws and they will choose consequences for breaking those laws. God will give Israel His thoughts on these subjects but the authority will be theirs to maintain or change their direction. 共识, 代表, 政治权力是自下而上诞生.

记住我们走过创, 罪的后果, 从神分离, 始终是死亡.... We all die physically because sin came into the world. As God continues in Genesis He hammers home the fruit of sin is death. We begin with brother killing brother and continue until the entire human race is so violent, that human life is endangered entirely. The flood and rebooting of human existence through Noah are God’s just and merciful option. But again man’s decent into violence in Abraham’s family is so rapid that in just three generations they have moved to near fratricide of Joseph and genocide of the Shecemites. A 435-year generational sentence is imposed on Israel as a nation in order to create an understanding of the value of human life.

Now God liberates and gives Israel the Law. The prescriptive parts of the Law are very clear. In essence God is saying, 如果你知道我所知道的, 你会“清除这个邪恶的”从你的社会, 因为这些都是非常的事情，这将导致越来越多的暴力和生命损失; 性别, 滥用权力和贪婪.

换句话说, 在法律, 神告诉我们清楚如何创造安全, life sustaining communities and making us responsible to do it. The burden of justice is now on our shoulders. We are free to change the laws God has given and we are free to evaluate the consequences, the fruit of our choices. Are we stopping violent deaths of our fellow citizens or is it increasing? Is our mercy succeeding where God’s has failed us? If not, 必须与我们的选择是错误的东西.

民法与. 道德律

为了解释法律的摩西和以色列的历史，到我们目前的事件，我们必须了解两个上帝赋予当局之间的差异, “民法通则”和“道德法律的权威。”

所有“法”在这个意义上，它说的是道德, “this is right and this is wrong.” In setting a standard of “acceptable behavior” we must make judgments of what is “good or bad.” But not all “morality” can be made a matter of civil “law.” By giving us responsibility to decide God makes us look at the implications of our choices by the impact on the society we live and raise our children in. 民法, 代表人民, will never be more moral than the majority of the people it represents. 但, a more moral people will seek a higher level of civil law. There in lies the tension between the work of the Pastor and the work of the President.

Both civil and moral laws are given authority from God. But they are two different kinds of authority with two different functions. One must have the will of the people behind it in order to have the power to govern. The other must have the will of God behind it to have authority and the blessing of God. One reveals the standards of the people and the other reveals the standards of God. One must seek the support of the people or to change the thinking of the people in order to have authority. The other must ignore the thinking of the people and represent God alone in order to have authority. They are divinely disagreeable in the purposes of God. And we must have both to keep the Kingdom tension of justice in human society. Civil law must be continually committed to keeping the rights of both safeguarded. 这是两难和神圣的张力.

模板

The Law seems like a maze in part because of its circular story telling style. We see themes rotating and weaving throughout but they are difficult to grab hold of. 因为我诵读困难，对我来说，它是必不可少的订单信息保留. 所以我用颜色帮我再次在这个规律的研究，正如我在研究域的入门卷. I divided out the prescriptive parts of the Laws of Moses. Those parts of the Law that tell us to “do this but do not do this,“之​​类的 10 诫命. 这些“规定”的部分被发现在出埃及记, 利未记, 民数记及申命记. 然后开始，因为它是由犹太教和基督教学者认为是“核心书申命记,“我给每个主题再次出现，待每次当它出现在我的阅读，然后用颜色相同颜色的规范性法律. 有一次，我用申放下模式，然后，我能够看到上帝强调或补充这些主题的法律书籍，在其他三个.

五个值

出乎我的意料, 我发现，整个规范性法律的基础上，在不同的情况下，在不同部门重复和支持的五个核心价值. 这里有五个值:

1. 生命是神圣的.

2. The material world is real, 好所有生活必不可少的.

3. 词有权力，我们是负责人.

4. 一切都需要被赎回.

5. Any thinking that takes us away from God’s truths and values will begin to curse (不会祝福) 我们. (偶像崇拜)

当然，所有的这些值支撑第一: “生命是神圣的。”所以所有的人都可以这样说，“生命是神圣的, 所以......“

五假设

在第五章中，我们定下五个假设上帝的王国的基础上. 这些都是现实圣经的先决条件:

1. 上帝是谁，他说他是.

2. 上帝是造物主，宇宙的物质, 可见和不可见, 这是好的.

3. 人类个体, 雌雄, 是建立在神的形象和他的所有创作的中心目的.

4. 一切都被损坏，上帝创造男人和罪恶的秋天.

5. 被损坏的一切是通过基督的血赎回.

我认为最可以看到五个值法和五经文是建立在假设之间的相似性.

监督机构

在第四章中，我们看着四个权威机构，由上帝创造:

1. Individual

2. 家庭

3. 政府

4. 教堂[1]

主权个别, created in the image of God is the foundational building block of the Kingdom. The sovereign family of husband, 家小, is crucial to the development of healthy and mature individuals. The sovereign government, 赋予被统治的人是负责定义和执行上帝的授权, rights and responsibilities. And finally the sovereign Church is responsible to rightly represent God and His standards.

这些“机构”的权力被赋予一个类型, 管辖权, 边界, 权利, freedoms and responsibilities. These lay the foundation for and the value base of civil law. These values do not perfect human beings or societies but, 的水平，它们建立并加强, they will create and sustain a more blessed society. These values and the institutions when applied reveal God to the human community. They work with the Cross to reveal Christ the King but they do not substitute for forgiveness and salvation through Jesus. They reveal the Kingdom that is coming but they cannot perfect that Kingdom on earth. Established and used properly these values produce a higher quality of life in all areas of life but they will not finally perfect man or creation.

我们开始确定神的国度和圣经思想的基本构建块. 他们重叠, 织和自己重复一遍又一遍整本圣经. 我们还必须添加的先知和新约全书作家的主题, but the grid is taking shape. We have five assumptions on which God builds all His thinking. Five values that are essential to uphold if these assumptions are true and four institutional authorities that God gives us in order to preserve and perpetuate these truths and values for the purpose of blessing our lives and our communities.

紧张

这些圣经的实际情况成立了“紧张”的自由, 必须维护，以保持“正确的顺序”或“正义”和建立健康的个人的权利和责任, families and communities. They cannot be “balanced.” They must be mutually maintained.

Picture a tight rope. In order to be traversed it must be rigid. If there is any give at all the consequences can be catastrophic for the walker. This is far more consequential than a set of scales that are just a few grams off. The acrobatic artist cannot survive a slack rope. He can only perform when there is perfect tension on the rope.

In political justice if we error in one direction or the other we distort God’s order in His Kingdom. God has made the individual free and sovereign. 但, 因为这是真正的每一个人, there are limits to freedom of any single individual. In order for every individual to be free there have to be limits to all of our freedoms. Who has the right and responsibility to create and sustain those boundaries? God has created the family as the authority for and over children. The authority of parents is loving their children. If they are trying to murder their children they are in violation of the sacredness and rights of the individual life. I have the freedom to believe what I like. Do I have the freedom to practice that freedom anywhere anytime any place? If I believe in human sacrifice for my blessing do I have a right to do it? Or is this an abuse of the sacrifice’s rights? Do we have rights as communities? How do we secure minorities rights, 家长和孩子的权利, 和信仰自由的同时，不破坏社会的权利?

在每一个法律问题，我们都在问这些问题:

1. To whom has God given what rights and responsibilities?

2. What are the limits of those rights?

3. How are violations of those rights to be dealt with?

Every system of governance has answers to these questions or is working on them. But are they Biblical answers? We can know what God says about each question and we can know, 祝福我们的国家治理的法律和制度，在任何给定的时间或危险, this is the Biblical Template. But we must be willing to exchange the thinking of the world even when it has been called “Christian” and replace it with God’s thinking, 即使在那个被称为“世俗”。

工作模板

如果我们问“圣经”的问题, “这是什么爱我的邻居的样子?“我们可以看看十诫. 如果我们问, “为什么这些十诫重要的，我怎么申请?“我们期待在整个法的细节. 如果我们问, “会发生什么，一个社会，如果我们应用或远离这些值?“我们期待在先知. 并且，如果我们问, “怎么可能一个社区开始远离神的思想?“我们期待在以色列的历史，法律和其余的旧约.

在这本书中对于我们的目的, 我们期待规范和历史的法律，因为它们涉及到民事法律和正义, 试图绘制出强调的是什么. 但对于我们的思想的发展，我们必须看到他们作为整合及梭织. 所以, 有效, “解剖” 分析 并把它们组合在一起，以 理解和运用.

例如, 指令性的法律说，通奸是非法的，判处死刑. 但是，从历史上看这并不适用，当大卫与拔示巴通奸. 为什么? 他们只是没有适用的法律? 或, 有更多比“法”只是禁止? 人民有权批准和改变民法一部分的价值是什么“法”抵押? 当法利赛人带着一个女人陷入通奸耶稣，并鼓励他到石她按照摩西的律法. 耶稣鼓励他们用石头打她，如果他们的正义，使他们能够站在作为法官. 根据罗马法通奸不违法，如果他们用石头打死她，他们会被发现犯有谋杀罪. 也许这是他们的计划耶稣. He then dismisses the women with the exhortation to “sin no more.” Adultery is still immoral.