The Rule of Law
We are never to take the law
into our own hands and take vengeance
on those who have engaged
in evil against us.
Here now is Dr. Gene Getz:
Look at Proverbs 20, verse 22:
Don't say, "I will avenge this evil!"
Wait on the LORD, and He will rescue you.
Powerful statement in relationship to
what I've called the rule of law.
And I believe that apostle Paul
probably, centuries later when he was
writing the book of Romans,
was reflecting on this proverb.
Now remember, Paul was an
astute student of the Old Testament.
And many of the statements
in the New Testament reflect
a knowledge of the Old Testament.
There's a defining aspect of that
of course, since the Holy Spirit,
Jesus said: When He comes,
He will remind you--that it is the
authors of Scripture--of everything
that Jesus taught while
He walked among men.
But certainly, that Principle would apply to
bringing to their mind the Old Testament.
Just as when Peter got up to preach
on the day of Pentecost,
a Holy Spirit brought to his mind
what the prophet Joel said about
what was indeed happening
at that moment in church history.
But here's what Paul wrote
that relates to Proverbs 20:22:
Do not repay anyone evil for evil.
Try to do what is honorable
in everyone's eyes. ...
And when he used the word "everyone,"
he's talking about everyone.
He's talking about Christians.
He's talking about non-Christians.
This is a Principle that applies in
all of our relationships.
And then he says:
...If possible...
Now let me just underscore here
that Paul is being realistic.
He's not saying it's always possible:
...[but] if possible, on your part,
live at peace with everyone.
Friends, do not avenge yourselves;
instead, leave room for His wrath. ...
That is God's wrath.
...For it is written: ...
And I think here he's probably
reflecting on this proverb.
...Vengeance belongs to Me;
I will repay, says the Lord.
That sounds a great deal, doesn't it,
as it relates to Proverbs 20:22 which says:
Don't say I will avenge this evil;
wait on the Lord and He will rescue you.
Paul made reference to this concept
again in his letter to the Thessalonians:
See to it that no one repays evil for evil
to anyone, but always pursue
what is good for one another and for all.
"For one another" certainly refers to the believers.
"For all" refers to all--all people.
So Paul really was committed
to this concept.
Now we have a beautiful example of
Paul practicing what he preached,
what he wrote. And that's in Philippians.
This is the first imprisonment.
Nero probably is in power at this time.
And he wrote to the Philippians.
He's living in his own hired house
but he's chained to a Roman guard.
He had a certain element of freedom
in communicating with people,
but he was still chained to a Roman guard.
And he said this:
My eager expectation and hope...
Now again, he's being realistic here.
Because the Holy Spirit did not
reveal to him exactly what was going to happen.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit did.
But in this case, the Holy Spirit did not.
...My eager expectation and hope is that
I will not be ashamed about anything,
but that now as always, with all boldness,
Christ will be highly honored in my body,
whether by life or by death. ...
And then he made this wonderful
statement that we've quoted
many times in terms of our own lives:
...For me, living is Christ
and dying is gain.
In other words, he goes on to say that:
If I go on to live and serve, that's Christ in me.
The hope of glory.
But if God takes me home, that's gain
because I will be with the Lord eternally.
He had that tension but he was willing to do
whatever God wanted him to do.
Now he was delivered on
this first imprisonment.
He was delivered to continue his ministry.
But once again, was taken into custody.
This time brought back to Rome
and put in a dungeon--
a totally different prison experience.
Frankly, I believe what may have
happened is that he had such a great
relationship that he developed
with the Roman guards
and with others who came to him,
that he was released by someone
that was not at the top.
Which was Nero.
And when Nero found out about it,
he put out an all-points alert
and brought him back to Rome
and put him in a prison,
in the inner dungeon.
But even then, Paul knew that his life
was in God's hands. And he trusted God.
In this case, he knew that he was going to die.
And that's why he wrote and said:
I have finished the race.
I've kept the faith.
And I know that I'm going to be with the Lord.
And of course, tradition tells us
that he was martyred at the
hands of the wicked Nero.
Now I think it's very important that we
need to understand the bigger picture.
And that is first of all,
this biblical teaching
does not mean we shouldn't protect
ourselves when possible.
And Paul illustrated that
when he went to Jerusalem.
When he was threatened with his life.
He was delivered to Caesarea
where he spent two years.
But while he was there,
he defended himself before Felix,
the Roman governor.
He defended himself before Felix's successor.
And that was Festus
who took over Felix's position.
He defended himself before
King Agrippa who came.
In fact, this King Agrippa said
that if he hadn't appealed to Caesar,
you'd have to let him go.
But he appealed to Caesar.
and to Caesar he will go.
So Paul defended himself.
So this Principle relative to the rule of law
doesn't mean that it's improper
to defend ourselves. Because we see this
happening even in the life of the apostle Paul.
It doesn't mean that we shouldn't pray for justice
through proper government channels.
It's not wrong to pray for justice
when evil is done.
Fortunately, we live in a culture where
we have rule of law that favors justice.
At least at one time it did.
We sometimes wonder about the
direction of our culture
and it's rather scary.
But the fact is, we still can pray
and we should pray for justice.
And we need to really pray
for our government leaders.
And that's another thing that
Paul underscored even when
he was released from prison
the first time, he wrote to Timothy and said:
Timothy, first of all pray for
all those in authority.
So there's a beautiful balance there
in relationship to how we
handle injustice in our lives.
Here's a question that really
relates to this Principle in terms of
protecting ourselves.
And it's kind of fascinating:
In order to protect ourselves
and others from evil people,
are we ever justified in being dishonest?
Well there are a couple interesting
illustrations in the Old Testament of lying.
You remember the midwives
when the Pharaoh said that all boy babies
that are born among the Jews
are to be killed upon birth?
Now, what a challenge that was
to these Jewish midwives
who were participating in the
birth of these little boys.
Well basically, they didn't obey Pharaoh.
They saved these little babies alive.
Pharaoh found about it and he said:
What are you doing?
Why are you doing this?
And they said: Well, these little babies are born
before we can get there.
Jewish women are very lively.
In other words, they gave birth to these
little boys and we were not in control
of the situation.
Now that's really a half-truth.
Probably these women were very lively
in giving birth but the fact is,
they were not telling the truth.
But the interesting thing is,
it says God honored them
because of what they did.
We have another illustration.
Rahab the harlot who,
when this happened, I believe it
changed her life
and was a believer in the one true God--
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
But remember she hid the spies--the Jewish spies
that went into Jericho. Hid them on the roof.
covered them with flax,
and here come the Canaanites
who are looking for these spies.
Where are they?
And she said:
They're no longer here.
They're gone.
And she gave them a yarn that was a lie.
But it saved these men's lives.
Now does this justify lying?
Generally, absolutely not.
The Scriptures are very, very clear
that lying is sinful.
It's a violation of the
Ten Commandments.
But there are exceptions to that.
For example, if someone
is threatening your children.
You know where they are
and you distract them
and tell them--those who are trying to kill them--
they're somewhere else.
Is that lying?
Not breaking the commandment of God.
There's a higher purpose there in saving life.
You've heard the illustration
that is used often to illustrate
a woman in a Nazi concentration camp.
A Nazi guard says:
If you'll submit to me, sexually,
I'll save your husband.
So she submits.
Is she committing adultery? No.
God does not consider that
an adulterous relationship.
That's saving another person's life.
Now these are exceptions, obviously.
These are exceptions in relationship
to the rule of law.
Generally speaking, we're to tell the truth.
Jesus said: I am the truth.
And we are to be honest,
truthful people in our lives.
So here's the Principle:
We are never to take the law
into our own hands and take vengeance
on those who have engaged
in evil against us.
But in relationship to this,
as Paul has demonstrated,
he defended himself.
He told the truth. But he still said:
May God's will be done.
To live is Christ, to die is gain.