Principle 9
To Protect Man’s Rights, God has Revealed Certain Principles of Divine Law
Exodus 20:1 “And God spoke all these words.”
Unalienable rights (a right that cannot be repudiated or given to another) that have come from God could not remain unalienable unless they are protected by ‘a code of divinely proclaimed law.’
William Blackstone pointed out that the Creator is not only omnipotent (all-powerful), “but as He is also a Being of infinite wisdom, He has laid down only such laws as were founded in those relations of justice, that existed in the nature of things… These are the eternal, immutable laws of good and evil, to which the Creator Himself in all His dispensations conforms; and which He has enabled human reason to discover, so far as they are necessary for the conduct of human actions. Such, among others, are these principles; that we should live honestly, should hurt nobody, and should render to everyone his due.”
The Founding Fathers recognized that human happiness requires recognition of God’s supremacy over all things and this Divine pattern of Law is what the Ten Commandments are all about. What our Founding Fathers thought was so important for securing our unalienable rights – the Ten Commandments – we see how today they are treated with disrespect. They have been removed from every public building and we are seeing our unalienable rights being taken away.
John Locke set forth the principle which carried over into the thinking of the American Founders when he wrote: “The Law of Nature stands as an eternal rule to all men, legislators as well as others. The rules that they make for man’s actions must… be comfortable to the Law of Nature— to the will of God.”
What are these Ten Commandments and how do they relate to us today? Some years ago a survey was taken of 500 men at a Promise Keepers’ conference in Washington DC. The majority could not name the Ten Commandments and only one out of 500 could name them in the order that they appeared in the Bible. American Fathers knew that for a nation to be great it must have the Presence of God and the Law of God.
The first group of commandments deals with man’s relationship to God.
1. You shall have no other gods before Me. Since there is only one God, there is only one source of law. This first commandment has to do with the source of authority and law. To modern man with humanistic or evolutionary mindset every man has become a law unto himself. We see today what this has produced: lawlessness.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol. Modern man would not make for himself a golden calf, setting it up in the living room, etc. But the humanists today have created their own idols in their image, creating their own laws and following their own desires, but finding that this idolatry produces bondage, not liberty. They have become a law unto themselves.
3. You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain or profanely. This is a prohibition against false swearing, or cursing and profanity. Someone said that the word profane means “outside the temple.” Profanity then would be all speech, action and living that is outside of God. This is more than just blaspheming God’s Name, but is wicked and rebellious language directed against God.
4. Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. Sabbath was a day of rest both physically and spiritually which also points to the eternal rest we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to work six says and rest one day. A physical rest invigorates us to be more productive in the other six days.
The last six commandments deals with man’s relationship to man.
5. Honor your father and your mother. This commandment, along with the seventh, eight and tenth establishes the family as the fundamental authority here on earth. When God (in Genesis1:26-28) gave dominion to man it was to be carried out through the family. Family is the building block of society, but we see how the state has taken away the family’s authority in many cases, and even more so now with same sex marriage becoming institutionalized.
6. You shall not murder. Not only does this commandment prohibit murder it also shows the sanctity of human life. Life is valuable to God and because of that He states that when it comes to murder: a life for a life. The positive activity of this commandment is to bring life to fullness. This is what we, the church are to do – bring life to fullness, to speak words of life and to protect human life from womb to tomb
7. You shall not commit adultery. This law is to protect marriage and in turn it protects the family – that is the basic building block of society. As the family goes – so goes the nation
8. You shall not steal. This commandment implies that man, and not the state, has a God-given right to own property. This commandment speaks as well of the restoration of a fallen world. What Satan has stolen from us – will be restored.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Lying is an abomination to God. We are to speak the truth to our neighbor. Since in our societies we have done away with ultimate truth and now we make up our own truth, or those who have the power like judges, governments, etc., they now tell us what truth is.
10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. Covet here is dealing with the condition of the heart and actions of man; having a desire to have something that does not belong to us, but to our neighbor.
“And God spoke all these words.”
These Commandments did not come from the inspiration of man, but by revelation from God. Yet we see how they have been downplayed in societies worldwide and worldwide we have suffered for it. We are not saved by the law, but through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, but the laws of government are to protect our unalienable rights that come from God.