The word inspired by God, the Bible, not only empowers us to strengthen our spirit but also nourishes us with teachings and phrases capable of filling us with encouragement and hope. Its 613 commandments offer human beings guidance towards God (before the messianic arrival) and laws for living together in society (even more so now that we have Salvation and the Spirit).

A society that places God first and governs itself by His decrees will have strong values and a perfect system of laws to sustain itself.

In a historical period, the Protestant Reformation in Northern Europe emphasized that the Bible was the ultimate authority. Although common citizens were liberated from arbitrary governmental power, it is important to note that these people did not place God first, which meant that this part of society was gradually incorporating values based on its humanistic view of life and the philosophical thoughts that governed society, moving further away from the Creator and the precepts and statutes He gave us in His word.

Samuel Rutherford’s work, “Lex Rex” (1644), provided the people with a basis for political control over their sovereign, a freedom without chaos, rather than arbitrary human government. This work significantly influenced the American constitution, and unfortunately, today many have forgotten that influence and have moved away from the absolute morality that God offers us in His law.

John Witherspoon, president of Princeton University and signatory of the Declaration of Independence, was a faithful follower of Rutherford’s work. Although not all U.S. founders were Christians, what they fostered rested on the Protestant Reformation through Rutherford’s work.

Thomas Jefferson, another signatory of the constitution and its principal architect, adopted the Christianized and secularized teachings of John Locke, an English philosopher who emphasized inalienable rights, government by consensus, separation of powers, and the right to revolution. Locke, lacking Rutherford’s Christian foundation, built upon it and secularized it. He was the father of empiricism, a philosophical movement asserting that sensory experience was the only source of knowledge, and reason logically ordered what was perceived through the senses.

With all this philosophy created by human thought and based on what man can achieve on his own, without considering the Creator and the laws He had already given to man, every endeavor, whether individual or social, is doomed to failure. Simply put, man, in trying to prove he can do things as if he created himself, becomes utterly ridiculous in life’s situations, ignoring in his incapacity that he must rely on the One who created him. In summary, a man who believes he is sufficient in himself will only undermine himself and any society he decides to create.

The U.S. Constitution is considered by many as an example for the world, defending the freedom of its citizens with a compendium of laws that benefit them. However, it would be even better if this constitution had explicitly been based on the Word of God and had taken into account future changes, not only in social dynamics but also in society’s worldview. For instance, nowadays, although we know which God they referred to, its ambiguity is manipulated by those postmodernists who argue that it speaks of a universalist god with different names according to the culture, including the most pagan cultures, when it is clear that the God of the Bible rejects idolatry and does not accept that man develops such beliefs. How different the current situation would be if only this had been defined and the whole society clearly understood the social need to be guided by the one preexistent God, who created the heavens and the earth, and who revealed Himself through the people of Israel, culminating in His incarnation as their Messiah. How different would be man’s life in this world if we enjoyed the gift that GOD gave us in creating us, not as just another animal, but in His image, according to His likeness, and if we could truly say that we love Him, guided by Him.

Author: Efrén Martínez