The Elly Report: Heritage & Faith in Action

Don't Ignore Counsel from Heaven

By Dave Funnell

A well-known apologist* for laissez-faire economic growth points out that a rising tide lifts all boats, and the same point should be made in the arena of truth. Just as greater evidence benefits scientific endeavor and benefits best from peer-reviewed claims, so too a growing public awareness of the cause of America's freedoms should be appreciated by thinking people of both parties alike, and bring to the country that benefit predicted by the founders. After all, they were drawing their own hopes from the fountain that flows with a wisdom we ourselves can drink.

Perhaps the most famous quote from Abraham Lincoln, pronounced at the memorial service in Gettysburg, has its origin in the late middle ages. The phrase 'government of the people, by the people, and for the people' was first printed in 1385 by the scholarly team in England who, headed by John Wycliffe, first published the Bible in English. Through 620 years the word has persisted, "This Bible is translated and shall make possible a government of the people, by the people, and for the people."

So simple is the statement in its mere proposition, but surprisingly deep to think about! Beneath the depth of Lincoln's formulation and the political struggles of the 14th century Crown and Church lies its connection to the Bible itself. I think it more than probable that the translator was making reference to a passage from St. Paul, who in writing to the Romans ended one of his typically extensive logical arguments by saying "for of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever, Amen." (11:36)

Can we analyze it this way? If the creation is subject to the rule of God in his attributes of Creator ("of him are all things"), Providence ("through him are all things") and Judge ("to him are all things"), what does this imply with regard to the people of our American Republic? Can't it then be said, beyond the simple but vague conclusion that the government is required to "answer to" the people, that the government owes its gratitude, its honor, and its obedience to the people?

An Indissoluble Bond

The framers of the Declaration of Independence pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to the revolutionary cause. There is good reason to look more to the truths of the Bible for our understanding of political events & principles of our day. The model of divine sovereignty is an indissoluble bond between the freedom to rule -- whether in conscience or in enterprise -- and the greedom in which the free gifts of God are received.

We must receive the Law as divinely given, the "textus receptus," in much the same way Jesus admonishes -- that we must receive the kingdom of Heaven - with Childlike trust. Maturity to adulthood itself (like the Increase of the mustard seed) is in some way a gift that's given, on the sole condition of faith in, and faithfulness to, the giver.

* Walter E. Williams in Imprimis – Hillsdale College, March 2005.