Rights and Privileges
We have a right, not a privilege, to life. Life is a gift from God, and it may not be unjustly taken from us. To put it another way, no government, nor anyone claiming authority or power, has the right to take innocent life. We might then think of the right, not privilege, to bear arms. What we are really asserting is the right to self defense and the right to protect our families and our homes. When we assert the right to bear arms, in whatever way we wish to phrase this, we are claiming that the family as an institution comes before the government. Likewise, the right to the free exercise of religion, in which we assert that obligations to God come before duty to the state or those claiming other authority.
When we engage in the political process, we as Christians rightfully assert these rights, knowing that in doing so we defending not only or even primarily ourselves, but our neighbors. We assert the right to life over an against a tyranny that would wrongfully take the right of life from others. By asserting rights, not privileges, we are saying that the government has no legitimate claim on the lives of the innocent, that it has no right to make laws that are in contradiction to the natural law. By asserting the right to life, and to other natural rights, we are in fact confessing God's given order.
And, no, the American revolution was not in some way a sin against governmental authority, but was an assertion, long developed in common law, that there are limits on the monarchy and the demands that governmental authorities make insist upon.
The Rev. Dr. Peter Scaer is chairman and professor of Exegetical Theology and director of the M.A. program at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Be Informed
Get up to date on Department of Defense funding for abortion with Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness.
Be Equipped
“Luther saw civil government as God’s instrument to maintain peace . . . [and] for citizens to honor and support the authorities God has placed over us.” Rev. Aaron Moldenhauer offers insight into election month.
Be Encouraged
“Thus we learn that real oppression is not that God sets before us His right way, and says, ‘Do this, and live,’ and thus forces us to do something we don’t want to do. No! The real oppression is that Satan, the world and our sinful flesh set before us sin, and say, ‘Do this!’, and we are powerless to resist. So we do it, even when we don’t want to. That is the real tyranny and oppression in the world. In our rebellion, we do it, even though we want to do what is good and right instead.” – Rev. Perry Copus, St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Ernestville, Mo. ”
