Stephen McDowell: Today we will look at the form of Godly government

>> Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now, here's your host, Stephen McDowell. Hello. Glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. Today we will begin to look at the form of godly government that is the framework of the American republic. Now, in the three previous podcasts, we looked at, the pillars of liberty are the fundamental principles of the American republic. Now just consider that if we look at the structure of American government, or that if it were something like the, Parthenon, that structure built upon, rock, and consider that the foundational building block, are the principles of the American republic. And we looked at seven of those principles that are necessary to build a free society. Now, if you have those principles, those seven principles that we covered in the three previous podcast, if those are a part of the lives and the thinking of a people and the living, out of those principles, then you have the proper foundation that you can then construct a form of government, a framework of government or framework of an economic system, educational system, or whatever it may be that will produce flourishing. And so we saw how it was, the principles of the foundation of the pillars of liberty or of the American republic came directly from biblical Christianity. And because of those internal principles, what flowed from them was a unique form of government that, it's like building of that structure, that building on top of the foundational building blocks. That's what we're going to look at in a couple of podcasts, the framework of godly government. And this is the framework, really, I think, principles for any nation that wants to build a government on principles and ideas that come from the Bible and will produce good fruit. And this was in particular the framework of the American, republic.

What is the purpose of civil government? In future podcasts we'll explore this

Now, before we began to look at kind of seven, seven concepts or pillars that support our constitutional republic or godly, form of government, I want to say a word about the purpose of government, the power of government, and the premise of government. Now, in some of my writings, my book on m Ruling over the A Biblical View of Civil Government, I go into more detail of each, one of these components, and in future podcasts we may well cover these. But just briefly, I want to mention what is the purpose of civil government? Now, if we were to read Romans 13:1 7, Paul's instruction, famous passage on teaching on government, or, 1st Peter 2, 1314, also 1 Timothy 2:1:2, and compare this even with Genesis, Genesis, first few chapters and chapter, nine and looking through the law of God M we began to understand that God created civil government as a divine institution that had an important function to protect and preserve the God given rights and liberties of individuals. And that God created government. The purpose of government. I teach these and have a chapter on these on my book on civil government. I teach them as the five Ps of government. The function of civil government is one, to protect the righteous. This is protect those who obey the law. So protect the righteous. Two, is to punish the evildoers so those who try to steal our life, liberty and property. Civil government exists to keep that from happening, to punish those law breakers. Three, it's to promote biblical justice. We read that in Romans 13 that civil government is a minister of God to you for good. It's a minister of God to promote good, stood administer God's justice in its sphere of responsibility. So government exists to protect the righteous, to punish the evildoer, to promote biblical justice, to praise those who do right. We read that in first Peter and then when we look at first Timothy 21 2, we also see it is to produce peace in society. We pray for those in authority that we might have peace. So this is the purpose of government, to protect punishment, to produce peace, to promote justice, and to praise those who do right. We see this same concept mentioned in our founding covenant, the Declaration of Independence. It says that we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Now there's a whole lot of biblical ideas just in that, sentence there that reflects the nature and purpose of the foundation of our form of government. In future podcasts we'll explore this in more detail. How our founders adhered to a set of truth and that truth emanated from the Creator. And that we have certain God given rights and liberties. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which embraces that concept of property. That phrase life, liberty and property was a well established and known phrase at that time. The Declaration goes on to say that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men. So we have God given rights and liberties summarized by right to life, right to liberty, and the right to pursuit of happiness. Now, pursuit of happiness in the thinking of the founders when they expressed this concept was not like it is today. Today secular man, when they hear pursuit of happiness, in fact when they think of the term liberty, they think I'M free to do whatever I want to do, free to pursue whatever makes me happy. Well, William Blackstone, that great English jurist who wrote the commentaries of the laws of England for 150 years, studied by everyone in the English speaking world who was going to be a lawyer, that he defines the pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of the will of God. That's what produces happiness. When we are able to do the will of God or learn what the will of God is and live out the will of God that will produce happiness. Because the Bible teaches obedience to God and his truth is the source of blessings and happiness. But in order to secure our God given rights, in order to preserve truth, governments are instituted among men. So simply put, the purpose of government is to protect our God given rights to life, liberty and property. And since life and liberty are a form of property, we could say that governments exist to protect property of every sort, properties both internal and external, which we explored a little bit in earlier podcasts when we covered the fundamental principles of the American republic. And so the purpose of government is not to provide everything for all of its citizens, it's not to provide for us from cradle to grave and direct and manage every little affair of our life and tell us what to do. No, it's to protect the godly man, is protect the law abiding man and to protect our life, liberty, property, and as we express properties both internal and external. So it's important that we understand the purpose of government because that then helps us understand what the form of government that we will establish and the form will help it accomplish its purpose. But we also must understand the power of government. Now ultimately the power of all government that exists comes from God because he is the ultimate authority, the sovereign one. And Jesus taught this idea that all power ultimately comes from God. In Matthew 28:18 he said that all authority has been given unto him, and in heaven and in earth all authority originates with God. And God then delegates authority to man in order for man to fulfill his purpose and mission in the earth. And Jesus said in John 19:11 to Pilate, said, you would have no authority unless it had been given to you from above. And so Jesus taught the places and throughout the Scripture we learn that that God is the ultimate power, the ultimate authority, that you would have no authority over me unless it had been given you from above. Now of course man often exercises authority contrary to the will of God, and that's part of our responsibility to hold them accountable. And when we construct a form of government in a biblical manner, that in itself will actually help hold accountable corrupt men from abusing power and authority.

The power of government ultimately comes from God, but secondarily comes from man

So ultimately, a power and authority comes from God, but secondarily, the power of government, earthly governments, come from man. See, men, Genesis 1. All men are created in the image of God. All men, redeemed and not redeemed, have equal standing before God's, law. And so all men have a voice in who governs, because we are all equal in God's sight. No man has a special, anointing, if you will, or a special ability, or is greater, than any other man. And hence, we recognize you're the one that ought to rule because you're smarter. You went to this college, or you have more money or more power, therefore you're more fit to rule. no. Every man has equal standing before God. Every man has equal voice in government and who governs them. because remember, government exists to protect our property. We all have a right to not have the same amount of material things, but all have the freedom to pursue acquiring property and protecting our life and, liberty. So then we all have a voice in the one who governs us, because those who govern are to protect our life, liberty and property. And the Declaration of Independence affirms this when it says, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. So God is the ultimate authority. Our Declaration acknowledges that, acknowledges this, the firm protection upon the protection of divine providence. They mentioned divine providence and God, the Creator, the ultimate judge of the world, they appeal to. But, they recognized he is the highest authority, but also recognized that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. Our U.S. constitution, which is the bylaws, the outworking of, our nation after it was reformed by the Declaration of Independence, our founding covenant, it begins with the phrase we the people. And so the source of our framework of government of the American Republic is we the people. it's not we the government leaders, we the judges, we the president, we the legislature. No, it's we the people of the United States. We're the ones who are giving authority to individuals to represent us, to stand in place in our place in the seat of government. And so then we see the purpose of government protect our property. The power of government ultimately comes from God, but secondarily comes from man. And then it's important for us to understand the premise of government. Founders had a biblical view of man and government, and this shaped the type of government, the structure of government, the framework of government that they established under which we operate and that James Madison, expresses the premise of government when he said, if men were angels, no government would be necessary. See, if men were angels and every man acted, lawfully and did everything that he was supposed to do in accordance with God's standard and word, we wouldn't need government because other men would not steal our property, would not seek our life or our liberty. It would not abuse, us in any way at all. But men aren't angels. In fact, man is sinful, man is fallen, man is fallible. This is what the Bible teaches. John Adams, our second president, expressed the view of the founders will regarding this when he said, to expect self denial from men when they have a majority in their favor and consequently power to gratify themselves is to disbelieve all history and universal experience. It is to disbelieve revelation in the word of God which informs us the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Adams goes on to say, there is no man so blind as not to see that to talk of founding a government upon a supposition that nations and great bodies of men, left to themselves will practice a course of self denial is either to babble like a newborn infant or to deceive like an unprincipled impostor. Clearly. And when Adam said, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, he was quoting the Bible, the book of Jeremiah. You know, our founders often quoted scripture in their words, their speeches and their writings. Rarely would they ever reference a particular book of the Bible or chapter and verse of the Bible. Because, all Americans were so knowledgeable the scripture. They knew where this idea originated. They all, had such biblical thinking and biblical worldview that it just came out, naturally. But Adams was saying, what all our founders understood is man is sinful. You cannot entrust man with too much power, even redeem man, because history has shown us that he tends to abuse his authority because of that wickedness, that sinfulness. and so since he's going to abuse authority, you must not give him too much power. You must set up checks and balances and find a way to keep him from doing, operating beyond what we the people give him the authority to do and what ultimately, God says is the purpose and function of civil government. And so they understood that everybody, this is clear to them. No man so blind is not to see that to talk of founding a government upon a supposition that nations and great bodies of men left to themselves, will practice a course of self denial. So you leave man to himself. He's not going to deny himself. And if you think so, it's. You're going to babble like a newborn infant or deceive like an unprincipled imposter. So this was extremely important idea to understand the premise of government. The premise that our founders adhere to is that man is sinful. So we need to set up a framework of government that recognizes that and helps keep him in check. And so with understanding then, that the purpose of government, the power of government, the premise of government, then we can better understand why founders gave us the form of government that exists. So it's very important, as we discussed in three previous podcasts, that we understand the power, the principles of a free nation, that we looked at seven fundamental principles that must be part of the worldview and the character and action of citizens if you're going to build a free society. But the framework, the form is also very important as well, because if you think biblically and you draw upon scripture and you draw upon the example of the history of mankind, you will and want to construct a form of government that will best assure that our God given rights to life, liberty and property are protected. And so our U.S. constitution has unique rights, you know, seven unique concepts or ideas that comprise the framework of godly government. And so I, want to begin to explore these and look at each one of these, briefly.

Number one idea of the framework of godly government is decentralization

Number one idea of the framework of godly government is decentralization of, of government. Now the Bible teaches that government is limited. Jesus taught that Caesar's power is limited. Government is limited in its function and should be kept as close to the people as possible. The role of the government is, to protect our life, liberty and property. Basically it's not to provide, manage, direct every affair of men's lives. So it has a very limited but important function. And since it is to be limited, it should be kept close to the people. Government should not be centralized, but kept close so people can keep an eye on it. Now, Thomas Jefferson said it this way, the true theory of our Constitution is surely the wisest and best. When all government shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of, one government on another and will become as oppressive as the government from which we separate it. He goes on to say, what has destroyed the liberty and the rights of man and every government which has ever existed under the sun? The generalizing and concentrating all cares and powers into one body. And then he says the way to have good and Safe government is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many. It is to be dividing and subdividing these republics from the great national one down, that all will be done for the best. So he's pointing out the principle that government, and we explored what government was in earlier podcasts. It's direction, regulation, control, restraint, that civil government and its directing and managing, controlling things, should not be entrusted to one body or one man or centralized at all. It needs to be divided, decentralized, kept close to the people, as possible. And because when you subdivide government among many different entities, then you are protecting against the tyranny of centralization. James Madison, our fourth president, chief architect of the Constitution, said this. The powers delegated by the Constitution to the federal government he's speaking of the national government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the state governments are numerous and indefinite. See, when the U.S. constitution was ratified, went into effect in 1789, it gave power to the national government. There were 13 states. Every state had their own constitution. They had their own framework and form of government, which many of them actually were very similar to the form of government that the national government that was set up by the founders. But so most all the power rested within the states. And so states had their form of governments. Counties had their own type of government dealing with specific issues. Cities had governments as well as, and ultimately the family was the foundational government upon which those others rest. And so what the US Constitution did, it just gave power to the national government. Here it was representatives from all the states, came and began to govern the nation at large. And the power of the national government was very limited and very well defined. And it was defined in the United States Constitution. And so if you think of the government within our nation, we have a decentralized federal republic. So think of it as a pyramid. At the very top of the pyramid, which is small, little in volume, that's the national government. The national government has, the smallest amount of power, governing power, that exists under the national government. You then had the state government, and then under the state government you had county governments, Then you had city governments. At the very foundation of the pyramid, which is the widest part of the pyramid with the greatest volume is family government. And so Article 1, Section 8 of our Constitution list the powers of the national government, particularly the legislature, where the most power rest on the national level. And that the power was, it was decentralized, a little bit of power in the national government. More power on the state government, more power on the county government and city governments, because the city and county governments were closest to the people. Next, the state government. The people could hold their elected officials accountable to not abuse their authority. But the farther away that you are from the people, and that certainly was the national government at the time, the harder it is to keep a check on them and to hold them accountable. And so, the power was done decentralized with many different spheres or areas of government on national, state, county, city. But ultimately it was the family and the family government that formed the ultimate source of the external civil government. And in our US Constitution, limited power was given to the national government, the legislature, executive and judicial powers. All the other powers were left to the state and the people. That's what Amendment 9 and 10 says. And so this idea of decentralization of government, keeping the government close to the people, shaping it like a pyramid, leads, to the next aspect of the framework of godly government. By the way, you know, with the way that our U.S. constitution was established like a pyramid, with the national government having the least power over, generations that's kind of turned upside down where now, you know, instead of family and local governments with most authority, it's flipped upside down. This pyramid where the national government claims to have all power and authority and they might allow or delegate some of it to the state and local governments and the family government, we need to flip that pyramid back right again for our well being.

The reason that we have a constitution is to define and limit the power of civil government

So number two, the second idea or aspect of the framework of godly government is constitutionalism. See, a government of liberty will be a government of laws. Thomas Jefferson said in questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. See, the reason that we have a constitution is in order to define and limit the power of civil government. Framers wanted to make sure, okay, we've got to clearly delineate what authority and power the national government has. Because if we don't, we know that sinful man is going to abuse that and take more and more power to himself. As Jefferson said, this is what tends to happen as to sinful man tends to concentrate powers all into one body. And history has shown us that with the centralization of government comes loss of liberty. Throughout most of history, most all forms of government were centralized, usually in one man, Pharaoh or Caesar or King, someone like that, but sometimes in a council or a group of men. But nonetheless it was centralized in a body. And the more centralized government becomes, the more Individual loss of liberty there is, within a nation. Our founders understood this very well. That's why they took many, actions in order to, decentralize government. And so we have a government of laws because established in the Constitution, because this constitution clearly delineates who has the authority to do what. Now in our Constitution, the Article 1 of the Constitution specifically gives, enlists the power of the legislature. Now, every government operates or exercises three functions. A legislative function to make law, A executive function to carry out the law, and a judicial function to judge, if the law has been violated. Now, as we'll see in another idea of the framework of godly government, separating powers. But those powers should be separated, but they should be delineated in Article 1 of the Constitution specifically lists the power of the legislature. The legislature is dependent on aspect of government that makes laws. And in Article 1, Section 8, there are 18 enumerated powers. So the Constitution gives these powers to the national government, the legislature. That's all it has. And basically those powers, the powers to tax and spend and borrow money, and that should only be under emergencies. To regulate commerce, to establish rules for citizenship, to establish bankruptcy laws. To coin and regulate the value of money. To standardize weights and measures. To punish counterfeiting, to establish a postal system. To pass copyright and patent laws. To punish crimes on high seas. To declare war. To raise and finance armed forces. Forces to establish rules for the armed forces. To call up state militias. To administer the seat of government. And federal lands that, pass laws to implement the above. So those are basically a summation of all of the power given to the Congress listed in article chapter one. That's according to the Constitution. That's all the power you have, guys. All the rest of it rests with the states and with the people. Now, of course, we've turned that on its head today because the national government thinks we have all power and might let the states and others, have a little bit of it. So it's important we understand the Constitution. We understand the extent of what each of those 18 enumerated powers, embraces. We used to teach these things in our civics classes. The limited power of government in general, limited power of our constitutional government and the national government. clearly the founding fathers of America understood that Congress was to be very limited in what it could and could not do. This is certainly expressed in a quote of James Madison, when he was, in the Madison and cod fishery bill from 1792. Because Madison said this. If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general Welfare and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare. They may take the care of religion into their own hands. Now what the kind of the context of this bill is that some fishermen were having a hard time making money, the fish weren't running and there's a bill proposed. Well, let's subsidize these people because it's very important that we have fish because we need food to eat. And since they might go out of business, let's subsidize them. Madison was arguing against this, saying if Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the. So they're saying if you do this because this is going to help everybody, we all need food by helping these specific businesses. But if you do this, they may take the Congress may take the care of religion into their own hands. They may appoint teachers in every state, county and parish and pay them out of their public treasury. They may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union. They may assume the provision for the poor. They may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post roads. In other words, they might do what government freely does today. See, the founders had such a limited view of government, said government has no role of subsidizing any specific business even if they're going bankrupt. Like recent times we bailed out automobile companies. Government has no business in doing that, even though you could argue it's for the general well being. Because we need food to eat, we need automobiles. But it's not its role. Because if government begins to step outside of its constitutional bounds, then there will be no end to what it does. It might get involved in religion. It might get involved in telling people how to worship, who to worship. Correct form of, worship involving that it may appoint teachers in every state. It may get involved in education and pay for the teachers out of the public treasury. Taken to their old hands, the education of children, setting up schools everywhere. Now of course that began to happen in the 1840s, first in Massachusetts. In the next century following, every state began to set up state compelled and state mandated, education. They did the very thing that Madison said that they shouldn't be doing at all. They may assume the provision for the poor. They may begin to take money, from individual taxpayers and give it to others who have, have needs, they have undertake. They may even build roads besides post roads, which they had the authority to do under the Constitution in order to deliver mail. There's certain Roads were necessary to do that very thing. So clearly the founders of America, Madison, the chief architect of the Constitution, that when he understood, as our founders did, you know, what authority are we giving to the national government? What can they do that we've stepped way beyond that today. Step, way outside the constitutional bounds and are involved in everything. Building roads, educating, paying for education, really telling, what's going to, what parents are going to educate and take, what type of education their kids are going to receive, getting involved in religion and other things. And so constitutionalism, see, a government of liberty will be a government of laws. A constitution will define and limit the power of government. And of course, the Constitution should be based on God's higher law. And our U.S. constitution was. It was based upon the laws of nature and nature's God, as Jefferson used that phrase in the Declaration of Independence. And that phrase, the laws of nature and nature's God, had a well defined meaning. the law of nature was the revelation of God and his creation and the conscience of man. The law of nature's God was the specific revelation of God in the Bible. James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, expressed the view of the founders when he wrote this. God is the promulgator as well as the author of natural law. All laws, however, may be arranged in two different classes, one divine, too human. But it should always be remembered that this law, natural or revealed, made for men or for nations, flows from the same divine source. It is the law of God.

Human law rests its authority ultimately upon the authority of divine law

In other words, he recognized that the law of nature and the law of nature's God, both human and divine laws, all flow from the divine source, from the law of nature. See, human law rests its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law, which is divine. and if man, of course, historically men have passed all kinds of laws contrary to God's higher law, but it has done so with negative consequences. Because as we violate God's law, we don't get flourishing, we don't get good fruit, we get loss of liberty and bad fruit. Perhaps the first, civics textbook that was written and published, its first Lessons in Civil Government by Andrew Young, published in 1846. The introduction to this book, it talks about law. What is law in there? Young writes and reflects the view of all Americans essentially at this time. He said that the will of the Creator is the law of nature which men are bound to obey. But mankind in their present and perfect state, are not capable of discovering in all cases what the law of nature requires. It is therefore pleased. Divine providence to reveal his will to mankind, to instruct them in their duties to himself and to each other. This will is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and is called the Law of Revelation or the Divine Law. So clearly that phrase, the law of nature and nature's God, in the view of the founders meant what Jung was just expressing, that the will of the Creator is the law of nature. So we can look at God's creation, we gain insight and knowledge of the Creator and how things are to function. And if that's written on our conscience too, Romans 1 and 2 tells us, but man in their present and perfect state, we can't discover clearly all of what God the Creator requires of us through what's in our heart and what he created. Therefore because of God's goodness, it pleased the Divine Providence to reveal his will to mankind. God wants to reveal his will because when we obey his will we are blessed, we have flourishing, we prosper in the broad sense of the word. but where does he reveal this will? It's revealed in the Holy Scriptures and is called the Law of Revelation or the Divine Law. So the American constitutional form of government was built upon the higher law of God, the law of nature and nature's God. Any nation that wants to be free and prosper should construct all that it does, its laws, its constitution, upon the laws of nature and nature's God, the higher law of God. Because God in the Bible reveals to man principles of government, laws of liberty, and it reveals a framework of government. And if we apply the principles to construct a frame of government in accordance with those principles, it will go well with us. This is what the founders of America were attempting to do. Of course they had been working on this in their states for over 150 years and that they were learning, searching out truth from looking at the history of man, from studying the Scriptures, in particular looking at the Hebrew Republic, the nation of Israel and the unique form of government that God gave them. In my book, Ruling over the A Biblical View of Civil Government, I have a chapter on the type, the form or framework of government that God gave the nation of Israel. And it was a framework very similar to the US Constitution because we copied the Hebrew Republic framework of government, because of seeking that truth out of the Bible. And so we would do well to, to ah, copy to model what God gave to mankind. And the founders of America, those who gave us the US Constitution did that very thing. So now we've looked at two aspects of the framework of godly government. And then in our Next podcast we're going to I'm going to present give you five more aspects of the framework of godly government, of how our U.S. constitution works. This is important for us to know because as we understand our US Constitution, we then can elect men to office who will execute their authority based upon the framework of the US Constitution. After all, those elected office take an oath of office to, uphold the Constitution of the United States. Unfortunately, most of our leaders today don't know the Constitution of the United States. They don't understand the framework, they don't understand the fundamental principles upon which it's built. And that's why it's very important for us to learn them and why I'm taking time in these podcasts to go through them. Well, I'm glad you joined us this week. Next week we're going to continue this story. So I hope you can, enjoy us then. If you want to learn more, join us then. And if you want to learn more about, these ideas, Visit our website, providencefoundation.com get some of this book, Government that I've mentioned a couple of times and others as well and study and learn, more of this. So God bless you.

Form of Godly Government, the Framework of the American Republic (Part 1)