Freedom is the need of the soul, and nothing else.
It
is in striving toward God that the soul strives
continually after condition
of freedom. God alone
is insider and guarantor of freedom. He is the
only
guarantor....Whittaker Chambers,
"Witness"
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Fortunately External freedom is only an aspect of interior freedom. Political
freedom, as the Western world is known it, is only a political reading of the
Bible. Religion and freedom are indivisible.
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ROMANS 13:1-10 IS A DIFFICULT PASSAGE
TO UNDERSTAND
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Without freedom the soul dies. Without the solar is no justification
for freedom. (Whittaker Chambers, "Witness" P 16)
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World English Bible
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Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who be are ordained by
God.
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Therefore he who resists the authority, withstands the
ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves
judgment.
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For rulers are not a terror to the good
work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do
that which is good, and you will have praise from the same,
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for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that
which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn`t bear the sword in vain; for he is
a minister of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil.
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Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of
the wrath, but also for conscience` sake.
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For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are ministers of
God`s service, attending continually on this very thing.
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Give therefore to everyone what you owe: taxes to whom taxes
are due; customs to whom customs; respect to whom respect; honor to whom
honor.
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Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who
loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
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For the commandments, "You shall not commit
adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not
steal," "You shall not give false testimony," "You
shall not covet," and whatever other commandments there are, are all
summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as
yourself."
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Love doesn`t harm his neighbor. Love therefore is the
fulfillment of the law.
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Hebrew and Greek (Westcott-Hort) Transliterated
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1
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pasa yuch exousiaiV uperecousaiV upotassesqw ou gar estin exousia
ei mh upo qeou ai de ousai upo qeou tetagmenai eisin
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2
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wste o antitassomenoV th exousia th tou qeou
diatagh anqesthken oi de anqesthkoteV eautoiV krima lhmyontai
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3
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oi gar arconteV ouk eisin foboV tw agaqw
ergw alla tw kakw qeleiV de mh fobeisqai thn exousian to agaqon poiei kai
exeiV epainon ex authV
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4
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qeou gar diakonoV estin soi eiV to agaqon
ean de to kakon poihV fobou ou gar eikh thn macairan forei qeou gar
diakonoV estin ekdikoV eiV orghn tw to kakon prassonti
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5
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dio anagkh upotassesqai ou monon dia thn orghn
alla kai dia thn suneidhsin
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6
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dia touto gar kai forouV teleite leitourgoi
gar qeou eisin eiV auto touto proskarterounteV
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7
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apodote pasin taV ofeilaV tw ton foron ton
foron tw to teloV to teloV tw ton fobon ton fobon tw thn timhn thn timhn
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8
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mhdeni mhden ofeilete ei mh to allhlouV
agapan o gar agapwn ton eteron nomon peplhrwken
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9
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to gar ou moiceuseiV ou foneuseiV ou kleyeiV
ouk epiqumhseiV kai ei tiV etera entolh en tw logw toutw anakefalaioutai
[en tw] agaphseiV ton plhsion sou wV seauton
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10
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h agaph tw plhsion kakon ouk ergazetai
plhrwma oun nomou h agaph
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(pasa
psuch). As in 2 Timothy 2:9; Acts 2:43. A Hebraism for paß anqrwpoß (every man). To the higher powers (exousiaiß uperecousaiß). Abstract for concrete. See Mark 2:10 for exousia. Huperecw is an old verb to have or hold over,
to be above or supreme, as in 1 Peter 2:13. Except by God (ei mh upo qeou). So the best MSS. rather than apo qeou (from God).
God is the author of order, not anarchy.
The powers that be (ai
ousai). "The
existing authorities" (supply exousiai). Art ordained (tetagmenai eisin). Periphrastic perfect passive
indicative of tassw, "stand ordained by God."
Paul is not arguing for the divine right
of kings or for any special form of government, but for government and
order. Nor does he oppose here revolution for a change of government, but
he does oppose all lawlessness and disorder
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"Humanism,
for all his talk about freedom, can present no philosophical framework to
justify freedom.
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(qeou diakonoß). General sense of diakonoß. Of
course even Nero was God's minister "to thee (soi ethical dative) for good (eiß to agaqon, for the good)." That is the ideal, the goal. Beareth (porei). Present active
indicative of porew, old frequentative form of perw, to bear, to wear. But if thou do (ean de poihß). Condition of third
class, ean and present active subjunctive of poiew, "if thou
continue to do." Sword (macairan).
Symbol of authority as
to-day policemen carry clubs or pistols. "The Emperor Trajan presented
to a provincial governor on starting for his province, a dagger, with the
words, 'For me. If I deserve it, in me'" (Vincent). An
avenger (ekdikoß).
Old adjective from ek and dikh (right),
"outside of penalty," unjust, then in later Greek "exacting
penalty from one," in N.T. only here and 1 Thessalonians 4:6.
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How can we say that men have human rights and there are not bestowed
upon him by his creator?
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On what basis do we say that the state is limited if God himself is
not limited it?
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When--in the name of freedom!--The humanist tear away the Christian
freedoms of this country, they actually destroy the only philosophical
foundation upon which true freedom can be sustained."
most of what I quote is from Dr John Eidsmoe's "GOD AND CAESAR" pp. 85-86
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In yet, desirable though it may be, liberty needs restraint. One
might think that anarchy involves total freedom, but in reality it involves a
total destruction of freedom. For without restraint men will destroy one
another's freedoms by killing each other, stealing from one another,
enslaving one another and exploiting one another. The reason, quite
obviously, is a basic human condition: sin." Dr. John Eidsmoe
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Dr. Eidsmoe
continues: "to restrain man's sin nature's and safeguard human freedom,
governments are established.
To be effective, governments have to have power
but governmental power has to be restrained, for the same reason that individual
liberty has to be restrained--the fact of sin. For rulers are just as simple as
their subjects. Given absolute and unrestrained power, they will use up our
incorrupt and despotic ways." John Eidsmoe, "GOD & CAESAR"
pp.85,86
"But what is government itself but the greatest of all
reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be
necessary. If angels were to govern men, either external nor internal controls on
government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered
by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the
government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control
itself." James Madison
"It's necessary, therefore, that all power that is on
her be limited, church power or other.... It's counted a matter of danger to the
state to limit prerogatives, but it is further danger not to have them limited;
they will be like a tempest if they are not limited.... It is therefore fit for
every man then to be studious of the bounds which the Lord has set; and for the
people, in whom fundamentally all power lies, to give as much power as God in
his Word gives to men.... All entrenchment upon the bounds which God hath not
given, they are not enlargements, but burdens and snares." John Cotton
"Power
corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely!"
So then power must be
diluted. And that's exactly what the framers of the Constitution did--by
separating and dividing the powers of government among various individuals and
groups, so that no one individual or group had too much power. Each individual
or group jealous of its own power, battles against the encroachments of power
by the other branches.
If that doesn't demonstrate that the framers didn't believe in the depravity of man. ALL ARE SINNERS! INCLUDING ALL POLITICIANS.
Another
way that power was diluted was to shrink the power groups. "The powers not
delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." The
10th amendment to the Constitution
That Dilution
of Power, according to the Constitution and Bill of Rights guarantees are
God-given rights that cannot be abridged or taken away, whether they be in the
majority or in the minority. We have the right of religion, the right to bear
arms to defend ourselves, the right to freedom of speech, the right to privacy
from illegal search and seizure, the right to trial by jury, and many others.
Power was
diluted so that no individual or group received too much power--even the people
as a whole! They never intended the United States should be up your direct
democracy in which the majority can do anything it pleases. Rather they
intended a constitutional republic in which the rights of the majority are
protected from the tyranny of the majority, and the rights of the minority are
protected from the tyranny of the majority.. The Constitution, not the people,
was the supreme law of the land. But above everything they believe that men
have rights, not because government has chosen to grant certain rights, but
because God has created Everyman with human dignity and has bestowed upon him
certain basic rights as a part of that human dignity.
The purpose of government
is to secure these rights" (quoting the Declaration of Independence), not
grant them.
