The Forgotten Foundation of Freedom
No Kings But…
Political freedom does not begin with individual rights.
Political freedom begins with submission to Christ.
To the modern ear, that sounds absurd.
How could submission possibly produce freedom? Isn't freedom the absence of authority? Isn't liberty the ability to live however we choose?
Our culture certainly thinks so.
In a culture chanting, "No Kings," the Christian response is surprisingly simple:
Exactly.
No earthly king, but King Jesus.
That answer only sounds strange because we have forgotten what freedom is.
More importantly, we have forgotten who rules the world.
After His resurrection, Jesus declared, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me." Those were not the words of a religious teacher offering good advice. This was the proclamation of the risen King. Christ was not campaigning for authority. He was announcing that all authority already belonged to Him.
The gospel is not an invitation to vote Jesus into office.
It is the good news that Jesus Christ is Lord, whether the nations acknowledge Him or not.
The question has never been whether Christ will rule.
The question is whether we will joyfully submit to the King who already reigns.
That truth has profound political consequences.
Where Do Rights Come From?
America has always celebrated liberty, and rightly so. Our Founders recognized something that many modern people have forgotten. The Declaration of Independence does not say that governments grant rights. It declares that human beings are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights."
Notice the order.
Rights come from God.
Governments may recognize those rights. Governments may violate those rights. Governments cannot create those rights.
The Declaration did not invent this principle. It simply echoed a truth that Scripture had already proclaimed for centuries. Human beings possess dignity because they bear the image of God. That is why murder is evil. That is why oppression is evil. That is why liberty matters. If man is merely another highly evolved animal, rights become little more than permissions granted by whoever happens to hold power.
Once rights are detached from God, they become negotiable.
History has demonstrated this repeatedly.
Somehow we have convinced ourselves we can keep the gifts after firing the Giver.
We speak endlessly about protecting rights while forgetting the One from whom those rights come.
It is rather like expecting fruit from a tree after cutting off its roots. The fruit may linger for a season. It will not last forever.
Perhaps the most important question facing America is not, "How do we preserve freedom?" Perhaps we have skipped a far more basic question.
What is freedom?
Freedom According to Our Creator
Modern culture defines freedom as autonomy.
Be whoever you want.
Do whatever makes you happy.
Answer to no one.
Write your own truth.
Scripture rejects that definition entirely.
A fish is not free on dry land. A bird is not free beneath the sea.
Neither creature finds liberty by escaping its design. Each is most free when it lives according to the purpose for which it was created.
Human beings are no different.
From the opening pages of Genesis, God reveals that mankind was created in His image. We are not self-created. We do not invent our own nature, purpose, or identity. We receive them from the God who made us. Since God is Lord over all, any freedom we experience is directly given by him
Freedom, therefore, is not becoming whoever we imagine ourselves to be. Freedom is becoming who God created us to be. Modern culture’s desperate attempt to redefine marriage and sexuality is the ultimate rebellion against the Creator’s design. This is not progress; it is a frantic, futile grasping for autonomous self-definition. From a biblical perspective, true liberty is never found in mutilating the moral landscape to accommodate the fleeting passions of the moment. We do not possess the authority to redefine what God has established. When we trade the clarity of 'freedom as design' for the hollow, destructive promise of 'freedom as autonomy' in our most intimate relationships, we do not find liberation; we find out that slavery to sin has consequences, one of which is the constant need for affirmation that what you are living into is right when the Holy Spirit is constantly convicting you otherwise.
This is why the modern pursuit of absolute autonomy ultimately fails.
The Bible never asks whether you have a master. It asks who your master is.
Jesus said that everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.
The Apostle Paul tells us we are either slaves of sin leading to death or slaves of righteousness leading to life.
There is no third category called "independent."
The first person to promise mankind complete autonomy was the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
His sales pitch hasn’t changed much in six thousand years.
"You shall be as gods."
It sounded appealing then.
It sounds appealing now.
It was a lie then.
It remains a lie today.
Every human being serves someone.
Some bow before wealth.
Others before comfort.
Others before pleasure.
Others before politics.
Others before themselves.
The only question is whether your master gives life or merely promises it.
Submission to Christ is not the opposite of freedom.
It is the beginning of freedom. Liberty is not the absence of authority. Liberty is life under the rightful authority. A train is not liberated by leaving its tracks. It is destroyed by it. Likewise, a man ruled by his passions is not free simply because no government restrains him.
Personal slavery almost always precedes political slavery.
Self-Government
This is where Christianity and politics meet. – Free governments are built by free people. – Free people are those who have learned to govern themselves. – Genuine self-government begins with self-restraint. – Self-restraint begins with submission to God.
This is precisely why America's founders spoke so frequently about virtue, morality, and religion. John Adams famously wrote that our Constitution "was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
His point was not that Christianity should be imposed by force.
His point was that liberty requires character.
If citizens refuse to govern themselves, someone else eventually will.
Governments have never lacked volunteers.
When men willingly govern themselves according to God's law, civil government has far less reason to govern them.
But when a people reject God's authority, reject objective morality, and reject self-government, the state inevitably expands to fill the vacuum.
Authority never disappears. It simply changes addresses. Many people imagine that removing God from public life creates a neutral society. There is no such thing. Every society has a god. Every civilization worships something. If Christ is not enthroned, something else will be. Sometimes it is the state. Sometimes it is wealth. Sometimes it is race. Sometimes it is sex. Sometimes it is technology. Sometimes it is the autonomous self. Man was created to worship. When he refuses the living God, he does not stop worshiping. He simply starts manufacturing idols.
The Problem Is Deeper Than Politics
Political problems are real, but they are not our deepest problems. Our deepest problem is the human heart. Since the Garden of Eden, mankind has become remarkably skilled at shifting responsibility.
Adam blamed God and Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. Ever since, we have become increasingly creative at finding someone else to blame.
"The politicians."
"The previous generation."
"The media."
"The schools."
"The culture."
“The left”
But Christians should begin by asking a different question.
What has God entrusted to me? Before asking who is to blame, ask what responsibility God has placed in your hands. How can I best obey the command to baptize the nations?
Cited Sources
The Holy Bible
English Standard Version (ESV). Crossway, 2016.
Genesis 1–3
Psalm 2
Matthew 28:18–20
John 8:31–36
Romans 6
2 Chronicles 7:14
The Declaration of Independence.
United States of America, July 4, 1776.
Adams, John.
Letter to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts, October 11, 1798.
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
The United States Constitution.
Ratified 1788.
