Introduction:
In this series we have referred from time to time to the concept of Sharia law. This is a distinctively Islamic concept, but it is important for us to see exactly where the distinction is. It is not because Muslims believe that their god should make the laws—everyone believes that. The issue is more subtle, and in order to understand it we will have to resist, not only the Islamic error, but the typical secularist error.
The Text:
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8-10).
Overview:
Christians are to live in such a way that the only obligation they have to one another is that of love. If we do this, St. Paul says, then we have fulfilled the law. Now why is this? He points out the obvious fact that if a man loves his neighbor, then he will not sleep with his wife, murder him, steal his goods, lie about him in court, or covet his possessions. This is not only the case with some of the Ten Commandments, but applies rather to any and every commandment that might be found in the law. All of it is comprehended in one saying—love your neighbor like you do yourself. Love does no harm to its neighbor, and what the law prohibits is doing harm to your neighbor. This should not be hard. But the fact that it is not hard does not blind us to the fact that there are profound depths here. Consider the fact that we have learned that God is love (1 John 4:8). Rightly understood, obedience to the law is the imitation of Christ. This is what our God is like.
All Law Is Religious Law:
Remember that in any society, once you have identified the source of law, you have thereby identified the god of the system. All states and cultures are therefore theocracies—the thing that distinguishes them is which god is represented, not whether a god is represented. It may be Demos, it may be Allah, or it may be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. But it is never “nothing.”
Having Said This . . .
But once this point is made (and it must be made, again and again), there is a very easy mistake that secularists (and some Christians) make. This is the mistake of thinking that a law order based on the will of Allah would have to be very similar to a law order based on the will of the triune God. But if you have been following one of the themes of this series of messages, you will see instantly that this would only be possible if there were no distinction to speak of between the monistic Allah and the triune God of Scripture. If they are functionally the same, then of course law orders based on their character would be functionally the same—they would have their red shirt Sharia and we would counter with our light red shirt Theonomy. But this vision assumes that the Trinity is culturally meaningless, and that any talk of biblical law will simply get us a bunch of weirdbeards—Reformed ayatollahs and theonomic imams, with a yen to start up some kind of Inquisition. One of the slanders leveled against this ministry by the Southern Poverty Law Center was that we were trying to set up a “Taliban on the Palouse.”
Simply Compare:
Sharia law is a combination—the Koran, hadiths, and decisions in the past by Islamic judges. Consider the story from one hadith. A woman had committed adultery and had become pregnant. She came to the prophet and confessed it. She was told to go away and have the baby. She came back at that time and was told to go away until the baby was weaned. She came back, and was then buried up to her neck and stoned. This is often told by Muslims as an example of the prophet’s compassion.
Compare this to the law embodied by our Lord Jesus. What did He do for the Samaritan woman who had had six men, and only five of them husbands (John 4:18)? What did He do when the immoral woman washed His feet (Luke 7:36-50)? What did He do for the woman that was caught in the very act of adultery (John 8:11)? The difference is the cross of Jesus Christ, which we will consider later. The law which was against us was taken away and nailed to the cross (Col. 2:14). This is not antinomianism—what God kills, God raises from the dead, and this includes His precious and holy law. But never forget that it is the law of the triune God, who in the person of the Son became one of us in order to die on the cross. This is triune law; this is incarnate law; this is resurrection law. This is love.
Separate Spheres:
Radical Muslims want a return to the caliphate. In Islamic societies, what was a caliph? The best way to think of it is to imagine an emperor and a pope rolled into one. One god, one ruler, one law—radical unity. Remember that a monistic god is going to have followers who want to eradicate distinctions. But our triune God is the God of unity and diversity in perfect balance. We are blessed with the glory of form and freedom both. We have the principle of unity, but because God is triune, it does not have to a lockstep unity.
Because God is triune, the Bible teaches a separation of church and state—a separation that goes back to the time of Moses. We see this clearly in Scripture. Why was Uzziah the king struck with leprosy? Although he was the king, he had no right to approach God as though he was a priest (2 Chron. 26:18). God has established various spheres that are comparatively independent of one another. The Church is God’s ministry of grace and peace. The civil order is His ministry of justice. The family is His ministry of health, education, and welfare. God appoints these governments, and has assigned appropriate tasks to each.
The Secularist Mistake:
But the fact that these spheres are (in their appointed tasks) independent of the other spheres has led to a grievous mistake. They are not independent of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. The separation of church and state (a biblical principle) is not the same thing as separation of God and state. It is not a separation of biblical law and state. It is not a separation of morality and state. If trinitarian culture is a possibility, then why would Christians want anything else? If it is not a possibility, then why did Jesus tell us to disciple the nations? What was He talking about?