What to tell a court about the law's remit

A collection of Bible passages with commentary suitable for courtroom use

When I post about Biblical and spiritual matters I tend to lose readers, whereas when it is about politics I gain them. That’s great! People want quick advantage through tactical insight, not wisdom that has to be painstakingly integrated into how we live. I am not in the market for providing geopolitical intelligence, and only ever found myself there by accident, as the Q drops were really a spiritual test of perception and perseverance. That said, the two domains (i.e. spirital and political) cross over at “the law”, and how legalism is weaponised by lawfare to persecute the righteous. This is something that I have experienced personally, so can speak from a place of some expertise.

As part of a courtroom drama that I witnessed this summer a Biblically informed colleague put together a scriptural narrative that outlines what the law can legitimately address, and what it cannot. It complements another set on immersion that I will publish separately. Taken together, these are the “spiritual exit from the law” that carry you beyond the law’s remit. If there is no crime and no consent, only covenant, then the law has nothing to do with you. Grasping this foundational fact is life changing, as well as societally transformational. That’s why “they” don’t want you to know! The nature of wisdom it that it is old, and we don’t invent fresh wisdom.

The line of argument offered here is that we have been put under the law in various matters (e.g. marriage as state license, registration of drivers and automobiles) through fraud and coercion — and then stayed there by our ongoing performance. The law has extended itself beyond its remit, taking control over innate freedoms. Abolishing tyrannical governments, and adhering to strict constitutional limits, are necessary but not sufficient. In order for the law’s scope to remain limited, we have to understand the spiritual foundation on which its claims to legitimacy rest. Only then can we have justice under natural law, and peace outside of it via covenant.

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John 1:17 — God’s Covenant

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

This is the essence of it — you can either seek peace without freedom under the law, or you can seek peace and freedom through faith and salvation. If you recognise ‘sin’ as being self-will, not the list of behaviours defined by The Church™, then Jesus came to give us salvation from self-will, not our preference for drunken orgies per se.

Hebrews 8:7 — The two covenants

For if that first covenant [which predated Mosaic law] had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second [Jesus and the new covenant].

The first covenant could not be sustained because of sin — i.e. humanity sought equality with God in self-will. The story of the Garden of Eden is the same one as told by transhumanists today, since the argument the Devil made to Eve is identical to the one that the WEF makes nowadays. Salvation cannot come from AI, nanotech, quantum dots, or any other technological mechanism, intellectual understanding, or unholy spirit.

There is an inevitable fallout from the failure to follow sacred principles, and the law is hired to make up the difference, just like the Mosaic law did for the failure of the first covenant. No law resolves our failure to seek covenant with God. The observation that pride comes before destruction is a restatement of this truth; indeed, it is a promise, not a threat, as destruction is merciful! The implicit claim of pride is that “by adding ever more policies, configuration options, and prompt queries I can elevate myself and the machine above our material reality.” It simply cannot be done — it is bound to fail on some timescale or scope.

Hebrews 8:8-9 — The rivals for the covenant people

For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.

There is nothing new under the sun, and rival human societies or tribes rub up against one another and can compete for material resources and territory. The Hebrews came out of Egypt, then split into two rival factions — Israel and Judah. Our modern-day geopolitical struggles have roots that stretch this far back, and the national identities of the West cannot be understood without reference to the ancient bloodlines and the covenant. Who has the legitimate claim to moral authority to make law, and judge others under the law?

Hebrews 8:10-13 — The spirit comes ahead of “the rules”

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbour and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

It took me a few goes to grasp this, given the unfamiliar language. It is a little bit like not having to learn the school rules because you have internalised the heart of the headmaster. Rather than having to teach each other the correct rituals and manners to be in harmony with each other, and seek peace, we instead appeal to a higher unified conscience of divine will (i.e. covenant). This eliminates the need for the law to reconcile divergent interpretations of societal rules.. Think of covenant as a “spiritual technology” if you insist, that means we do not need to remember the rules, not our transgressions of them.

Matthew 22:37-39 — The Great Commandments

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

How many of us have had experiences in courts of law that are unloving and immoral? Many I would expect. Yet those same courts justify what they do on the basis that they were “only following orders” (of the law). There is a long list: Covid mask “mandates”, childhood vaccine “requirements”, civil asset forfeiture, eminent domain, strict zoning, enforced school attendance, aggressive surveillance, anti-homelessness edicts — none take into account whether they are acceptable if the boot is on the other foot. The two Great Commandments are how the law is fulfilled, not abolished, being a restatement of the “Golden Rule”.

Galatians 3:3-6 — By faith, or by works of the law?

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

The Galatians were foolish because they were trying to put themselves back under the law as the route to righteousness, a legalistic spirit that never ends well. Instead they should have been seeking the Spirit of Truth — which is how all things become reconciled to one another. The law is not meant to bring us lasting peace, as it always leaves some form of injustice and resentment. Yet to believe in something more than the law requires faith — in a promise of peace that is not written on tablets of stone. Specifically, the sinful thing that Galatia was doing was trying to make themselves the arbiters of righteousness, and through perfection of following the law obtain freedom.

Galatians 3:7-9 — Who has that faith?

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

If you are concerned about the Federal Reserve, Food and Drug Administration, or Center for Disease Control, and the power they have over us, then it all traces back to this: what is their claim to have jurisdiction over us. For if they answer to those not in our “faith tribe” then there is none! All they can do is point to their own laws, which are only binding upon us when they are operating in their godly remit. This may be “null” or minimal in scope, given the corruption and overreach involved. We are only blessed with freedom from these institutions to the extend that we submit ourselves to the way of faith.

Galatians 3:10-14 — Faith lets the righteous escape the curse of law

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

When I first read this it was an epiphany on the positioning of law in my own internal moral cosmos. The law is a curse, not a blessing! All my life I have had this ambivalence towards the law, and did not know why. As a teenager my parents said I should become a lawyer as I argued with them so much, but it did not appeal as a vocation. I have good friends who are lawyers, and while they might keep the peace in commercial agreements, the law as a whole is a burden upon society. The less legalism we have, the better off we are! It is not a contributor to net welfare, in the sense that more billable hours does not imply a better world; that’s the “broken window fallacy”.

Galatians 3:15-18 — The Law and the Promise

To give a human example, brothers even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came [through Moses] 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

In this context, a “covenant between men” is what we know as a contract. What this is saying is that we cannot fix our problems by making lots of agreements between each other — only doing unto others what we would have done to ourselves can resolve our differences. The promise of peace through freedom from legalism is at fundamental odds with the desire to legislate our way to aligned self-interest under our own understanding and endeavours. Only the promise of covenant solves the tradeoff of peace (under the law) versus freedom (from the tyranny of the law).

Galatians 3:19-21 — The Law cannot give us life

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Aha! So everything in the world leads to one of two outcomes: life or death. We have been under maritime law and the law of the dead for a reason — we are spiritually acting in a way that justifies it. As long as we seek advantage through the law over others, breaking the Golden Rule, we continue to feed a death cult. Our prison is not the corrupt judiciary, bought-off politicians, or delinquent law enforcement. Rather, it is the pursuit of selfish interests. Faith isn’t some woo belief in invisible entities, but the rational understanding that freedom (i.e. the force that promotes life) derives from conscience, not litigation.

Galatians 3:23-29 — The law as our guardian until faith comes

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

The other term I have seen used is “schoolmaster” rather than “guardian”. All of these encounters with unjust courts are teaching me about the nature of humanity, and how selfish judges, selfish lawyers, and selfish petitioners are never going to deliver unselfish outcomes. Until we “opt out” of the game of one-upmanship, we are essentially no better than those we complain about. Now I “get it” about what it means to “put on Christ”, but first I had to have my illusions shattered about what the law is all about.

Galatians 4:1-7 Sons and heirs who escape slavery to sin

I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

The law is ugly because it is born from those who seek to get their own way, at the expense of another. It is like dealing with young children who fight over a birthday cake! We can add a “law” that says whoever cuts the cake is last to eat it, which brings some fairness, but always requires a “parent” who rules over the “children”. When that parent is the state, we are essentially slaves, no matter how it is titled. We can be “emancipated” in legalistic terms, but never in spiritual terms, unless we “grow up”.

Galatians 5:4-5 — The law is abused to justify wrongdoing

You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

Even if we attempt to align to one another, there is going to be imperfection, and we will need to be forgiven at times. The “rulers” of society become grace and mercy, not politicians and judges. Yet in the meantime, many will justify their misdeeds (council tax, TV licensing, and penalty charge notices come to mind!) via the law, no matter how obviously egregious and unfair. This is a rejection of the very values that bring peace and salvation. This is the verse to throw at judges who claim to be upstanding Christians while also breaking the Golden Rule.

Galatians 5:13-15 — Do not use freedom from the law as an excuse

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

There is a temptation to reject the rigidity of legalism and “following the rules”, only to turn that into a justification for self-righteous behaviour. “I am better than the law” is a narcissistic doctrine, and I have come across quite a few in the “sovereignty” movement who devour others based on their own self-interest.

Galatians 5:18 — Escape from the law is a thing

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

This is the bottom line: you can (if lead by Spirit) legitimately claim in court that you are not under the law, as long as your actions align with the Spirit. They didn’t teach you that in school, now, did they?!? It denies the legal cartel power over you.

2 Corinthians 3:6-9

God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.

The letter of the law brings death, whereas the Spirit brings life. The spirit is not the same as our intention, which may be faulty, nor the outcome, over which we lack control. It is something beyond those. There is no lasting glory in learning all the “rules of the game” and sticking to them ruthlessly; only in exit from the game.

Greetings from Florida