John Dekker's Day

10:14AM - Being a Christian in your car #5: Should we obey the road rules?

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. (Romans 13:1-2)

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right... Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh... How is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. (1 Peter 2:13-20)

The next issue we can consider in regards to "car ethics" is the necessity of sticking to the speed limit, and following other road rules. We've had a series of ads here in Victoria reminding us that one needs to be only a little bit over the limit to be both dangerous and guilty.

This is something the New Testament does talk about – 1 Peter 2:13 tells us to submit to the authorities, "for the Lord's sake", while Romans 13:2 makes it more explicit that God has delegated authority to the powers that be. This means that, as long as they don't contradict God's revealed law, we can interpret the things that the government tells us to do as being God's will for our lives. We can apply 1 Peter 2:18 to the situation where we don't agree with the road rules – just as slaves were to obey masters who were harsh, so we obey those laws that we consider unjust, as long as they do not directly conflict with what God tells us to do. It doesn't matter in the slightest whether you think the speed limit should be 70 – God doesn't want you to drive that fast. (It is important distinguish between laws that cause the Christian to sin, and laws that are merely unjust. We obey the latter, but not the former.)

Finally, when we do break the law, we should joyfully accept our punishment. It doesn't matter if you think you made it through the intersection before the light went red – go ahead and pay the fine. Christian, for God's sake, don't try to wriggle out of a traffic infringement.