Last month, over loud protests from both sides of the political aisle concerning the legality of such an action, President Obama exacerbated an already ongoing Constitutional Crisis by signing an "executive order" granting amnesty to millions of illegals in this country. Even before this particular presidential act, Jonathan Turley, Constitutional lawyer and Professor of Law at the George Washington University School of Law, had warned a Congressional committee about the implications of the president's grab for power, saying, "We are in the midst of a constitutional
crisis with sweeping implications for our system of government.” Turley, who is a Democrat, reminded the committee, "I recently testified before this Committee on the history and function of the separation of powers in our system. 1 also discussed how, in my view, President Obama has repeatedly violated this doctrine in the circumvention of Congress in areas ranging from health care to immigration law to environmental law." Turley, who voted for Obama in 2008, later told Megan Kelley on "The Kelley File" that "a new model of government is emerging and it's the one that the framers told us to reject." There is no question that this is a very serious moment in our nation's history.
The Constitution’s Division of
Powers
is based on the Biblical World-View of the Founders
is based on the Biblical World-View of the Founders
America’s Founders
divided the powers of government and provided various checks and balances
because they held to a Biblical world-view, which recognizes that “man” in his
present condition is flawed because of sin and cannot be trusted with “power.”
They would agree with the adage of Sir John Dalberg-Acton who, after extensive studies
of both secular and religious history, declared, “Power tends to corrupt;
absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
This was the view of the early Puritans to
whom the Founders were indebted for much of their thinking. Most of them would
have agreed with William Bradford, five-time governor of Plymouth Colony, who
spoke of “man’s fallen state” and declared that “all men have corruption in
them.” In this fallen state human beings cannot be trusted with power; hence
the division of powers and other checks and balances in our country’s founding
documents. How our nation needs to recover this understanding!
Clueless, Power-Hungry Politicians
Our president seems unaware of this world-view
of fallen and flawed humanity as the basis for the limits placed on the
different branches of government by our Constitution. This was made obvious
when he recently remarked, “That’s the good thing about being president; I can
do whatever I want.”
Although the statement has a particular context,
it seems to reveal an unhealthy and uninformed attitude and mindset about the
executive office. The Founders placed clearly defined limits on what a president
can and cannot do; because the Founders knew that the president, whoever he may
be, is also a flawed human being, and not to be trusted with “power.”
Benjamin Hart stated it well in his excellent
treatise, Faith and Freedom. He wrote;
"The corruption in human nature is magnified when
it is transferred to human institutions. A man with a gang is far more
dangerous than a man without a gang. With this view of man in mind, America’s
founders sought to decentralize political authority, through the separation of
powers, states’ rights, executive veto, judicial review of legislation,
specifically enumerated governmental responsibilities, and all the various
checks and balances that were instituted to prevent government from dominating
all of life" (Benjamin
Hart, Faith & Freedom, 39).
The Founders did not Trust Power in the Hands of One or a Few
The underlying problem is that our society has
given up the Biblical view of the flawed human condition, held by the Founders,
that was the basis for their decision to divide the powers of government. They
were, in fact, so intent on limiting individual power that they also, in Section
9 of the Constitution, forbade the government from granting honorific titles of
nobility to anyone and forbade anyone holding a government office from
accepting a title or office from a foreign king or state without the consent of
Congress.
The Founders held the traditional Christian belief that humanity had been created a noble creature in the image and likeness of God, but that this image had become flawed as a result of the fall and sin (Genesis 1-3).
Salvation through Jesus Christ restores this image, but this restoration is a process that is not completed in this world. Humanity—even Christian humanity—in this flawed condition cannot be trusted with unlimited power.
Whereas modern liberalism claims that human nature is essentially good and that people only need a change of environment and circumstances to improve and perfect their behavior, the Founders held no such utopian view of the human condition. In fact, George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, both signers of the Constitution,
pointed to Jeremiah 17:9 as an underlying principle for the
separation of powers provided for in that document. This Biblical passage reads; The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can
know it?
The Bible & the Great Awakening
Influenced the Founders
It was this belief in
the Biblical account of the fall and the resulting flawed condition of human nature
that prompted the Founders to divide
the powers of government between two legislative branches, an executive branch,
and a judicial branch. The Founders’ view in this regard was profoundly influenced by the radical form of Protestant Christianity that,
from the very beginning, was dominant in early America, and was renewed as a result of the Great
Awakening.
The influence of the
Great Awakening on the Founders was highlighted by the late Harvard professor,
Perry Miller, who said, “The Declaration of Independence of 1776 was a direct
result of the preaching of the evangelists of the Great Awakening.” In their
well-researched book, Never Before in
History: America’s Inspired Birth, Gary Amos and Richard Gardiner say, “The
majority of people who founded the United States of America either experienced
or were children of those who experienced the religious awakening of the
1740s.”
This
Awakening,
with
its stress on human sinfulness,
revitalized the mistrust of the
Colonists in human authority, and this mistrust was reflected in the actions of the Founders.
Benjamin Franklin, for example, refers to this emphasis of the Awakening on
human sinfulness when, in his Autobiography,
he fondly reflects on his friendship with George Whitefield (1713-1770), the most famous preacher of the Awakening. He recalls how surprised
he was at how much the masses admired and respected Whitefield, “notwithstanding
his common abuse of them by assuring them they were naturally half-beasts and
half-devils.”
Franklin is, no doubt, using
hyperbole here to point out that, in his preaching, Whitefield emphasized the
fallen state of Adam’s race and their need for a Savior. Because of this fallen
condition, every person must experience a “new birth” through faith in Jesus
Christ. This was the common message of the preachers of the Great Awakening.
James Madison was Influenced
by the Bible & the Great Awakening
by the Bible & the Great Awakening
James Madison (1751-1836), the
chief architect of the Constitution, held this view of human sinfulness and
this is seen in the limitations he placed on governmental power throughout the
Constitution. He was referring to this view when, in the Federalist Papers, he
commented, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”
Madison was obviously influenced
by the Great Awakening for he was trained at the College of New Jersey (now
Princeton University), which was a center of revival activity during the Great
Awakening, and afterwards. In fact, just a few years before Madison arrived on
campus, one of the trustees of the college, Samuel Finley, wrote;
Our
glorious Redeemer has poured out His Holy Spirit upon the students at our
College. The whole house was a Bochim (place of weeping). Mr. William Tennant,
who was on the spot, says that there
never was, he believes, more genuine sorrow for sin and longing after Jesus.
Some
have wondered why there are no overt statements about God and Christ in the
Constitution and founding documents. Madison, who was a brilliant thinker, was
very aware that they were creating a civil government, not a church. He
realized in writing the Constitution that he was constructing, not a Statement
of Faith for a church, but a guiding document for a civil government that would
guarantee individual rights and freedom for all sorts of religious sects and
even atheists.
The
Constitution Reflects a Biblical World-View of Humanity
The
Biblical world-view of the document is seen in it limiting the powers of
government and in disallowing titles of nobility being granted. These are
principles right out of the New Testament. These are principles taught by Jesus
when, for example, He warned His disciples about adopting honorific titles that
would set them apart from the “brethren” (Matthew 23:8-12).
This
principle of renouncing power was taught by Jesus when James and John requested
the two most prominent seats in the kingdom and set off a storm of controversy
between the disciples over who would be the greatest. Jesus called them
together, chided them for pursuing power and exhorted them that those who would
be leaders in His kingdom must function as servants. This is where we get the
concept of a leader being a “public servant.”
Concluding Thoughts
The sober and
thoughtful view of the Founders about the human condition is foreign to modern
society, and to much of the contemporary church. But the denial of the reality
of sin and evil in the world is causing catastrophic problems both at home and
on the world stage. Many leaders have a difficult time acknowledging and
identifying evil, for in our modern politically-correct world, too many operate
on the naïve assumption that everyone is good and all cultures and religions
are equal. Their mantra is “I’m ok – you’re ok.”
Another Great Awakening
could awaken the church and the nation to the reality of sin and the flawed condition
of human nature and the need of a Savior. It could bring about a humility on
the part of both church and political leaders and stop the mad pursuits of
power that are destroying the nation, churches and individual lives. It could
actually put an end to the Constitutional crisis that is brewing.
This is why our 2nd
president, John Adams, said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people; it is wholly inadequate for any other.” This
is why we must pray for another Great Awakening in our land.
Dr.
Eddie L. Hyatt is an author, historian, Bible teacher and ordained minister.
This is article is derived from his two most recent books, America’s Revival Heritage and Pursuing
Power, both available from Amazon and his website at http://www.eddiehyatt.com/bookstore.html
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