Separation of Powers and the Heart of Man
By Scott Jones
Figure 1: God’s Design for the State
The vanity of men - there is nothing like the pull of power, influence, and the love of money. The Bible is full of admonishments to be aware and to be watchful as it relates to our own hearts.
Figure 1 is taken from Focus on the Family’s Truth Project.[i] It represents God’s design for the State, i.e. government. In God’s design, He is the head of the state. He appoints officials or civil magistrates, e.g. judges, kings, presidents, legislatures to govern the affairs of the citizens. The officials govern in submission to the laws of God, and in turn the citizens submit to the officials God has placed over them. God does not work through one form of government, but in the Bible and in human history, we see many forms of civil magistrates. In the Bible we see Moses, a religious and political leader, Samuel, a judge and prophet, Pharaoh, a totalitarian monarch, Nebuchadnezzar, David, Solomon, and Ahab, kings, Pilate, a governor, Herod the tetrarch, and Rome, a republic. One pattern we see is that those officials that govern under God’s guidance get better results than those that depart from God. The prophet Jeremiah understood the problem with human officials (and of course all humanity).
The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?[ii]
Men, although created in the image of God, are corrupted by sin. Sin tempts leaders to seek, fame, riches, power, and pleasure – often at the expense of the citizens. When David sought the Lord, he conquered giants and armies. When he followed his own deceitful heart, he was led to adultery and murder.
Isaiah recognized that there are three functions of government and that only the Lord God can exercise all three perfectly:
For the Lord is our judge,
The Lord is our lawgiver,
The Lord is our king;
He will save us—[iii]
The Lord is perfect and he alone can create good laws, execute those laws faithfully, and judge men justly under those laws. Although He appoints officials to govern men, these officials are men themselves and have deceitful hearts, prone to iniquity and evil. How then are men to govern men? To begin with the officials should be men who listen to the word of God and obey (albeit imperfectly). Like David they should be men after God’s own heart. Jethro instructed Moses to appoint leaders over Israel to assist him. He described them thus: Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens.[iv] These, then, are the fundamental qualities of leaders or officials, they should be men who are:
· Able (i.e. competent),
· God fearing,
· Lovers of truth, and
· Haters of dishonest gain.
Sadly, few of our political leaders today would pass this simple test. We often refer to such leaders as “servant leaders”. Those who put the law of God and the interests of others ahead of their own. Men who will do what is right and good, even when no one is watching.
But is this enough? Even the best of men are tempted – and political power and the benefits its brings are incredibly tempting. Political power promises to fulfill the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life. One man who struggled with this was the French political philosopher, Charles Montesquieu. He recognized that dividing the three duties of government among different individuals would make it more difficult for one person to wield absolute power. Even if the executive (king) tried to exercise tyrannical powers that deviated from God’s law, the legislature and the judiciary would be able to restrain his impulses.[v] He recognized that if the judges also made the law, then the people would be subject to arbitrary and changing laws at the whim of judges. Likewise, if the king made the laws, he would more quickly forego the laws of God in favor of laws that benefitted him personally. Furthermore, if the king were the judge, then he could interpret any law to suit his own heart. So, Montesquieu proposed that republican government should be composed of three separate and coequal branches, the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. The Founders studied Montesquieu carefully and used his construct to frame the United States Constitution. As Samuel Adams stated: In all good governments, the Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary powers are confined within the limits of their respective departments.[vi] James Madison went on to say this about officials who exceed the authority of their respective branches: The rulers who are guilty of such an encroachment exceed the commission from which they derive their authority and are tyrants.[vii]
As we understand the heart of man and how the Founders, under the guidance of Montesquieu, sought to restrain government officials, we may look at our present governance in the United States and see many areas in which we have gone awry.
· We see executives that find the existing laws inadequate and make up their own rules and regulations and force them on the people.
· We see executives that act partially in the interest of themselves, their families, their friends, and their political allies.
· We see legislators that have delegated their law-making responsibilities to regulatory bodies, that in turn assume executive and judicial functions also, becoming tyrants.
· We see legislators that enact laws that are not in accord with the laws of God, nor with the restrictions imposed by the Founders in the Constitution.
· We see judges at all levels that are not content to administer the law but feel empowered to make up the law as they see fit.
· We also see judges who refuse to hear cases where government has exercised tyrannical powers – saying that the people lack “standing”.
All of this grieves the heart of God. But He has granted us powers to resist. We have the “soap box” to speak against the evils of unrighteous officials. We have the “ballot box” to remove unrighteous officials and replace them with men and women who fear God. We have the “jury box” to counteract unrighteous judges. We must have the courage to stand up for godly governance. We must pray for our officials, we must vote for candidates that most closely meet Exodus 18:21, and we must boldly engage in the civil and political processes by which we are governed.
Works Cited
Barton, D., Cummings, B., & Wubbels, L. (Eds.). (2012). The Founders' Bible. Newbury Park, CA, USA: Shiloh Road Publishers.
The Truth Project (2006). [Motion Picture].
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org
[i] (The Truth Project, 2006)
[ii] Jeremiah 17:9
[iii] Isaiah 33:22
[iv] Exodus 18:21
[v] (Barton, Cummings, & Wubbels, 2012)
[vi] (Barton, Cummings, & Wubbels, 2012)
[vii] (Barton, Cummings, & Wubbels, 2012)
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