Jesus Gave Us Authority, but sometimes we overrun our headlights

A friend of mine in the Blogosphere, Steve Scott writes a good blog called from the Pew. I read it every day.

He reprinted a very thought provoking article about the limits to man's authority. I don't know what to think. I will think it over but thought you would find it interesting. I am reprinting it in it's entirety without permission from Steve. I hope he doesn't hate me for this, But, it's that good:

Matthew 28 says that all authority has been given to Jesus Christ. This means that all human authority in this world is derivative from Christ and delegated to us. But one thing that many people don't consider, or don't consider very carefully, is that human authority on earth is limited, and limited by God, so that there are a vast number of things that man has no authority over. Specifically, the state doesn't have authority over all human activity.

There are many sins that a civil magistrate can punish, but many more that it cannot. A glance at the Law of the Old Covenant easily shows this. Looking at the Ten Commandments, there were punishments for murder and adultery (death), theft (restitution and restoration) but curiously, not covetousness. Of course if covetousness manifested itself in a punishable sin, then that sin could be punished. Other sins (and some are grave sins at that) that carry no punishment are drunkenness, prostitution, possession and use of green seed-bearing plants (think of Tommy Chong), greed, slothfulness, laziness and evil motives. One of the "sins" in the previous list is never even called a sin by Scripture, but only assumed to be so by men.

It is interesting how some sins carry their own judgment and punishment. A prostitute gains a bad reputation, is open to abuse from pimp and john, STD's, drug abuse and so on. She (or even he) is shunned by family and friends. The same is true of the other sins I listed.

What is sad is that many Christians, and especially conservative ones (of which I have counted myself most of my Christian life), have a "tough on crime" attitude and advocate harsh criminal penalties inflicted by the state that Scripture never warrants. In many cases, the more conservative, the more contrary to Scripture (as if this were even possible! Ahem). Like the Pharisees, conservatives add to God's law because they don't see God's law as sufficient for governing society. It's time for conservatives to stop playing God and let Him alone punish the sins over which man has no authority.