"liberty in law"

A line in the song "America the Beautiful" ends with the words, "thy liberty in law." Millions sing this song every year, especially at the July 4th holiday like we did today. People sing the words, rarely stopping to ponder them. Isn't there irony in the words "liberty in law?"

Doesn't "law" mean to many people rules that constrain what you can do? I can drive only so fast. I must pay taxes to the government, giving up choice on how to use some of my money. We have State and Federal elected officials who spend hours passing legislation that controls what people and businesses can do. We are in a time of regulation on the loose. How does law produce liberty? What did our founding Fathers have in mind?


Laws are seen as objective wishes of society that maintain order by influencing what citizens should do or not do. Laws establish the guidelines for how punishment is dispersed within a society. Because laws are developed by elected representatives of society. they exist to apply rules to everyone WITHOUT preferences of people in power.

The Founding Fathers were wise to off load the power to punish away from kings, tyrants, and despots and to objective laws. This objective application of rules gave citizens a freedom from punishment that is unjust. Knowing what is right and wrong gives citizens the liberty to choose in ways that benefits them. Therefore, there is liberty in law.

This is why it is so important to protect the Constitution. When the "liberty of law" is subject to the whims of power, then citizens are in bondage to the wishes of select people who seek to gain power. This raises the value of power and increases the contest for it. Sound familiar? The current disregard for law to pander to the cultural winds of progressives (i.e. Sanctuary cities, abuse of the IRS, and political messaging to manipulate voters during elections (Benghazi)) destroys liberty. Law is designed to protect citizens from those who seek to consolidate power for personal gain.

Our Founding Fathers were so wise to see "liberty in law" as opposed to bondage in tyranny.

But, there is even a greater "liberty in law." Liberty provided to us by someone way wiser than our Founding Fathers. For in civil law, justice prevails. We all are subject to punishment as we violate the law. Therefore, we live in some level of fear of the law because of its power to harm us. We long for justice but are at the same time oppressed by its terms of reciprocity.

So God, in His infinite wisdom, takes "liberty in law" one step further. He recognizes that failure to follow the law is condemnation, a sense of guilt that builds a tension with liberty, which comes from objective application of justice. When we realize we cannot fully obey the law at all times in every way, we are then in bondage to the law. "Law in liberty" is just a nice line in a song to sing.
 

Good news comes when we trust that God took care of our inability to obey the law. "Liberty in law" becomes a reality when we have the law satisfied on our behalf by someone who loves us completely. Having objective law to condemn us has liberty until we violate the law. Then law condemns and liberty only comes from the Cross, grace bestowed on us to satisfy the law. "Liberty in law" becomes freedom from the fear of just application of the law.



The liberty we have been given by our Founding Fathers has great benefit to temporary, finite living in this world without fear of unjust punishment. The liberty we have been given by the work of Christ has great benefit to eternal living without the fear of just punishment. In both cases "law" provides the basis of "liberty". That is why we should joyfully sing "thy liberty in law" this July 4th and every other day too.

Certainly worth pondering...