As we approach the 2024 Presidential Election, it’s easy to get caught up in particulars—particular positions of candidates, propositions to vote for/against, and so forth. While these are hugely important, we put the proverbial cart before the horse during election season. To understand particulars, we must step back to understand the law’s role in God’s plan of salvation.
To state it simply, anybody with children can attest that chaos ensues without rules! Children need structure and behavioral expectations, with proper training in right living. So too with every group we belong to – the school needs rules, the sports team, and so on down the list. Civil society would also fall into anarchy if it were lawless. Even still, much debate exists about the frame of reference for that civil law. Is it merely a matter of majority rule, with whichever political party or person holding power at liberty to enact whatever law(s) so desired? Or is there a certain way we have been made by God to live, without which we cannot attain true happiness? What is the role of lawgivers: to enact that which is voted upon or to enact that which will make citizens virtuous?
As the saying goes, “Ideas have consequences.” How we think directly affects what we choose, who and how we love. In the case of law, it is intimately connected to the spiritual life. When Ford or Toyota makes a car, a manual is always issued to teach the owner how to drive it; otherwise, it will run into the ground. Likewise, God has made us to live a certain way, so only when we live that way can we be truly happy. Law is thus part of God’s instruction in righteousness. St. Thomas Aquinas writes in his Summa Theologica, “We have now to consider the extrinsic principles of acts. Now the extrinsic principle inclining to evil is the devil, of whose temptations we have spoken…But the extrinsic principle moving to good is God, who both instructs us by means of his law, and assists us by his grace.” We are supposed to become like Jesus Christ; that is what a life of holiness consists of. Properly understood, law is one of the means of God’s instruction in Jesus Christ. Grace gives us the power to live like Jesus Christ, but God uses law to teach us how to live like Jesus Christ. And God is constantly teaching us like a good father, trying to train us in righteousness, with law as one of his primary teaching tools. Laws with no frame of reference to God are like cars with no manual – you may be able to turn it on, but you definitely don’t know how to operate it!
To be more precise, law is not only instructive but also formative. Law forms the way that we think and act. Law is not simply about litigation and court cases or a majority rule; rather, it is really about the love of a father trying to show his son how to live. Precisely because I love my children, I give them good gifts–the best of gifts. But precisely because I love my children, I place boundaries around those gifts. A father taking his son camping for the first time instructs the son not to put his hand into the fire, but not because he’s a capricious tyrant. Rather, he loves his son and knows what’s best for him; he doesn’t want to see him hurt. In return, through our obedience to God’s law, we show our love for him, as Christ says: “If you love me, keep my commandments” (Jn 14:15).
So it should be during election season, if we want the cart to follow the horse. God instructs through his law and places shepherds over us to guide and direct us in right living. Civil rulers are meant to understand themselves as representatives of God, tending to the well-being of his flock. In turn, Scripture exhorts the flock to obey civil rulers, for obedience to civil rulers is obedience to God (when properly commanded, of course). In contrast, disobedience to civil rulers is disobedience to God. Only with this kind of idea can we have a just, harmonious civil society. We must keep our eyes fixed on God and his designs so that even our civic engagement orders us towards relationship with him and the holy living necessary for eternal life.
In the Roman trial of Good Friday, Pontius Pilate, perplexed by our Lord’s silence, asks, “Do you not know I have the power to release or crucify you?” (Jn 19:10). Jesus responds, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above” (Jn 19:11). Our Lord does not deny that Pilate has the power to release or crucify him, but clarifies the origin and exercise of that power – the Father in Heaven. Whether we realize it or not, God intimately cares about civil society, particularly whether it reflects his will. There is legitimate authority held by civil rulers, in which we may play a role through the elective process. Yet if we enter civil society in a purely secular manner, abstracted from the life of faith, we are left perplexed like Pontius Pilate, unable to piece together the particulars of the moment. Pilate will only know what to do with Jesus Christ when he recognizes where his authority comes from. Likewise, we will only know who and what to vote for when we have the right frame of reference: Almighty God.
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For more on Catholic teaching on law, visit thewisdomofthesaints.com to check out Daniel Campbell’s audio course from the St. John Vianney Lay Division. The course covers the philosophy of law, natural law, civil law, the Divine Law and so much more!
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