This will be a long one, so buckle up. I recently heard the argument made that God’s word is only binding to Christians. This argument was made in the context of abortion, and the basic idea was something like “I wouldn’t personally have an abortion because of what the Bible says, but I couldn’t force that on a non-Christian, and I couldn’t condemn them for it.” This argument is full of problems, both scriptural and logical. This argument could easily be defeated with Romans 1:32 which says “…who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.” This passage clearly lays out that people who condone sin are just as wicked as those who practice sin! But, let us dig into it a little further.
First of all, we must have a basic understanding of right and wrong. Who defines right and wrong? Who gets to lay out those guidelines? If we are Christians, that is an easy question to answer, or it should be at least. God has already laid out all the guidelines for us. God has given us, through his unlimited power, immeasurable wisdom, and complete authority, His word, His will, His goals and guidelines for us. Think for just a moment that God, the creator of the very universe has taken time to give us rules to keep us from causing harm to ourselves or others. But how do we know this? How do we know God’s power, or know that we have to follow His words? Let us look at some passages from scripture, starting with the words of David in 1 Chronicles 29:11-12:
“Yours,
O Lord, is the greatness,
The power and the glory,
The victory and the majesty;
For all that is in
heaven and in earth is Yours;
Yours is the
kingdom, O Lord,
And You are exalted as head
over all.
Both riches and honor come from
You,
And You reign over all.
In Your hand is power
and might;
In Your hand it is to
make great
And to give strength to all.”
David says that power belongs to God. He owns the glory, the greatness, the victory. Everything in heaven and earth belongs to God. David also says that God reigns over all, and it is in God’s power to give strength and power. Everything is God’s and everything is under his rule and command. Now, it is easy to say that, but has God really proved it? Yes! Consider some of his great displays of power, such as the flood in Genesis 6-9, Elijah’s victory at Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18, or Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. God has made it clear that He has all power and all authority. On top of that, He has given His son, Jesus, all authority as well (Matthew 28:18).
Knowing this, that God has all authority, it is expected that we are to follow His will and keep His commandments. In John 14:15 Jesus said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Think about the implications of this. If we do not keep His commandments, we do not truly love him. That’s not to say we never make mistakes, or we never stumble, but God expects us to keep His commandments.
Now we understand that God has given us right and wrong, and He has the authority to make those guidelines. So let us look further into the idea that God’s words only apply to those who are Christians.
Truth does not change for circumstances. God has given us truth. And that truth does not cater to someone’s personal situation or circumstances. The truth is, 2+2=4, and that does not change simply because we want 2+2 to equal 5 this one time. In truth, there are no exceptions, there is right and wrong. God has given us truth for every circumstance, and it is not in our place to bend (or break) that truth. Think about the logical problems if this were not the case! It would be simple to make anything ok if we can just find one exception. If we can justify one small thing that does not seem that bad, it is easy to justify one more small thing, then one medium-sized thing (after all, it is hardly bigger than the small thing) then a big thing, then do away with the principle entirely. It may sound farfetched, but it really isn’t that hard to do. Here is an example everyone is probably familiar with: The alarm goes off at 8 AM. It is easy to give yourself five more minutes of rest before you get up. But five quickly turns to ten, ten turns to fifteen, fifteen to twenty, twenty to thirty, etc. It is easy to take one small idea and snowball it into a massive one, and if we do this with God’s word, we are standing on a slippery slope. God tells us this in Galatians 1:8-9 and again in Revelation 22:18-19. We have not been given any sort of authority to change God’s law. God’s truth is absolute. In Bill Hall’s book, Restudying Issues Of The ‘50s And ‘60s, he does a wonderful job of laying this principle out in practical terms:
“Nothing is right (and let me make sure we say this right) – nothing is right because it is consistent with something we’re already doing. A thing is right or wrong on the basis of whether it agrees with [the Bible]. Do you know how churches get into apostasy? They don’t go into apostasy in one giant leap. They take just a little step, sometimes only a half step, in the wrong direction. And then the first thing you know, they get to thinking, “Well, I don’t see any difference in that and this.” And so they take another step. “And I don’t see anything different about this and this.” And they take that step. “Well, what’s the difference in this and this?” And the first thing you know, each thing they do, they justify on the basis of something they have already been doing. That is not how you establish authority for anything. Everything we do in the Lord’s work must be established on the basis of what the Scriptures teach, not on whether it’s consistent with something we’ve already been doing.” (p. 37)
So does God’s firm truth apply to those outside of Christianity? I think it is easy to see that it does apply. Why would any Christian bother being a Christian if we could simply be part of the world and still go to heaven? Peter lays this out for us in 1 Peter, especially chapter 2. I would recommend you read the entire chapter for context, but I want to focus on verse 9-10, which says “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”
Christians are holy, special, set apart. Peter draws a contrast toward the end of the passage. We were not a people, but now we are the people of God. We had not obtained mercy but now we have obtained mercy. What does that mean? It means we were not saved. God had not shown us mercy. But when we were baptized, when we were saved, we obtained mercy. We got mercy then when we had not had it before. We were previously condemned, but then we were saved from eternal condemnation. If we were previously condemned, why? We were condemned because we did not know God. We did not follow his commandments. Therefore, God’s law applies to everyone. It applied to Christians before we were saved, and it applies to those who have not yet been saved as well.
God’s truth is absolute. It is firm. It is actual. It is the only truth that matters, and frankly “your truth” is really “your opinion” which God gives no credence to. God’s truth applies to everyone because everyone is His wonderful creation. Truth is binding, and God’s truth is the only truth that matters.