ANGELES, Aleth Mickaela C.

SECTION 2

In times that the law of man contradicts the law of God, are we to follow the laws of God?

“​Obey man’s laws as God’s laws.” This perspective is from the book of Romans 13:1-7

in the bible and it means people should realize that obeying man’s law means that he/she is also

obeying Gods laws. According also to Romans 13:1-7, God created government and designate

authorities for us to promote justice, punish evil, and establish order. So, we are here to obey and

follow the rules and laws that the government placed over us and also, we should show them

respect. If we do not obey and respect them, we are eventually disrespecting God who placed

that government over us.

As long as the man’s law does not contradict the God’s law, we are bound to follow the

man’s law. But the question is, what if the man’s law contradicts the Gods law? Example is

death penalty that is legal in other parts of world and said to be that it will also be legalized here

in the Philippines. The laws of man are always cold and objective. It cannot be contradicted by

an ordinary people. But, laws of man can also require some heart. This means that if

hypothetically, I killed a man and the court will punish me of execution, I will accept the

decision of the court/ the man’s law if that’s what I really deserve for doing such an evil thing.

But what if the judge/or the prosecutor reconsider my case and investigate more and find out that

I accidentally hit him by my car and I have no intention of killing him. So, in this case they will

hopefully have a retrial and lower my punishment from execution to life imprisonment and I will
be thankful for that matter and will accept that heartfully. It was also written in Romans 13:1-7

that if obeying the man’s law would entail disobeying God’s law, people/Christians should

himself to authorities and consequences for disobeying the man’s law rather than not to follow

that will lead to disobeying other God’s laws and His teachings.

To conclude, we are here to consider carefully what we would want to do because we are

not here to be judged by man but be judged by God. Let the fear of the Lord be upon us because

it will lead us to live a life in His glory and with conscience. Being citizens of this world and His

heavenly kingdom does not exempt us from our duties and responsibilities to the laws of man in

which were already established before we were born. And also, being free from God doesn’t

mean that we are also free from our obligations and liabilities to the government and to our

neighbors.