The Law is King

The Cry Freedom Workshop

Overview Statement

• It is not the king (or president, prime minister, or emperor) who is king, the law is king. Free, just, prosperous and compassionate nations are not ruled by men, but by the rule of law.

Introduction Questions

• What is meant by the term rule of law?• How does the rule of law differ from the rule

of man?• What is civil disobedience? • When is it morally right to break a law?

The Law Is King – Lex Rex

Post Video Discussion

• What is the opposite – antithesis - of this principle?

• On a scale moving from 1-10 with 1 being the opposite of this principle and 10 being the perfect application of this principle, where does your nation fall?

• Give illustrations or stories to demonstrate your answer. These can be for the principle or the antithesis as you have observed it.

Discovery Scripture

• Read– Set # 1: Deu. 10:17; Job 34: 19; 1 Pet. 1: 17– Set # 2: 2 Chron. 19: 7; Acts 10: 34; Rom. 2: 11– Set # 3: Deu. 17:18-20; Isa. 8: 19-20; Matt. 5:17-18

• Questions – What do these passages reveal about God? – About the nature of law and justice?– What has Christ come to do?

Discovery Scripture• Read– Set # 1: Ex. 1:17; Dan. 6:13; Acts 4:19; 5:27-29

• Questions– Which law is higher God’s moral law or human civil

law?– What is to happen when men and women are asked

by civil authorities to violate God’s moral law?– What are two laws in your society that violate God’s

moral laws?– Who do you know in your nation who has stood up

against injustice and paid a price for doing so?

The 10 Commandments

• Civil and criminal law are not arbitrary

• Based on the moral law - Decalogue - 10 Commandments

Unjust Laws – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“One may well ask, how can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others? [The answer] is found in the fact that there are two kinds of laws: just laws … and unjust laws. One has not only a legal but moral responsibility to obey just laws, but conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”