Basket of Figs
Published 2002-01
Bud Powell
Trinity Covenant RCUS, Colorado Springs
Blocking
the Streets
![MC900361728[1]](Block2002-01B_files/image002.gif)
“In
transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God,
speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of
falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth
afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.”
--Isaiah 59:14,15.
The courts did not seem to
be in touch. Innocent people were victims of violent crime. Often
the courts were corrupt and allowed the guilty to go free. Government
officials were corrupt and lining their own pockets. The courts were
filled with empty arguments and lying tongues. Lawlessness was
everywhere.
This was Israel in the days
of Isaiah, who diagnosed the problem: the carcass of truth blocked the
street, so equity could not pass.
I. The root meaning
of “Equity” is “straightforwardness,” or “integrity.” Another form of the word describes the walk of a
righteous man (Isaiah 57:2). In Proverbs 8:9 the words of wisdom are
“plain” to those with understanding. When Israel no longer wanted to hear
the truth, they wished the prophets to prophesy smooth things of deceit, not
“right,” straightforward things (Isaiah 30:10).
The Bible teaches that there
is a “plain” way: a simple, right, and honest way for a man to treat his God
and his neighbor. This simple, right way is written in the hearts of
every man, in his very nature, so that he is without excuse. The Apostle
Paul said that this law is even written on the hearts of those who have never
heard of the Bible (Romans 2:13-16). In their wickedness, men are able to
corrupt this law, and some may even succeed in “searing their conscience as
with a hot iron” (I Timothy 4:2), but they can never entirely erase it, and it
will rise up to judge them in the last day. The pure form of this “law of
nature” was given in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), and its summary is true
love for God and our neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40). This law shows that man
is a moral being and is accountable to God and to his neighbor for his
actions. The humanist must deny this law of God.
II. In Christian
nations, the legal system reflected this law of equity. In England, equity courts originated in the
legal system established after 1066 by William of Normandy. They were
“courts of conscience,” administered by the king’s chancellor, a clergyman.
(Smith, Chester H., Smith’s Review of Equity,” West Publishing Co., St.
Paul, Minn., 1958. p. 9) Until this century, courts of equity were part of
the American judicial system. Webster defines equity:
“Justice according to nature law of right,” or “a
system of law originating in the English chancery and comprising a settle and
formal body of legal of procedural rules and doctrines that supplement, aid, or
override common and statue law and are designed to protect rights and enforce
duties fixed by substantive law.”
A “substantive” right or
duty is one that exists for its own sake and rests in natural law. For
instance, a man has no right to endanger life by shooting a gun at a passing
train, even if there is no specific statute forbidding it, or a decision in
common law to cover that case. He is expected to know that such actions
are wrong. Such an expectation is becoming rarer and rarer in schools, in
public, and in government. Naughty impudent children become naughty
impudent and brazen men and women.
Reasonable men want their
courts to be upright, to dispense honest and fair decisions. Equity courts
held a man responsible to behave in a right way toward his neighbor’s life,
property, and reputation and were an attempt toward responsible, fair
judicatories. The very existence of these courts testified to rights and
law that were above the statute and common law, and tended to affect decisions
in the other courts. Jefferson’s allusion to the “laws of nature,” and of
“nature’s God” in the Declaration of Independence is within the scope of
this Christian heritage.
A number of years ago courts
of equity were abolished in America, and combined with the regular system of
courts. The result is that equity is usually ignored in modern
courts. One lawyer told me that judges do not want to stick their necks
out; they want to base their decisions on statute law or common-law
decisions. This is understandable in present law theory where there is no
recognition of natural law proceeding from the God who created us all.
Understandable, but irresponsible, and something very precious was lost in our
courts when courts of equity were abolished. An exception to this
was Brown, which ended segregation in public schools, the most famous
equity decision in the history of America. No remedy could be found in
common or statute law, so recourse was made to the idea that it was essentially
unfair to deny basic rights to any of our citizens on the basis of race.
One problem in this decision, however, was that it was based on the
subjectivism of the judges, not on natural law. It was widely supported,
and rightly so, because the decision met the approval of the consciences of the
majority of the American people.
III. Natural law
presupposes a Creator, and that’s the rub, in Hamlet’s phrase. Modern man hates God and His law. He
wants to live in a relativistic world, so that he can justify abortion, sodomy,
confiscatory taxation, fornication, pornography, and reap the income that comes
from them. He sees himself as a victim in an impersonal world; not
as a responsible man under God.
In spite of this God is
the Creator and Judge of the earth. This is the truth that lies in the
street and blocks equity’s way. The Christians who compromised with
atheistic evolution in the public schools did not realize that this undermined
a court system based on equity and natural law, turning loose a flood of
lawlessness, criminal government and viciousness. But they did know what
the Bible said, so they were without excuse, just as we are if we do not work
to have the general law of equity, created by God, recognized as the basis
for our law. This general law recognizes that all men are to live at
peace with one another and seek the good of all men. This is not an
emotion, but objectified in the Ten Commandments.
It was so bad in Israel that
God “wondered” that there was no man, no intercessor, to plead Israel’s case
9Isaiah 59:15-17). It displeased Him that there was no justice. So
He took charge Himself. He “put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a
helmet of salvation upon his head…” vengeance for clothing, …and zeal as
a cloke” (Isaiah 59:17. When Jesus Christ, the Son of God appeared,
He put things to right, and the wicked will not escape His righteous and holy
government. The wicked do not like nor approve of God’s intervention, but
they are scattered like the chaff before the wind.
