Introduction: The day I wrote these words an important
religious liberty case was being argued before the United
States Supreme Court. My Church filed a brief supporting
religious liberty in this case. Standing before the Court to
argue on behalf of religious liberty was a graduate of
Regent University School of Law – where I am a professor. On
one side of the case is a lady who believes that she must
operate her business in a way that is consistent with the
teachings of the Bible. On the other side stands the State
of Colorado which argues that if your religious practice
conflicts with its views you should not be able to be in
business. The case reflects the great division and
polarization of world views: one based on the Bible and one
which is not. Does this sound familiar? Does Revelation 13
warn us of a day in which we cannot do business (“no one can
buy or sell”) unless we bear the mark of government
approval? Let’s plunge into our study of the Bible and learn
more!

I. God’s First Painful Lesson

A. Read Genesis 3:2-5. We seem to constantly go back
to discuss this story. Why? Because it contains so
many critical lessons. Let’s consider the lessons
regarding world views:

1. What is God’s worldview on religious freedom?
(It has to be one of His highest values,
otherwise He never would have permitted this
conversation to happen.)

2. What is God’s worldview on the importance of
His law? (We know that the penalty for
violating God’s law was death – and Jesus paid
that penalty.)

a. What alternative was available to God?
(He could have made exceptions. Either to
religious liberty or to His law. He could
have created a new law. The fact that He
died over His existing law is worth
serious contemplation.)

B. Look again at Genesis 3:5. What does this teach us
about Satan’s worldview? (Good and bad are
equivalent choices. Knowing everything without
discrimination is the highest value.)

1. Is that at the heart of the polarization of
views today? (This is precisely the clash in
this Supreme Court case. One worldview says
that all ideas are equal and you cannot
discriminate against any. The other (Biblical)
world view is that some things are right, some
things are wrong, and we should discriminate
between right and wrong.)

C. The argument before the Supreme Court is
political, it is about how we understand the
Constitution of the United States. Read Genesis
2:15-17. Is God being political? (Yes, He is
telling Adam the rules governing the garden (and
the universe).)

D. Read Matthew 4:23. Many Christians today argue
that we should avoid politics and stick to
preaching only the gospel. Is that a Biblical
worldview? (The heart of the “gospel of the
kingdom” is the rule of law. God died because He
was unwilling to give up the rule of law and He
loved us more than He loved His own life.)

1. Many people who are ignorant of history attack
the “West” because of errors in the past. Many
feel badly because of this past (of which they
had no part). Why would anyone apologize for
something they did not do? (This only happens
when people believe in the rule of law.
Without the rule of law there is only power,
and the powerful never need to apologize. Only
the law stands above power.)

II. God’s Image

A. Read Genesis 1:26-27. If we understand that we are
created in the “image” of God, what should be our
responsibility to the rule of law?

1. Notice that God gave humans “dominion” over
the animals. That sounds like raw power, it
does not sound like the rule of law. What
Biblical evidence is there that the
relationship between humans and animals was
subject to the rule of law? (Read Genesis 9:3.
Humans were not allowed to eat animals until
this point in time. Read Leviticus 11:2. Here
we see that the authority to eat animals did
not extend to all animals. The rule of law –
which discriminated among animals – applied to
limit human choices.)

B. Read 1 Corinthians 6:18-20. We are made in the
image of God, and our body “is a temple of the
Holy Spirit.” What does this teach us about the
rule of law and sexual choices? What does it say
about choices that harm our body? (God asserts
that His rule of law applies to our body. Sexual
practices that are contrary to the teachings of
the Bible are not an equal and allowable choice.)

1. What does this text say about the current
medical view that if you decide that you
prefer being another gender, even if you are a
child, your body should be surgically altered
to confirm to your preference?

2. What does this say about the religious liberty
rights of those who refuse to accept a vaccine
that they think may harm their body?

III. Viewpoint Assistance

A. Read John 16:12-13. Is Jesus equating the guidance
of the Holy Spirit to His own words? (Jesus says
that some truth that He would otherwise have given
then will be given later by the Holy Spirit. This
text emphasizes that the truth taught by the Holy
Spirit is from the combined Godhead.)

1. We have all heard people who claim to speak
(or actually do speak) something that the Holy
Spirit has revealed to them. Should we
uncritically accept those statements? (The
Holy Spirit will not contradict the Bible. But
see, Acts 15.)

B. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21. What does it mean to
“test” the words of a prophet? (At a minimum, it
means we must test those words by the Bible. We
should not uncritically accept the words of
someone who claims to be a prophet of God.)

C. Read 2 Timothy 2:15. What do you think it means to
“rightly handle the word of truth?” (Even when we
are dealing with the teachings of the Bible, we
need to be careful how we understand and apply
them.)

D. Read Joel 2:28-29. How many prophets should a
church expect to have? (Many!)

1. When does this take place? (Read Acts 2:16-18.
This proves that the time of widespread
prophesy began after Jesus’ resurrection.
These are the prophets which must be
rigorously tested.)

2. I captioned this section “Viewpoint
Assistance.” Would it be better captioned,
“Viewpoint Confusion?” (I think the caution
about testing is a “signal versus noise”
issue. There will be a lot of incorrect
prophecies (noise), but the Holy Spirit brings
an important signal to help us understand the
Bible.)

3. Can a prophet have some correct and some
incorrect statements? (The instruction to test
prophecies (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21) is aimed at
the specific prophecy and not the prophet.
This opens the door to understanding that even
a prophet of God can get something wrong.)

IV. Riding the Rule of Law into the Kingdom of God

A. Read 1 John 3:1-2. Will we ever be perfect this
side of heaven? (Our heavenly self “has not yet
appeared.” What we can know is that we will be
like Jesus.)

B. Read 1 John 3:3. What is our task now? (To try to
follow God’s rule of law. Our goal is to
discriminate between good and evil, and to follow
what is good.)

C. Read 1 John 3:4. What is the problem with sin? (It
is lawlessness. It is in opposition to the rule of
law.)

D. Friend, God calls us to a viewpoint that honors
the rule of law, God’s rule of law. Sin is a
rejection of law. Sin is lawlessness. Will you
choose to base your worldview on God’s law? Will
you try to make everything that you do, even in
your business, accord with God’s rules? Why not
decide to do that right now?

V. Next week: The Judging Process.

Copr. 2022, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are
from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing
ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All
rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within
parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail,
but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this
link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the
Holy Spirit as you study.