The government is a special entity. It sounds like you’re holding it to the same ethics as individuals have to obey.
Question 35 in Faith Seeking Freedom: Updated & Expanded
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Every proper authority in society is necessarily limited. The authority of parents is limited to their own family. The authority of church officers is limited to the church. The authority of an employer is limited to the sphere of business. Government is not an exception. To treat it as an unlimited touchstone of societal order is to make an idol of it. Libertarians believe that we should evaluate questions of justice uniformly, regardless of whether a person is an agent of the state or a private individual. The American Declaration of Independence recited a radical claim about governments “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Consent is the crucial difference between competitive boxing and criminal battery. Consent is the essential ingredient that must be present in order for any government power to be just. The claim that consent is relevant even for the sovereign logically implies that justice is not just a matter of what government says. Justice is a standard not subject to modification by any mortal person.
For Christians, these claims should ring true. The Bible tells us that God’s law does not ever change (Luke 16:17). God’s law of love applies equally to every person made in his image, prince and pauper alike. “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34b, KJV), which means he doesn’t play favorites. Christ-followers must be opposed to the perversion of justice to recognize social station, wealth, or for any other reason (Jas 2:1–4, 8–9).
