THE WORD: The consent of the governed

“Declaration of Independence” by John Trumbull (1819) is a painting in the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. The painting is also reproduced on the back of the U.S. $2 bill.

This weekend our nation celebrates its founding and its independence from Great Britain. The Revolutionary War was fought to preserve our God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Declaration of Independence goes on to say “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ….” Galatians 5:1 reminds us of the source of our freedom. It is only by our own consent that our freedoms can be abridged.

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Galatians 5: 1

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.