Is Jesus a Libertarian?

Why I Became a Libertarian

The verse that made me a voluntarist was Hosea 8:4. “They set up kings, but not by Me; they made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.” I realized there were cases where people set themselves up as the authority when God didn’t. I had assumed anyone who got away with calling themselves the ruler had divine right to do what would otherwise be murder, theft, etc. I then realize I didn’t have a way to prove which people had that divine right. It would take a lot of proof before I could accept God had given someone the right to kidnap and kill etc. It wasn’t there. So I saw Romans 13 as talking about an institution, not individuals, to institute justice. Like church or marriage are voluntary institutions that serve important God-given purposes. I believe we need voluntary institutions to enact justice, which is nicely defined for us in Romans 13:10. “Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

God shows Himself as a redeemer from Slavery.
Micah 6:4
“Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt
And ransomed you from the house of slavery,”

In His own nation, He banned Slavery.
Exodus 21:16
“Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone
Found in possession of him, shall be put to death.”

Slaves were allowed to escape.
Deuteronomy 23:15-16
“You shall not give back to his master the slave you has escaped from his master to you. He may dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within one of your gates, where it seems best to him, you shall not oppress him.”

Leveticus 25:44-46, sounds like it permits owning slaves who are foreigners, however, foreigners the word for “slave” is “ebed,” This can mean “slave,” “servant,” “minister,” “advisor,” or “official.” A modern translation may be “employee.” Possibly similar to the indentured survitude, which we would most closely relate to an employee under contract. Deuteronomy 23 permits ebed to leave whenever they want.

Not letting servents go after their term was one reason for judgement on the nation of Israel. Jeremiah 34:14

God feels Compassion for the Oppressed
Judges 2:18
“And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the
Lord was with the judges and delivered them out of
The hand of their enemies all the days of the judge;
For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning
Because of those who oppressed them and harassed them.”

Psalm 34:18
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

When His own people had rejected Him, He wasn’t most grieved that they had failed to follow the rituals.

The Sacrifice that God MOST Wants
Isaiah 58:6-7
“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to your house the poor
Who are cast out;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from your flesh?”

What did God create man for?
Matthew 22:36-40
“”Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hand all the Law and the Prophets.”

Jeremiah 32:41
“Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.”

God wants to love us and be loved by us with all our beings for all eternity.

We were not made to be Robots
2 Corinthians 3:17
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

“Fruit” defines what kind of person someone is.
Matthew 7:20
“Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.”

Galatians 5:22-23
“But the fruit of the Spirit is… self control.”

2 Timothy 1:7
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind.”

Voluntary Relationship
Revelation 22:17b
“Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

John 4:24
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.”

God is the Greatest Authority. He is a God of Justice.

God will judge each person according to what he has done.
Psalm 62:12, Proverbs 24:12, Jeremiah 17:10; 32:19, Matthew 16:27, Romans 2:6,; 14:12, Revelations 2:23; 22:12

Hebrews 9:27
“And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement”

Hell is worse than jail.
Matthew 10:28
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

People answer first to God for what they do. They should never disobey God in order to obey an earthly authority.

Isaiah 40:15
“Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket”

Psalm 2
“Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kinds of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in Hs wrath,and distress them n His deep displeasure. “Ye I have set My King on My Holy Hill in Zion.”

God doesn’t just rule Israel. He has always ruled all the nations. As he did with the flood, with Abimilech and Abraham, Sodom and Gomora, Nineva, Tire, Cush, Egypt, Babylon, and so on and so on, throughout Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel, and the other prophets.

Dead kings. Imagine the God of this entire universe, and His house on earth paying respect to Him, and then the people laying the corpses of their sinful earthly kings next to God’s own house.
Ezekiel 43:7-9
“And He said to me, Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. No more shall the house of Israel defile My holy name, they nor their kings on their high places. When they set their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost by My doorpost, with a wall betwen them and Me, they defile My holy name by the abominations which they committed; therefore I have consumed them in My anger. Now let them put their harlotry and the carcasses of their kings far away from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.”

We must not equate man’s commands with God’s commands.
Mark 7:7
“In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commands of men.”

Acts 5:29
“But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.”

God rewarded the Hebrew midwives who disobeyed Pharoah and saved the lives of the male infants in Exodus 1:15-21.

God sent Moses to defy Pharoah and release the slaves.

God saved Daniel when he was thrown into the lions den for breaking the law against prayer.

God saved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego by sending an angel into the fire with them, so they were not even burned, when they disobeyed the king and refused to bow to his idol.

Matthew 28:18
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

We are to give ourselves to God.
Matthew 22:19-21
“Show me the tax money.’ So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, ‘Whose image and inscription is this?’ They said to Him, ‘Ceasar’s.’ And he said to them, ‘Render therefore to Ceasar the things that are Ceasar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’

Genesis 1:26
“Let Us make man in Our image…”

Luke 16:13
“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money .”

Authority of Governments

Theocracy
For a period of time, God created His own nation. The government had whatever specific authority God wanted to give it. This is called the Mosaic Government. The laws of this government are comprised of two parts: moral and symbolic. There were things that were moral obligations, and things like sacrifices which were a picture of what God was going to bring with Jesus, who is our sacrifice.

Colossians 2:16-17
“So let no one judge you in food or drink, or regarding festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is Christ.”

We no longer need the symbol, because we have the reality.
Hebrews 10:1, 14
“For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with thes same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect… For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”

The moral law is still true. It is written on our consciences, and we all answer to God for it.
Romans 2:15-16
“For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and between themselves and their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.”

God has set aside the nation of Israel, and is not currently running a Theocracy on earth. He did this to make His people the Jews jelous of the good things He is providing through grace to His Church, who can be Jews or Gentiles. He hopes to win them back to Him, but for now, He is not working through that government as He was.
Romans 11:11
“I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.”

Monarchy
1 Samuel 8:10-18
“So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who asked him for a king. And he said, “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your make servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.”

Theft, exploitation, and servitude. God objects to Monarchy because of its exploitative nature, but exploitation is the common denominator of any involuntary government.

Civil Government
Romans 12:17-21, 13:1-10
“Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, love peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
Therefore,
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except frm God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgement on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do ou want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afiraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practicies evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves one another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultry,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

What is meant by government in Romans 13:1?
Hosea 8:4a
“They set up kings, but not by Me; they made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.”

“All authorities have been appointed by God,” and “some authorities have not been appointed by God,” is a logical contradiction. They can’t both be true at the same time and have the same meaning to the terms.

Also, if only some are, how do you determine which? The annointing of a bonnafide prophet? No such signs exist in most cases. Then what? What do our self-professed leaders do to demonstrate they were appointed by God as opposed to anyone else? That this is definately the will of God and not man? Strength? Popularity? None of these things are proof of God’s selection. They are claiming the right to do things that would otherwise be classified as mass theft, abduction, terrorism, etc.

Romans 13 cannot mean that each individual is selected by God as an authority. I believe it means that God created the institution of governmnent, like the church or the family. It serves an essential role, defined in Romans 13. Justice is to punish one who does harm to his neighbor. Sounds a lot like the non-agression principle: don’t initiate force or the threat of force.

Before Paul wrote this in Romans, he had escaped inprisonment in Damascus.
1 Corinthians 11:32-33
“In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me; but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.”

In Romans 13, Paul says government is not a terror to good works, but Paul himself had once acted as an official persecuting the church.
Acts 8:3
“As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging men and women, committing them to prison.”

So he was well aware that government did not fit the description in Romans 13 in every case.

Comparing government to other ordained authorities:

Let every soul be subject to their parents because parents are not a terror to good works.

This makes sense, but one wouldn’t assume from hearing it that it gives parents absolute authority to abuse.

Let every soul be subject to their church leadership, for they are God’s ministers…

Once again, this makes sense, but in this case, a person voluntarily selects their church, and the authority of the church is carefully defined. It is not granting absolute power, and not granting the right to abuse.

The government has been given the authority to enforce justice, and justice is defined by God, not government. It is defined as doing no harm to your neighbor.

We need to not seek personal vengence, and must go through the government, because there must be an objective method for the community to determine who is actually guilty, and make sure the punishment is restricted to them. Otherwise, you are left with might makes right.

Church Government
Followers of Christ are commanded to not use the civil system when settling disputes amongst ourselves.

1 Corinthians 6:1-11
“Dare any of you, having a matter against one another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge the angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgements concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? I say this to your shame. It is so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goes to law against brother and that before unbelievers! Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified n the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

Church discipline is defined in Matthew 18:15-17. It is correcting the person privately, then with another, then with the whole church, in an attempt to reconcile. If the person will not repent, he is removed from the church.

Church leadership does not exercise force.
1 Peter 5:2-3
“Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;”

Christians only implement the moral law in church discipline, not the whole Mosaic law. The moral law does go beyond “do no harm to your neighbor.” A church is a group of people who are committed to followig Christ and being made like him. If someone is refusing to do that by their bad character, the group of Christ followers voluntarilly disassociates from that person who is not following Christ.
Romans 3:21
“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the Prophets.”

Paul does not want the church to be sucked back into thinking they have to perform rituals to earn their salvation.
Galations 5:1
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

Galations 3:28
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free,
There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Christians are granted spiritual freedom.

John 8:34
“Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”

Romans 6:6
“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”

God offers this same spiritual freedom to those still enslaved.
2 Timothy 2:25-26
“In humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”

Christians and Physical Slavery
God may rescue us from physical tyrannical government as he rescued Paul, Silas, and Peter from prison. We know He will end the unjust governments when He returns again.

God has a purpose for us. He paid a heavy price for us to enter His kingdom and serve Him. Humans tying us down with their obligation takes us away from that. If we find ourselves enslaved, we have an obligation to try to free ourselves.
1 Corinthians 7:21-23
“Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it, but if you can be made free, rather use it. For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.”

If we find others enslaved, we have an obligation to try to free them.
Isaiah 58:6
“Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?

Other topics in Libertarianism:

Against over regulation:
Luke 11:46
“And He said, “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.”

Understands that rules are the servant, not the master. Things of greater importance, like saving a life or healing, can take precedence over lesser obligations.
Mark 2:27
“And He said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”

Leadership through service. This reminds me of how in the free market, those who serve the most people to the greatest degree are the most rewarded.
Matthew 20:25-26
“But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.”

Equality
Matthew 23:8-12
“But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers, for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exaulted.”

Property rights
Exodus 20:15
“You shall not steal.”
Also Acts 5:4, Ephesians 4:28

Taxation is theft, or slavery
Matthew 17:24-27
“When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?” He said, “yes.” And when he had come intot he house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? For whom do the kinds of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?” Peter said to Him, “From strangers.” Jesus said to Him, “Then the sons are free. Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”

End the “Fed.” The money changers were the early beginnings of the central banks, and were robbing people, like the Fed is robbing us through inflation.
Mark 11:15-17
“So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of theives.’ ”

Pro Second Amendment
Luke 22:36
“Then He said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.”

Why did Jesus come to earth? He tells us at the beginning of His ministry.
Luke 4:18
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;”