Proverbs 16:10 ESV
An oracle is on the lips of a king; his mouth does not sin in judgment.
[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+16%3A10&version=ESV]
Kings and judges alike are corrupt, evil men. James II, Nero, Stalin, and Genghis Khan: all these kings (for they were all kings) were men of vile passions and evil deeds, men who slaughtered the innocent and slaked their desires in contravention of God’s law. Three of them, to my knowledge, showed particular enmity towards His people (Genghis had relatively little contact with Christianity as a significant force, exempting him from the list). They are a beginning, but the list of evil kings reaches to the moon and back, just gets longer when we include other rulers in the judgement. This proverb, though, seems to contradict this analysis entirely. How do we reconcile history with Scripture?
We must recognize that no contradiction exists; the problem is of understanding, not of contradiction. The Bible itself declares the evil of kings. Consider how many are indicted in this way: that he walked in the way of “Jeroboam the son of Nebat” (1 Kings 22:52; 2 Kings 3:3, 13:2). More than I’ve cited, certainly. Herod, of course, was executed for his evil; he blasphemed, and “Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down…, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last” (Acts 12:33). That kings and powers of the earth do great evil, that they ‘sin in judgement’ is actually declared in the Bible.
This proverb, though, isn’t talking about those kings. To assert such is ridiculous. Solomon himself, the likely author of this passage, knew himself to be a fallible judge; wisdom includes a consciousness of fallibility (1 John 1:10). What it indicates to us is two-fold: first, that the King of kings, the Lord Almighty, does not sin in judgement; second, that only in following the example of this King does any earthly king have authority or kingliness. Let’s take each point in succession. Bear in mind, as I speak, that the role of the king is played, in non-monarchical societies, by the government (as the king was the executive, judiciary, and legislature of the ancient world). The president, the Supreme Court, Congress, and the British Parliament, all of these fall within the jurisdiction and topic of this verse.
First, the Lord alone is King entirely. God is the “King of kings” (1 Tim. 6:15), “and to [Christ] was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him” (Dan. 7:14). He is righteous in all His ways and just in all His judgements (Prov. 8:20). His authority is the only and final authority, the only authority which exists by itself; all legitimate commands are made either by Him or by authority delegated by Him to another. All authority is, in short, God’s authority, and therefore no command to evil can have weight. All His judgements are perfect, and the weight of every judgement of man depends on its correspondence to His perfect judgements.
Second, the kings of the earth- legislators, judges, presidents, prime ministers, dictators, sheriffs, policemen, and revenuers- all of them have authority and right only insofar as their deeds correspond to His command. Put in summary: a king is a king insofar as he acts the king, and to act the king is to give just judgement, to apply God’s wisdom. Romans 13:4 echoes this principle, declaring the nature of government, declaring by implication that the government has only delegated authority. Any act of government beyond this authority of God’s giving, any act which is not justified by God’s law given in Scripture, is an act of power, not authority.
The application of this principle is a vast field of study, a long story of suffering, a short preparation for eternity with Him. But useful as Protestant Resistance Theory may be, as interesting as the ideas of books like Lex Rex and documents like the Declaration of Independence may be, we should not lose sight of another aspect of this verse’s application: how we are to act as leaders. Most of us aren’t government officials. Government official or not, though, we still act with authority at various times. We are parents, siblings, businessmen, friends, pastors, advisers, comforters, and many more by turns and in combination. In many of these relations, we are called to act with authority. In using that authority, then, we must remember: to act with authority is to act as a representative of God. We must remember that responsibility always, must respect it, must in light of it seek to do only good, for His glory and our own everlasting joy.
God bless.
Written by Colson Potter
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
