Romans 3:10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one”
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”
As the Constitutional Convention ended in 1787, a major concern remained about the possibility of State ratification. In order to promote this one-of-a-kind document, three Founding Fathers began publishing a series of essays to explain its wisdom. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay writing under the pseudonym ‘Publius’ authored 85 essays that better reveal the intent of the Constitution than any other source. Their writings, now consolidated in The Federalist Papers, make clear that the Constitutional architects understood human nature from a Biblical basis.
Sin and dispute were recognized as man’s natural state. In Federalist Number 10, Madison wrote: “So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities that where no substantial occasion presents itself the most frivolous and fanciful distractions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts.” Indeed, the Founders saw that “the latent causes of faction are thus sown into the nature of man.” This faction is so fundamental, that it could at best only be controlled: “The inference to which we are brought is that the causes of faction cannot be removed and that relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its effects.”
The form of government as created by the Constitution took these important truths into account such that “ambition must be made to counteract ambition.” In Federalist Number 51, Madison further describes the need for such a structure.
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
It was these fundamental truths upon which the American government was formed. They were Biblical truths known to Founding Fathers and to the majority of the colonial citizens. It was an argument that the Federalist authors knew would resonate with the population to support the need for a “well-constructed Union” that could “break and control the violence of faction.
The entirety of the Constitution was founded on this basic Biblical truth about the nature of man. As we drift away from a Constitutional basis, we drift away from a Biblical basis. As we drift away from a Constitutional basis, we ignore the truths about human nature from which we cannot escape. As we drift away from a Constitutional basis, we ignore reality and cling to fantasy. As we drift away from a Constitutional basis, we diverge from this foundational truth that has allowed our government such success over the decades. PLEASE PRAY THAT WE WOULD RETURN TO THE BIBLICAL BASIS OF OUR WELL-CONSTRUCTED UNION.