Is something a sin if it’s illegal?<\/p>\n\t
Sin is breaking God’s law. “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness<\/em>” (I John 3:4). One of God’s laws is “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves<\/em>” (Romans 13:1-2).<\/p>\n There is one corollary to this that isn’t immediately obvious. Since a government’s authority comes from God, a government violating God’s laws is not to be obeyed. God’s laws always come first. “But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men” <\/em>” (Acts 5:29).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Is something a sin if it’s illegal? Answer: Sin is breaking God’s law. “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness” (I John 3:4). One of God’s laws is “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[310,179],"class_list":["post-36589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-government","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":51149,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-breaking-government-laws-keep-us-out-of-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":36589,"position":0},"title":"Will breaking government laws keep us out of heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: No doubt, a Christian realizes the seriousness of sin. It's ugly. What do you think about everyday things we get into like speeding, even a mile over, texting while drivings, and not wearing a seatbelt? Do you think these are things that would keep us out of heaven? \u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37672,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-i-broke-a-civil-law-by-not-acting\/","url_meta":{"origin":36589,"position":1},"title":"What if I broke a civil law by not acting?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Am I in continual sin if I broke a law that required me to report a crime or do something? What if I didn't act or say or do anything as required by the law? It was years ago and I try to be a better person today. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39444,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-should-christians-treat-illegal-aliens\/","url_meta":{"origin":36589,"position":2},"title":"How should Christians treat illegal aliens?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How should Christians feel about illegal aliens? The Old Testament teaches us to be welcoming and hospitable, but they are technically breaking a law. Many of them are coming here for safety, and my heart goes out to them. How do we balance God's mercy and love for everyone\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13490,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-sinful-to-download-movies-or-songs-from-the-internet\/","url_meta":{"origin":36589,"position":3},"title":"Is it sinful to download movies or songs from the Internet?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Like many people, I download movies and music and I was just wondering if that is considered stealing and therefore is a sin? Answer: Just because someone makes a movie or song available on the Internet, it does not imply that they had the right to do so. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35843,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-amenable-to-gods-laws\/","url_meta":{"origin":36589,"position":4},"title":"Who is Amenable to God’s Laws?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Glenn Young The fact that I am a preacher of the gospel has involved me in many discussions about various biblical issues. While working with a particular congregation, I conducted a radio program designed to allow callers to ask Bible questions. On one occasion, a caller questioned us about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7556,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-tell-you-about-a-way-to-get-married-without-government-involvement\/","url_meta":{"origin":36589,"position":5},"title":"Can I tell you about a way to get married without government involvement?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I noticed a guy wrote\u00a0a piece about marriage claiming he didn't need a piece of paper. He is right by all means; all you need is two witnesses and you can be married by American law. But if you do get a marriage license, you put your kids under\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}