Magistrates Should Esteem Their Office a Divine Institution
Psalm 82:1-8
God stands in the congregation of the mighty; he judges among the gods.…


Civil authority is a Divine institution. The man who holds municipal or political office is a "minister of God." One man may, therefore, have just as real a Divine vocation to become a town-councillor or a member of parliament, as another to become a missionary to the heathen, In either case it is at a man's peril that he is disobedient to the heavenly vision. The Divine right of kings was a base corruption of a most noble truth; so was the fanatical dream about the reign of the saints. We shall never approach the Christian ideal of civil society until all who hold municipal, judicial, and political offices recognize the social and political order of the nation as a Divine institution, and discharge their official duties as ministers of God.

(R. W. Dale, D. D.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: {A Psalm of Asaph.} God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.

WEB: God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods.




Corruptio Optimi Pessima Est
Top of Page
Top of Page