William Barclay Quotes
Christian freedom does not mean being free to do as we like; it means being free to do as we ought.
Barclay, William. The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians. Westminster Press, 1976, p. 46.
Note that the two do NOT ALWAYS coincide. There are those who argue that law should be respected, right or wrong. There are also those who argue that law should be respected, only when it is in the right. Note also that “respect” and “obedience” are two different things. Some people argue that law and the courts and government must have respect. Others that they are only due obedience but not necessarily respect when they are in the wrong. Still others, like Thoreau, that obedience even is not required when the law is wrong. There are those who take this to the degree that obedience to a “wrong” law is wrong and there is a DUTY to disobey a wrong law. However, a more nuanced view does not treat all laws as the same importance. I may think a particular tax is unjust and wrong, but obedience does not necessarily have moral consequences. A law that says that people with a certain religion must not be hired, however, is sufficiently immoral that I am obliged to disobey it.
The great fallacy of course is who decides what is right. What is noteworthy is that this political and philosophical view of liberty still exists in much of the world today. There is no need for rights or constitutions to protect people if they do things that are “right”. It is only when we do something that the authorities or the majority think is “wrong” that we need the protection of rights and constitutions.
William Barclay was a Scottish author, radio and television presenter, Church of Scotland minister, and Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University of Glasgow. He wrote a popular set of Bible commentaries on the New Testament that sold 1.5 million copies.
