The Second Amendment to the United States
of America’s constitution states: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to
the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,
shall not be infringed.” This was adopted into the Bill of Rights on 15th
December 1791. I have been listening to a podcast series about the twenty-seven
amendments to the United States of America’s constitution and I find it
interesting that this amendment is the one that garnered the most attention and
is the most misunderstood. This causes me to wonder if the lack of
understanding, and the perpetuation of confusion, while explaining the
amendment is intentional. While listening to the umpteenth reading of the
verbiage of this right a clarity hit me. The amendment is simply saying that in
order to maintain a free state a well regulated militia should be able to be
formed. What is a militia? According to OED a militia is “a military force that
is raised from the civil population to supplement a regular army in an
emergency” or “a military force that engages in rebel or terrorist activities
in opposition to a regular army”. I find this second definition interesting,
but I’ll return to that shortly. The definitions plainly state that a militia
is composed of civilians not career military personnel. Therefore, in order to
form a well regulated militia, in the event that the state drifts away from
being free, the civilian population needs to be armed and capable of using
their arms. The second definition that the OED offered I found interesting, because resisting a less than free state is viewed as rebel or terrorist
activity (eg. American Revolution).
Now, before anyone leaps to any conclusions,
I am by no means a gun toting second amendment fanatic. However, I do have an
appreciation for words, and when I find people misapplying, misunderstanding
and misrepresenting clear verbiage I am driven to address it especially when
there is a spiritual connection. The Word of God is compared to a weapon, an
extremely sharp two-edged sword, which can cut in both directions (Hebrews
4:12). As Bible believing Christians, dwelling in the middle of a spiritual war
we can apply the verbiage of the 2nd Amendment to our Christian
walk. In accordance with Scriptural teaching we all belong to a church. We are
baptized (born) into a faith group (nation). These faith groups have leaders who
are to, with the guidance of Biblical Scripture (national laws), lead the faith
group. However, some lose their way and set aside the clear teachings of the
Bible and form man-made teachings that result in sin (bondage). Now this is where
the 2nd Amendment kicks in. The church members (civilians) should be
so versed in Biblical teachings (armed) that they can rein in the now rogue
church leadership (maintain a free state).
The Bible admonishes us – “Study to shew
thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15) As Christians, it is incumbent on
us to search the Scripture daily, for ourselves, and plant it in our hearts that
we do not return to the bondage of sin (Psalm 119:11). The leaders of the
church have a responsibility to disseminate truth to the people. However, the
people also have a responsibility for their own personal growth. God will hold
church leadership accountable for not teaching the Bible accurately (Ezekiel 9;
Matthew 23). Each individual will also be held to account for not obeying what
is clearly written in Scripture (Galatians 5:7; Revelation 20:13). Therefore,
it behoves us to take personal responsibility for our own soul’s salvation
(Philippians 2:12). We cannot rely on fellow sinful human beings to sustain
obedience to God (Luke 11:52). The battle for salvation is not for the faint of
heart. We all need to take up arms (the Word of God) and be prepared to wield
it deftly as Jesus did in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13). The
devil hurls fiery darts at us seeking to destroy us, our only means of defence,
as demonstrated by Jesus is “It is written…”. Know the Word of God, meditate on
it day and night, reject sin in all its forms, and your freedom in Christ will
be maintained (Joshua 1:8; Psalms 1:2; John 8:34-36).
