In All Due Respect, Dr. Mohler, I Disagree

by Grant Kolkow

Guilty verdicts against police officer Derek Chauvin are in.  Now comes the time when pundits pile on about the correctness of our rule of law and its commitment to justice.  Such is the situation with Albert Mohler’s The Briefing (April 21, 2021).  He provides a review of the thoroughness of our judicial system.  Also, he goes as far to say that since the rule of law has spoken, we must refer to George Floyd’s death as murder.  

Also, we are told “the rule of law is one of the greatest achievements of human history.”  A pause is necessary.  It certainly can be, but—like everything else in this fallen world—it can also be a tool of human injustice.  Justice in our country to subject to the same inherent weaknesses as it is in any other country and in any other century.  The Jewish and Roman arrest, trial, and murder of the blameless Lord Jesus are not a great achievement of human history.

Mohler is right when he states the rule of law requires our respect.  We may not like the verdicts against this veteran police officer, but the Scripture forbids that we take the rule of law into our own hands (cf. Romans 12:19; 13:1-17).  Nobody should be in favor of returning to the days of Judges when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

Yet strong dissent exists.  Exception is not taken when Mohler states we must respect the law of order, but rather when he spends much time trying to convince us that we should have confidence in our law of order.  That is a plain denial of reality.

I wonder at times if Dr. Mohler speaks because he is trying to convince himself of his own argument.  He, who is thankfully a great champion of pro-life, doesn’t accept the language of the rule of law that attempts to call abortion something other than murder.  Even at the end of this podcast, Mohler rightfully complains about the abuses of Vladimir Putin in election fraud, wholesale constitutional changes, and dictatorial control; yet not only is his transition from rule of law in our country to rule of law in Russia awkward, it also is inconsistent.  The rule of law over there is what Putin says, whether we like it or not; for Mohler to attempt to reclassify it as not being the rule of law would have Russian Christians scratching their heads.

The elephant in the room that Mohler fails to acknowledge is the political weight that the Social Justice Movement has upon our judicial system.  Granted, our system has always been riddled with problems; but one of its strengths is when Lady Justice wears a blindfold because it affirms a biblical understanding that, among other things, justice is colorblind.  In a podcast where the focus is supposed to be on justice, Mohler mentions skin color of both the officer and the deceased even though Chauvin was never charged with any hate crimes or crimes of prejudice.  In other words, Mohler is guilty of helping to advance a false narrative here that media and politics have created.   

Yes, our rule of law demands our respect, but presently not our confidence.  We have full assurance of justice in the Day of Judgment when Christ returns.  He, who is the Savior of the world, is completely colorblind.

Grant Kolkow pastors at Orland Evangelical Free Church in California. He received his M.Div. (2003) and DMin (2013) from the Master’s Seminary.