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by O S W A L D BAYER
63
of further legal development to run its course and by taking the case
of the corresponding effort into one's own hands.
In the moralistic short-circuit the particular individual with his
limited perspective is privileged. The individual brings onto the po-
litical terrain his personal sensibilities concerning justice, his indi-
vidual convictions of conscience and his moral judgment over right
and wrong understood in the strict sense of the legitimate and ille-
gitimate. The individual sets himself against what is legal when the
lawful case, for example, the eviction from an illegally occupied
house, is deemed to be illegitimate. The particular perspective is not
yet renounced if the individual identifies with a group or a larger
grouping, finding there sympathy and support. The individual and
the group should not appoint themselves as representatives of the
"progressive consciousness," advocates of the "common interest" or
of the "true needs of the population," if a military conflict between
the parties of civil society on one side and institutions of the state on
the other side is to be avoided.
A military conflict between these two sides would ensue if a so-
cial group revolts violently against a decision that has been made on
the path of legal process. Rather than calling a spade by its name, the
breaches of law resulting from this use of violence are dismissed as
"disregarding the law in limited cases" and are possibly even excused.
By dismissing breaches of law as insignificant, the seriousness of vi-
olent political expression is dangerously downplayed.
The legalistic short-circuit is not to be welcomed either. This le-
galistic short-circuit would constantly depend on calling in the po-
lice to act and on prosecuting criminal activity without also, in all
seriousness, reflecting on and being accountable for the entire polit-
ical domain. Earnest political reflection and accountability can in-
clude turning the concept of social defense toward the internal po-
litical sphere when institutions of the state are threatened. It can also
involve endeavors to extend the right of assembly and the right of
the freedom of speech and to listen to and examine the motives and
intentions of these endeavors to see if such programs would first stand
the test of self-criticism. The form in which specific demands can-
not be met would then be determined by such a self-criticism. The
form would then have to be contradicted on account of preserving
LAW A N D MORALITY 71
the liberal democratic order of law. Hearing criticism does not sim-
ply mean granting a wish; the answer emerging from the hearing can
also be a specific contradiction.
The following question will now be investigated in the wider con-
text of such a free and judicious hearing: Would the safety of both
atomic power stations and the disposal of atomic waste have been so
carefully considered, as is now the case, if it had only been for peace-
ful demonstrations? Does success of an infringement of the law jus-
tify its right? With this question, I am raising the controversial point
of arguing from the success of legal infringement by the use of vio-
lence. This point has been shown by the Infas commission to seem
plausible to so many citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The question must be asked once more. In practical terms, what must
happen if this argument is to be invalidated by the practice of the
current legal system together with its possibilities? The proof that
would diminish the significance of the argument can only remain by
acknowledging questions and arguments from citizens' action groups,
really listening to peaceful demonstrations, not putting off petitions
for a later date and paying attention to complaints brought forward
through official channels.
The decisive factor in political engagement is what is experienced
on this legal path. The experience of being heard at all, even if de-
mands cannot be met, opens up the door of the future; the disap-
pointment of not being heard shuts it. Are our unemployed, above
all, our unemployed youth, going to be heard or not? It is not sur-
prising when, according to the Infas-commission, "violence appears
to be one of the few, if not the only, means to revolt against the so-
cial situation" of the youth, "above all, those who sympathize with
violent actions" and those "who are unemployed."10
The political rule of our social state based on the rule of law is
grounded in the moral consensus of its citizens. There would be no
future if the moralistic short-circuit, accompanied by the threat and
the use of violence, were countered by a legalist solution. Similarly,
there would be no future if, to uphold the law in a situation of emer-
gency, one could not avoid calling in the police and prosecuting
criminals. In the overall political context, the important aim is to
steer a course between the Scylla of the legalistic short-circuit and
72 LUTHERAN QUARTERLY
fills this task] by means of the threat and exercise of force, according
to the measure of human judgment and human ability."11 The doc-
ument goes on to say "The church acknowledges the benefit of this
divine appointment, in gratitude and reverence before him [God]. 12
The church acknowledges this, not without all of its strength, the
strength of the Word alone and not by violence, to "call to mind the
kingdom of God, God's commandment and righteousness, and
thereby the responsibility both of rulers and ruled. It trusts and obeys
the power of the Word by which God upholds all things."13
The ministry of the community of Christians to the civil com-
munity rests on the hearing, trusting, and witnessing outlined by the
Barmen Declaration. The community of Christians and the civil
community, state and church, are each given different tasks in the
context of political rule just as God works through both communi-
ties in different ways. The fifth thesis of the "Barmen Theological
Declaration" concludes by stressing this distinction and averting a
confusion between politics and religion.
We reject the false doctrine that the state over and beyond its special commission
should and could become the single and total order of human life, thus fulfilling
the church's vocation as well.
We reject the false doctrine that the church, over and beyond its special commis-
sion, should and could assume the characteristics, the tasks, and the dignity of the
state, thus itself becoming an organ of the state.14
Whoever seeks to perceive the state and its legal order as an analogy
to the church, meaning the civil community as an analogy to the
community of Christians, ignores and does not maintain the required
distinction between the two realms. By confusing the distinction, a
clericalization of the political realm follows, which religiously over-
whelms and vacates the process of shaping the political will or even
directly imposes its values on the political terrain.
The enthusiasm of confusing the political and the spiritual realm
can be countered by an appropriate understanding of the law as it is
developed from the gospel. Indeed, many factors of our legal order
cannot be understood apart from the gospel. Against such an en-
thusiasm, it is necessary to acknowledge and to maintain that this un-
derstanding of the law developed from the gospel is a concept of hu-
74 LUTHERAN QUARTERLY
manity that has come from the law and does not belong to the new
world, but to the passing old world. The law shaping and governing
humanity is a means of God's preserving activity as Creator, a means
of divine forbearance and patience by which God protects the world,
preserving it toward its future.
Only the eternal trustworthy Word continues to be unsurpassably
new. This Word is Jesus Christ who is God's definitively binding
Word, in whom all God's promises are true. It is the Word of God's
law that has come to us and is coming to us in the unconditional
righteousness granted to us. Unsurpassably new is the faith trusting
in this law, trusting this trustworthy word that guarantees all crea-
tures the right to life. Unsurpassably new are those actions accom-
plished in the strength of faith through love. To ascertain and to judge
these actions, however, is a matter to be decided on the last day, at
the last judgment.
Faith in Jesus Christ and trust in God's definitively binding Word
do not remove the believer from the ambiguity of deciding and act-
ing. Even those causes for which we, as Christians, work here and now,
those actions we determine to be either good or evil, must be tried
by the fire of the judgment of works. We are not yet justified when
we act with what we consider to be a good conscience (i Cor. 4:3-5).
The expectation of the last judgment relieves us from passing final
judgments and, in the legislative role, from the necessity of reaching
final decisions; the expectation frees us from legalism. The expecta-
tion also frees us from moralism; it relieves us from impatiently set-
ting ourselves in an abstract opposition to the ruling culture of the
law, from being systematically suspicious of this culture and, in the
sense of the mentioned moralistic short-circuit, from arrogantly hav-
ing at one's disposal the criterion for distinguishing between legal-
ity and legitimacy. By freeing us from the extremes of legalism and
moralism, the expectation of the last judgment holds the space free
for the critical-political equilibrium that holds open the future for
the law.
Translated by Christine Helmer, with permission, from "Gesetz und
Moral. Zur ethischen Bedeutung des Rechts/' chap. 3 in Freiheit als
Antwort. Zur theologischen Ethik (Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr [Paul
Siebeck], 1995): 272-82.
LAW A N D MORALITY 75
NOTES
ι Aristotle relates the definition of human beings as rational animals to social animals
in Politica 1,2,1253a 7-10. "Now, that man is more of a political animal... and man is the
only animal whom she [nature] has endowed with the gift of speech." In The Basic Works
of Aristotle, ed. and with an Introduction by Richard McKeon (New York: Random House,
1941), 1129.
2. Martin Luther, D. Martin Luthers Werke, Kritische Gesamtausgabe, 6g vols. Eds. J.F.K.
Knaake et al. (Weimar: Bohlau, 1883 fF.), 42:79.3-9 (Gen. 2:16-17; 1535). (Hereafter cited
as WA ) Luthers Works, American Edition, 5 5 vols. Eds. Pelikan and Lehmann (St. Louis
and Philadelphia: Concordia and Fortress, 1955 fF.), 1:103-104 Hereafter cited as LW.) Al
though Luther does not decisively see here the pohtia as an order of creation (see also: WA
42:79.7-9: "Pohtia autem ante peccatum nulla fuit, ñeque emm ea opus fuit. Est enim Poh-
tia autem remedium necessanum naturae corruptae." LW 1:104: "Moreover, there was no
government of the state before sin, for there was no need of it. Civil government is a rem-
edy required by our corrupted nature."), he nevertheless knows that the political order is
grounded in the economic order. This is seen particularly clearly in the explanation of the
Fourth Commandment in the Large Catechism. "For all other authority is derived and de-
veloped out of the authority of parents" The Book of Concord, edited by Robert Kolb and
Timothy J Wengert (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), 405.141 Die Bekenntnisschriften der
evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche (Gottingen.Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1992): 596.20 fF. = WA
30/l· 152.20-21.) "Domus est fons omnium rerum publicarum." (Psalm 127.1 [1532/3]:
WA 40/111:220.4-5 ) Luther does not exclusively ground pohtics in hamartiology, but he
can occasionally understand it in relation to a doctrine of creation. "Denn Gott hat die
Menschen geschaffen, daß man sich freundlich und friedlich in Zuchten und Ehren zusam-
men halten soll." In D Martin Luthers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe, Tischreden, 6 vols.
(Weimar: Bohlau, 1912 fF.), 6:266.23-25 (Nr. 6913 )
3. Oswald Bayer, Autorität und Kritik. Zu Hermeneutik und Wissenschaftstheorie (Tubin-
gen. J.C.B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1991.)
4. See Max Weber, The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, trans, by A.M. Hen-
derson and Talcott Parsons, ed. and with an Introduction by Talcott Parsons (Glencoe, IL*
The Free Press and The Falcons Wing Press, 1974), : 5 9 [Translator's note. The English
translation of Weber's phrase, legitimate "physical force," does not capture the sense of
Bayer's use of the term "Gewalt" or violence rather than force. Bayer seeks to emphasize
the aspect of violence associated with the political rule encountering violent action with
the use of violence.]
5. Ibid., 154
6. "Grundsätzlich berechtigt," in Zur Situation der Jugendlichen in Nordrhein-Westfalen,
vol 1, Erhebung unter deutschen Jugendliche Endbericht (1980), 30
7. "Bei ihren Entscheidungen mcht neutral," sondern "schützen die Interessen der
Machtigen." Ibid., 27.
8 Speech by the chair of the federal pohce union, G. Schroder, held on May 23,1982,
in the Church of Saint Paul in Frankfurt, in Frieden nach innen—Veranstaltung der Gewerkschaft
der Polizei am Tag des Grundgesetzes, 23 Mai 1982, ed by the Pohce Union, pp 23-31 (1982),
29-30
9. Article 14 of the Basic Law is concerned with property, the right of inheritance and
expropriation. "[Eigentum, Erbrecht, Enteignung] (ι) Das Eigentum und das Erbrecht wer-
76 LUTHERAN QUARTERLY
den gewahrleistet. Inhalt und Schranken werden durch die Gesetze bestimmt. (2) Eigen-
tum verpflichtet. Sein Gebrauch soll zugleich dem Wohle der Allgemeinheit dienen.
(3) Eine Enteignung ist nur zum Wohle der Allgemeinheit zulássig. Sie darf nur durch
Gesetz oder auf Grund eines Gesetzes erfolgen, das Art und Ausmaß der Entschädigung
regelt. Die Entschädigung ist unter gerechter Abwägung der Interessen der Allgemeinheit
und der Beteiligten zu bestimmen. Wegen der Hohe der Enschädigung steht im Streitfalle
der Rechtsweg vor den ordentlichen Gerichten offen." In Grundgesetz fur die Bundesrepub-
lik Deutschland (Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 1991), 18.
10. "vor allem diejenigen Verständnis für gewalttätige Aktionen" haben "die arbeitslos
sind," und ihnen deshalb "Gewalt als eines der wenigen—wenn nicht als einziges—Mittel
erscheint, sich gegen ihre Lebenssituation aufzulehnen." Zur Situation der Jugendlichen in
Kordrhein-Westfalen, 42.
11. In Rolf Ahlers, Tlie Barmen Tlieological Declaration of1934. T\%e Archeology of a Con-
fessional Text. Toronto Studies in Theology Series, no. 24 (Lewiston, N Y and Queenston,
Ontario: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1986), 41. The German text of the Barmen Theolog-
ical Declaration is found in Ernst Wolf, Barmen. Kirchen zwischen Versuchung und Gnade, 3d.
ed. (Munich: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1984), 137. "Die Schrift sagt uns, daß der Staat nach gott-
licher Anordnung die Aufgabe hat, in der noch nicht erlosten Welt, in der auch die Kirche
steht, nach dem Maße menschlicher Einsicht und menschlichen Vermögens unter Andro-
hung und Ausübung von Gewalt für Recht und Frieden zu sorgen."
12. Ahlers, The Barmen Theological Declaration, 41-42. "Die Kirche erkennt in Dank
und Ehrfurcht gegen Gott die Wohltat dieser seiner Ordnung an." Wolf, Barmen, 137.
13. Ahlers, The Barmen Tlieological Declaration, 42. "an Gottes Reich, an Gottes Gebot
und Gerechtigkeit und damit an die Verantwortung der Regierenden und Regierten" zu
"erinnern." "Sie vertraut und gehorcht der Kraft des Wortes, durch das Gott alle Dinge
trägt." Wolf, Barmen, 137.
14. Ahlers, Tlie Barmen Tlieological Declaration, 42. "Wir verwerfen die falsche Lehre, als
solle der Staat über seinen besonderen Auftrag hinaus die einzige und totale Ordnung
menschlichen Lebens werden und also auch die Bestimmung der Kirche erfüllen. Wir ver-
werfen die falsche Lehre, als solle und könne sich die Kirche über ihren besonderen Auf-
trag hinaus staatliche Art, staatliche Aufgaben und staatliche Würde aneignen und damit
selbst zu einem Organ des Staates werden." Wolf, Barmen, 137.
^ s
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