Why is Andrew “Not above the law”?

When the UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, stated that “No one is above the law”, following the arrest of the former prince, Andrew for his links to Jeffrey Epstein, he didn’t come up with that concept himself.

What an event! The brother of the King being interrogated by police for eleven hours!  If anything is a clear demonstration that no one is above the law, that must surely be it. But where did the idea come from, that appears to be so obvious, that we all nod our heads? Sir Keir had no choice but to say something, and he made a pretty good fist of it. (Though as someone reminded me, the English sovereign alone is above the law of the land!)

But here’s the thing: his statement, while seemingly obvious, is neither a human idea, nor actually so obvious! And contrary to the likes of the UN or the EU, it’s not a universal truth that sprang up as we evolved intellectually, politically and culturally.

It’s not like it didn’t exist through the benighted centuries, then suddenly the Enlightenment happened, and all at once  it did. The idea is not lying latent in the water waiting to be discovered. Just check out the tyrants on the UN’s Security Council. Clearly many do believe they are above the law!

When Sir Keir stated that no one is above the law, here’s what was happening: Even if he knew it or not, he was announcing a Judeo-Christian belief that has shaped Western society and its jurisprudence for centuries. It’s in the air that we breathe because of the Bible. And even those who reject Christianity, do so in a kinda Christian way when it comes to justice. The nod their heads in agreement, even if they don’t know why the are nodding them.

The biblical understanding of universal law is that humans did not come up with laws that reflect some ideas of justice and fair play. God gave the law. He is the universal Law Giver who defines what is good and true and right.

And not because those are abstract ideals that God somehow discovered long before he created the universe. He stumbled across a cosmic post-it-note with some great ideas about justice jotted down and went “Hey we could work with those!”  These are enternal truths because they are true about the eternal God himself. Any other claim of ownership is a lie, or just plain ignorance.

What started in the Garden of Eden, and was ratified at Mt Sinai with Moses, is that no created being – no human being – gets to dictate morality. Or how it is adjudicated. That’s why, ultimately, the Christian West has come to the conclusions it has about the law. That’s what makes it morally superior to any other law system in the world and why it is so copied.

And that’s why powerful people – Andrew in this case – find themselves flustered, shocked and yes, sweating, in the back of a car after being arrested and grilled by the police for eleven hours.

It’s a refreshing reality given the likes of Iran in the past month, along with the awful bloodbaths of the atheist and fascist 20th century, in which plenty of brutes did believe  – and continue to believe – that they are above the law. They believe there is no one above them, even if they pay lip service to some sort of god.

I know it is contentious to say it, but any other god who is not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is an idol. And idols are created by people in order to serve themselves, not other people. No other religious framework could have come up with this, only the Judeo-Christian worldview could have. Because of the God of the Bible, no one is above the law.

Not even the king. Now we don’t all see it played out perfectly, but it’s a direction we have headed in. And we need to maintain it. Though, the question is, will we be able to as the culture distanced itself from the Judeo-Christian framework.

However, we saw the concept  memorably played out in The Crown, that great Netflix series tracing the travels and travails of the very family Andrew is from.

Most memorably in that series, we saw it when the young Queen Elizabeth is crowned. There in the cathedral the Archbishop of Canterbury anoints her with oil and puts the crown on her head.

Why? Because it’s an admission that the secular power of the crown is limited by God. It’s a statement that there is indeed a Universal Regent above all temporal powers and that stays the excesses of temporal power that humans are so eager to grasp at.

The Queen only has authority because she sits under authority. Sadly, as we are discovering, even the Queen blotted her, mostly, unsullied copybook when she paid out money to silence one of Andrew’s victims. Let’s wait and see what comes out.

Which reminds us that no one will be above the law of the ultimate lawgiver, God himself, on the last day. Everything will come out. About everyone. Including you. Including me.

We read these sobering words in Romans 3:19-20:

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Clearly a day will come when all of those who break the law, whether they get away with it or not in this life, when perfect justice will be announced and then enacted. And we will have nothing to say in that cosmic court of justice, no defence, no argument, and no powerful friends to get us off the hook.

Hold that thought. We might have a defence, an argument and a powerful friend. Which will be a sweet relief!  So thank goodness for what the next verses in that chapter in Romans go on to say. If you don’t know those verses, have a look at them and see what comfort they are.

Yes, even for the hapless and hopeless Andrew, should he choose to accept it.