Does God ask people to do things that are illegal?

Message / Question

Does God ever ask people to do things that are illegal? Didn't God ask Abraham to murder his son?

Response:

The “illegal” part is a bit tricky. First up, let’s deal with Abraham. God told Abraham to take his son and offer him as a sacrifice, however it was clearly never God’s intention for the sacrifice to be made, rather it was a tough test of faith on the part of Abraham. When it was clear that Abraham was willing to go ahead with the sacrifice of his son, God stepped in and prevented it, pointing Abraham to a ram that was caught in a bush that would be offered as a substitute.

So, let’s come back to the “illegal” issue. God directs His people to be subject to civil authorities, so as a general rule the answer to your question is “no, God doesn’t ask us to do things that are illegal”. However, there are exceptions and these are times when civil law opposes God’s law. For example, if the civil authorities made it illegal to worship God, then God would expect His people to break that law and obey the higher law of God. The early apostles demonstrated this when the civil authorities told them that were not allowed to preach the gospel of Jesus, they told the authorities that they would have obey God rather than man. Similar situations have occurred throughout history and still happen today is Moslem and Communist governed nations.