The words We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, are the beginning of the Preamble of the Constitution. It continues with establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. The beginning of the Constitution states the reason for the document and the purpose it will serve. Interestingly, the general direction of the new, yet to be formed government follows the principles of the Bible that pertain to the Kingdom of God and the citizens of that kingdom, known as the church.

In the Book of Acts, Luke wrote a line from which we can extract a principle: [Acts 17:26] And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, ... We the people of the United States expresses the togetherness of one blood, whose origins are from many places, coming together in one nation, all in a common bond of humanity created by God. Note that the idea of race and racism isn’t part of the one blood and wasn’t considered in we the people at the formation of the nation. Thomas Jefferson wrote: "The greatest good we can do our country is to heal its party divisions and make them one people."  Thomas Jefferson (letter to John Dickinson, 1801)

Principles in the Bible support the idea of one and unity for which the founders strove. The prepositional phrase of the United States tells us that there are divisions called states, but they are united in a common bond for common purposes found in the preamble. Scripture teaches us that the people of God are divided into autonomous bodies called churches, and each church has a common identity of Jesus Christ; and which conduct their own affairs while following the Bible’s teachings. As Paul wrote: [Ephesians 4:3] Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  In the same way, we the people of the United States are called to unity under the Constitution and to live in peace with their fellow citizens. Again, we reiterate the fact of autonomous states living in harmony under the common bond of the Constitution’s provisions.

When times of trouble visit upon the people, they band together for the common defense and welfare of the individual states just as the churches of the early years contributed to the well being of their brother and sister churches to promote the general welfare of the churches. The Constitution makes certain provisions in the Article I, Section 8, to enable Congress to conduct limited government pertaining to all the states, but though unity is provided for in the document, autonomy of the states is found in Amendments 9 and 10.

Even with the commonality and unity found in the Constitution, division amongst the people has occurred over the years, becoming worse as the quest for individual and group advantage has become of paramount importance. Instead of the unity and harmony coming by the provisions of limited government, and which wasn’t designed to give preference to anyone, divergent groups want special privilege over others.  The Bible contains a principle that deals with the division we find today. The words of Jesus on this subject are recorded in mark 3:24 -25: [Mark 3:24] And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. [Mark 3:25] And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. The lesson and the accompanying principle are simple. If the divisions found in the United States amongst the people persist, the nation of one people living in individual states unified in a common bond for a common purpose will cease to exist.   

All that we have in this nation pertaining to freedom, liberty, unity, and oneness of purpose of one people is predicated upon belief in God and his principles the founders called religion. Timothy Dwight, President of Yale College said on July 4, 1798, Without religion we may possibly retain the freedom of savages, bears, and wolves, but not the freedom of New England. If our religion were gone, our state of society would perish with it and nothing would be left which would be worth defending.

Is the one nation which the founders gave us headed for things not worth defending? Are we heeding the words of Jefferson? "The greatest good we can do our country is to heal its party divisions and make them one people."  You be the judge dear reader, you be the judge.

© 03-05-2006 DEC

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