Biblical Law on International Relations

The Covenant of Noah is the applicable law covenant for the entire human race, and it does have some things to say about international relations. More to the point, we can use the Law of Noah to critique the wrong things nations do right now. It’s not as if we could expect anyone to pay attention, but we should always seek ways to clarify the revelation of God so no one has any excuse.

Spying in itself is not a sin. There’s nothing wrong with trying to snoop on the secret councils of any government whose decisions affect your country. There are a whole range of justifiable spying activities, to include economic and military decisions. However, by no means at all should any spying government try to influence those decisions in any way at all. That is a hideous sin and God will not ignore it. The whole idea is that you can prepare to face their decisions, but you cannot in any way try to change those decisions.

Alliances between countries are just that; it is utterly immoral for any national government to ally with parties and factions within any other government. It’s morally proper to help another country defend itself from military attack or similar aggressive actions, but helping one faction against another within a government is evil.

In other words, trying to influence things in another country to benefit your own people is throwing a challenge in the face of God. He has revealed in no uncertain terms that He is the one who steers the affairs of human governments. Should a government embrace the Law of Noah, they can claim special benefits. Not a single government does that, so none have any unique status before God. All human governments are therefore steered by God, and He likens it to herding cattle. It’s nobody’s business what He decides, and human attempts to shape the outcomes of His decisions within other governments is strictly forbidden.

That does not prevent open and honest diplomatic gestures. That’s often one of the best ways for one government to tell another how they will react if things go one way or another. Nobody says a government cannot seek the best interest of their citizens, but there are restrictions on how to go about that. Blustering, threats, etc. are part of the rhetoric, but the logic requires a government to honestly admit what they view as the interests of their citizens. God allows no government to decide the internal affairs of any other government.

As I’ve noted previously, there is a range of provisions for imperial governments that rule over vassal states. That makes imperial policy an internal decision, even if it affects the vassals. I’m not talking about that here. We are looking at how countries bully each other, and it’s evil. There is no excuse and God will eventually pour out His wrath on sin.

By this standard is America judged, along with those officials and activists who promote the evil we have done.