By Solomon Arinaitwe

Many often wrestle with moral identity, and Ugandan lawyers, especially, are not strangers to this kind of grappling; if anything, they seem to be the most condemned.

Most lawyers will, for example, recall a moment where they’ve been asked how a Christian can also be a lawyer; some even argue that the term “Christian lawyer” is an oxymoron, but the legal field is also God’s “means” under duress in a fallen world, just like the other professions; economics and medicine, the effects of sin are as deep and wide in every field. 

Solomon Arinaitwe

I therefore write not to excuse my learned friends, but rather to compel all professionals and Christian lawyers in particular to address these mishaps head-on, thinking theologically about legal philosophy and its heart, as shaped by a solid historical Christian worldview.

This worldview, once shared by great legal philosophers before us, like William Blackstone—renowned for his Commentaries, Edward Coke, Thomas Rutherforth, Thomas Aquinas, and St. Augustine of Hippo, to mention but a few.

Edward Coke, for example, says, “The law of nature is that which God, at the time of the creation, infused into man’s heart for man’s preservation and direction; and this is lex aeterna, the moral law, called also the law of nature. And by this law, written with the finger of God in the heart of man, were the people of God a long time governed, before the law was written by Moses, who was the first global reporter or writer of the law.

We are also persuaded by the good book that law is a good ultimate thing; take Jeremiah 31:33, for example: ‘I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their heart.’ “ A greater Moses in Jesus is doing wonderful things through those like us he’s saved.

Historically, the law has been instrumental in Uganda’s nation-building, from the pre-colonial times, when our customs ruled the land, till 1902, when the British introduced their legal system in Uganda. Today, it’s a tool for mobilization, consensus, governance, protection of life and property, and preserving order through the three arms of government: the executive, judiciary, and parliament. 

Having interacted with the above, we cannot therefore afford to relegate the law to the dark dungeons of anarchy when it is the very tool that God is using to shape and create order out of chaos (just like he did in Genesis); he’s employing it on our hearts (like Jeremiah says) to redeem us too.

Our call now as legal practitioners is to participate in that redemption. Therefore, a Christian lawyer is no longer an oxymoron but a co-laborer with Christ, who reconciles all things to Himself.

As Albert Wolters would say, “We have a redemptive task wherever our vocation places us in this world.” “Our God is a redeemer, and he is redeeming law, politics, banking, and engineering while saving sinners like us. We are God’s tool in exerting a loving, serving, redeeming influence on the world around us, especially the legal practice.”

I must confess it is not an easy task; the project of bringing heaven down to earth always results in bringing hell up from below, exposing and condemning sin, being hated and despised, “for everyone who does evil hates light and will not come into the light for fear their deeds will be exposed.” (John 3:20) 

Therefore, our job description is not merely to control and transform legal institutions but also to wield our duties to love and serve our neighbors, clients, spouses, partners, and colleagues in the profession through the limits and freedom of the roles to which God has called us.

We have a personal duty to commit to an integrated Christian life too, where our faith is not a private compartment, a back room, but the front balcony, a central reality that informs every aspect of our work. It is the fulcrum on which the weights of justice tilt.

In the same breath, let me take a detour to address this everyday phenomenon characterized by spiritual resignation often disguised as “busyness.” “Busy” advocates like us should not stray from rhythms, attitudes, and means of grace that often draw us to studying scripture, praying, and playing; actively belonging to a Bible-centered church, therefore, should never be peripheral.

Addressing this “hurried life,” which is not strange to lawyers, by the way, I also call you to embrace rest; God’s rest on the seventh day is not a picture of his detox from the difficulties of creation, but rather a portrait of his finished work in Christ, which demands our frequent contemplation. (Luke 6)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us that the Sabbath rest stands for the consummation of work accomplished and the joy and satisfaction attendant upon it, and so we in these chamber corridors too. must take off time to stop, marvel, and contemplate how our work feeds from God’s grand picture of creation, complete in His way.

In practicing substantive legal redemption, we too must go beyond merely competing against the rigid bureaucracies and adversarial legal systems and instead work towards restoration.

Wolters argues this by saying that anything in creation can be directed away or toward God—in obedience or disobedience to his law.

Learned friends, we should prioritize peaceable means to resolution to facilitate healing and reconciliation, rather than just “winning.” It is imperative that our conscience be clear before God, to be resolute in our convictions and avoid falling into worldly aspirations.

The writer is an Advocate of the High Court of Uganda