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It is written:
1 John 3:16-By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
The name “Kilmar Abego Garcia” has taken center stage in our country during modern times. He is an example of the importance of something that Americans have historically seen the value of: due process.
What exactly is due process?
According to Super AI Chat:
“Due process is a legal concept that ensures fair treatment through the judicial system and is a fundamental principle in constitutional law. It requires that the government respect all legal rights owed to a person according to the law. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual person from it. When a governmental body harms a person without following the exact course of the law, this constitutes a due process violation. Due process generally involves a fair and unbiased hearing before an impartial tribunal, a clear and timely notification of proceedings, the opportunity to present evidence and arguments, the right to counsel, and the right to appeal an adverse decision. It is a safeguard against arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property.”
What is happening in America in our day is that thousands of individuals are being arrested, and immediately deported or imprisoned, without having due process honored. They do not have their day in court: their legal rights are ignored and denied. President Trump has argued that he can set aside the constitutional rights of human beings living within our borders because it would take too long to honor those rights:
“I’m doing what I was elected to do, remove criminals from our Country, but the Courts don’t seem to want me to do that. My team is fantastic, doing an incredible job, however, they are being stymied at every turn by even the U.S. Supreme Court, which I have such great respect for, but which seemingly doesn’t want me to send violent criminals and terrorists back to Venezuela, or any other Country, for that matter — People that came here illegally! The Courts are intimidated by the Radical Left who are, “playing the Ref.” Great Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito correctly wants to dissolve the pause on deportations. He is right on this! If we don’t get these criminals out of our Country, we are not going to have a Country any longer. We cannot give everyone a trial, because to do so would take, without exaggeration, 200 years. We would need hundreds of thousands of trials for the hundreds of thousands of Illegals we are sending out of the Country. Such a thing is not possible to do. What a ridiculous situation we are in. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” (President Donald Trump, TruthSocial post, April 21, 2025, emphasis added)
Some may ask, “Well, why does any of this matter?”
What would happen in a country where people could be arrested and punished without having a chance to defend themselves in a court of law? What would it be like in a nation where fundamental human rights are deprived to such an extent that even an accusation against someone is accepted as proof without the benefit of a trial? We are seeing it happen now. Sadly, such has happened before. One example would be Nazi dominated Germany, where fundamental human rights began to be systematically erased by that country’s leaders such as Adolf Hitler. One author describes how this process started and progressed in Germany, beginning with arrests, denial of due process, and eventual imprisonment in concentration camps without any judicial oversight or recourse.
“Nazi detention in 1933 was unpredictable and confusing. Thousands of police prisoners were handed over as law breakers to the regular legal system, which played a major part in repression in the Third Reich. German judges and prosecutors, like most other civil servants, largely backed the regime. They wielded old and new laws against Nazi opponents, rapidly filling the judicial state prisons. 35 But most arrested opponents did not end up in court, at least not in 1933, because they were not detained for illegal acts, but for who they were—suspected enemies of the new order. In their reliance on mass arrests beyond the law, Nazi rulers followed other revolutionaries: they wanted to destroy their enemies before they might strike back. This called for radical action, abandoning legal principles and paperwork. Years later, SS leader Heinrich Himmler boasted that the Nazis had destroyed the “Jewish-Communist asocial organization” in 1933 by pulling people off the streets “completely illegally.” 36 In fact, most suspects had formally been taken into the euphemistically named protective custody (Schutzhaft), a form of indefinite detention loosely resting on the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State. This decree, passed by Hitler’s cabinet on February 28, 1933, in response to the Reichstag fire, had suspended basic civil liberties. It became, in the words of the émigré German political scientist Ernst Fraenkel, something like the “constitutional charter of the Third Reich,” justifying all manner of abuses of power—including the denial of personal freedom without judicial oversight or appeal. True, the use of extralegal detention was not entirely new in modern Germany and the decree borrowed from earlier Weimar emergency legislation. But it went much further: the Nazi practice of lawless detention was unprecedented both in its severity and scope. 37 During the first wave of terror in March and April 1933, an estimated forty to fifty thousand opponents were temporarily taken into protective custody, mostly by the police, SA, and SS. The next wave in summer caught further victims, and despite frequent releases, there were officially almost twenty-seven thousand protective custody prisoners on July 31, 1933, falling only slowly to around twenty-two thousand by the end of October. 38 The Nazi press occasionally claimed that this form of detention was well organized. In reality, there was a bewildering array of local rules and practices, with protective custody amounting to little more than kidnapping with a bureaucratic veneer. 39 Many Nazi activists dispensed even with this formal façade and grabbed opponents without any official authorization. Senior civil servants, municipal officials, Nazi leaders, local party bruisers, and many more claimed the right to lock up anyone they deemed an opponent of the new order. The escalating terror from below and the accompanying chaos were summed up by an exasperated SA Gruppenführer in early July 1933: “Everyone is arresting everybody, bypassing the prescribed official procedure, everyone threatens everybody with protective custody, everybody threatens everybody with Dachau.” 40 The result was a free-for-all, as more and more state and party officials exploited the opportunities for virtually unrestrained terror. But what to do with all the prisoners? Despite all their talk during the Weimar years about crushing their enemies, Nazi leaders had given precious little thought to the practicalities. Once Nazi terror was unleashed in spring 1933, officials across Germany frantically searched for places to hold the victims of lawless arrests. Over the coming months, many hundreds of new sites were set up, which collectively can be called early camps. 41”. (Nikolaus Wachsmann, KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps, 31-33 (Kindle Edition): New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Garcia himself is an example in our times of why this matter is so important. It was learned that Garcia had fled to America from El Salvador when he was fifteen years old, and was accused (based on his choice of clothing) of being a member of a prominent gang. These charges were thrown out by the judge over his case, and it was ruled that he would be allowed to remain in the United States and would not be deported back to El Salvador. He was in constant contact with ICE, was a family man, and had no criminal record. Yet then, Garcia was arrested and deported without a trial. According to our government, Garcia’s arrest at first was acknowledged as an administrative mistake. Then, the narrative changed. Now, our government says that Garcia is a ringleader of the giant MS13 gang, and was involved in human trafficking!
Now, here is where the rubber meets the road: without due process-a right to a trial-any and all accusations may be acted upon as fact by the powers that be.
As Christians, our first and primary obligation is to God, and His Word (the Bible) is our standard of conduct in this life (2 Timothy 3:16-17). In this article, we are going to notice the Bible basis behind due process. After that, we will observe how these principles of due process have made such an important impact on cultures throughout history, including on the United States Constitution. My efforts here are not geared towards advancing any political party: they are to draw attention to what God says in His Word. Once that is established, application to our modern day situations may be administered.
The Bible basis of due process begins with the underlying teaching that mankind has certain rights of dignity inherent from humanity being made in the image of God. This is demonstrated several ways throughout the Old Testament.
In Genesis, we read about how mankind is distinguished from the animal creation:
Genesis 1:26-27-Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 2:7-And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Throughout the Old Testament, we are reminded that mankind was given a special prerogative from God as a result of being made in His image. As one author has noted:
“If God is going to do something regardless of whether or not we pray, then He doesn’t need us to ask, and we don’t need to waste our time. Right? We’ve got enough to do. If it’s all que sera, sera (whatever will be, will be), then why not take a siesta and just let it all happen? If, on the other hand, John Wesley was correct when he said, “God does nothing on the earth save in answer to believing prayer,” then I’ll lose a little sleep for that. I’ll change my lifestyle for that. I’ll turn the TV off, set my cell phone on mute, ignore the IMs, and even miss a meal or two. So the real question is this: Does a sovereign, all-powerful God need our involvement or not? Is prayer really necessary? If so, why?….The answer to why prayer is necessary lies in God’s original plan when He created Adam. The word “Adam” means “man; human being.”‘…In Psalm 8:6, the original Hebrew word used for “rule” is mashal. It indicates that Adam was God’s manager here, God’s steward or governor. Adam was God’s mediator, go-between or representative. Psalm 115:16 confirms this: “The heaven … the Eternal holds himself, the earth He has assigned to men” (Moffatt, emphasis added). God didn’t give away ownership of the earth, but He did assign the responsibility of governing it to humanity…The definition of the Hebrew word kabowd that’s translated “glory” literally means “heavy or weighty” !6 It’s linked to the concept of authority. We still use the picture today when we refer to someone who “carries a lot of weight.” Adam carried God’s weight on the earth…Think about that. If the earth remained a paradise, it would be because of humankind. If things became messed up, it would be because of humankind. If the serpent ever gained control, it would be because of humankind. Humanity really was in charge!…What’s the point of all this? Check this out: God assigned so much authority over the earth to Adam that he, not just God, had the ability to give it away!….And that’s why prayer is necessary. God chose, from the time of the Creation, to work on the earth through humans, not independent of them. He always has and always will, even at the cost of becoming one. Though God is sovereign and all-powerful, powerful, Scripture clearly tells us that He limited Himself in order to work through human beings. That’s one of the major points of the entire Bible. Does God really need us? Yes and no. Because He’s God, He’s already complete (Acts 17:24-25). He doesn’t lack a thing (Job 41:11; Ps. 50:10-12). But because of His desire to be in an authentic relationship with us, He’s chosen to limit Himself by working through us.” (Dutch Sheet, Getting In God’s Face: How Prayer Really Works, 15-20 (Kindle Edition); Ventura, California; Regal Books)
The Bible teaching that mankind being made in God’s image also had repercussions for how mankind treated his fellow human. For example, God authorized the practice of capital punishment because mankind is made in the image of God:
Genesis 9:6-Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.
Job discussed how he understood his need to treat his male and female servants with respect because they had been made in the image of God just as he had:
Job 31:13-15-If I have despised the cause of my male or female servant When they complained against me, 14 What then shall I do when God rises up? When He punishes, how shall I answer Him? 15 Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same One fashion us in the womb?
Copan points out the importance of the teaching and influence of mankind’s intrinsic value on the other cultures and peoples of the world:
“Servants (slaves) in Israel, unlike their ancient Near Eastern contemporaries, were given radical, unprecedented legal/ human rights, even if not equaling that of free persons (who could, if unfortunate circumstances prevailed, find themselves needing to place themselves into indentured servitude). 15 As the Anchor Bible Dictionary’s essay on “Slavery” observes, “We have in the Bible the first appeals in world literature to treat slaves as human beings for their own sake and not just in the interests of their masters.” 16 By comparison, “the idea of a slave as exclusively the object of rights and as a person outside regular society was apparently alien to the laws of the [rest of the] ANE,” where slaves were forcibly branded or tattooed for identification (contrast this with Exod. 21: 5–6). Indeed, in “contrast to many ancient doctrines, the Hebrew law was relatively mild toward the slaves and recognized them as human beings subject to defense from intolerable acts, although not to the same extent as free persons.” 17 As we’ll see, the protection of runaway slaves who fled to Israel was strikingly different from the slave laws in surrounding ancient Near Eastern cultures, and this was due to Israel’s own history as slaves in Egypt. This fact would in effect turn slavery into a “voluntary institution.” 18”. (Paul Copan, Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God, 129-130 (Kindle Edition): Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books)
The same attitude of respect for mankind because of his being made in God’s image is found repeated throughout the New Testament. For example, James discusses how people should treat each other with respect because they are all made in the image of God:
James 3:9-10-With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
The fact of mankind being made in the image of God also extends to the legal protections afforded to him in courts of law. Here is a small sample of some of the laws in the Old Testament designed to ensure justice:
Exodus 21:23-25-But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Exodus 23:2-3-You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. 3 You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute.
Exodus 23:6-9-You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. 7 Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked. 8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous. 9 “Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Leviticus 19:15-You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.
Numbers 35:12-They shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment.
Numbers 35:24-then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments.
Numbers 35:30-Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty.
Deuteronomy 1:16-17-Then I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger who is with him. 17 You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.’
Deuteronomy 17:6-Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
Deuteronomy 19:15-21-One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. 16 If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, 17 then both men in the controversy shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. 18 And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, 19 then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you. 20 And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. 21 Your eye shall not pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
The same judicial principles are applied in the New Testament (Matthew 18:16; 1 Timothy 5:19). In all of these examples, we see that in courts of law there were certain privileges extended to other people. These were based-not on presumed innocence or guilt-but on their status as persons made in the image of God.
Thus, for the Christian, the issue is settled: every person is afforded the rights of due process.
How has this been understood historically?
We could start with the Magna Carta. This was a legal document drawn up in 1215. This document was very important and also served as a blueprint for the Constitution. This was based on Bible principles.
“These principles get back to the Magna Carta, which was based on Biblical principles, as Dr. Jehle notes: From the inception of the Magna Carta in 1215, this idea from the Scriptures that trial by jury, innocent till proven guilty, the idea of your liberties and private property being protected, that no property can be taken without consent of the individual, was a legacy brought by the Puritans to New England and embodied in the Massachusetts Body of Liberties, as well as the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, and many other documents preceding the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution….228.” (Jerry Newcombe, The Book That Made America: How the Bible Formed Our Nation, 2989-2993 (Kindle Edition): Ventura, CA: Nordskog Publishing, Inc.)
One scholar, Sharon James, has noticed several examples of how the Magna Carta is framed by the principles of the Word of God.
Biblical Teaching
Magna Carta
God expects leaders in society to actively seek justice for the vulnerable and exploited (Isa. 1:17). God appoints rulers to administer justice (Rom. 13:1-8; 1 Pet. 2:13-14).
Introduction: King rules by grace of God.
Clause 45: King to appoint competent and fair judges.
Kings will be held to account by God for whether they have kept His laws (1 Kings 21; 2 Sam. 11-12).
Implied throughout: The King is not above the law; e.g. Clause 55: fines that the King has taken unlawfully to be returned; Clause 61: a group of elected barons to hold King to account if he broke the laws of the Charter.
Give To Caesar what is Caesar and to God what is God’s (Luke 20:25).
Clause 1: King cannot interfere arbitrarily in affairs of the Church; Clause 63: the Church shall be free.
God expects judges to acquit the innocent and condemn the guilty (Prov. 17:15).
Clauses 39 and 40: Jointly embody what have become the right of habeas corups (banning arbitrary detention and providing for trial by jury).
Clause 40: Justice not to be sold, denied or delayed.
No one to be convicted without two or more witnesses (Deut. 19:15).
Clause 38: N one to be convicted without testimony of credible witnesses.
Proportionate justice (Exod. 21:23-25; Lev. 24:17-22). It is wrong to take away a person’s means of making a living (Deut. 24:6).
Clause 20: Proportionate justice.
Clause 20: people’s means of livelihood not to be removed.
One law for all, whether citizens or aliens Lev. 24:22).
Clause 60: Points towards the equality of all before the law, a principle to be developed further in later centuries.
Standard weights to be used in trade (Lev. 19:35-36).
Clause 35: the importance of justice in trade; standard measures to be used throughout the realm.
Warning against king exploiting their position to despoil people (1 Sam. 8:10-18).
Clauses 12 and 14: consent to be secured to taxes and other impositions to prevent arbitrary rule.
Private property to be respected (Exod. 20:15; Deut. 19:14).
Clauses 12 and 14: Private property to be respected.
James concludes:
“Ever since Magna Carta was agreed in 1215, it has been used to protect life, liberty and property, and as the basis for constitutional rights and liberties around the world. That is something for which Christians can thank God. Certainly, at the time, the legal rights that Magna Carta spoke of, applied only to freemen. But it set the trajectory for these freedoms to be extended to everyone. Over the twists and turns of the centuries, with many reversals and advances, these ideas have come to dominate the legal landscape. The influence of Magna Carta spread to the USA and most countries in the West. Baroness Caroline Cox has been at the forefront of humanitarian work in some of the most dangerous places on earth for many years. She believes: … it is the Judeo-Christian tradition with its inherent respect for the human individual and its cherishing of the concept of individuals’ rights and freedoms, which has generated and sustained the most humanising and humanitarian internationally recognised laws and policies, such as the abolition of slavery and the concept of Genocide. 9 A research project of many years’ duration by Robert D. Woodberry showed that where there has been the most impact of Bible-believing mission in the world, there are governments which are most respectful of human rights, and the rule of law, and least prone to tyranny. 10 It is a historic fact that individual freedom and rights are most prevalent where Christianity has had the greatest impact. While engaged in open air work in a major university town in England, a graduate law student from China approached my friend. ‘I’d like to find out more about Christianity,’ she said. ‘I don’t understand why it is that only Christian judges refuse to take bribes.’ We know why. God is a God of Justice. And He expects us to uphold justice too.” (Sharon James, How Christianity Transformed the World, 45-46 (Kindle Edition): Geanies House, Fearn,Ross-shire, IV20 1TW, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, Ltd.)
In conclusion, the principle of due process is rooted in the Bible teaching that man is made in the image of God. As a result of that fact, there are certain legal principles which belong inherently to every person, regardless of race, documented status, or accusation. This is one of the great principles that our nation has been founded upon, and when we as a nation abandon it, we are following in the footsteps of countries like Germany under the Nazi regime.
As Christians, we are citizens first and foremost of the kingdom of Heaven (Colossians 1:13). We thereby call people-all people, of all nations-to follow the Word of God.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.