Article November 21, 2016 Issue

Claiming our divine immunity

George M. Nutwell III

When I was in the US Foreign Service, working at embassies abroad, I had the protection of diplomatic immunity. This legal immunity, derived from the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, allows diplomats serving in a foreign country to go about their duties without interference from local laws or officials. The protection granted by international law is especially important to diplomats operating in nations hostile to their own governments and policies.

Recently I realized that, generally speaking, a diplomat’s situation is a lot like the human situation itself. Though it appears that we are subject to the so-called laws of sin, sickness, and death, we are actually the representatives of divine Spirit and have immunity from these supposed laws of matter. Wherever we go and in whatever situation we find ourselves, we remain subject to the spiritual laws of God alone, at all times.

When speaking of himself and his disciples, Jesus said: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.… As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world” (John 17:16, 18). Later, during his trial, Jesus told Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world: … To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth” (John 18:36, 37). You could say that Christ Jesus saw himself as a visitor not subject to local laws based on an unenlightened sense of reality.

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