We woke up on February 19, 2026 to the news that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, once Prince Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles, had been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office related to his links to Jeffrey Epstein. Police searched the royal residences Andrew had occupied as they took him away in handcuffs. One question was asked to the head of police as the events unfolded, “How can a person acting as a British Royal be charged with a criminal offence?” The answer was disarmingly simple. “Royal or not,” he said, “No one is above the law.” That statement is unfortunately not always true.
In the most recent times, we have heard that Yoon Suk Yeol, the 13th president of South Korea until his removal from office in 2025, had been sentenced to death for unlawfully declaring a state of emergency during his presidency. Yoon assumed that he was above the law, but his assumptions were wrong. People under the law must act according to the law, otherwise chaos and lawlessness would ensue. However, it turns out that various absolute monarchs (including the position of the Pope), and various political leaders (including the presidents of the United States, of Russia, and of the People’s Republic of China) sit in positions functionally above the law of the land they lead. It is not surprising that where people deem themselves above the law, they become the law unto themselves (Romans 2:14). That is a dangerous position for humanity to be in. Lawlessness creates monsters of immorality. We discovered this on February 20, 2026 when the US Supreme Court struck down many of the US administration’s tariffs because they were unlawful; the president railed against the Court, and immediately imposed a new set of global tariffs! Lawlessness persists.
The Bible tells us that there is a law that no human can escape. The first 7 chapters of the Book of Romans calls this “the Law of Sin and Death”. It defines sin according to the inescapable laws of the God; it measures sinners against the yardstick of their own conscience; and it governs the eternal consequences of those who sin – death, spiritual and eternal. Everyone, from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Yoon Suk Yeol to Donald Trump and Vladmir Putin, is judged in the unassailable courtroom of Sin and Death. Then Romans 8:2 says, “The Law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ has set you free from the Law of Sin and Death.” Those who believe in Jesus are not “above the law,” but under another law – the Law of the Spirit. Under this law, the great Advocate for our souls stands before God on our behalf; we are set free from sin and death; we are washed clean for all eternity by the power of Christ, and we are empowered to live the life of God by the Spirit’s indwelling. The question to us remains: Which law are we under? In the days ahead, we will hear about the fate of Andrew, the former Duke of York, prosecuted under the laws of England because he has not acknowledged the laws of Sin and Death. No one is above the law. And when we hear this, let us hasten to tell all those around us about the beautiful law – the Law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ. Their eternity depends on it.
