A Biblical Defense of Jury Nullification
Jury Nullification and the Bible—What They REALLY Don’t Want You to Know
If you’re a Bible-believer, this issue goes deeper than just legal rights. It’s about righteous judgment. The government is not God, and their laws aren’t automatically righteous just because they’re written down. Sometimes, the system is flat-out wrong.
Jury nullification isn’t just some legal loophole—it’s a biblical responsibility when the law contradicts justice. And just like the courts don’t want you to know about it, most churches won’t talk about it either.
Let’s fix that.
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- God’s Law is Above Man’s Law
The Bible makes it clear: if man’s law contradicts God’s law, we are not bound to obey it.
• Acts 5:29 – “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”
• Exodus 1:17 – The Hebrew midwives were ordered to kill Hebrew babies, but they refused because they feared God. They broke the law and were blessed for it.
• Daniel 6:10 – When praying to God was outlawed, Daniel prayed anyway. He wasn’t about to obey some wicked decree.
When the government tries to force people to uphold evil, God’s people have always been required to stand against it. A juror has no excuse to participate in injustice just because some judge tells them to.
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- A Juror’s Duty: Righteous Judgment, Not Blind Obedience
God has a lot to say about judgment. If you’re in a position to judge—like a juror in a trial—you better judge righteously.
• Leviticus 19:15 – “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.”
• Proverbs 17:15 – “He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord.”
• Isaiah 10:1-2 – “Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; to turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people.”
God doesn’t play around when it comes to corrupt courts and unjust punishments. If you’re sitting in a jury box and you see a law that punishes the innocent or upholds corruption, you don’t get to just say, “Oh well, the law is the law.” That excuse doesn’t fly with God.
If a judge tells you to convict someone based on an evil law, you have a responsibility to nullify it right then and there.
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- The Trial of Jesus: A Case Study in Corrupt Courts
Let’s talk about the most unjust trial in history: the trial of Jesus Christ. The people who convicted Jesus weren’t just some random mob—they were legal experts, judges, and political leaders.
• Mark 15:14-15 – Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. “Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him. And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.”
Pilate had the power to override the injustice, but instead, he gave in to the legal system and the crowd. Sound familiar?
The legal system said Jesus was guilty. The law backed it up. And yet, every Christian knows that trial was a fraud.
How many times has the government railroaded innocent people? How many times have laws been weaponized against good people? The Bible is clear: justice belongs to God, not corrupt systems.
• Ecclesiastes 5:8 – “If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.”
Translation: Don’t be shocked when you see corrupt courts. God sees it too.
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- What the Bible Says About Following Orders
“I was just following the law.” That excuse won’t hold up before God.
• Proverbs 24:11-12 – “If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?”
God doesn’t accept ignorance as an excuse. If you see injustice happening and do nothing, you’re complicit.
• Psalm 94:20-21 – “Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.”
Evil governments always justify their wickedness with legal authority. That doesn’t make it right. It makes it a test for those who claim to follow God.
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- The Final Word: If You’re on a Jury, You Answer to GOD
Here’s the bottom line: If you ever serve on a jury, your duty is to God, not the government.
• Do not be part of an unjust conviction.
• Judge righteously, using God’s standard of justice.
• Refuse to enforce wicked laws that contradict the Bible.
• Understand that saying “I was just following orders” will not hold up before God.
The courts don’t want you to know this. The government wants obedient jurors, not righteous ones. But God doesn’t care what the judge says—He cares what YOU do when you’re put in a position to judge.
• Proverbs 9:10 – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
The question isn’t what does the law say? The real question is what does GOD say?
And if the law and God’s justice don’t align—then you already know what you have to do.
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Biblical Cross-References for Further Study
God’s Law vs. Man’s Law
• Exodus 23:2 – “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.”
• Romans 13:1-4 – Government is ordained by God only when it is a terror to evil, not good.
• Matthew 22:21 – Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, but to God the things that are God’s.
Righteous Judgment
• Deuteronomy 1:16-17 – “Judge righteously between every man and his brother.”
• Psalm 82:3-4 – “Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.”
• James 2:13 – “For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy.”
The Dred Scott decision (1857) is one of the most infamous Supreme Court rulings in U.S. history, and it proves exactly why jury nullification is so important. If juries had understood their God-given responsibility to judge righteously, Scott never would have been returned to slavery, regardless of what the courts said.
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) – When the Law is Evil
For those who don’t know, Dred Scott was a slave who had been taken by his owner into free states, where slavery was illegal. He sued for his freedom, arguing that since he had lived in free states, he should be free. The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, ruled against him, declaring:
1. Black people were not U.S. citizens and had no rights the government was bound to respect.
2. Congress had no power to ban slavery in federal territories, invalidating the Missouri Compromise.
3. Scott had no right to even bring his case to court.
This decision wasn’t just unjust—it was evil.
If Jury Nullification Had Been Applied…
Here’s the thing: Dred Scott’s fate was decided by a judge—not a jury. The case went straight through the legal system, where it was handled entirely by judges who were part of the government machine.
But if this case had been in front of a jury, and that jury understood jury nullification, the outcome could have been very different.
• A jury could have refused to enforce the Fugitive Slave Laws.
• A jury could have recognized that God’s law supersedes man’s law and declared Scott a free man regardless of legal precedent.
• A jury could have rejected the argument that Black Americans had “no rights.”
Jury nullification had already been used in Fugitive Slave Act cases in the North, where jurors simply refused to convict people who helped escaped slaves. But because Dred Scott’s case was entirely in the hands of judges, there was no chance for the people to override the system.
The Supreme Court is NOT the Final Authority
The Dred Scott decision also shows why courts aren’t the ultimate standard of justice. The Bible says:
• Deuteronomy 16:19 – “Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.”
• Ecclesiastes 3:17 – “God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
A judge can rule wickedly, but that doesn’t make him right. The Supreme Court can pass down an unjust verdict, but that doesn’t make it just. God’s standard never changes.
Dred Scott is a prime example of why we should never assume the courts are righteous just because they have power. It’s also why jury nullification is a critical check against legal tyranny.
The Supreme Court upheld an unjust law. Had this gone before a fully informed jury, they could have done what the courts refused to do—judge righteously.
And that’s the entire point. The law is only just when it aligns with righteousness. When it doesn’t, it’s the duty of God-fearing men to stand against it.
Warnings Against Blind Obedience
• Isaiah 5:20 – “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil.”
• Micah 7:3 – “That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward.”
• Revelation 13:16-17 – The Antichrist’s system is fully legal—and yet, God’s people must reject it.