In 1215 the English barons, fed up with the wimpy, weak‑willed rule of King John, forced their way into London. They brought with them a new document for the king to sign. Wisely, the King signed and sealed it at Runnymede, a water-meadow about twenty miles southwest of London.

We know this document today as the "Magna Carta," the "Great Charter," or literally, the "Great Paper."  This ground‑breaking document forced the King to acknowledge limitations on his ruling rights, forced him to accept the strictures of legal proceedings, and generally acknowledge that the King's will was also bound by laws.

The "Magna Carta" was the foundational document that led to the establishment of constitutional law. Without the Magna Carta there would have been no United States Constitution. Without the Magna Carta, there would have been no right of "habeas corpus," no right of "due process," no independence of the church. The most basic human rights, the most basic limitations on the power of the state over the individual, are found in this first fledgling document. The absolute power of the monarch was reigned in and individual rights and responsibilities were given legal status.

But really, the Magna Carta was a 1200 year-old after‑thought. The Magna Carta offered legal and political validation to truths that had been declared in print since the First and Second Testaments had been put into written words. The Magna Carta codified laws for the relationship between the state and the individual human being. Scripture lays out a "Magna Carta" for embodying true humanity, for living as one who is authentically human, as one created in the image of God.