I remember when I first got my license. It was an amazing feeling, all that power right under my foot and in my hands. My first thought was, “How fast can this thing go?” and I immediately hit the gas with a vengeance. The feeling of acceleration overwhelmed me, and I couldn’t help grinning as I sped around town.

A few minutes later I passed a speed limit sign and glanced up at it curiously. Now there’s nothing unusual about a speed limit sign (unless you live over in Germany on the Autobahn), but I had never seen one while I was actually driving a car by myself, and hence I had never truly thought about what they meant. Sure, I had seen the signs while getting in my “50 hours behind the wheel with mom in the passenger seat”, but I had only ever had to obey her “speed up” and “slow down” (and “Whoa! You’re going to get us both killed!”) signals, and often this meant going slightly over the speed limit without thinking about it. I had never felt the responsibility of deciding what speed to go, and quite frankly, I had never really thought of it as an issue. Just as long as you aren’t skidding around corners and mowing down people on the sidewalks you’re ok, right? That’s what I thought.

The Realization

The day I got behind the wheel by myself with no mom, no dad, and no siblings in the car was the day I realized that I really did need to pay attention to my speed, and that I couldn’t just drive as fast as I wanted (even if it was within my definition of “reason”). This may sound like an obvious conclusion to some, but to innocent, naïve me, it was startling.

What made the conclusion even harder to grasp was the fact that throughout my entire life I have been surrounded by people going over the speed limit. I know it sounds so harsh when said like that, but, quite frankly, it’s true. According to law, if you go even one mile per hour over the speed limit, you are by definition speeding. I realized this the day I read the second word on that sign. Limit. If something has a limit, that means you shouldn’t go over it. Funny how you see those signs all your life and never really think about their implications, isn’t it?

I soon found out that following the speed limit all the time is extremely difficult. What if you’re going into a valley and want to gain speed to go up the other side? What if someone’s tailing you so close that you can’t slow down? What if you’re following someone in their car and they go over the speed limit? These are all legitimate questions, and you need to come to a personal conclusion that satisfies you and leaves your conscience clear before God.

What’s wrong with speeding?

I’m glad you asked. To understand the true problem with speeding, we have to turn to the greatest authority on what is right and wrong – Scripture. Join me in looking at some verses so that we can, hopefully, come up with a logical and satisfying answer to our question.

In Rom 13:1, 3-4, 6 (NIV), it says that “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established… Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing… This is why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.”

Then in 1 Pet 2:13-14 (NIV), it says, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.”

From these two verses alone, it is fairly obvious that God’s will for us to is to submit to and obey the authorities over us. I know what you’re probably thinking: “What about those times when our authorities ask us to do something we don’t think is morally right?” There’s a verse for that too. In Acts 5:28 (NIV), it says, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name…” Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!” So if someone asks you to do something that would violate God’s standards, you have the right to disobey them. However, does this really apply to speeding? Does the requirement of going under the speed limit somehow go against God’s will? Not as far as I can see. Sometime I wish it did so that I could go as fast as I want, but the Lord won’t remove it from my conscience, so I keep going under the limit.

In the end, it’s really up to you to believe what you will. The goal here is to give you enough information so that your conscience can be clear.

Excuses

Here I hope to address some of the excuses I’ve heard while talking to people about my conviction of speeding.

“But the police only pull you over if you’re going 10 miles per hour over the speed limit!”

So? Just because a law may not be enforced doesn’t mean it’s not still a law. Disobeying a law is still disobedience.

If your older brother sees you doing something that you know is against your parents’ explicit instructions, then just because he doesn’t report you doesn’t make it any less worse. You are still disobeying your parents, and according to scripture, that is sinning. The same applies to police men upholding our government’s speeding laws.

“So you’re saying that if I go just one mile per hour over the speed limit, then I’m sinning?”

Quite frankly, yes, that’s what I’m saying. If the authorities say that going one mile per hour over the speed limit is breaking the law, then doing so not only breaks the human law, it breaks the moral and spiritual law. The quantity of the sin doesn’t matter. If you only steal a little thing, it’s still stealing, right?

“I can follow the ‘spirit’ of the law without following the ‘letter’ of the law.”

Some people say that since they feel “comfortable” going a few miles per hour over the speed limit, and since they “know” that they could stop in enough time to prevent an accident, that they are obeying the spirit – if not the letter – of the law. I find this view rather amusing.

Imagine if your children took on this view. One day you tell your young son Johnny to stay out of the street because it’s dangerous. The next day you find him playing ball in the street with the neighbor kids, obviously disobeying your rule. After pulling him off the street and marching him up to his room, you question him: “Didn’t I tell you just yesterday to stay off of the street? Why did you disobey me today?”

Looking up at you innocently, he says, “Well, you said I couldn’t play on the street because it’s dangerous, so I figured that if I kept my eyes and ears open for cars coming then it wouldn’t be dangerous anymore.”

What would you say to that? Something tells me you wouldn’t be too happy with Johnny, even if he did claim he was doing what was “less dangerous”. You need to be able to trust him to do what you tell him to do, if only for his own safety.

The same goes for the law. The rules the government lays down for us aren’t purposed just to hinder our having fun, they are there to protect us and others around us.

Think about this: If every single driver followed the rules of the road, including the speed limit laws, how many less accidents would there be? How many lives would be saved? So what if it takes you five minutes longer to get to your friend’s house? Really, does that matter all that much? If you are obeying the law and going under the speed limit, you are contributing to the cause of saving lives.

Conclusion

I want to thank you for sticking it out and reading this long article. My goal is not to condemn you or to pile guilt on your head, my goal is to make you aware of an area in your life where you might not realize you aren’t pleasing God. I encourage you to pray, ask the Lord for guidance and wisdom, and decide your view on this issue.

If you have read this article in its entirety and still are unconvinced that speeding is a sin, I encourage you to search the scriptures for yourself and let me know what you find. If you find support for speeding within the scriptures, I would love to hear about it so that I can update the article with both sides of the issue.