A Brief Synopsis of Theonomy, in Light of the Arguments Raised Against the Concept of a Christian Nation

INTRODUCTION:

Bogeymen are scary to both children and adults. As a child I remember being afraid of the dark. A common enough fear among kids, I think. Sometimes when I leave my home office after the sun has long since disappeared beneath the horizon the temptation to fear what cannot be seen lingers at the edges of my mind. An eerie winter night walking under the deeper shadows of the surrounding trees littered around my secluded home in the countryside tends to heighten those feelings a bit.

Over the last couple of years fear has taken the form of various bogeymen. A pandemic of irrational concerns has gripped a great many children and adults within the Christian faith (towards the Faith, I know turn my attention). Fear of things microscopic in nature. Fear of appearing unloving, unkind, even un-Christlike. Fear of change. Fear of reprisal. Fear of revolution. One bogeyman that has been the focus over the last couple of years (but a new comer on the block as far as I am concerned) is the one call Christian Nationalism.

The defined movement is more fluid than static definitionally speaking, but one characteristic behind the idea of Christian Nationalism that scares both common and uncommon foes alike are three doctrinal beliefs that some attach to the idea/concept of a Christian Nation: Dominion Theology (i.e., cultural mandate) via reconstruction in light of theonomy (i.e., theonomic ethic). This is the bogeyman that bothers (frightens? Is that too strong a word?) our professed brethren within the camp of Evangelicalism. And yet, these doctrinal/theological positions/considerations are often decried without any working knowledge of the subject matter in question.

An Apologetic Stalwart…

In terms of a theonomic ethic, which serves as the basis for Christian reconstruction, an exercise of Christian Dominion, the late Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen gives a brief synopsis of what Christians with a wholly biblical outlook, a consistent and cohesive outlook, believe in (at least in principle, although, there are differences in the application of the details). In this post, I have decided to give a lengthy quote from the man that very few enjoyed to argue with either verbally or in writing while he tarried here on earth. After going to be with the Lord in 1995 the courage of his dissenters has increased, but without taking head on what he spent a lifetime researching, teaching, and defending. I will let him speak for himself on the matter in regards to what many Evangelical leaders in the West view as a true bogey man of the Christian faith. The following excerpt is under the heading, “A Brief Synopsis of Theonomy” in Bahnsens’ apologetic book No Other Standard, enjoy:

“Any conception of the role of civil government that claims to be distinctively ‘Christian’ must be explicitly justified by the teaching of God’s revealed word. Anything else reflects what they unbelieving world in rebellion against God may imagine on its own. If we are to be Christ’s disciples, even in the political realm, it is prerequisite that we abide in His liberating word (John 8:31). In every walk of life, a criterion of our love for Christ or lack thereof is whether we keep the Lord’s words (John 14:23-24) rather than founding our beliefs upon the ruinous sands of other opinions (Matt. 7:24-27). And as those especially in the Reformed heritage confess, to the extent that our view of civil government (or any matter) does adhere faithfully to Scripture, that view stands above any and all challenges which stem from human wisdom and tradition (Rom. 3:4; 9:20; Col. 2:8).

“Thus Christians who advocate what has come to be called the ‘theonomic’ (or ‘reconstructionist’) viewpoint reject the social forces of secularism which too often shape our culture’s conception of a good society. The Christian’s political standards and agenda should not be set by unregenerate pundits who wish to quarantine religious values (and thus the influence of Jesus Christ, speaking in the Scripture) from the decision-making process of those who set public policy. Theonomists equally repudiate the sacred/secular dichotomy of life, which is the effect of certain extra-scriptural, systematic conceptions of Biblical authority… conceptions which imply that present-day moral standards for our political order are not to be taken from what the written word of God directly and relevantly says about society and civil government. This sacred/secular stance is a theologically unwarranted and socially dangerous curtailing of the scope of the Bible’s truth and authority (Ps. 119:160; Isa. 40:8; 45:19; John 17:17; Deut. 4:2; Matt. 5:18-19).

“We beseech men not to be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing and reconciling work of Jesus Christ so as to prove the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God in their lives (2 Cor. 5:20-21; Rom. 12:1-2). We call on them to be delivered out of darkness into the kingdom of God’s Son, who has raised from the dead in order to have preeminence in all things (Col. 1:13-18). We must ‘cast down reasonings and every high thing which is exalted against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ’ (2 Cor. 10:5) in whom ‘all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are deposited’ (Col. 2:3). Thus believers are exhorted to be holy in all manner of living (1 Peter 1:15), and to do whatever they do for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). To do so will require adherence to the written word of God, since our faith does not stand in the wisdom of men but rather in the work and teaching of God’s Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:5, 13; cf. 1 Thes. 2:13; Num. 15:39; Jer. 23:16). That teaching, infallibly recorded in ‘every scripture’ of the Old and New Testaments, is able to equip us ‘for every good work’ (2 Tim. 3:16-17) –thus even in public, community life.

“For these reasons theonomists are committed to the transformation (reconstruction) of every area of life, including the institutions and affairs of the socio-political realm, according to the holy principles of God’s revealed word (theonomy). It is toward this end that the human community must strive if it is to enjoy true justice and peace. Because space will not allow a full elaboration, with extensive qualifications and applications, of the theonomic position here, it may prove helpful to begin with a systematic overview and basic summary of the theonomic conception of the role of civil government in terms of Christ’s rule as King and of His inscripturated laws:

1. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are, in part and in whole, a verbal revelation from God through the words of men, being infallibly true regarding all that they teach on any subject.
2. Since the Fall it has always been unlawful to use the law of God in hopes of establishing one’s own personal merit and justification, in contrast or complement to salvation by way of promise and faith; commitment to obedience is but the lifestyle of faith, a token gratitude for God’s redeeming grace.
3. The word of the Lord is the sole, supreme, and unchallengeable standard for the actions and attitudes of all men in all areas of life; this word naturally includes God’s moral directives (law).
4. Our obligation to keep the law of God cannot be judged by any extrascriptural standard, such as whether its specific requirements (when properly interpreted) are congenial to past traditions or modern feelings and practices.
5. We should presume the Old Testament standing laws continue to be morally binding in the New Testament, unless they are rescinded or modified by further revelation.
6. In regard to the Old Testament law, the New Covenant surpasses the Old Covenant in glory, power, and finality (thus reinforcing former duties). The New Covenant also supersedes the Old Covenant shadows, thereby changing the application of sacrificial, purity, and ‘separation’ principles, redefining the people of God, and altering the significance of the promised land.
7. God’s revealed standing laws are a reflection of his immutable moral character and, as such, are absolute in the sense of being non-arbitrary, objective, universal, and established in advance of particular circumstances (thus applicable to general types of moral situations).
8. Christian involvement in politics calls for recognition of God’s transcendent, absolute, revealed law as a standard by which to judge all social codes.
9. Civil magistrates in all ages and places are obligated to conduct their offices as ministers of God, avenging divine wrath against criminals and giving an account on the Final Day of their service before the King of kings, their Creator and Judge.
10. The general continuity which we presume with respect to the moral standards of the Old Testament applies just as legitimately to matters of socio-political as it does to personal, family, or ecclesiastical ethics.
11. The civil precepts of the Old Testament (standing ‘judicial’ laws) are a model of perfect social justice for all cultures, even in the punishment of criminals. Outside of those areas where God’s law prescribes their intervention and application of penal redress, civil rulers are not authorized to legislate or use coercion (e.g., the economic marketplace).
12. The morally proper way for Christians to correct social evils which are not under the lawful jurisdiction of the state is by means of voluntary and charitable enterprises or the censures of the home, church, and marketplace—even as the appropriate method for changing the political order of civil law is not violent revolution, but dependence upon regeneration, re-education, and gradual legal form.

“Notice what these principles tell us about the theological and moral character of theonomic ethics. The foundational authority of scripture (#1) and the precious truth of salvation by grace alone (#2) provide the context within which every other theonomic thesis is developed and understood. ‘Theonomic’ ethics is committed to developing an overall Christian world-and-life-view (#3) according to the regulating principle of sola Scriptura (#4) and the hermeneutic of covenant theology (#5). The new and better covenant established by Christ does offer Biblical warrant for recognizing changes in covenantal administration (#6), but not changes in moral standards, lest the divinely revealed ethic be reduced to situationism or relativism—just one tribal perspective among many in the evolutionary history of ethics (#7). Righteousness and justice, according to Biblical teaching, have a universal character, precluding any double-standard of morality.

“‘Theonomic’ ethics likewise rejects legal positivism and maintains that there is a ‘law about the (civil) law’ to which appeal can be made against the tyranny of rulers and the anarchy of overzealous reformers alike (#9). Since Jesus Christ is Lord over all (cf. #3), civil magistrates are His servants and owe obedience to His revealed standards for them (#9). There is no Biblically based justification (cf. #5) for exempting civil authorities from responsibility to the universal standards of justice (cf. #7) found in God’s Old Testament revelation (# 10). Therefore, in the absence of Biblically grounded argumentation which releases the civil magistrate from Old Testament social norms (cf. #5, #6), it follows from our previous premises that in the exercise of their offices rulers are morally responsible to obey the revealed standards of social justice in the Old Testament (#11). This does not mean, however, that civil rulers have unlimited authority to intrude just anywhere into the affairs of men and societies (#11, #12); their legitimate sphere is restricted to what God’s word has authorized them to do—thus calling for a limited role for civil government. Finally, Christians are urged to use persuasive and ‘democratic’ means of social reform—nothing like the strongarm tactics slanderously attributed to the theonomic program (#12).¹

Closing Remarks…

It is easy to decry a position that you disagree with, but quite another to provide a logical alternative. I have yet to see a cogent argument against that which is proposed by Bahnsen and others from the Recon camp; an effective substitute that consistently demonstrates a cohesive worldview derived from Holy Scripture that is, at the same time, untainted by secular humanistic thought. If you have, I’d love to hear it.

ENDNOTES:

1Greg L. Bahnsen, No Other Standard: Theonomy and its Critics (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1991), 9-14, PDF E-book. Italics in original. NOTE TO READER: Due to the length of this quote I am confident that errors may have crept in during the writing process. I have tried to read and reread through the material to find and correct any noticeable errors, but this does not mean that I found and removed them all. Also, the writing is kept in its original format. Spellings seem to have changed somewhat in the last 30+ years, so please bear this in mind also when reading through this post. Thank you.