THEONOMY, A REFORMED BAPTIST ASSESSMENT

by Sam Waldron

Section 1: Introductory Considerations

I. A General Description of "Theonomy"

A. Major Sources

1. Rousas J. Rushdoony

Theonomy, or as it is also called, Christian Reconstruction, has for its father R. J. Rushdoony and his prolific pen. Among his many books the ones which are most important here are first and foremost, The Institutes of Biblical Law, and his brief treatment entitled, The Meaning of Postmillennialism: God's Plan for Victory. Rushdoony ascribes to Cornelius Van Til the greatest influence by far upon his thinking.⁽¹⁾ Rushdoony is the master influence in three Theonomic organs: The Chalcedon Foundation, "The Journal of Reconstruction," and a newsletter entitled "The Chalcedon Report."

2. Greg Bahnsen

It is probably due to Mr. Bahnsen that Christian Reconstructionism owes the name, Theonomy. His Theonomy in Christian Ethics with a foreword by Rushdoony is perhaps the single most influential and controversial of the Theonomic literature. He is also well-known for his book, Homosexuality: A Biblical View. This book illustrates what is best in the Theonomic perspective. Mr. Bahnsen is now an Orthodox Presbyterian Church minister in California. He is a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary and formerly the Professor of Apologetics at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) in Jackson, Mississippi. Though a fine apologete in the presuppositional school of thought, he was dismissed from RTS in a dispute over Theonomy. The Covenant Tape Ministry distributes tapes of his teaching.

3. Gary North

Gary North was formerly editor of the "Journal of Christian Reconstruction." He is the editor of numerous works including, The Theology of Christian Resistance, The Tactics of Christian Resistance. He is the author of a popularization of Christian Reconstruction entitled, Unconditional Surrender: God's Program for Victory, as well as Backward Christian Soldiersand volume 1 of an economic commentary on the Bible entitled The Dominion Covenant: Genesis. He also contributed to The Failure of the American Baptist Culture edited by James B. Jordan.

B. Major Tenets

The Christian Reconstructionists have themselves defined the major tenets of their system. They are presuppositional apologetics, predestination, their view of the abiding validity of the law in exhaustive detail, and postmillennialism. North writes,

Mr. Clapp lists three key doctrines of the Reconstructionists: presuppositional apologetics, biblical law, and postmillennialism. He left out one crucial doctrine: predestination. These were the four that David Chilton and I listed in our essay. "Apologetics and Strategy" in Christianity and Civilization 3 (1983).⁽²⁾

As we come to a preliminary assessment of Theonomy, we will comment further on these self-confessed distinctives of Christian Reconstruction.

II. A Preliminary Assessment of Theonomy

A. The Necessity of Honesty

There is a peculiar danger of caricaturing Christian Reconstructionism. This is aptly illustrated by the recent article in "Christianity Today" by Rodney Clapp and the rebuttal written by Gary North. They are entitled respectively "Democracy as Heresy" and "Honest Reporting as Heresy: My Response to Christianity Today."⁽³⁾

A number of misconceptions of the teaching of Christian Reconstructionism do exist and the Theonomic perspective seems unusually susceptible to misunderstanding. Some of these misconceptions are:

-- Theonomists do not believe in the separation of church and state.

-- Theonomists want to impose Christian government on the U. S. by force and revolution.

-- Theonomists are seeking a one-world Christian government.

-- Theonomists believe that the Mosaic Law should be the constitution of every nation.

-- Theonomists believe that we are saved by the law.

-- Theonomists believe that a terrible crisis will usher in the millennial period in the next few years.

Compare for other misconceptions Bahnsen's Preface to the Second Edition of Theonomy.⁽⁴⁾Each of these ideas is at best a half-truth. None are warranted by a fair assessment of the literature.

Why is Theonomy so susceptible to misunderstanding? Two reasons may be given. First, the Theonomists themselves are frequently guilty of violent or extreme rhetoric in their writings which gives unnecessary occasion for misunderstanding. Father Rushdoony set the course in this regard by charging Calvin with "heretical nonsense,"⁽⁵⁾ the Westminster Confession with "confusion" and "nonsense,"⁽⁶⁾ and those tainted with Pietism with being "nothing people, pious poops."⁽⁷⁾ North also illustrates this tendency by calling Meredith C. Kline and millions of other Christians "full-time Christian antinomians."⁽⁸⁾ He also offends by such descriptions as these of the Third World when he writes,

He is correct when he cites me as saying that the poverty of the Third World stems from its commitment to socialism and outright demonism. I have said that these societies are cursed. I would now add that the depopulation of central Africa from AIDS is a direct judgment of God on the universal promiscuity of these nations. God will not be mocked.⁽⁹⁾

James B. Jordan is known as a Theonomist, but in a letter to me he states, "I do not consider myself a Theonomist." Later he describes as a "borderline C[hristian] R[econstructionists]". Jordan states in the same letter, "I agree with you regarding the extreme rhetoric of many Christian Reconstructionists, and I have criticized it in print."⁽¹⁰⁾

The second reason which may be given for the frequent misrepresentation of Theonomy is that the position they are advocating runs completely against the grain of 20th century American thinking. Though it is no doubt true that they throw around the charge of "antinomianism" with undue frequency, the fact is that most American and evangelical thinking in our day is grossly sub-Biblical in its view of the law. Frequently one's reaction to those seeking to refute Theonomy is to feel more sympathy for the Theonomists than those attempting to refute their supposed heresies. Even at those points where one is disposed to disagree with them, for instance in their advocacy of civil punishment for public blasphemy or idolatry, the fact is that revered fathers in the Reformed faith agree with them and not the modern consensus. Further, the modern consensus against such things--no matter how much we may agree with it in practice--is often defended or based on ways of thinking that undermine basic truths of Christianity.

B. The Problem of Diversity

One major difficulty in critiquing Theonomy is the diversity of thought within the ranks of Christian Reconstructionists. One must be careful not to treat some particular application of the Mosaic Law, for instance, as standard among all Theonomists. There is substantial difference of opinion among "Theonomists" as to the specific application of Old Testament laws. Bahnsen makes this point in the Preface to the Second Edition of his Theonomy.

Our outline of the Theonomic perspective indicates that it pertains to fundamental, underlying ethical principles and is not, as such, committed to distinctive interpretations and applications of the Old Testament moral directives. In the nature of the case, these principles leave plenty of room for disagreements in Biblical exegesis (for prescriptive premises), observation of the world (for factual premises), and reasoning (for logically drawing an application). Thus Theonomists will not necessarily agree with each other's every interpretation and ethical conclusion. For instance, many (like myself) do not affirm R. J. Rushdoony's view of the dietary laws, Gary North's view of home mortgages, James Jordan's stance on automatic infant communion (without sessional examination), or David Chilton's attitudes toward bribery and "ripping off" the unbeliever. Nevertheless, all share the basic perspective reflected in the above ten propositions.⁽¹¹⁾

North distances himself from certain of Rushdoony's peculiarities:

So far as I know, all of the younger Reconstructionists reject Mr. Rushdoony's Armenian (note not Arminian) view of the patriarchal family (p. 19). This is a major area of disagreement within the Reconstructionist camp. The "Tyler Group," as well as Greg Bahnsen, holds to the biblical nuclear family, where the departure of sons and daughters to set up new covenantal family units (Gen. 2:24) establishes a clear covenantal break with parents. No man will tolerate living in his father's household with his wife and children unless forced to by custom or economics. Another Armenian church practice that the article refers to is the practice of sacrificing animals at the door of the church, which Rushdoony discusses in The Institutes of Biblical Law, pp. 782-3. Unquestionably, we in Tyler would utterly reject such a practice as heretical throwback to Old Testament "shadows" that were completely fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Christ. It is our rejection of Christ. It is our rejection of what Mr. Clapp correctly identifies as Rushdoony's "Armenian Connection" that ultimately led to the split in the Reconstructionist camp: Tyler vs. Vallecito.⁽¹²⁾

It is also well-known that Bahnsen as a believer in the Christian Sabbath⁽¹³⁾ disagrees with North's vitriolic attack on this doctrine.⁽¹⁴⁾ In fairness, therefore, to Theonomy one must distinguish their basic perspectives and their necessary applications from the particular applications or aberrations of individual writers.

C. The Difficulty of Volume

One cannot but be impressed by the enormous volume of literature that Christian Reconstructionism is spawning and much of it composed of technical theological writings. To make concrete the monumental size of the task, let it be noted that simply to read Rushdoony's Institutes and Bahnsen's Theonomy would mean reading well in excess of 1500 pages of technical theology. The sheer volume of literature is another difficulty standing in the way of accurate assessment.

D. The Urgency of the Study

One cannot, however, ignore the Christian Reconstructionists in the hope that they will go away. There is every indication that they are commanding more and more support and allegiance, or at least are having a formative impact on many prominent Christian leaders. Two prominent leaders who have felt their impact are, in fact, Pat Robertson and D. James Kennedy. In most, if not all of the conservative Presbyterian and Reformed denominations Theonomy is a very live issue. Bahnsen elaborately documents the debate stirred by his book alone in his Preface to the Second Edition of Theonomy.⁽¹⁵⁾

E. The Danger of Over-reaction

The clear and present danger of over-reacting to Theonomy has already been clearly illustrated in Calvinistic Baptist circles. Carl W. Bogue writing in the "Covenanter Witness" reminds us of this danger:

At the 1980 Council of Baptist Theology, Ronald McKinney, Jon Zens, and others known as Reformed Baptists charted a new course, denying their previously held commitment to covenant theology. McKinney and Zens told me privately what McKinney repeated in his opening address, namely, their conviction that covenant theology would of necessity lead to the doctrines of infant baptism and Theonomy. Since they were convinced these were wrong, they repudiated covenant theology.⁽¹⁶⁾

It is important that one face the issue of Theonomy now, before it is faced in the crucible of the pastorate. When one sees it creating division and disaster in the church or danger for the individual sheep, as it has in many cases, it is easy under the pressure of the pastorate to over-react theologically. If, however, we over-react to Theonomy, we may well throw out several babies with the bath water. While there is still much which one cannot accept and which on a practical level is of great concern, I personally have been surprised with how much agreement I had on the theoretical level with many Theonomic perspectives.

F. The Expression of Appreciation

It would be imbalanced and out of due perspective, if it were not noted that at a number of points those who embrace a "Theonomic" perspective are to be commended. As the previous delineation of the major tenets of Theonomy make clear, there is much with which one can find agreement in their writings. We wholeheartedly embrace both the Reformed doctrine of predestination and the consistently Reformed apologetic known as presuppositionalism. Furthermore, one cannot but appreciate the high supernaturalist, inerrancy view of Scripture so straightforwardly embraced and exemplified in their writings, especially when it is contrasted with that found in Neo-orthodox and Neo-evangelical writings. By way of contrast books like Bahnsen's Theonomy are a breath of fresh air. Further, no one with a Reformed bone in their body can fail to appreciate the consistent emphasis on the sovereign prerogatives of God and His Word over every area of human life whether it be civil, economic, or some other area.

Other areas of appreciation and agreement will be enunciated later. Though these points of agreement do not alleviate our deep concern over the points with which we differ, they do put into perspective the critique in which we are about to engage.

G. The Areas of Criticism

Having warned the student of the various pitfalls surrounding an evaluation of Theonomy and placed the present critique into perspective, it is now necessary to articulate two areas which are to be addressed critically in this assessment of Theonomy. Speaking very generally those areas are their postmillennialism and their view of biblical law. In the remaining two major sections of this assessment these two areas will be addressed under the headings:

Section 2: Theonomic Postmillennialism

Section 3: Theonomy, Theocracy, and Society

Section 2: Theonomic Postmillennialism

I. Presented

In the interest of fairness and clarity, it is well to begin by permitting Christian Reconstructionists to speak for themselves. Having permitted both Rushdoony and North to describe in their own terms the nature of their postmillennialism, we will conclude this presentation by observing three features of their eschatology.

Rushdoony in his popular booklet entitled The Meaning of Postmillennialism: God's Plan for Victory presents his eschatology in stark contrast to all defeatist eschatologies whether premillennial or amillennial. Speaking of these other eschatologies, he says,

In theory, the amillennial position holds that there is a parallel development of good and evil, of God's Kingdom and Satan's Kingdom. In reality, amillennialism holds that the major area of growth and power is in Satan's Kingdom, because the world is seen as progressively falling away to Satan, the church's trials and tribulations increasing, and the end of the world finding the church lonely and sorely beset. There is no such thing as a millennium or a triumph of Christ and His Kingdom in history. The role of the saints is at best to grin and bear it, and more likely to be victims and martyrs. The world will go from bad to worse in the pessimistic viewpoint. The Christian must retreat from the world of action in the realization that there is no hope for this world, no world-wide victory of Christ's cause, nor world peace and righteousness. The law of God is irrelevant, because there is no plan of conquest, no plan of triumph in Christ's name and power. At best, God's law is a plan for private morality, not for men and nations in their every aspect. Not surprisingly, amillennialism produces a retreating and crabbed outlook, a church in which men have no thought of victory but only of endless nit-picking about trifles. It produces a phariseeism of men who believe they are the elect in a world headed for hell, a select elite who must withdraw from the futility of the world around them. It produces what can be called an Orthodox Pharisees Church, wherein failure is a mark of election. Lest this seem an exaggeration, one small denomination has a habit of regarding pastors who produce growth in their congregations with some suspicion, because it is openly held by many pastors that growth is a mark of compromise, whereas incompetence and failure are marks of election! Amillennial pastors within this church regularly insist that success surely means compromise, and their failures are a mark of purity and election. Not surprisingly, postmillennials cannot long remain in this basically and almost exclusively amillennial church.

Let us now examine some common traits of amillennialism and premillennialism. First, both regard attempts to build a Christian society or to further Christian reconstruction as either futile or wrong. If God has decreed that the world's future is one of downward spiral, then indeed Christian reconstruction is futile. As a prominent premillennial pastor and radio preacher, the Rev. J. Vernon McGee declared in the early 1950's, "You don't polish brass on a sinking ship." If the world is a sinking ship, then efforts to eliminate prostitution, crime, or any kind of social evil, and to expect the Christian conquest of the social order, are indeed futile."⁽¹⁷⁾

He concludes this booklet with a summary of his own eschatology,

Post-millennialism is the faith that Christ will through His people accomplish and put into force the glorious prophecies of Isaiah and all the Scriptures, that He shall overcome all His enemies through His covenant people, and that He shall exercise His power and Kingdom in all the world and over all men and nations, so that, whether in faith or in defeat, every knee shall bow to Him and every tongue shall confess God (Rom. 14:11; Phil. 2:11). . . .

How is Christ's Kingdom to come? Scripture is again very definite and explicit. The glorious peace and prosperity of Christ's reign will be brought about ONLY as people obey the covenant law. In Lev. 26, Deut. 28, and all of Scripture, this is plainly stated. There will be peace and prosperity in the land, the enemy will be destroyed, and men will be free of evils only "If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them (Lev. 26:3). The obedience of faith to the law of God produces IRRESISTIBLE BLESSINGS. "And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God" (Deut. 28:2). On the other hand, disobedience leads to IRRESISTIBLE CURSES. . . .

God's determination of history is thus plainly described in His law. If we believe and obey, then we are blessed and we prosper in Him; if we deny Him and disobey His law, we are cursed and confounded. . . .

. . . Antinomian postmillennials deny the God-given way to God's Kingdom when they by-pass the law. In effect, they posit without reference to it, a rapture! How else is the world going to move from its present depravity into God's order? Are we going to float in on vague prayers and "higher-life" spirituality? The antinomian postmillennials have no answer.

The charge is often raised that the postmillennialism of colonial and 19th century Calvinism led to the Social Gospel of the 20th century. No one has documented this charge, which is obviously false. The Hodges, Warfield, Machen, and others were not the source of the Social Gospel, and were hostile to it. The roots of that movement are in Arminianism, and, very directly, in that notable humanist-revivalist, C. G. Finney.⁽¹⁸⁾

North in his popularization of Theonomy gives this summary of his eschatological outlook,

But it isn't enough to proclaim the foundations of a godly society, nor is it sufficient to describe some of the institutional arrangements of such a society. What is needed is a dynamic, a psychologically motivating impulse to give godly men confidence that their efforts are not in vain, and that their work for the kingdom of God will have meaning in the future, not just in heaven, but in time and on earth. We need a goal to sacrifice for, a standard of performance that is at the same time a legitimate quest. What is needed is confidence that all this talk about the marvels of the kingdom of God becomes more than mere talk. What is needed is a view of history that guarantees to Christians external, visible victory, in time and on earth, as a prelude, a down payment, to the absolute and eternal victory which Christians are confident awaits them after the day of judgment. . . .

. . . What if the following scenario were the case? First, God saves men through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Second, these men respond in faith to God's dominion assignment, given to us through our fathers, Adam, Noah, and Christ in the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Third, these regenerate men begin to study the law of God, subduing their own hearts, lives, and areas of responsibility in terms of God's comprehensive law-order. Fourth, the blessings of God begin to flow toward these who are acting in His name and in terms of His law. Fifth, the stewardship principle of "service as a road to leadership" begins to be acknowledged by those who call themselves Christian, in every sphere of life: family, institutional church, schools, civil government, economy. This leads to step six, the rise to prominence of Christians in every sphere of life, as Satanists become increasingly impotent to handle the crises that their world-and-life view has created. Seventh, the law of God is imposed progressively across the face of each society which has declared commitment to Christ. Eighth, this provokes foreign nations to jealousy, and they begin to imitate the Christian social order, in order to receive the external blessings. Ninth, even the Jews are provoked to jealousy, and they convert to Christ. Tenth, the conversion of the Jews leads to an unparalleled explosion of conversions, followed by even greater external blessings. Eleventh, the kingdom of God becomes worldwide in scope, serving as a down payment by God to His people on the restoration which will come beyond the day of judgment. Twelfth, the forces of Satan have something to provoke them to rebellion, after generations of subservience outwardly to the benefits-producing law of God. Thirteenth, this rebellion by Satan is immediately smashed by Christ in His final return in glory and judgment. Fourteenth, Satan, his troops of angels, and his human followers are judged, and then condemned to the lake of fire. And finally, fifteenth, God sets up His new heaven and new earth, for regenerate men to serve in throughout all eternity. . . .

. . .If men really believed that this scenario is possible--indeed, inevitable--would they not redouble their efforts to begin to subdue the earth?⁽¹⁹⁾

Later in the same book North elaborates upon this summary.⁽²⁰⁾

Three features of this eschatological outlook must now be underscored. The first is its ethical rationale or, at least its intimate ethical association. Theonomic postmillennialists believe their system is demanded or, at least strongly commended by its power to motivate men to keep God's law in every worldly sphere of life. This is a thread which runs throughout Rushdoony's The Meaning of Postmillennialism.⁽²¹⁾ North's description of his eschatological outlook as "dynamic, a psychologically motivating impulse" makes this explicit. Theonomists reason that since the dominion mandate of Genesis 1 demands that we subdue every area of life to God by means of His law, then that eschatology which most encourages us to do so must be the best and most Biblical eschatology.

The second feature which emerges from these quotations is the self-conscious peculiarity of Theonomic postmillennialism. Though they can cite those like Jonathan Edwards whom they call "pietistic postmillennialists" when it suits them,⁽²²⁾ the quote from Rushdoony above evinces a self-conscious distance from those whom Rushdoony calls "antinomian postmillennialists." North in another work identifies Jonathan Edwards himself with such pietistic, antinomian postmillennialists. Chilton writes in his book, Days of Vengeance,

The great defect with the postmillennial revival inaugurated by Jonathan Edwards and his followers in the eighteenth century was their neglect of biblical law. They expected to see the blessings of God come as a result of merely soteriological preaching. Look at Edwards' Treatise on the Religious Affections. There is nothing on the law of God on culture. Page after page is filled with the words "sweet" and "sweetness." a diabetic reader is almost risking a relapse by reading this book in one sitting. The words sometimes appear four or five times on a page. And while Edwards was preaching the sweetness of God, Arminian semi-literates were "hot-gospeling" the Holy Commonwealth of Connecticut into political antinomianism. Where sweetness and emotional hot flashes are concerned, Calvinistic preaching is no match for antinomian sermons. The hoped-for revival of the 1700s became the Arminian revivals of the early 1800s, leaving emotionally burned-over districts, cults, and the abolitionist movement as their devastating legacy. Because the postmillennial preaching of the Edwardians was culturally antinomian and pietistic, it crippled the remnants of Calvinistic political order in the New England colonies, helping to produce a vacuum that Arminianism and then Unitarianism filled.⁽²³⁾

It is clear that one peculiarity of Theonomic postmillennialism is its emphasis on the application of Biblical law to every area of human life as the means of bringing about millennial blessing. As North is fond of reminding us, the law is man's instrument or "tool of dominion."⁽²⁴⁾

This feature of Theonomic postmillennialism will be taken up in Section 3 of this assessment where we deal with the subject of the "Theocracy." As the quote from Rushdoony makes clear the full, present applicability of the blessings described in Lev. 26 and Deut. 28 (and there promised to the obedience of Israel, the Theocratic nation), is the crucial link which connects obedience to the law with millennial blessing. North seconds Rushdoony's point.

God established His covenant with Adam, and again with Noah. It was a dominion covenant. It was man's authorization to subdue the earth, but under God's overall authority and under His law. God also covenanted with Abram, changing his name to Abraham, and instituting the sign of His covenant, circumcision. He covenanted with Jacob, Abraham's grandson, changing his name to Israel, promising to bless Jacob's efforts (Genesis 32:24-30). God covenanted with Moses and the children of Israel, promising to bless them if they conformed to His laws, but curse them if they disobeyed (Deuteronomy 8:28). The covenant was a treaty, and it involved mutual obligations and promises. The ruler, God, offers the peace treaty to a man or selection of men, and they in turn accept its terms of surrender. The treaty spells out mutual obligations: protection and blessings from the King, and obedience on the part of the servants. It also spells out the term of judgement: cursings from the King in case of rebellion on the part of the servants.

This same covenant is extended to the church to day. It covers the institutional church, and it also applies to nations that agree to conform their laws to God's standards . . . .

The law of God also provides us with a tool of external dominion. God promises blessings for that society which surrenders unconditionally to Him, and then adopts the terms of His peace treaty (Deuteronomy 8 and 28).

Fourth, the blessings of God begin to flow in the direction of His people. "A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just" (Proverbs 13:22). As Benjamin Franklin said, honesty is the best policy. Capital flows to those who will bear responsibility, predict the future accurately, plan to meet the needs of consumers with a minimum of waste, and deal honestly with both suppliers and customers. Again, Deuteronomy 8 and 28 show us the nature of this wealth-transfer process. This wealth-transfer program is through market completion and conformity to God's law. Satan's kingdom is progressively decapitalized.⁽²⁵⁾

This use of Deut. 28 and parallel passages is a critical linchpin in the Theonomic argument for postmillennialism.

The third feature of Theonomic postmillennialism which must be underscored, though implicit in the above quotations, is not explicit. It is their rejection of what Chilton calls "Chiliastic Postmillennialism."⁽²⁶⁾ Rather, they argue for the historical continuity of the present age until the return of Christ after their golden age. They reject the idea that the millennium or at least the future millennial blessings are to be brought in by a single catastrophic event. Chilton in his commentary on the Book of Revelation writing on Rev. 20 asserts,

Millennarianism can take two general forms. It can be either Premillennarianism (with the Second Coming as the cataclysm that ushers in the Millennium), or Postmillennarianism (with the Social Revolution as the cataclysm). Examples of the first branch of Chiliasm would be, of course, the Ebionite movement of the Early Church period, and the modern Dispensationalism of the Scofield-Ryrie school. Examples of the Postmillennarian heresy would be easy to name as well: the Munster Revolt of 1534, Nazism, and Marxism (whether "Christian" or otherwise). Orthodox Christianity rejects both forms of the Millennarian heresy. Christianity opposes the notion of any new redemptive cataclysm occurring before the Last Judgment. Christianity is anti-revolutionary. Thus, while Christians have always looked forward to the salvation of the world, believing that Christ died and rose again for that purpose, they have also seen the Kingdom's work as leavening influence, gradually transforming the world into the image of God. The definitive cataclysm has already taken place, in the finished work of Christ. Depending on the specific question being asked, therefore, orthodox Christianity can be considered either amillennial or postmillennial because, in reality, it is both. . . .

With the rise of divergent eschatologies over the last two centuries, the traditional evangelical optimism of the Church was tagged with the term "postmillennialism," whether the so-called "postmillennialists" liked it or not. This has had positive results. On the plus side, it is (as we have seen) a technically accurate description of orthodoxy; and it carries the connotation of optimism. On the minus side, it can too often be confused with heretical millennarianism. And, while, "amillennialism" rightly expresses the orthodox abhorrence of apocalyptic revolution, it carries (both by name and by historic association) a strong connotation of defeatism. The present writer therefore calls himself a "postmillennialist," but also seeks to be sensitive to the inadequacies of current theological terminology. . . .

Some have sought to remedy this by styling themselves "optimistic amillennialists," a term that has nothing wrong with it except a mouthful of syllables (the term "non-chiliastic postmillennialist" suffers from the same problem.)⁽²⁷⁾

North likewise argues from the parables of Matt. 13.

If we are to take the parables seriously, then we have to begin to think about the continuity of history in between Pentecost and the final judgment. If there is no great break coming which will divide this period into two or more segments, then whatever happens to the world, the flesh, the devil, and the church (institutional) must happen without direct, cataclysmic intervention, either from God or Satan. The process will be one of growth or decay. The process may be an ebb and flow, heading for victory for the church or defeat for the church, in time and on earth. But what cannot possibly be true is that the church's victory process or defeat process will be interrupted and reversed by the direct, visible physical intervention of Jesus Christ and His angels. No discontinuity of history which overcomes the very processes of history in one cataclysmic break will take place. Christians must not base their hopes for collective or personal victory on an historically unprecedented event in history which is in fact the destruction of history. They will sink or swim, win or lose, in time and on earth, by means of the same sorts of processes as we see today, although the speed will increase or decrease in response to man's ethical conformity to God's law, or his rebellion against that law.⁽²⁸⁾

The Theonomic writers we have quoted are to be commended for avoiding a clearly unbiblical extremism and their attempt to embrace a Biblical perspective essentially alien to their own in certain respects.

II. Critiqued

The time has come to critique the eschatological outlook outlined above. It is unnecessary to delve into the obscure details of biblical prophecy in order to secure an evaluative basis for this critique. We shall limit this critique to examining three fundamental structures in Biblical Eschatology. With this data several aspects of Theonomic postmillennialism may be challenged.

A. Postmillennialism and the Two-Age Structure of Redemptive History

A thorough examination of this vital aspect of Eschatology must await the formal treatment it is given in the Eschatology Course in Systematic Theology. Here the relevant features of it for the issue at hand may be more briefly presented. Those features will be presented by way of an introduction and four propositions.

Introduction:

The terminology under discussion, "this age and the age to come," was in all probability developed by Jewish Scribes of the Inter-testamental period in order to give systematic structure to their view of OT Prophecy. They noticed that again and again the present order of sin and distress was contrasted with a future order variously described as the era of Israel's redemption, the age of salvation, or the Kingdom of God. This contrast they called the distinction between this age and the age to come.

Its earliest usage in the extant evidence is, however, by Jesus. Clearly, Jesus and after Him His Apostles adopted this terminology and thereby sealed it with the divine imprimatur as the correct scheme of OT Prophecy. This terminology or parts of it are used 18 times in the NT. Parallel phraseology adds many more occurrences to this list. This terminology is, therefore, pervasive in the NT and structural to its eschatological perspective.

The key word in this terminology is the Greek word . It combines the two ideas, age and world. That is to say, it is at one and the same time both a spatial and temporal designation (Gal. 1:4; Lk. 20:35). This in itself is intensely significant. For by using the phrase, "the age to come," of the eternal state the Bible clearly designates it as a temporal and spatial existence.

Gary North repeatedly avails himself of the phraseology, "in time and on earth," to speak of and insist upon the coming of millennial blessing in this age.⁽²⁹⁾ Though one does not need to assume that North believes that the eternal state is a non-time and non-earth existence purely on the basis of his repeated usage of this phraseology, nonetheless it is symptomatic of a tendency among postmillennialists to refuse to allow the eternal state to count with reference to the fulfillment of the dominion mandate or the coming of kingdom blessings. More shall be said about this later, but let it suffice to say here that spatial and temporal existence in the new and redeemed earth does count in the Bible for the fulfillment of the dominion mandate and the historical culmination of God's Kingdom. We agree with North that we need an eschatology of victory in time and on earth.⁽³⁰⁾ This, however, does not mean that we need Postmillennialism.

This being said, we come to the first perspective ...

1. This age and the age to come taken together exhaust all time, including the endless time of the eternal state. (Mt. 12:32, cf. Mk. 3:29; 10:30, parallel, Lk. 18:30, I Tim. 6:17-19).

There is a subordinate question that needs to be answered here. When did "this age" begin? I have assumed that this age began with the beginning of human history in the above statement. How do I know this to be the case?

Let me state clearly, first of all, what I believe the Bible teaches. "This age" begins at the beginning of human history in the creation-fall complex, (i.e., that complex of events we read about in Gen. 1-3). My point is that "this age" did not begin at the time of Christ's first advent, but was in existence even from the beginning.

1) The origin of this terminology proves this. "This age and the age to come" was a terminology which systematized the Old Testament contrast between the present existing state of things and the future redeemed order.

Old Testament - Present Order Redeemed Order

__________________________________________________________

Rabbis - This Age The Age to come

This means that "this age" already was in existence in the Old Testament period.

2) The use of this terminology in the New Testament proves this. Jesus and the Apostles never teach that this present age is of recent origin. From the very beginning Jesus assumes that this age is already in existence. (Cf. Mt. 12:32; Mk. 10:30.)

3) The character of this age points to the conclusion that it originated in the complex of creation-fall recorded in Gen. 1-3. It is the natural order of Creation, "the sons of this age marry." "Those who are rich in this age." It is the evil order produced by the Fall. It is a "present, evil age," with Satan as its "god." Note the parallel with the Old Creation--New Creation terminology.

Let me pause to summarize what the first statement teaches us. "This age and the age to come" originated at the beginning of human history and exhaust all periods of human existence to all eternity. Note Mt. 12:32 with Mk. 10:30. If the two ages exhaust all possible time, there is no possibility of a state intermediate between them. There is no period of human history before "this age." There is no period between "this age and the age to come." There is no period after "the age to come." It is eternal. Vos confirms this.

We have already seen that the distinction between "this age" and "the age to come" lies in the line of successiveness. Where, and as soon as, the one ceases, the other begins, or at least is at the point of beginning. The very name "coming aion" is not merely expressive of futurity, but also carries within itself the element of direct successiveness.⁽³¹⁾

2. This age and the age to come are qualitatively different states of human existence and qualitatively different periods in the history of the world.

This age does not evolve through natural or gradual process into the age to come. The difference is that between the natural and the supernatural order. The crucial passage here is Luke 20:27-40. What are the differences between this age and the age to come according to this passage?

This AgeThe Age to Come

1. Marriage and giving 1. No marriage or giving

in marriage in marriage

2. Death and dying 2. No death or dying

3. Natural men 3. Resurrected men

4. Sons of the devil 4. Only sons of God exist in that and righteous co-exist age and in a resurrected state

Cf., the parable of the tares in Mt. 13:24-30; 36-43

SowingHarvest

1. Mixed good and evil 1. Only the good.

2. Natural men 2. Resurrected men

We might add to this contrast from other passages like 1 Tim. 6:17-19:

Riches of this age/Life indeed Cf. also Lk. 16:8, 11.

3. This age and the age to come are divided by the second coming of Christ which ends this age and inaugurates the age to come.

A sampling of the support for this assertion follows:

Luke 20:35

Attaining to that age is equivalent to attaining to the resurrection of the dead. The resurrection is the door out of this age, and into the age to come. When does the resurrection occur? It occurs according to the pervasive teaching of the New Testament at Christ's return. (Cf. 1 Cor. 15:22, 23; 1 Cor. 15:50-55; 1 Thes. 4:16.)

Matthew 13:39-43

These verses refer to the same event as Lk. 20:35. They are clearly a reference to the second coming of Christ, Cf. Mt. 24:30, 31.

Mark 10:30

In the age to come we receive eternal life. This occurs at Christ's second coming. (Cf. Mt. 25:31 with vs. 46.)

Titus 2:12

This verse clearly implies that the second coming consummates this age and brings in the age to come in its fullness. Cf. Mt. 28:20.

John 6:39 says, "And this is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day." The last day of this age is the day of Christ's second coming and it is the first day of the age to come. We remind ourselves again that there is no period between this age and the age to come. Three observations are appropriate here.

1) Simplicity

Many have thought that prophecy, eschatology, was complicated. What could be simpler than this? Only two ages, not 7, 10, 12, 21 or more. There couldn't be a simpler eschatology. The unlearned and fearful may put their fears and assumptions that biblical eschatology is too complex for them aside. There are two ages, one temporal and natural, the other eternal and supernatural, separated by the second coming and resurrection. If one knows this, one knows more than most "prophetic teachers" and "prophecy nuts" of our day. It is men who have made eschatology difficult, not God. Of course difficulties of detail, exegetical and doctrinal, remain. One must, however, put off for awhile the puzzles and questions regarding the details and intricacies of prophecy. First things first. Algebra 1 and 2 must precede trigonometry.

The Bible teaches a very clear-cut and humiliatingly simple scheme. If this scheme is grasped in its breadth, many of the details will be clarified.

2) Similarity

On the simplest level there are two basic schemes of prophecy:

ChiliasmAnti-Chiliasm

Premillennialism Non-Premillennialism

What are the essentials of Pre-millennialism? They are a thousand year reign after the second coming of Christ before the eternal state. This is the meaning of Rev. 20:1-10 according to Premillennialism. Note that in Premillenialism unresurrected, evil men inhabit the millennial period according to that passage.

Is the biblical doctrine of two ages similar or consistent with this teaching of premillennialism? No. The doctrine of the two ages confronts premillennialism with a dilemma. Let us suppose we are premillennialist. Where would we put the millennium? In this age or in the age to come? Why not in this age? Because the millennium occurs after Christ's second coming. Why not in the age to come? Because no wicked men in an unresurrected condition remain in that age.

3) Supernaturalism

Biblical eschatology involves an emphatic supernaturalism. There is no evolution into the age to come. No naturalistic or materialistic explanation for the glory that shall be revealed. Furthermore, no spiritual progression brings in the consummate Kingdom of God.

4. This age is and always will be an evil age.

In Luke 16:8 evil men are called the sons of this age and contrasted with the sons of light. In Mark 10:30 and Luke 18:30 we learn that those who have left all for Christ can always expect persecutions in this age. As long as this age lasts persecution will be the lot of true Christians. In Romans 12:2 Paul exhorts Christians not to be conformed to this age. How could Paul have used such language if he did not believe that this age will always be an evil age? In 2 Cor. 4:4 Satan is identified as the god of this age. It is therefore necessarily evil. In Galatians 1:4 Paul calls this age a present, evil age. In Ephesians 2:2 Paul describes the former, wicked lives of Ephesians believers as walking according to the age of this world. Such passages as these presuppose and assume that this present age is, and always will be, evil. If this were not the case, there might come a day when the persecution of Christians would cease, when it would not be wrong to be conformed to this age, when Satan would not be its god, when Paul's description of it as evil would cease to be true, and when one could walk according to the age of this world and be righteous. All this defies the plain implications and presuppositions of these passages.

All of this, of course, has direct application to any form of postmillennialism, but it also has specific application to Theonomic postmillennialism. When North speaks as follows of the millennial blessings he expects, he defies the plain sense of the Word. He says,

. . . the kingdom of God becomes truly worldwide in scope. This involves the beginning of the restoration of the cursed world. The curse will then be lifted progressively by God. One result is longer life spans for man. This is a downpayment on the paradise to come after the final judgment.⁽³²⁾

We will have occasion to return to this interesting statement. It is clear, however, that the curse is lifted during the course of this present evil age which has Satan as its god. Further, it is doubtful whether North may legitimately speak of a yet future, but pre-second coming progressive lifting of the curse consistent with his stated position that there is no radical historical discontinuity, no divine and supernatural intervention in history between the two advents of Christ.⁽³³⁾ But that brings us to the second fundamental structure of Eschatology which is relevant for this critique of Theonomic postmillennialism.

B. Postmillennialism and the Two-stage Coming of the Kingdom

Properly understood, no more complete or clear teaching on the coming of the kingdom occurs in the NT than that of the seven parables of the kingdom found in Matthew 13. It is peculiarly appropriate that we should examine these parables since Gary North makes them the subject of extended comment in Unconditional Surrender.

The theme of these parables is pervasively present in Matthew 13. It is the Kingdom, or more precisely, the coming of the Kingdom. Cf. verses 11, 16, 17, 19, 24, 31, 32, 44, 45, 52. We will treat this theme by means of four points.

1. Their Common Emphasis.

2. Their Specific Emphases.

3. Their Comprehensive Teaching.

4. Their Present Relevance.

1. Their Common Emphasis

The common emphasis of these parables flows from the fact that they all address the same problem or question. This question flowed out of the historical situation in which Jesus and his disciples found themselves. The Jews in general conceived of the coming of the Kingdom as a glorious deliverance from all their troubles. Political and temporal victory would be its results (John 6:15; Acts 5:35-39). Even those Jews with a more spiritual expectation like that of John the Baptist viewed its coming as equivalent to the judgment of the wicked with irresistible might (Matt. 3:2-12.) In such a context, Jesus came preaching the nearness and then the actual coming of the Kingdom (Matt. 4:17; Mt. 12:28, 29). A man like John the Baptist gladly embraced Jesus as the one who would usher in the glorious and irresistible coming of the Kingdom. But when Jesus continued to preach and even preach the actual presence of the Kingdom (Mt. 12:28f.) without the onset of the glorious consummation, John the Baptist with such preconceptions began to have doubts (Matthew 11:2-6), 11. Verse 11 refers to knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom. If a man like John would struggle with the seeming inconsistency of Jesus' preaching of the Kingdom with what the Old Testament itself had led the Jews to expect (Dan. 2:44), Jesus' disciples would not be immune to the same doubts. The question was: How could the all-conquering, glorious eschatological Kingdom of God be present in the former in the former carpenter turned itinerant preacher and his Galilean followers? Compare Ladd:

While the parable may have an application to the gospel in the world during the church age as older interpreters thought, this is not its historical meaning. The Sitz im Leben of the parable is Jesus' announcement that the Kingdom of God had come among men. The Jews thought that the coming of the Kingdom would mean the exercise of God's mighty power before which no man could stand. The Kingdom of God would batter the godless nations (Dan. 2:44). The dominion of wicked rulers would be destroyed and the Kingdom be given to the saints of the Most High, that all nations should serve and obey them (Dan. 7:27). In apparent disagreement with the Old Testament promises, which were elaborated in great detail in the contemporary apocalyptic expectations, Jesus said that the Kingdom had indeed come upon men, but not for the purpose of shattering evil. It is now attended by no apocalyptic display of irresistible power.⁽³⁴⁾

Ridderbos says that the problem addressed is the "modality of the coming of the Kingdom of God."⁽³⁵⁾ The common emphasis of these parables is that the Kingdom has come and is present, but that this is inseparably related to its future, glorious consummation. It is present in its initial phase, in other words, in a form mostly unexpected by the Jews.

2. Their Specific Emphases

Each of the parables picks up this common emphasis and elaborates it in its own peculiar fashion.

a. The Parable of the Four Soils.

This parable's emphasis is that the Kingdom of heaven is present in the sowing of the Word of God. Ladd asserts, the single emphasis is upon the nature of sowing: The present action of God's Kingdom.⁽³⁶⁾

Ridderbos adds,⁽³⁷⁾

It is "the word," the "word of God," "the word of the kingdom," the decisive, messianic word of power that Christ, as the Son of Man, has to say on earth and in which eo ipso the kingdom of heaven is revealed and has come. And the fact that this word can be compared to seed, and he who speaks the word to a sower, is the instruction about the modality of the kingdom of heaven that has come with and in Christ. This is the redemptive-historical purport of the parable. Its spectacular aspect is its simplicity which is the confirmation of the incomprehensible supposition: this is the way of the kingdom of God, "A sower went out to sow -- and nothing further; and this means the new world of God."

The emphasis is elaborated in two directions. First, the presence of the Kingdom is consistent with the rejection of the Word and its consequent fruitlessness in the lives of some who hear it. Ladd remarks,

Rather, the Kingdom in its present working is like a farmer sowing seed. It does not sweep away the wicked. In fact, the word in which the Kingdom is proclaimed may lie like seed on the roadside and never take root; or it may be superficially received only to die; or it may be choked by the cares of the age, which is hostile to the Kingdom of God.⁽³⁸⁾

If the Kingdom is present as sowing, such fruitlessness is explicable. Second, the presence of the Kingdom is yet vindicated by the amazing fruitfulness of the Word in those who receive it.

b. The Parable of the Tares

This parable elaborates what was implicit in the first one. The Kingdom of God comes in two stages. It will come as the eschatological harvest, but it must for that very reason come first as seed-time. Extraordinary as the thought must have seemed to the Jewish mind, until that time, good and evil men will co-exist in the world in the time of the Kingdom. The coming of the Kingdom does not mean the immediate destruction of the wicked. The Messiah comes first as sower than as harvester. It is not his will that the wicked be immediately destroyed.

Ridderbos says,

The issue between the servants and the landlord is not the question who is to execute the separation, nor what kind of separation it is to be, but when it will happen. Though the servants desire to carry out an immediate separation, the landlord determines that it shall be postponed till the day of the harvest, for--thus he tells his servants--you might pull out the wheat in gathering the tares. . . .

. . . Since the kingdom comes like the seed, and since the Son of Man is first the sower (vs. 37) before being the reaper (vs. 41) the last judgment is postponed. The delay is implied in this difference. Whoever sows cannot immediately reap. The postponement of the judgment is determine by the modality of the kingdom of God that has already come with Christ.⁽³⁹⁾

Ladd remarks,

The meaning of the parable is clear when interpreted in terms of the mystery of the Kingdom: its present but secret working in the world. The Kingdom has come into history but in such a way that society is not disrupted. The sons of the Kingdom have received God's reign and entered into its blessings. Yet they must continue to live in this age, intermingled with the wicked in a mixed society. Only at the eschatological coming of the Kingdom will the separation take place. Here is indeed the revelation of a new truth: that the Kingdom of God can actually come into the world, creating sons who enjoy its blessings without effecting the eschatological judgment.⁽⁴⁰⁾

c. The Parable of the Dragnet

The point of this parable is almost, if not completely, synonymous with that of the Tares. Not only in agriculture, but also in fishing, two distinct phases occur. First, there is gathering, then there is separating. Until the time of separation, good and bad co-exist together.

d. The Parables of the Treasure and the Pearl.

Two related emphases are present in these twin parables. First, Jesus intimates that the Kingdom is present in a hidden and unexpected form. (vs. 44, "treasure hidden in the field," vs. 45, "Finding one pearl"). Second, Jesus declares that in order to possess the Kingdom there will be the need of total sacrifice. To a Jew with ideas of a glorious, earthly kingdom, possessing the Kingdom meant glory, riches, fame, and honor. Jesus said a flat "no" to that idea. Possessing the Kingdom would rather mean the total sacrifice of this world's possessions.

e. The Parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven.

The main emphasis of these parables is again that the Kingdom comes in two phases. More especially, Jesus is affirming that the present, apparent insignificance of he himself and his followers is no bar to their being the present manifestation of that Kingdom which would one day attain supreme dominance. Jesus' answer is first the seed, then the tree. First the absurdly small bit of leaven in over a bushel of meal and then the whole leavened. Ladd says,

The burning question faced by Jesus' disciples was how the Kingdom of God could actually be present in such an insignificant movement as that embodied in his ministry. The Jews expected the Kingdom to be like a great tree under which nations would find shelter. They could not understand how one could talk about the Kingdom apart from such an all-encompassing manifestation of God's rule. How could the coming glorious Kingdom have anything to do with the poor little band of Jesus' disciples? Rejected by the religious leaders, welcomed by tax collectors and sinners, Jesus looked more like a deluded dreamer than the bearer of the Kingdom of God.⁽⁴¹⁾

Jesus answer is, first the tiny seed, later the large tree. The smallness and relative insignificance of what is happening in his ministry does not exclude the secret presence of the very Kingdom of God.

The parallel with the parables of the tares and dragnet shows that the ultimate triumph in view is that of the age to come, the consummate Kingdom. It is not the golden age of the Post-millennialists.

While rejecting the post-millennial interpretation of these parables, the question of whether Jesus is here emphasizing the growth of the Kingdom must still be answered. In other words, Jesus' primary stress is on the beginning and the end, but does he also stress the middle period, the growth of the Kingdom? Ladd rejects this idea of process.⁽⁴²⁾

The idea of process or growth, however, demands neither Post- millenialism, nor evolutionary theory. There may be progress without post-millenialism. The framework of seed-time and harvest illustrates the idea of a process of maturation. It is noteworthy, however, that such a process of maturation by itself would never bring harvest. There must be the direct intervention of the harvester.

Evolutionary theory is not necessary either. It is the direct activity of God and His word of power that brings both growth and harvest. It is not an immanent evolution, but an action of the transcendent God through His word that brings the Kingdom. Ridderbos says,

Yet it is unnatural to have an eye only for the beginning and the end and to eliminate at all cost all that lies in between. Everything depends upon the idea that is formed of the way in which progress is made from the small beginning to the wonderful end. For the fact that the final coming of the kingdom is entirely based on God's action shows that the end is not the completion of an immanent process of development. And this is also true of the beginning. The whole of the manifestation of the kingdom is the fruit of divine action. The seed is the word of God spoken by Christ with authority. This word of power will one day make all things new. But between the beginning and the end there is a history. In this history the word has made progress and has had its effect. This progress cannot be thought of in the sense of the modern idea of evolution, but in that of the plan and work of God.⁽⁴³⁾

The following exegetical considerations point to the presence of the idea of growth in this passage:

1) The Parable of the Sower implies the germinal power, the amazing fruitfulness of the Word. Cf. Mt. 13:8, 23. But note that growth and progress co-exists with the reality of fruitlessness in this parable.

2) The parallel occurrence of the Parable of the Mustard Seed in Mark 4:30-32 gives a clearer emphasis to the idea of growth by its use of three, durative present tenses in verse 32.

3) The context of Mark 4:30-32 points to the idea of growth. Cf. the parable found in 4:26-29. The term, , and the delineation of three stages of growth point up the idea of growth.

4) The context of the Parable of the Mustard Seed as it is found in Luke 13:18-20. Note the connection between verse 10-17 and verses 18-20. Those verses emphasize the present power of Jesus' word to heal the sick, humiliate his enemies and gladden the multitude with the word of salvation.

5) The allusion to such parables as that of the mustard seed in Col. 1:6, 10, 11 confirms the presence of the growth idea in them. Note the verbal parallels of with Matthew 13:32 and with Matthew 13:23.

3. Their Comprehensive Teaching

Taken together these parables give us a comprehensive view of the Kingdom. With respect to the prospects of the Kingdom during this age, both pessimism and unalloyed optimism must be rejected. A realistic optimism is, however, warranted by these parables. Growth and progress will occur, but not such growth or progress as will supersede the problems which confronted the early followers of Jesus and their faith. For many, the word will continue fruitless. Good and evil will continue to co-exist in the world and in the community created by the Kingdom. Sacrifice will always be the order of the day for those who would possess the Kingdom. Yet, in many, the word will cause extraordinary and fruitful effects and over-all growth will continue.

THE KINGDOM

(Over-all Picture)

1 2

s n

t d

P P

H H

A A

S S

E E

KEY

Mixture of Good and Evil Growth of

= Sacrifice for Kingdom = Kingdom

Fruitlessness of Word Amazing Fruitfulness

/Judgment of all the wicked

= Consummate Kingdom-Separation of righteous and wicked

\Glory of Righteous

4. Their Present Relevance

North--to do justice to him--does emphasize the idea of historical continuity present in these parables. He rejects any Premillennial and by implication any Postmillennial disruption of the historical continuity which these parables teach will obtain until the absolute consummation.⁽⁴⁴⁾He, of course, also emphasizes the growth of the Kingdom as it is set forth in the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven. It is, however, at this point that North's treatment becomes imbalanced. The fact is that two other ideas are taught very clearly in these parables. One is the continuance of evil in the present phase of the Kingdom with its concomitant impact on the Kingdom, i.e. widespread fruitlessness in the preaching of the Word, persecution and the necessity of sacrifice in this age. This is the special emphasis of the parable of the tares, but it is the implication of several of the other parables. This growth of evil in this age is also the explicit teaching of other passages in the NT (2 Thes. 2:7, 8; 2 Tim. 3:1, 12, 13; Rev. 20:7-9). It is when North negates these realities by distorting the emphasis on growth in the parables of the kingdom that he departs from the analogy of Scripture. This distortion and departure becomes evident in the following passages in Unconditional Surrender.

Satan's kingdom is being conquered by the gospel, not by the sheer force of God's angelic host. The terms of surrender are ethical. The offer of salvation is not being made to Satan's angelic host, but to his earthly troops. Christians are steadily seeing the defeat of Satan's human forces, for Satan suffers continual defections. As the power of the gospel increases its zone of sovereign mastery, even more will defect. He will have only the remnants of any army when the final trumpet sounds. He will be trying to hold the fort in the last outpost. And the gates of hell shall not prevail. . . .

Seventh, the treaty of peace is extended to all areas of those cultures that surrender to God unconditionally. The whole of society must be put under dominion. Societies can rule under God's sovereign authority, as Israel was called to do, or they can become tributaries to God's conquering kingdom, as the nations far from Israel were expected to do (Deuteronomy 20:10-11), or else they are to be destroyed (Deuteronomy 20:12-15). There is no "King's X," no escape hatch. . . .⁽⁴⁵⁾

Theonomists like North and Rushdoony refuse to accept the Biblical paradox of the parallel growth of good and evil in the present age. Their dialectic sees only two alternatives: "pessimillennialism" or postmillennialism, optimism or pessimism. It is because of this artificial dichotomy that Rushdoony repeatedly lumps amillennialism with the most pessimistic forms of premillennialism.⁽⁴⁶⁾ While it is true that some forms of amillennialism do tend to be quite pessimistic, there is an alternative to the alternating pessimism and optimism of chiliastic expectations. It is the optimistic realism of Biblical amillennialism.

There is a theological logic behind the parallel growth of good and evil in the present age. This theological logic, once understood, will tend to corroborate it. Simply stated, it is this. Biblically, both good and evil are capable of maturation individually, corporately, and historically. Evil matures as it rejects light and is progressively hardened. Good matures as it progressively recognizes and rejects evil. It is in the very interaction of light and darkness that this maturing process takes place. In a certain sense it is the very growth of good, the more brilliant shining of light, which is responsible for driving historical evil to its wicked consummation.

C. Postmillennialism and the Single Focus of the Christian Hope

It is beyond dispute that the summary, practical effect of Theonomic rhetoric is to fix the attention and expectation of Christians upon the Christianized world of postmillennialism in order to motivate Christians to cultural labor to that great goal. In Rushdoony's The Meaning of Postmillennialism: God's Plan for Victory everything conspires to fasten the Christian's labors and hopes on this millennial blessing. To North's credit, in Unconditional Surrender he seeks to be more balanced. Alongside of the millennial world, he repeatedly stresses the consummate state.

Fifteenth, God creates the final version of the new heaven and new earth, wherein grows the tree of eternal life (Revelation 22:2). Men now have access to it. No longer is it in Eden, with a flaming sword to keep men from gaining access to it on the basis of their own works and power (Genesis 3:24). He demonstrates that His down payment on this final dwelling place had been wholly reliable.⁽⁴⁷⁾

Even this quotation, however, shows the practical dualism of the Theonomic hope.

It is the contention of this assessment of Theonomy that there is something profoundly amiss in such dualistic expectations. For as the NT interprets OT prophecy and as it repeatedly stresses the hope of the Christian, one can only speak of that hope as having a single focus. Whatever expectations there may be for this age are merely anticipations of the age to come and the overwhelmingly dominant focus is on the age to come.

This is perhaps most evident if one does a simple word study on hope in the NT. When hope is thought of as an objective goal, (and not as a grace or internal attitude) the single focus is upon the age to come. Its central focus is the resurrection of the body, Acts 23:6, 7; Acts 24:15, 26:6-8, 1 Cor. 15:19-22, 1 Thes. 4:13-16. Its broader context is the redeemed earth, Rom. 8:18-25. Its present location is heaven, 1 Pet. 1:3, 4; Col. 1:5, where it is stored securely until Christ brings it to us in His glorious return, Phil. 3:20, 21; Col. 3:1-3, 1 Pet. 1:13. Its future revelation comes by the personal agency of Jesus Christ at His second coming, 1 Peter 1:13, 1 Thes. 4:13-5:3, Rom. 8:20-25, Tit. 2:11-13, 1 Jn. 3:2,3. Its various descriptions all underscore its connection with the second coming and the resurrection. It is glory, Rom. 5:2, 8:21, 2 Cor. 3:12, Col. 1:27, eternal life, 1 Tim. 6:17-19, Tit. 1:2, 3:7, open justification, Gal. 5:5, 2 Tim. 4:8, perfected image-bearing, I Jn. 3:2, salvation, 1 Thes. 5:8, 9, Christ 1 Thes. 2:19, 5:10, Tit. 2:13, and grace, 1 Pet. 1:13, Jude 21. There are passages where the word, hope, is given a temporal application, Phil. 1:20, 1 Tim. 5:5, Rom. 4:17-21, 2 Cor. 1:8-10. There is no fear, however, that millennial blessings will be found in these passages.

When the hope of Theonomy is compared to the hope of the NT, the contrast is stark. Without asserting or desiring to assert that the Christian has no hope to see the gospel advance, the church built, and even ripples of righteousness spread through society, there simply is no question in the NT that all such hopes are distinctly and vastly secondary and subordinate to "the blessed hope."

Perhaps the classicus locus of the Christian hope is found in Rom. 8:18-25 which contains Paul's famous statement that "we have been saved in hope." (Rom. 8;24). This passage warrants closer examination because it connects the Christian hope to the subject of the lifting of the curse. This is significant because Gary North also connects his hope with the lifting of the curse.

Eleventh, the kingdom of God becomes truly worldwide in scope. This involves the beginning of the restoration of the cursed world. The curse will then be lifted progressively by God. One result is longer life spans for man. This is a down payment on the paradise to come after the final judgment. God says: "For, behold I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind" (Isaiah 65:17). But this process of creation is part of history, to be concluded by the final conflagration. It has preliminary visibility, in time and one earth. How do we know this? Because of verse 20, one of the crucial teachings in the Bible concerning God's preliminary blessings: "There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed." Isaiah 65:20 therefore points to a time before the final judgment, when people still die and sinners still operate, but which resembles the long life spans of these who lived before Noah's Flood. This passage cannot possibly be referring to the world beyond the final judgment, yet it points to external blessings, namely, long life, that do not exist in our wold. These words cannot legitimately be "spiritualized." They refer to life on earth. They refer to a specific blessing on earth. It is a blessing that is a down payment on paradise, a testimony of God that He can deliver this fallen cursed world. This testimony, however, is not based on a radical break with the processes of history, but is instead a testimony that stems from the steady expansion of God's kingdom. This is continuity in history, and there is also progress in external affairs. This is not some hypothetical internal kingdom, but a visible kingdom of flesh and blood.⁽⁴⁸⁾

The language of North is clear. At a future point when the kingdom has become worldwide, then God will begin to progressively lift the curse. This is interesting. Though North, as we have seen, is theoretically committed to the idea of historical continuity till the consummation of the age, here he speaks of an event not taking place at present, the lifting of the curse on this world, which can only be described as having the quality of redemptive discontinuity. The only qualitatively different lifting of the curse which the Bible views as yet future is that described in Rom. 8:18f. There it is clearly associated and coincident with "the glory that is to be revealed" (v. l8), "the revealing of the sons of God" (v. l9), "creation itself being set free into the glory of the children of God" (v. 21), and "our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body (v. 25).

Clearly, it is difficult to keep postmillennialism tidily within the bounds of the historical continuity taught in the Bible!

Two issues must yet be addressed. The first is the meaning of the passage cited by North, Isa. 65:17-25. This passage is arguably the classic locus of postmillennialism. There are three considerations which are conclusive against the postmillennial and Theonomic interpretation of this passage.

1) It ignores the NT interpretation of this prophecy.

No interpretation which fails to begin with an appreciation for the necessity of interpreting the OT after the analogy set in the NT is safe. This is especially so when the NT itself repeatedly asserts the comparative dimness and shadow-like character of the OT and its prophecy. (Cf. Heb. 1:1, 2, 10:1, 1 Pet. 1:10-12.) It, therefore, may not be ignored or even treated as irrelevant when the NT repeatedly interprets the language of this passage as referring to the eternal state. The mention of a new heaven, new earth, and new Jerusalem in Isa. 65:17, 18 are used of the consummate and eternal condition of God's kingdom in 2 Pet. 3:1-13 and Rev. 21:1, 2. The cessation of "weeping and the sound of crying" is unknown in the NT until Christ ushers in the eternal state. Then echoes of this language reverberate in Rev. 21:4. The perfect termination of evil and the harm it causes in God's holy mountain is fulfilled only in the new earth and the new Jerusalem where nothing unclean enters and there is no more curse, Rev. 21:27, 22:3. It may be safely asserted that NT never applies the language of Isa. 65:17-25 to millennial blessings.

2) It is unable to do justice to key elements of this prophecy.

Is it really the case, we would inquire of the postmillennialists, that you expect in your millennium a condition which is "forever" (Isa. 65:18), in which "there will no longer be heard in her the voice of weeping and the sound of crying" (Isa. 65:19), and in which "the wolf and the lamb shall graze together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain" (Isa. 65:25), and all this, furthermore, understood not in a spiritual sense, but in the very literal sense advocated by North? Theonomic postmillennialists, at least, advocate no such millennium, we are glad to say, but by that very fact they are not consistent or coherent in their interpretation of Isa. 65.

3) It forgets the OT character of this passage.

It is a recognized principle of the interpretation of OT prophecy among Reformed commentators that in the OT the blessings of the age of resurrection were much less clearly revealed and were often spoken of in terms familiar to OT Israel.⁽⁴⁹⁾ So here in Isa. 65 the blessings of eternal life are held out under the shadow of extended longevity of earthly life and blessing as we know it in this age.

A second issue must now be addressed. From our previous quotations of North and Rushdoony, it is clear that they would charge the eschatological stance outlined in this section as discouraging Christian men from diligent labor to apply the law of God in the world and to advance the righteousness of the kingdom. In other words, it takes the heart out of men for fulfilling the "dominion mandate."

The issue now confronted is a difficult and vexed one. Reactionary views, like Carl McIntire's denial of the creation mandate must be avoided.⁽⁵⁰⁾ There is a dominion mandate and it is relevant in the present age. With John Murray we find it impossible to see how any Biblical and Reformed Christian can evade this responsibility. Murray writes,

By the term, The Christian World Order, I take it that what is meant is a world order that in all its aspects and spheres is Christian, an order so conformed to the principals of Christianity, and so pervaded by the forces that are operative in Christianity, that the whole of life will be brought into willing captivity to the obedience of Christ. . . .

Our dilemma would seem to be indeed perplexing. If we have to wait for the supernatural forces that Christ's advent will bring in its train before the order of absolute right and holiness will be ushered in, is there any sense in speaking of a Christian world order except as an eschatological hope? Particularly and most practically, is there good sense in working towards the establishment of a Christian order when we know that, in the completeness of its conception, it is not attainable in what we generally call this life?

We must be bold to say that the Christian revelation does not allow us to do anything less than to formulate and work towards a Christian world order in the life that we now live. It is not difficult to demonstrate the validity and even necessity of this thesis.

The standard of thought and the rule of conduct for us are divine obligation. The rule and standard for us are the irreducible claims and demands of the divine sovereignty, and these irreducible claims are that the sovereignty of God and of his Christ be recognized and applied in the whole range of life, of interest, of vocation and of activity. That is just saying that the demands of the divine sovereignty make it impossible for us to evade the obligation to strive with all our heart and soul and strength and mind for the establishment of an order that will bring to realization all the demands of God's majesty, supremacy and kingship. And this, in a word, is simply the full fruition of the kingdom of God, wherever we are, and in the whole compass of thought, word and action.

But, since we have fallen, and since the only way now whereby the claims of the divine sovereignty can even begin to be realized within the compass of our responsibilities is through the redemptive and mediatorial work of Christ, then there rests upon us, with like universal and unrelaxed stringency, the obligation to bring to bear upon the whole compass of life the supernatural and redemptive forces that are inherent in the Christian redemption and revelation. And this is just saying that the ideal and goal imposed upon us by the kingship and kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is nothing less than Christian world order. To recede from this conception and aim is to abandon what is impled in the prayer Christ taught his disciples to pray, 'Thy kingdom come, They will be done in earth, as it is in heaven' (Matt. 6:10). And it is to renounce what is overtly expressed in the words of the apostle, 'For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mightily through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ' (2 Cor. 10:3-5).⁽⁵¹⁾

Let it be duly noted that the eschatology assumed and advocated in this assessment of Theonomy warrants the expectation of a measure of success in this age in fulfilling the dominion mandate. Christian achievements may be partial and will certainly be transitory in this present, evil age, but they are not less admirable--but more!--for all that.

Something more must be said, however. Rushdoony remarks,

The kind of faith we have governs the whole of our lives, and our total outlook. How we view God and Christ will determine how we view ourselves, our calling, and the end times. Our view of the end, of eschatology, depends to a large measure on our view of the beginning, and of all history, and on our doctrine of God and salvation. Theology is a seamless garment, and a man's views of the end times is inseparable from his view of God. If he changes his mind on the one, he changes his mind on the other.⁽⁵²⁾

With this view of theology we certainly agree. Thus, we cannot help but conclude that Theonomic postmillennialism must produce a skewed and imbalanced view of the Christian's relative responsibilities in the world. There is visible in their writings a depreciation of "soul-saving" and the church in favor of the dominion mandate with its emphasis on the familial, economic, and civil spheres of life. Rushdoony's own life and writings are, perhaps, the most glaring illustration of this dangerous imbalance. North's comments about Rushdoony in his response to Christianity Today.⁽⁵³⁾ Remarks like the following in Rushdoony's Institutes do nothing to calm one's fears of imbalance.

In spite of the early and excellent statement, Protestantism has by and large by-passed the law as the way of sanctification in favor of the "impulse of self-devised devotion." Moreover, the more it has followed in this course, the more self-righteous and pharisaic has it become, a natural course where men make the word of God of none effect through their traditions (Matt. 15:6-9). The sanctified person in Protestantism is too often a sanctimonious law-breaker who goes to Sunday School, attends church twice each Sunday, prayer-meeting in the week, gives testimonies when asked, and is amazed if he is told that the law of God, rather than man-made spiritual exercises, constitutes the way of sanctification. Many preachers stress long hours of prayer as a mark of holiness, in plain defiance of Christ's condemnation of those who thought, with their long prayers, they would "be heard for their much speaking." (Matt. 6:7)

In Arminian churches, and especially the so-called "holiness churches (Pentecostal and others), sanctification is associated with various emotional binges, which are far closer to the methods of ancient Baal worship, which, in its extreme, went into cutting and even castrating oneself (1 Kings 18:28). . . .⁽⁵⁴⁾

We are glad to say that North's attitudes about the church appear far less extreme in Unconditional Surrender, yet statements which provoke deep concern still remain.

. . . The doctrine of predestination can lead to social impotence if it is coupled with pessimism concerning the long-run triumph of the church, in time and on earth. Those who hold both the doctrine of predestination and an eschatology of earthy, historical defeat have a tendency to run inward, both psychologically and ecclesiastically. They worry too much about the state of their souls and the state of the institutional church, and not enough about the state of the kingdom of God in its broadest sense. . . .⁽⁵⁵⁾

Theonomists may at this point want to remind us that there is no ultimate dichotomy between "soul-saving" and the church on the one hand, and the dominion mandate on the other. With this we agree, of course. We would, however, remind them that it is they themselves who have made this dichotomy in quotes like the one just given.⁽⁵⁶⁾

Section 3: Theonomy, Theocracy and Society

I. The Central Features of Theonomic Ethics--The Abiding Validity of the Law in Exhaustive Detail

Bahnsen begins his book, Theonomy in Christian Ethics, with a 50 page discussion of Mt. 5:17-19 which he entitles, "The Abiding Validity of the Law in Exhaustive Detail."⁽⁵⁷⁾ This phrase more than any other epitomizes Theonomic ethics. It exemplifies the ambiguity of the system. It sparked the controversy which has surrounded the system. In his preface to the second addition Bahnsen provides a 10 point summary of the ethical approach embodied in his book. Keeping in mind that this summary was intended to clarify and defend the thesis of his embattled book, it still is a helpful basis for identifying the characteristic features of Theonomy.

1. 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 of gratitude for God's redeeming grace.

2. 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).

3. 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.

4. We should presume that Old Testament standing laws continue to be morally binding in the New Testament, unless they are rescinded or modified by further revelation.

5. 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 supercedes the Old Covenant shadows, thereby changing the application of sacrificial, purity, and "separation" principles, re-defining the people of God, and altering the significance of the promised land.

6. 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).

7. Christian involvement in politics calls for recognition of God's transcendent, absolute, revealed law as a standard by which to judge all social codes.

8. 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.

9. 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 ethics as it does to personal, family, or ecclesiastical ethics.

10. 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. ⁽⁵⁸⁾

Perhaps, the first feature of this summary which strikes the reader is that at many points it is simply a clear and emphatic statement of a Reformed and Biblical ethics. Items 1-8, it seems to this writer, contain nothing which should surprise anyone acquainted with the Reformed faith. To be more specific item 4 which, if we may paraphrase, says that the OT laws remain valid unless abolished in Christ, is simply the converse of the Dispensational hermeneutic rejected by every Reformed Christian. Furthermore, the insistence on the sovereignty of God and His Word over every area of human life including politics contained in items 2, 7, and 8, while, perhaps, more problematic to some, seems the inescapable demand of any consistently Christian and especially any Reformed perspective. This assessment has no quarrel per se with such perspectives.

It is in items 9 and 10 that in our judgment the more peculiar and controversial perspectives are revealed. Even here, Bahnsen is somewhat vague. Several supplementary statements will clarify the controversial nature of the position Bahnsen is advocating. By "general continuity" in "matters of socio-political ethics" and by the Old Testament "judicial laws" being a model of perfect social justice even in the punishment of criminals" Bahnsen intends to affirm the following positions:

A. Bahnsen means that the OT penology remains in force in detail,

"When the magistrate carries out the dictate of justice in executing one who has committed a capital crime according to God's law, this has the effect of purging the land of evil and restraining others from committing similar crimes (Deut. 13:5, 11). Scripture lists the following as capital offenses against God: murder . . ., adultery . . ., adultery and unchastity . . , sodomy and bestiality . . ., homosexuality . . ., rape . . ., incest . . ., incorrigibility in children . . ., sabbath breaking . . ., kidnapping . . ., apostasy . . ., witchcraft, sorcery, and false pretension to prophecy . . ., and blasphemy . . . With respect to social affairs the Lord looks with so much scorn upon these crimes that He commands the state to execute those who commit them. Christians do well at this point to adjust their attitudes so as to coincide with their Heavenly Father. Remember the seriousness of the penal law." (For other examples of the application of OT penology cf. pp. 117, 118, 437-440).⁽⁵⁹⁾

B. As the above intimates, Bahnsen, to say the least, defines the separation of church and state differently than it is normally defined in our day either by secularists or Christians. In fairness to Bahnsen his view of the separation of church and state is not novel, but may claim to be typical of Calvin, the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the earlier Reformed tradition. Bahnsen argues

"Therefore, an investigation of the Older and New Testaments reveals that they both separate the functions of the state from those of the church; however, they both maintain also the authority of God over church as well as state. In the era of the New Testament this means that the sword of the state is under moral responsibility to the law of God without being confused with the sword of the church. The state has recourse to capital punishment as a penal sanction, but the church's severest punishment is that of excommunication. . . The state does not operate in the name of the Redeemer or as an organized expression of the redeemed community. However, this does not mean that the state is not morally responsible to God and His justice. . . The point, then, is that church and state can be separated with respect to function, instrument, and scope and yet both be responsible to God. . . the law does not grant the state to enforce matters of conscience (thus granting "freedom of religion"), but it does have the obligation to prohibit and restrain publicunrighteousness (thus punishing crimes from rape to public blasphemy). The state is not an agent of evangelism and does not use its force to that end; it is an agent of God, avenging His wrath against social violations of God's law. If one's outward behavior is within the bounds of the law he has nothing to fear from the civil magistrate-even if one is an idolater, murderer, or whatever in his heart."⁽⁶⁰⁾

Let there be no misunderstanding of Bahnsen's position. In his ideal state "public" blasphemy, idolatry, sabbath-breaking, apostasy, witchcraft, sorcery, and false pretension to prophecy would be subject to civil penalties up to and including the death penalty.

Before commencing a consideration of these, the characteristic features of Theonomic ethics, several observations are pertinent.

First, Bahnsen's views at this point are characteristic of the views of Christian Reconstructionism as a whole. It would be easy to multiply quotations which would evince this with reference to both North and Rushdoony. North remarks, for instance, that Christians should work to get the tax exemptions of "liberal" churches lifted (denied). ⁽⁶¹⁾

Second, it is clear that the view which Bahnsen (and other

Theonomists) take of OT judicial law is at the heart of the controversy between them and other Reformed thinkers. In the next Roman Numeral the question of whether their view is historically Reformed will be addressed.

Third, the controversy over "the judicial law" is, however,

related to a more basic issue, the nature of the Theocracy in Israel. This theological crux will be addressed in Roman Numeral III of this section.

Finally in Roman Numeral IV an attempt will be made to outline a Reformed alternative to the Theonomic approach to and hermeneutic of OT law.

II. The Historical Background of Theonomic Ethics

Two major questions need to be asked here. They are . . .

A. Is the Theonomic view of the Mosaic "Judicial Law" consistent with the Reformed tradition?

B. Is the Theonomic viewpoint the legitimate offspring of Reformed paedobaptism?

A. Is the Theonomic view of the Mosaic "Judicial Law" consistent with the Reformed tradition?

This is a pressing question for Theonomists. On the one hand, in asserting "the abiding validity of the law in exhaustive detail" they appear to teach the binding obligation of the "judicial law" of Moses on society today.⁽⁶²⁾ On the other hand, the divines of the Westminster Assembly and Calvin, their mentor, clearly teach the "expiration" of the judicial law of Moses and deny that it is as such binding on nations today. The critical statement in the Westminster Confession of Faith is found in 19:4. Having clearly distinguished the moral, ceremonial, and judicial law, the Confession states, "To them also, as a body politic, He gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the State of that people; not obliging any other now, further than the general equity thereof may require."⁽⁶³⁾ Calvin elaborates on this very point in his Institutes. His statements are so similar to that of the Confession that it is probable that here as in so many other places he had a formative impact on the Confession.

"I will briefly remark, however, by the way, what laws it may piously use before God, and be rightly governed by among men. And even this I would have preferred passing over in silence, if I did not know that it is a point on which many persons run into dangerous errors. For some deny that a state is well constituted, which neglects the polity of Moses, and is governed by the common laws of the nations. the dangerous and seditious nature of this opinion I leave to the examination of others; it will be sufficient for me to have evinced it to be false and foolish. Now, it is necessary to observe that common distinction, which distributes all the laws of God promulgated by Moses into moral, ceremonial, and judicial; and these different kinds of laws are to be distinctly examined, that we may ascertain what belongs to us, and what does not. . . .

What I have said will be more clearly understood, if in all laws we properly consider these two things-the constitution of the law and its equity, on the reason of which the constitution itself is founded and rests. Equity, being natural, is the same to all mankind; and consequently all laws, on every subject ought to have the same equity for their end. Particular enactments and regulations being connected with circumstances, and partly dependent upon them, may be different in different cases without any impropriety, provided they are all equally directed to the same object of equity. . . . Whatever laws shall be framed according to that rule, directed to that object, and limited to that end, there is no reason why we should censure them, however, they may differ from the Jewish law or from each other. The law of god forbids theft. What punishment was enacted for thieves, among the Jews, may be seen in the book of Exodus. The most ancient laws of other nations punished by theft by requiring a compensation of double the value. Subsequent laws made a distinction between open and secret theft. Some proceeded to banishment, some to flagellation, and some to the punishment of death. False witness was punished, among the Jews, with the same punishment as such testimony would have caused to be inflicted on the person against whom it was given; in some countries it was punished with infamy, in others with hanging, in others with crucifixion. All laws agree in punishing murder with death, though in several different forms. The punishment of adulterers in different countries have been attended with different degrees of severity. Yet we see how, amidst this diversity, they are all directed to the same end. For they all agree in denouncing punishment against those crimes which are condemned by the eternal law of God; such as murderers, thefts, adulteries, false testimonies, though there is not a uniformity in the mode of punishment; and, indeed, this is neither necessary, nor even expedient. . . . For the objection made by some, that it is an insult to the law of God given by Moses, when it is abrogated, and other laws preferred to it, is without any foundation; for neither are other laws preferred to it, when they are more approved, not on a simple comparison, but on account of the circumstances of time, place, and nation; nor do we abrogate that which was never given to us. For the Lord gave not that law by the hand of Moses to be promulgated among all nations, and to be universally binding; but after having taken the Jewish nation into his special charge, patronage, and protection, he was pleased to become, in peculiar manner, their legislator, and, as became a wise legislator, in all the laws which he gave them, he had a special regard to their peculiar circumstances."⁽⁶⁴⁾

Theonomists respond to this apparent conflict with the recognized standards of the Reformed tradition in various and contradictory ways.

Rushdoony's response is the most honest and straightforward. At the same time, however, it is also the most arrogant. He unflinchingly admits the contradiction and then accuses the Confession of "confusion" and "nonsense" and charges Calvin with uttering "heretical nonsense."⁽⁶⁵⁾

Other Theonomists have not been so eager to take on the Reformed tradition and have manifested more reverence for its perspectives. At the same time, they have infringed historical honesty and literary clarity.

Bahnsen at the opposite extreme from Rushdoony in this matter argues that his thesis is in accord with the Confession. (As an OPC minister, we would expect Bahnsen either to do this or to exit the OPC which holds the Westminster Confession of Faith.) What Bahnsen gains by this in reverence for the Reformed tradition, he loses in literary clarity. It is vexingly difficult to penetrate his thinking at this point. The confession asserts the "expiration" and "non-obligation" of the judicial laws with the qualification "further than the general equity thereof may require." Bahnsen in his appendix dealing with the Westminster Confession seeks to view the distinction implicit here as a distinction between "the particular cultural expression of a judicial law" and the law itself in its cross-cultural general equity.⁽⁶⁶⁾

Fowler's assessment appears to be accurate.

What Dr. Bahnsen is actually saying is that the connotations of Israel's ancient culture are no longer binding in today's culture. But the case laws are illustrations to be applied equitably to today's culture.

There is no doubt, therefore, that for Dr. Bahnsen, "general equity" does not refer to general moral principles underlying the case laws (i. e. the scope of the Ten Commandments). He is notsaying that the case laws are no longer binding. Instead, "general equity" refers to the case laws, minus their cultural expressions, which are to be applied in an equitable manner cross-culturally in today's society.

Dr. Bahnsen's view of general equity stands in contrast to Reformed thought. This is one of the distinctives of Dr. Bahnsen's view of the judicial law.(pp. 24, 25).