Summary – Politics And The Church’s Mission: What should the church teach about civil government?
We discuss the teaching mission of the institutional church, its relation to the church’s statements of faith, and what the institutional church must and may not teach about politics on several important points. We talk about the Reformed confessional view of submission to civil governance, the recent failure of some churches in the face of unlawful state dictates, the error of theonomic views, and how a biblically Reformed covenantal hermeneutic informs a correct view of general equity. [Direct mp3 download]
https://reformedlibertarians.com/018
Main Points of Discussion
| 00:00 | Introduction |
| 00:32 | Episode description |
| 01:00 | Why are we discussing this? |
| 02:15 | What is the church’s teaching mission? |
| 05:07 | One way the Reformed confessions are part of the church’s mission |
| 07:34 | False teaching about submission to God-ordained civil governance |
| 13:43 | Not a matter of political theory |
| 14:53 | False teaching of original and so-called “general equity theonomy” |
| 19:28 | Proper meaning of general equity |
| 24:30 | The Reformed biblical covenantal hermeneutic |
| 30:39 | Recap |
| 32:53 | Disestablishmentarianism and Biblical criterion of proportional retribution |
Additional Resources
- Episode 2: What Does Romans 13 Say About Civil Government?
- Episode 6: Why Is The Right Of Resistance Important?
- Episode 42 of the Biblical Anarchy Podcast: Answers to Objections to the Reformed Confessional View of Romans 13 – Why isn’t the state biblically justified?
- Annotated bibliography of Reformed Political Resistance Theology
- Paper and video presentation of “Theonomy, General Equity, and Libertarianism” by Jonathan McIntosh
- Excerpt from “Men In Combat Over The Civil Law: ‘General Equity’ in WCF 19.4” by Peter Wallace and Craig Troxel
- Lecture series on Reformed Covenant Theology in systematic, biblical, and practical perspectives by Lee Irons
- Video explaining the relations between the Abrahamic, Old Mosaic, and New Covenants by Lee Irons
- 5 videos explaining the typological works principle in the Old Mosaic Covenant by Lee Irons
- The Westminster Confession of Faith (1788)
- The Belgic Confession of Faith (1958)
- Resources on the false teaching of Theonomy
– Meredith G. Kline’s article on theocracy
– Lee Irons’ article on Theonomy’s Dispensational Hermeneutic
– Lane Tipton’s article on The Eschatology of Hebrews 2:1-4: A Critical Appraisal of the Theonomic Thesis
– T. David Gordon’s article on Critique of Theonomy: a taxonomy - Episode 15: Can Christian Civil Government Be ‘Theocratic’?
- “Against Civil Establishment Of Religion” by Gregory Baus
“…as Paul says, ‘He that is circumcised becomes debtor to the whole Law,’ sure[ly] to all the ceremonies of Moses’ Law. So I argue, a pari, from the like, he that will keep one judicial law, because [ie, for the reason that it is] judicial and given by Moses [ie, an old covenant civil law], becomes debtor to keep the whole judicial law, under pain of God’s eternal wrath.”
Samuel Rutherford, The Divine Right Of Church Government And Excommunication (1646), p.494