What Does Romans 13 Say About Civil Government?
A discussion of the main points of Gregory Baus’ article on the historical, confessionally Reformed view of Romans 13 and a Reformed view of stateless civil governance. Also there’s elaboration on lex talionis and the non-aggression principle, the Old Testament (Mosaic Covenant) theocracy, and establishmentarianism.
| 00:00 | Introduction |
| 00:33 | Episode description |
| 01:02 | Romans 13: A Reformed View of Stateless Civil Governance, by Gregory Baus Audio Version |
| 01:22 | Summary of preliminaries |
| 02:22 | Lex talionis and the non-aggression principle |
| 05:43 | distinction between civil governance (viz, administration of civil justice) and the ‘state’ (viz, territorial monopoly on coercion and final say) |
| 06:53 | summary overview of article; Reformed Political Resistance annotated bibliography |
| 07:41 | an issue of exegesis, not political theory |
| 09:00 | major point: the default providential view is inconsistent with the passage and other Scripture passages, was rejected by the Reformed churches in their confessions, and contrary to sanctified common sense |
| 09:45 | Discussed elsewhere: Presbycast Gospel on Tap Daniel 3 Biblical Anarchy |
| 10:00 | documentation from Reformed confessions; no obligation to submit to unjust rulers or unjust laws |
| 12:58 | Why isn’t old (Mosaic) covenant a violation of the non-aggression principle and a model for civil governance in new covenant era? And why do we affirm disestablishmentarianism? Against Civil Establishment of Religion Hodge’s full article |
| 18:51 | summary of history of establishmentarianism |
Additional Resources
- 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
