About the Author:
Steve C. Halbrook writes for, and manages, Theonomy Resources (theonomyresources.blogspot.com).
He is also a teacher for The New Geneva Christian Leadership Academy (www.newgeneva.us). He holds an M.A. in Government from Regent University’s Robertson School of Government (2008), with a focus on biblical civil government.
Halbrook’s master’s thesis was “God is Just: A Defense of the Old Testament Civil Laws,” which this book is an expansion of.
“Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth
has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.”
(Isaiah 59:14)
“No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in
empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth
iniquity.” (Isaiah 59:4) (NKJV)
“Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just,’ when it is their
own way that is not just.” (Ezekiel 33:17)
“Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily,
the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.” (Ecclesiastes
8:11)
“This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built
to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight because of all the evil
of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to
provoke me to anger—their kings and their officials, their priests and
their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I
have taught them persistently, they have not listened to receive
instruction.” (Jeremiah 32:31-33)
Chapter 1:
What is Biblical Theocracy? God is the sovereign
ruler over all things: “The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and
his kingdom rules over all” (Ps. 103:19). God’s claim to universal rule is by virtue
of being before all things (Jn. 1:1,2), Creator of all things (Jn. 1:3),
Ordainer of all things (Is. 46:10), Sustainer of all things (Col. 1:17), the
sole source of justice (Ps. 89:14), and the sole source of goodness (Lk.
18:19). All things, therefore, are in every way God’s property rights (Ps.
24:1, 2; cf. Rom. 9:20-23; Is. 10:15). God’s sovereign rule over all things is
the starting point for biblical theocracy.
The basic meaning of theocracy is “rule of God.” It
derives from the Greek words theos, meaning God, and kratos, meaning power,
strength, or rule. In the first century, Josephus, the famous Jewish
historian, coined “theocracy” and defined it as “placing all sovereignty and
authority in the hands of God” (Against Apion, 2.164-165).76 While the word
theocracy is absent from the Bible, from cover to cover its meaning is clearly
taught: God rules over all.
11 (Prov. 3:6; Ps. 2:11-12).
“Theocracy” can be understood in different contexts.
It can be descriptive of the reality of God’s rule over all things (Dan. 4:17;
Matt. 28:18). It can also be prescriptive of man’s acknowledgement of God’s
rule over all things Regarding the latter understanding, that theocracy
requires the acknowledgment of God’s total rule, biblical theocracy begins with
the individual, i.e., the conversion of the heart to Christ (Ezek. 36:27). A
Christian’s theocracy then begins in a sphere of self-government.
Since out of the heart “are the issues of life”
(Prov. 4:23, KJV), from selfgovernment a Christian’s theocracy naturally flows
into other government spheres under Christ’s rule, including family, church,
and state.
Since Christ is the head of all government spheres,
no sphere may exercise monopoly powers over another; they are each restricted
by Christ’s power and authority. Thus while their powers overlap in some ways,
neither the family nor the church is permitted to have authoritarian control
over the other. God is sovereign over both. The same concept applies with
church and state: each answers to God as its ultimate authority, instead of one
another.
It is these two points—the bottom-up nature of theocracy, and the
separation of church and state—where many are confused. Regarding the former,
one reason humanists dread theocracy is because of their own totalitarian
mindset: they project their view that society only changes via top-down
conditioning by the state onto Christians, who are seen as competitors attempting a rival form of
impositionalism.
To the secularist, the threat of theocracy is
symbolized by the
enthronement of the Ten Commandments in a courthouse, school,
or public place. This is why they deem the removal of Judge Roy
Moore’s
monument as a victory for the theocratic resistance
movement. However,
theocracy is rather the enthronement of
God’s law in the heart of the believer as all human
mediators,
whether in church or state, are removed and the direct rule of God
is placed over the self-governing man. Theocracy is not coming.
Theocracy is now! In my home, relationships, and
work, I do not function in terms of democracy, oligarchy, monarchy, socialism,
or communism. In all areas of life I must be governed by the direct rule of God
(theos-kratos) through the writing of His law upon my heart and mind.77
Humanism, being a worldview that begins with fallen,
sinful man, does not understand bottom-up transformation because it does not
understand self-government (Rom. 8:7; Gen. 6:5). While God’s law prescribes
top-down, society must embrace this law bottom-up via regeneration by the Holy
Spirit. When this happens, a national theocracy naturally develops where “God’s
revealed law is supreme over all human laws, and is the source of all laws.”78
In rejecting God’s sovereign control of society—including
His control over the hearts of regenerate men—humanism attempts to fill the
void of sovereignty by attempting sovereign control of the hearts and actions
of members of society via the sword of the state. So not surprisingly, when one
mentions government in today’s humanistic society, one instinctively thinks of
the state. Such thinking, by disregarding other forms of government, is
“implicitly totalitarian.”79
The state is not to be thought of as the only form
of government, and yet this is where our society is at; it looks to the
state to govern the other government spheres (family, church, and
individual).80
By contrast, a biblical theocracy will naturally
enact laws from the Bible, but contrary to humanistic fears, such a society is
the only one that would not be tyrannical, since it is the only possible
society prioritizing regeneration over coercion.81 And so while humanism
sword-imposes top-down via a totalitarian state, biblical theocracy primarily
self-imposes bottom-up, that is, via hearts in direct submission to Christ.
FOOTNOTES
76 Gary Demar, America’s Christian History: The Untold Story (Powder Springs,
GA: American Vision Inc., 2007), 207, 208.
77 Christopher J. Ortiz, “Theocracy Now!” Faith for all of Life, May/June 2007, 9.
78 Joe Morecraft III, With Liberty & Justice For All: Christian Politics Made
Simple (Sevierville, TN: Onward Press, 1991), 68.
79 R.J. Rushdoony, God’s Law and Society: Foundations in Christian
Reconstruction, Jay Rogers, ed. (Melbourne, FL: J.C. Rogers Production, 2006), 35.
Retrieved May 5, 2008, from http://forerunner.com/law/glsbook.pdf.
80 Liberal humanists are most consistent in viewing the state as “the government,”
since they hold that everything is a product of the environment, and therefore it is the
job of the state to produce the ideal environment by coercing with the sword (i.e.,
govern the behavior of) the family, church, and the self (i.e., the other government
spheres). Bottom-up government is impossible in this view, since the environment is
outside the individual.
81 Rushdoony describes the humanistic/Christian alternatives as “revolution or
regeneration,” respectively. Rousas John Rushdoony, The Roots of Reconstruction
(Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 1991), 426.
From the book "God is Just": A DEFENSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT CIVIL LAW by Steve C Halbrook, pgs. 11-13
No comments:
Post a Comment