6
The ive Points o f · Christian Reconstruction . Fro the Lips o f our Lord by T Mark Duncan liltroduction There is a battle raging today be - tween hiStoric reformed Christianity, which emphasizes the importance of a world . and life view based upon the Bible, and dispensational pietism, which rejects a vast portion of God's Word. The influence of dispensational is . m has led. to a truncated view o Chris tianity . This rejection o f the whole law of God, · the adoption o f a pe8siniisti.c eschatology, and a lack of understanding of God's . covenant purposes in history has led to a withdrawal of Christianity from the marketplace of ideas that gov ent society. This vacuum created in our society by the withdrawal of Christian principles of goveminent has given us widespread abortion , pornography, drug abuse , divorce, oppressive taxation, a nd other social ills that continue to plague our land. Even though "Christian Reconstruc tionism" is growing in popularity, it is being attacked from many angles. Several recent dispensational writers have associated "Dominion Theology" and "Christian Reconstruction" with New Age humanism. Such irrational attacks might be expected from the dis pensational camp. Sadly, however, some o f the most vehement opponents of Reconstructionist thought · come from within ostensibly Reformed de nominations. This opposition · is unfor tunate in that it unwittingly contradicts the confessional standards these oppo nents have taken solenm vows before God to uphold.2 It is apparent that the ubiquity of dispensational thought in this centur y has affecte d the thinki ng o f · men who in . many respects are good scholars and sound in their theolog y. Incredibly, one of the objections to Christian Reconstructionism from both the dispensational and the semi-re formed camps is the charge that recon structionism is a " hew" theology 3 Christian Reconstruction is not new , it ' . is simply a return to classic reformed theology that characterized the writings of Calvin, the Puritans, and Presby terian theologians of the nineteenth cen tury . The consistent application of this theology transformed Calvin's Geneva and . Puritan New England into truly Christian cultures. Christian Recon struction is nothing more than the ap plication of the whole of the Bible to the whole of life. Rather than being a new theology, it is actually an attempt to go back to the "old" theology be lieved, taught, and practiced in the Sou hem Presbyterian Church as recent ly as the late 1800's by men such as Major Robert L. Dabney 4 Reconstruc tionism only seems new because of the theological shift caused by the rise o f dispensational ideas that has taken.place this century.5 · As in any theological dispute, it ulti mately does not matter who does . hold or has held) to a position, what matters is the teaching of Holy Scripture. Even this question is more complex than it seems because of the dispensati onal pre SUpPOSition that cenain parts of the Bible are not applicable to the Church. ·  tlowever one does not need the whole Bible to pro ve tha t God's W otd teaches the doctrines that have come to e known as "Christian Reconstruction ism." Two books, Matthew and John, will be · more · han sufficient to prove the point. In fact, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself prove that· He taught the princ i ples now known as the "five points of reconstructionism." If there be any dispensationalists reading Ws who believe that the words of Jesus are not applicable to believers today, you have ·my sympathy, for Jesus Chris t is trut h personified.) (John 14:6 The five points of Christian Recon structioni sm are generally considere d to be : 1 . Calvinistic soteriology i.e., the five points o Calvinism) 2. Covenant Theology 3, Presuppositional Apologetics 4 . Postmillennialism 5 . Theonomic Ethics The Lord Jesus Christ, the infinite God/Man, the Word of God incarnate, who is truth personified and the ulti mate source o f ail Scripture, taught the doctrines that make up the five points o f Christian Reconstruction. This brief article doe s not preten d to be exhaustive or technical. An exhaustive and techni cal treatment of all the pertinent pas sages in Matthew . and John would re quire a lengthy volume. However, it is thorough enough to make the point. · I plead with critics of Christian Recon struction to carefully consider the teach ings of our Lord. I humbly plead with my Reformed brothers who oppose Christian Reconstruction to carefully study their heritage as well as the argu ments presented herein. I submit, even if I cannot convince you of the recon structionist position, that vitriolic t ~ tacks against reconstructionists (who are your brothers in the faith) are much misguided. Why is it that so many who claim the Re fonnedfai th toler ate r m i n ~ ian, dispensational, and charismatic theology, yet viciously attack recon structionists and will have nothing to : '  Page 8 .... The Counsel of Cbalcedon, July, 1988

1988 Issue 7 - The Five Points of Christian Reconstruction From the Lips of Our Lord - Counsel of Chalcedon

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There is a battle raging today between historic reformed Christianity, which emphasizes the importance of a world and life view based upon the Bible, and dispensational pietism, which rejects a vast portion of God's Word. The influence of dispensationalism has led to a truncated view of Christianity. This rejection of the whole law of God, the adoption of a pessimistic eschatology, and a lack of understanding of God's covenant purposes in history has led to a withdrawal of Christianity from the marketplace of ideas that govern society. This vacuum created in our society by the withdrawal of Christian principles of government has given us widespread abortion, pornography, drug abuse, divorce, oppressive taxation, and other social ills that continue to plague our land.

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  • The Five Points of Christian Reconstruction

    . Fro111 the Lips of our Lord by T. Mark Duncan

    liltroduction There is a battle raging today be-

    tween hiStoric reformed Christianity, which emphasizes the importance of a world . and life view based upon the Bible, and dispensational pietism, which rejects a vast portion of God's Word. The influence of dispensational-is.m has led. to a truncated view of Chris-tianity. This rejection of the whole law of God, the adoption of a pe8siniisti.c eschatology, and a lack of understanding of God's. covenant purposes in history has led to a withdrawal of Christianity from the marketplace of ideas that gov-ent society. This vacuum created in our society by the withdrawal of Christian principles of goveminent has given us widespread abortion, pornography, drug abuse, divorce, oppressive taxation, and other social ills that continue to plague our land.

    Even though "Christian Reconstruc-tionism" is growing in popularity, it is being attacked from many angles. Several recent dispensational writers have associated "Dominion Theology" and "Christian Reconstruction" with New Age humanism.! Such irrational

    attacks might be expected from the dis-pensational camp. Sadly, however, some of the most vehement opponents of Reconstructionist thought come from within ostensibly Reformed de-nominations. This opposition is unfor-tunate in that it unwittingly contradicts the confessional standards these oppo-nents have taken solenm vows before God to uphold.2 It is apparent that the ubiquity of dispensational thought in this century has affected the thinking of men who in . many respects are good scholars and sound in their theology.

    Incredibly, one of the objections to Christian Reconstructionism from both the dispensational and the semi-re-formed camps is the charge that recon-structionism is a "hew" theology .3 Christian Reconstruction is not new, it

    ' . is simply a return to classic reformed theology that characterized the writings of Calvin, the Puritans, and Presby-terian theologians of the nineteenth cen-tury. The consistent application of this theology transformed Calvin's Geneva and .Puritan New England into truly Christian cultures. Christian Recon-struction is nothing more than the ap-plication of the whole of the Bible to the whole of life. Rather than being a new theology, it is actually an attempt to go back to the "old" theology be-lieved, taught, and practiced in the Sou them Presbyterian Church as recent-ly as the late 1800's by men such as Major Robert L. Dabney .4 Reconstruc-tionism only seems new because of the theological shift caused by the rise of dispensational ideas that has taken.place this century.5

    As in any theological dispute, it ulti-mately does not matter who does. hold (or has held) to a position, what matters is the teaching of Holy Scripture. Even

    this question is more complex than it seems because of the dispensational pre-SUpPOSition that cenain parts of the Bible are not applicable to the Church. . tlowever one does not need the whole Bible to prove that God's W otd teaches the doctrines that have come to be known as "Christian Reconstruction-ism." Two books, Matthew and John, will be more than sufficient to prove the point. In fact, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself prove that He taught the principles now known as the "five points of reconstructionism." (If there be any dispensationalists reading Ws who believe that the words of Jesus are not applicable to believers today, you have my sympathy, for Jesus Christ is truth personified.) (John 14:6)

    The five points of Christian Recon-structionism are generally considered to be:

    1. Calvinistic soteriology (i.e., the five points of Calvinism)

    2. Covenant Theology 3, Presuppositional Apologetics 4. Postmillennialism 5. Theonomic Ethics The Lord Jesus Christ, the infinite

    God/Man, the Word of God incarnate, who is truth personified and the ulti-mate source of ail Scripture, taught the doctrines that make up the five points of Christian Reconstruction. This brief article does not pretend to be exhaustive or technical. An exhaustive and techni-cal treatment of all the pertinent pas-sages in Matthew. and John would re-quire a lengthy volume. However, it is thorough enough to make the point. I plead with critics of Christian Recon-struction to carefully consider the teach-ings of our Lord. I humbly plead with my Reformed brothers who oppose Christian Reconstruction to carefully study their heritage as well as the argu-ments presented herein. I submit, even if I cannot convince you of the recon-structionist position, that vitriolic at~ tacks against reconstructionists (who are your brothers in the faith) are much misguided. Why is it that so many who claim the Refonnedfaith tolerate Armin~ ian, dispensational, and charismatic theology, yet viciously attack recon-structionists and will have nothing to

    : ' "

    Page 8 ....----------------------------The Counsel of Cbalcedon, July, 1988

  • do with them? Are you skeptical about whether Je-

    sus taught these five points? Well then, get out your red-letter editions and Jet's see what we fmd out!

    I. Calvinistic Soteriology Calvinistic soteriology is commonly

    defined in tenns of the acronym TULIP: Total Depravity (Inability) Unconditional Election Limited (Definite) Atonement Irresistible (Efficacious ) Grace Perseverance of the Saints

    A. TOTAL DEPRAVITY Total depravity is the scriptural

    teaching that man is so affected by the Fall that he is totally unable to do any spiritual good and it is therefore im-possible for him to do anything on his own to contribute to his salvation. Un-regenerate man is spiritually and cove-nantally dead and therefore cannot under-stand spiritual truth and has no capacity to choose God.

    Just a few of the teachings of Jesus show that He taught total inability. In Matt. 13:11-17, Jesus explains to His disciples why He teaches in parables. He tells them that they have been grant-ed the ability to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but to others it has not been granted. Jesus is teaching that fal-len man does not naturally have the ability to understand His truth and that ability to do so is a gift from God. Je-sus expands upon the depraved and de-ceitful heart of man in Matt 15:19: "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornica-tions, thefts, false witness, slanders."

    While explaining the nature of the new birth to Nicodemus in John 3, Je-sus tells the learned Jewish teacher that one cannot enter the kingdom of God unless born from above. In the same passage, the analogy of salvation as a birth is significant. No one of us had the ability to choose the time and place of our birth, or our race or other charac-teristics. A baby does not choose to be born by the act of his will. The baby is not able to do so. So it is with the new birth. Jesus speaks of the total inability to come to Him outside of the Father's

    drawing grace in John 6:44: "No one can come to me unless the Father who

    sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day." Jesus believed and taught the doctrine of total inability.

    B. UNCONDffiONAL ElECTION Our Lord Jesus made reference to the

    doctrine of election as a presupposition as well as teaching it as a doctrine. In Matthew 24, where Jesus describes the Great Tribulation - which in context clearly is a reference to an event in the frrst century - we are taught in verse 22 that for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. By defmition, "elect" refers to someone who is chosen by an-other, not someone who chooses him-self.

    Jesus also taught election as a speci-fic doctrine. He says in John 5:21 that He gives life to whom He wishes. In John 6:37, our Lord tells the multitudes that those who come to Him are given by the Father. Election is illustrated in the choosing of the twelve. In John 15:16, Jesus tells them that they did not choose Him but that they were chosen by Him. See also Matt. 11:27; John 3:8; and John 6:37-66.

    Jesus taught and believed the doctrine of election and does not even suggest that election is somehow conditioned on the free actions of men. The John 6 passage is especially refreshing in a day when there is so much pressure to tick-le itching ears. Jesus was not afraid to boldly proclaim the doctrine of election, even if it meant losing followers. (John 6:66)

    C. DEFINITE ATONEMENT Perhaps the most emotional disagree-

    ment between Calvinists and Arrninians is over the extent of the atonement The question before us is simply this: For whom did Christ die? The vast majority of evangelical Christians might respond like this: "The answer is easy: Christ died for everybody." This answer most likely would be accompanied with the obligatory John 3:16 proof text

    I agree that the answer is easy, but the common evangelical respon.se is wrong. It is wrong according to none other than our Lord Jesus Christ Him-

    self. The Arrninian view of universal

    atonement implies that it is somehow unfair if Christ did not die for every-body. However, if Christ did shed His precious blood for everyone, then why is everyone not saved? The common answer to this objection is that not all are saved because of their unbelief. I must ask the Arminian: Is not unbelief a sin? If Christ died for all the sins of all men then everyone will be in heav-en. If He died for some of the sins of all men, then no one will be in heaven. Those are the twin horns of the Ar-rninian dilemma. Besides, if Jesus died a death that made redemption a hypo-thetical possibility for everyone then it actually secured salvation for no one. There is no comfort in a propitiation that does not propitiate or in a redemp-tion that does not redeem. Calvinists limit the extent of Christ's atonement but Arrninians limit the power of it.

    Logical arguments aside, what does Jesus teach about the extent of His atonement? Our Lord clearly limits His atonement in His statement in Matt 20:28 when He describes the purpose of His coming: to give His life as a ran-som for many. The great passage in John 10 is perhaps the clearest on this question. In vv. 11 and 15, Jesus says that He lays down His life for the sheep. Verses 26 and 27 defme sheep as those who believe and follow Christ Therefore, Jesus is teaching that He died only for those who believe in Him. In other words, Jesus died for the elect only.

    Christ's high priestly prayer in John 17 is also instructive. Jesus did not pray for the world (vs. 9). In vs. 20, Jesus says that he is praying for "those who believe in Me." Jesus was praying on behalf of God's elect as their High Priest. However, Jesus was not only High Priest, He was also the sacrifice. As High Priest, Jesus is not going to pray only for the elect but offer Himself as sacrifice for every individual that ever lived. That is like saying Israel's High Priests offered sacrifice for Egypt and Assyria on the Day of Atonement. No, they offered God a sacrifice for the sins of Israel.

    The Counsel of Chalcedon, July, 1988 ----------------------------Page 9

  • Christ's life, work, and teaching clear,. ly s~ow that He died for His peopl~

    (~iritual Israel) and them alone.

    D. IRRESISTIBLE GRACE J~sus taught that God's electing grate

    ultimately cannot be .refused by a stub-bam sinner. Man dead ip his trespasses and sin$ cannot choose God; converse-ly, man given redemptive grace cannqt refuse that grace. In John . 6:44, Jesus says that no one can come to Him un-less the :Father draws him. The Greek can be literally translated "drag." God's electing grace , is irresistible. If God loved an individual befo~~ the founda-. tion of the world, He will not allow that person to perish .. He will "drag" that sinner to salvation. .

    The familiar John 3 passage is also illustrative of irresistible grace. In His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus compares salvation to being born again. It is obvious that a human child, when the fullness of time comes, cannot re-fuse to be born! The mother's body rath-er forcefully expels the child when the time comes. The child is not consulted. Should we expect spiritual birth to be different? if we examine our conversion, did God beg us to come out of the womb of sin or did the power of . the gospel expel us into the kingdom of God via the new birth? Jesus has give:n us the answer.

    E. PERSEVERANCE The five points of Calvinism are in-

    separably linked. If God loved us from eternity past and Christ shed His pre-cious blood for us, it stands to reason that we are eternally secure. However, did Jesus .teach eternal security? In fact, Jesus did teach it. . What kind of life does Jesus grant be-

    lievers? Jesus repeatedly says that He grants believers etenuzl life. (John 3:16; 3:36; 6:47) Though so incredibly simple, many Christians miss the &igni-ficance. Why would Jesus call it "eter-nal" life if there was a possibility oflos-ing it? . If the reader is still . not convinced,

    consider again John 10. Jesus says that those (the sheep) for whom He died,

    sqall never petish and no one can snatch them out ofHis .hand. (vs. 28) . _

    , There is no more se

  • Five Points . (Continued from page 10) thought of their children being left out of God's covenant and not given it's sign. I have deep respect for many of my Baptist brethren, (I was one my-self), but the fact remains that in the Baptist view, children of believers are trapped in some kind of limbo between the Church and the world until they . make a verbal profession of faith in Christ. They are not members of the Church and yet not pagans either. . Finally; Jesus' establishment of the

    New Covenant showed that our Lord knew nothing .of a dispensational view of the covenant. In Matt. 26:26-28 as Jesus ate the Passover mear with His disciples, He stated that His blood and body .constituted the true passover. Je-sus was not establishing something radi-cally new, He was establishing Himself as the fulfillment of all the Old Cove-nant shadows. Jesus did not abrogate the Old Testament passover but rather fulfilled. it. Old Testament Saints cele-brated passover once a year through the bloody sacrifice of a lamb. New Cove-nant believers are to celebrate passover often through the bloodless elements of wine and bread. Jesus' whole life, wot:k and ministry was very much captive to God's covenant.

    . m. Presuppositional Apologetics

    Jesus assumed the existence of God and the veracity of the Scriptures. He never sparred with the Romans by set-ting up an elaborate system of theistic proofs. Nor did He attempt to over-whelm the Sadducees with empirical evi-dence of the supernatural aspects of Scripture. Jesus presupposed the exis-tence of the God of the universe re-vealed in Scripture.

    In the forty days of being tempted by Satan, Jesus knew that His ~st weapon against the . Evil One was . the self-authenticating Word of God. Three times Jesus countered the ~evil's tenlp-' ting with "It is written .... "

    Not only did . Jesus presuppose the : truth of God's Word, He took it atface value. Jesus accepted as historical fact the events that modern rationalistic

    theologians relegate to the categories of "myth" or "saga." For example, Jesus believed and taught the Genesis account of creation (Matt. 19:4). He believed the story of Jonah to be historical (Matt. 12:38-41). Our Lord affmiled the historicity of Noah and the flood (Matt. 24:37-39). Jesus assumed the truth of Scripture, using even details of the~e "difficult'' passages to illustrate aspects of His work. For example', Jesus. used: the historicity of the story of Jonah to illustrate that He would remain under the darkness of death for a time ...

    IV. Postmillennialism There are few things more clearly

    taught from the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ than the fact that Jesus estab-lished the Kingdom of God at HiS first advent. I am continually. amazed at the popularity of pre-millennialism in the face of the repeated declarations of out Lord that He came to establish His Kingdom. (See Matt. 4:17; 5:10; 6:10; . 6:37; 7:11; 10:7; 11:11; 11:12; 12:25-29; 13:11ff; 13:19; 16:28; 19:14; 21:43; Jn. 3:3-5) Some churches have the audacity to make pre-millennialism a test of orthodoxy.7

    The serious Bible student nuist study these passages and conscientio\lSly com-pare them to the hapax legomenon of Revelation 20. Besides, Jesus Himself gives us an infallible interpretation of Rev. 20:2 in Matt. 12:28,29 when He says: "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house."

    In the context of this statement, the Pharisees were accusing Jesus of cast-ing out demons by the power of Satan. Jesus pointed out the reductio ad absur~ dwn of their accusation by pointing out that Satan's kingdom cannot . statld if Satan is divided against himself. Jesus , points out that Satan's kingdom is crumbling, hot because Satan is divided but because the Son of Man has come and bound the strong man and is carry- ing off the strong man's possessions. As Jesus Cll$t out demons, He was free-

    ing nien from Satan's bon

  • saved, but do not believe that the power of the gospel will result in a "golden age" in history.

    I believe that Jesus had a very opti-_mistic view of the success of the King-dom He established. He bound Satan. The Evil One can no longer deceive the nations. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a powerful double-edged sword. As He gave the Great Commission, Jesus pro-mised to be with His people always (Mt 28:20). The victory of Christ's kingdom can be clearly seen in His three parables of the kingdom found in Matt. 13. The parable of the wheat and the tares is instructive: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field." Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a wheat field. Even though there are also tares in the field at harvest time, it must be remembered that it is a wheat field, not a tare field. Those who hold to various brands of "pessimillen-nialism" seem to teach that the King-dom is a tare field with a few wheat stalks scattered here and there.

    Matthew 13:30-31 records for us the parable of the mustard seed: "The king-dom of heaven is like a mustard seed .. .. " Jesus goes on to make His point that although the mustard seed is tiny, it grows into a very large bush. The Church of J e~us Christ started out small - 11 frightened men. Now there are millions of Christians all over the world. The Kingdom will grow still larger as God's people are faithful to water and fertilize it

    Finally, in verse 33, Jesus said that the kingdom is like leaven. The king-dom is not like dough adulterated by evil leaven, it is like leaven. Leaven gradually permeates the whole lump of

    dough. What could Jesus be teaching except that the Kingdom will gradually penetrate the whole world?

    Still not convinced? My favorite proof text for an optimistic view of his-tory is a well known scripture verse. Al-though well known, few seem to under-stand its significance. This verse is Mat-thew 16:18. The context is Peter's con-fession of Jesus as Messiah. Jesus says that He will build His church on that truth. Jesus also says that the gates of

    Hell will not prevail against that Church as it stands upon that founda-tion.

    Many Christians are so conditioned to a pessimistic view of history that they automatically reverse that passage to read "Hell will not prevail against the gates of the Church." That's not what it says, folks! The Church is not to withdraw withih its walls and take pride in the fact that she can withstand the continuing seige of the forces of darkness until Jesus comes back and raptures her out of her predicament. No! Christ is commanding His church to get out and take the offensive and storm the gates of Hell and knock over the devil's strongholds. Christians should be taking their principles to the market-place and making inroads for the king-dom of Jesus Christ. He has promised that the gates of Hell are no match for His loyal troops.

    I leave you with one more teaching from the lips of our Lord to prove that Jesus believed in the success of His gospel. In Matt. 22:44 Jesus quotes Ps. 110:1, "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand until I put thine enemies beneath thy feet."' One clear fact of the New Testament is that Jesus went to the right hand of the Father at His ascension. (Heb. 1:3) Jesus will stay there until all His enemies are under His feet. There will be no rapture of a defeated Church. Jesus will come for His bride after He has destroyed the enemies of God through His bride, the Church.

    Sorry, Hal, Satan may be alive for now but he is not well on planet earth. He is being crushed by the power of God under the feet of the Church. (Rom. 16:20)

    V. Theonomic Ethic The fifth point of theology that

    characterizes the movement known as Christian Reconstruction is theonomy. In our day, theonomy is ridiculed, characatured, and despised. Incredibly, some of the most vicious attacks of theonomy come from what is broadly known as the Reformed camp.

    "Theonomy" simply means God's law. Logically the only alternative to

    God's law is humanism. One will either follow the law of God as a blueprint for the three main human institutions, (Church, family, and state), or man will follow a humanistic set of values. It is no coincidence that the 20th century has witnessed the breakdown of these three institutions as dispensational ideas have driven the Church (and therefore civiliza-tion) further and further away from Bib-lical law.

    The question before us is this: Did Jesus in His establishment of the New Covenant abrogate the Old Covenant law? Did He dispense with God's law in favor of some sort of natural law as espoused by modem dispensationalist theologian Norman Geisler?&

    In the Lord's prayer, Jesus Christ taught His disciples principles of pray-er. Most every Christian knows and prays the Lord's prayer. I often wonder how many really pay attention to what they are praying. One of the petitions that Christians bring to God's throne of grace is that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10). What is God's will? God's will is not some mystical natural law revealed in crea-tion. It is His law revealed in Scripture! Check this out by studying the 119th Psalm. God wants His people to work for His perfect will to be done on earth. This will benefit everyone since God is perfect grace, love, and justice.

    It astounds me that some professing Christians would rather be under the bloody, oppressive hand of man rather than under the hand of our God whose mercy is great. Norman Geisler has actually stated something to the effect that, God forbid that our nation go back to her Christian heritage!&

    Another interesting aspect about this debate is the observation that very few Christians (excluding radical dispensa-tionalists) deny the validity of the Ten Commandments. Yet the Ten Com-mandments comprise the summary of God's law. The case laws of the Penta-teuch are simply the practical applica-tions of the summary. Logically, if the Ten Commandments are still binding then the explanatory case laws of the Ten Commandments must still be bind-ing. An examination of the gospels of

    The Counsel of Chalcedon, July, 1988 ----------------------------Page 31

  • Matthew and John show that our Lord Jesus Christ taught of the continued ap~ plication of the Old Testament law. God loves His people too much to force them to wander in darkness. He has given His children the light of His law by which to walk.

    When tempted by the devil during his 40 days of fasting in the wildemess, Matthew records that Jesus quoted Deut. 8:3 to rebuke Satan. Jesus said: "Man shall not live by bread alo:qe but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." If Jesus was about to institute a dispensational change from God's law to some sort of natural law, these ate very peculiar words for Him to speak.

    In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus left no doubt about the rela~onship be-tWeen His ministry and the law of God. He tells His people not to even .think that He came to do away with the law (vs. 17). In verse 18, our Lord teaches that the smallest detail of the law will remain in effect until beaven and earth pass away. Jesus warns in vs. 19 that anyone who annuls the least of the com-mandments and teaches others to do like-wise will be least in the Kingdom.9

    In John 14:15,21,23 Jesus defmes iove in terms of obedience to God's law. According to our Lord, the mark of a true disciple is obedience to His law. There is absolutely no evidence that Je-sus is referring . to anything but the Mosaic law. There is nothing to sug-gest that Jesus measures man's love. for Him according to some natlu-al law or revelation.

    Jesus believed and taught the con-tinuing validity of. not only the Ten Commandments in general, but our Lord also taught that the penal sanc-tions of the case laws to be valid as well. Antinomians pretend to be horri-fied at the theonomic position which calls for the death penalty for incorri-gible delinquents. Yet Jesus upholds this iaw in Matthew 15:4. In context, Jesus is condemning the Pharisees for transgressing God's law for the sake of their traditions. Jesus Christ, by His own words, upholds the very point oil which many criticize the theonomic ethic! This is the same Jesus who

    taught that His yoke is easy and His burden light. God's law is meant to be a blessing, not a burden.

    As the .three major human insti~tions continue to decay under the oppres-sion of natural law, the wisdom ofrein-stituting Biblical law in every area of life becotrles more and more apparent (and necessary). God is completely just attd holy. Therefore His law is just. To believe that God's law is somehow too harsh for our "enlightened" age is to deny the teachings of Christ as well . as to question the justice of an AlmightY and inunutabl God!

    Conclusion Christian Reconstruction is neither

    new nor dangerous. It is simply consis-tent Reformed theology handed down to us by John Calvin and the Puritans. It is the theology that made our nation the most prosperous in the world. It is no coincidence that America's wealth and power have diminished as. the Church has .clrifted away from these five points. This should be no swprise to .Chris-tians since God promises prosperitY for a nation who obeys and curses for a nation who disobeys (Deut 28).

    It is my hope and prayer that I have demonstrated that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught the very same principles that have come to be known as"Chris~ tian Reconstructionism.". If the testi many of Moses, the ProphetS, ahd the Apostolic epistles are added to the words of Jesus, one finds. these priil-ciples taught in Scripture ftorn Genesis to Revelation. This should not be si.lr-

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    prising since Jesus is the eternal Word of God and that He is truth. May His bride, the Church, be faithful to believe and obey the words from the lips ofher Lord.

    Page 32 ----------------------------~The Counsel ot Chalcedon, July, 1988