We have already seen how God established a system of retributive justice to govern the created order in the Noahic Covenant. This is an outworking of the very nature of God, which is Justice. Since God is Just, every act of injustice and unrighteousness must be punished by Him. This punishment is proportional to the injustice or unrighteousness committed (Gen 9:6). This was the principle God established for the governing of His kingdom on earth in the Old Covenant (Ex 21:23-25, Lev 24:18-21, Deut 19:21). However, Christ Himself declares that this principle of justice does not characterise the citizens of the kingdom of God in the New Covenant (Matt 5:38-42).
Tag: Ethics
The New Covenant and Antithesis: Part 4 – Kingdom Ethics – Power, Stability and Money
The Old Covenant Israelite theocracy was typological of the heavenly kingdom. In that covenant we see that the Lord made several promises of earthly prosperity to His people, if they were obedient to Him - “And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee” (Deut 28:11). We have also seen how all of these earthly blessings were typological pointers of the eternal blessings we have in Christ, with the apostle Paul saying that all the promises of God are yea and Amen in Christ (2 Cor 1:20). They were thus typological of kingdom blessings and not an end in and of themselves. Since the kingdom of God is not of this world and doesn’t claim worldly territory, worldly wealth no longer serves as a covenant blessing to its citizens. Christ Himself teaches this when He declares, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's” (Mk 2:17). The implications of that statement are important to understand. Christ isn’t saying that worldly wealth is an intrinsic evil but He is declaring that it is not something that is part of His kingdom.
Snippets: Providence in Afflictions
In my teens when I was diagnosed with myopia and required prescription eyeglasses, I was bitter and angry. The diagnosis shattered my dreams of joining the military in an active combat role. Night after night, I would pray to the Lord to heal my eyes so that eventually I would be able to seek honor and glory defending the country from commies in China and Islamists in Pakistan, but the Lord never granted my request. Over time, I accepted reality but never understood why God would shatter my dreams and afflict me in that way.
The New Testament and the Magistrate
Since the transformation of this present world is a key goal of Dominionism and Postmillennialism, its adherents consider influencing the civil magistrate to be an important part of the Church’s witness. Hence, they appeal to several passages of Scripture to support their goals. These passages are often in the Old Testament and involve a flawed hermeneutic of reading covenantal statements outside of their context, applying what was meant for Israel to modern nation states. The New Testament on the other hand doesn’t provide any support for their tendencies so their appeals to it tends to be quite limited.
Understanding the Great Commission
We read about the Great Commission in Matt 28:18-20, where Christ says - “18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” The Dominionist reading of the Text goes like this - Since Christ has been given all authority, Satan has been divested all his authority. Therefore, it is the duty of the church to invade his kingdom and establish itself over the earth. Christ’s statement that His kingdom is not of the earth refers to its origins in heaven and not to its purpose in this age. Since the Great Commission calls for the Church to teach all nations to observe all of God’s commandments, one of the ends of the proclamation of the Gospel is the transformation of societies and establishment of righteous laws. On the surface this sounds like a coherent understanding of the passage. Yet, this departs from the themes and motifs that have already been revealed in the Old Testament and are further revealed in the New Testament.
Pets Aren’t Family
Two days ago, I had to put down my pet rat, Samwise. A couple of months ago he developed a benign tumor, a regular issue for rats. He did well with the tumor and remained playful and enjoyed his treats until this past week when the tumor became larger than him making it very difficult for him to move around and sucking in most of the nutrition that he was taking in, leaving him a skinny husk while the tumor kept growing. That morning, for the first time he refused to eat a cashew nut, one of his favorite treats and I noticed that he hadn't eaten his food or drunk water. He could barely move and just wanted to be held while he slept. The whole situation got me thinking about how pets are viewed in our modern world and how even many Christians have bought into many of the culture's presuppositions and attachments to animals that just isn't healthy. In this era of human history, particularly in the West, it is common for people to view pets as effectively a human being, part of the family. Animals are likewise treated as if they are part of the family and people end up making very unnaturally close bonds with their animals. There is a genuine confusion in the culture on how animals are to be considered. Sadly many Christians don't think about these things Biblically but follow what they have learnt from the culture. This influence is present in each one of us and at times I am likewise guilty of anthropomorphizing my pets.
John the Baptist, Political Activism and Military Service
I ran across a post on a popular Dominionist satire page that used John the Baptist's confrontation of Herod as an illustration to shame what the author probably thinks is Two-Kingdom Theology. Such thinking seems to prevalent in Evangelical circles in general wherein it is taught that John's actions are a call to New Covenant Christians to engage in political activism or that John's injunctions to soldiers to be just and content is an endorsement of military service for Christians. Such readings show the importance of reading the Word of God in its context and its specific application. These are preconceived notions that are already widely held in the politically charged Christianity in the West, for which they turn to find Biblical justification, willing at times to ignore the covenantal context of Scripture.
Deo Vicit Mundum 