One of the major talking points of Dominionism is the success of the Great Commission. Their argument goes that since Christ has triumphed over His enemies and we know that all the promises are fulfilled in Christ, the Great Commission must be successful. The statement itself is absolutely true but the question must be asked - how is success defined? Answering that question is key because success itself is a vague term. Take a simple example of a corporation. Its leadership might determine that success is increasing its revenues by 10% over the year. Now that the leadership has set a clear target, at the end of the year one can gauge their success. If they increased their revenue by 9%, they have failed and if they increased it by 10.5% or 12% or 100% they have succeeded. The point being that the clear metric set by the leadership on what success is, defines it. In the same way when we speak of fulfilment of Biblical prophecies and therefore the success of the Great Commission, we ought to consider them through the lens of Christ and the apostles. We’ve already considered some of their hermeneutics earlier in this work. How does that apply to the Great Commission?
Tag: Nations
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.
Christ the Substance of the Abrahamic Covenant
God promised Abraham that His Seed would inherit the promised land. We have already seen how the Bible teaches that the physical aspect of these promises were fulfilled in the Old Testament Israelite nation (Josh 21:43, 23:14, 1 King 4:20). The physical fulfilment however wasn’t the substance of the promise. It was given to confirm the ultimate fulfilment of the promise in its spiritual antitype, Jesus Christ.
The Heresy of Christian Nationalism Part 2: Rationalism and Natural Theology
The assumptions behind Christian Nationalism tend to stem from a high view of human reason. Rationalism is the epistemological position that reason is the chief source of knowledge and truth. Rationalists believe that they can perceive eternal truths through human reason. This view has a strong foundation in the Western philosophical tradition, particularly being solidified in Medieval Scholasticism that has reared its ugly head in the Church ever since. Proponents of Rationalism and the Scholastic method tend to underplay the extensive controversy in Protestant history against the Medieval Scholastics. They are positively convinced that all the Reformers were heavily influenced by the Scholastics, particularly Thomas Aquinas, often ignoring the heavy emphasis on the noetic effects of the Fall in their writings. It is unsurprising then that many proponents of Christian Nationalism tend to be Thomists. The assumption here is that the natural realm, i.e. the physical world operates purely within the realm of reason, which is distinct from the supernatural realm.
The Heresy of Christian Nationalism Part 1: Identity, a Historic Survey
Christian Nationalism is a theological position that is currently heavily being debated in Protestant circles. The recent book "The Case for Christian Nationalism" by Stephen Wolfe has garnered popular attention in a wide array of conservative Christian circles, particularly in the Reformed tradition. However, his particular manifesto is only one approach of many in seeking to include the state into the realm to be transformed by Christianity. Proponents of Christian Nationalism are often Rationalist in their approach with a view that they can sufficiently deduce eternal truths through human reason. This is often combined with a high view of nature, particularly the notion that one can deduce through reason what would have been good in the Edenic created order prior to the Fall.
Babel and the Abrahamic Promises
The Great Flood had cleansed the world of all creatures except for Noah, his household and two of every kind of creature. The aftermath of the deluge was God’s covenant with Noah and his descendants to preserve the world and natural order until its final destruction. Humanity however, had not learnt its lesson. Rather than accept the curse, their fate, cease from their sins and await God’s redemption, they would now seek to engage in a project to build their own Eden, a temple by which they could make a name for themselves. This carnal impulse to establish utopian religious and civilizational projects in this age is typified by the Tower of Babel. In it we see both the continuation of the disinheritance of Adam’s race and the beginnings of God’s plan of redemption for Adam’s race.
Deo Vicit Mundum 