Theonomy in Christian Ethics

Because there is one only Lord and Master who has dominion over our consciences, and because his will is the only principle of all justice, we confess all our life ought to be ruled in accordance with the commandments of his holy law in which is contained all perfection of justice, and that we ought to have no other rule of good and just living, no

the state had only a derivative authority as a minister of justice under Christ and His word. The political source of law, then, traced back, not to Caesar, but ultimately to Christ and God’s law.1

Since the rule of Christ and God’s law has been restricted to individual commitment and (if anywhere) private conscience, man has seen himself as free to generate or reject, as his own ethical authority, moral ideals and obligation. Individualism and liberty become the only absolutes which govern interpersonal relations.16 To “be yourself ” and do

By “theonomy” I will mean that verbalized law of God which is imposed from outside man and revealed authoritatively in the words of Scripture.

Holiness is not restricted to man alone in Scripture, and the prophetic vision of Christ’s Kingdom is emphatic on this point:

in all areas of life; this word naturally includes God’s moral directives (law). 3. Our obligation to keep the law of God cannot be judged by any extrascriptural standard, such as whether its specific requirements (when properly interpreted) are congenial to past traditions or modern feelings and practices. 4. We should presume that Old Testament s

My book The Authority of God’s Law Today (Texas: Geneva Press [708 Hamvassy Road, Tyler, TX 75701], 1983) explains the position outlined above, providing a popular presentation of theonomic ethics that is much shorter and less technical than Theonomy.

Where God’s law is honored, no man can regard himself as meeting God’s requirements of holiness who gives his children to a godless school system to educate, or who feels that a secular state is acceptable to a Christian. God’s law requires obedience by all men and institutions at all times.

In the pages that follow, my concern will be to show from God’s word that the Christian is obligated to keep the whole law of God as a pattern of sanctification and that this law is to be enforced by the civil magistrate where and how the stipulations of God so designate. That is to say, “theonomy” has a central and irradicable place in any genuine