So far, we have covered three of the four core principles of Christian Reconstruction. In Chapter 5 we considered the sovereignty of God over people and nations. Chapter 4 discussed the importance of discarding a defeatist and fatalistic view of history prior to Christ’s return. Chapter 3 covered the necessity of appealing to God’s Word as our ultimate standard. Now we arrive at the final core principle of Christian Reconstruction, biblical law. Why is an emphasis on total adherence to God’s law in scripture across all areas of life such an important core component to Christian Reconstruction?

Two Ditches

Think about a society that affirmed the Word of God as the foundation of knowledge, was not bogged down with a directionless and defeatist view of history, was confident in God’s sovereignty over people and nations, and yet when it came to the ethical standards for all of life chucked the Law of God out the window. Sounds like a nightmare. If we get this part wrong, all we are doing is building a façade of a “godly” society by slapping the “Christian” label on it. When it inevitably goes south and devolves into tyranny with a Christian bow, then we blame the pursuit of Christendom as if the pursuit itself was wrong. As C. S. Lewis once wrote:

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.^[32]

This very error has been the downfall of many past attempts to construct a distinctly Christian society. The managers of the “Christian” civil government give certain lip service to abstract principles derived from scripture but give little effort to understanding what biblical law actually entails. They may appeal to the concept of “Love thy neighbor” and then seek to implement a social-welfare or quasi-communist state as if this were a faithful manifestation of that principle in the civil realm.^[33] Alternatively, the civil managers may appeal to biblical concepts like “God is Holy” and decide to implement Orwellian policies of strict control over all human activity. Applying transcendent biblical law faithfully in civil matters avoids both pitfalls. This is why adhering attentively to the principles of transcendent biblical law is crucial in this endeavor. The dangers of misguided attempts at establishing a Christian society are clear. By the same token, we must also be careful not to fall prey to an equally pernicious error, which is to conclude that since the administration of biblical law might be difficult to “get right” it’s therefore much better to stick with secular law. The first reason this is wrong is because it stems from a false premise. We must not approach questions of morality from a standpoint of “what we think works best.” This mindset is akin to the meanderings of the Israelites when “everyone did what seemed right in their own eyes.” To the contrary, intentionally setting aside God as the source of truth and morality in the civil realm is a form of idolatry. As theologian R. J. Rushdoony pointed out:

God’s law begins with this fundamental premise, “Thou shalt have no other God’s before me,” which means also this: “Thou shalt have no other laws before me.” Other laws mean other gods, whether we admit it or not. ^[34]

Secondly, even from a more pragmatic “what works” standpoint, do we really think that secular law hasn’t devolved into a multitude of different tyrannies of its own making? Do we really think that people don’t also have a multitude of disagreements on how best to administer secular law? These are rhetorical questions. Some go so far as to say that because human beings are sinners, we should never try to have a Christian civil government. Should we also then abandon family government? Church government? If the Holy Spirit can lead us to faithfulness in those realms, why would He be unable to lead us to faithfulness in the civil realm? More rhetorical questions. We must avoid the “recklessness ditch” of bungling the civil implementation of God’s law and the “abdicating ditch” of ignoring it all together.

What is Theonomy?

In modern times, the debate over the importance of God’s law as applied to the civil realm has revolved around a term known as “theonomy.” The word “theonomy” is derived from the Greek words “Theos” (God) and “Nomos” (Law) and literalistically means, “God’s law.”

“God’s law” is much broader than just the realm of civil penalties. It is typically divided into three categories in terms of the kinds of laws we see revealed in scripture.

1. Moral Law – This is the Law as summarized in the Ten Commandments, which are traditionally divided into two tables. The first table being man’s responsibilities toward God and the second being man’s responsibilities towards man. The Moral Law reveals the unchanging character of God and His expectations for His people.

2. Ceremonial Law – These are laws that were temporarily set in place for the distinct people of God beginning with Abraham (circumcision) and culminating in the full system of the Old Covenant under Moses with the Canaanite holy war, animal sacrifices, the Levitical priesthood, the tabernacle, feasts and holy days, clean/unclean laws, land inheritance etc. These laws were to point Israel toward their need for the coming Messiah, regulate their worship, and fashion them into a people who were distinct from their neighbors.

3. Judicial or Civil Law^[35] – These laws were to regulate social interactions and lay out penalties for criminality in Israel as a unique nation under the Old Covenant. Systematic Theologian Louis Berkhof helpfully stated, “The civil law is simply the application of the principles of the moral law to the social and civic life of the people in all its ramifications.”^[36]

The definitional distinctiveness of “theonomy” is found in the affirmation that civil magistrates today are obligated to rule in accordance with God’s law, including some (but not all) civil laws given under Moses. In the early days of New Testament Christianity when most Christians were living under the civil rule of the Roman Empire, “theonomy” was not top of mind for a number of reasons. First, in those days Christians were a tiny minority and had very little influence on what godly civil government might look like. In the days before the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD, Christians were mainly seen by the Romans as a minor subset of the Jewish faith, and the Jews possessed very little autonomy over decisions in the civil realm. Secondly, the church was constantly on the run facing persecution from the Jewish leaders in the synagogues, and then later, after Nero turned against the Christians, from Rome. Understandably, contemplating how best to administer a civil government was not high on the priority list.

Following those early days in the era of the writing of the New Testament, Christianity proceeded to explode across the world in both number and influence. From that point on, Christians (and those who claimed to be Christian) have been confronted in various ways with having to deal with how best to govern in the civil realm. This included grappling with which laws and principles (if any) from the Mosaic Code still have relevance and binding authority. In truth, Theonomy is about much more than the civil case laws given to Moses.

Far from being only concerned with civil matters, theonomy is a fully orbed and comprehensive approach to the Law of God which seeks to manifest the ethical decrees of God in all areas of the life of a Christian. It starts with each individual person in all capacities whether that be as a parent, child, spouse, friend, relative, employee, manager, church officer, or civil magistrate. From the individual level it branches out to families, churches, neighborhoods, communities, and nations. This chapter will focus on the distinctive feature of theonomy, which is that it recognizes that some civil laws given under Moses are still obligatory for civil magistrates today to adhere to.

Before we go any further, let us first address a pressing question. What was the relationship between Jesus and the Law? Was our Savior at odds with the Law?

Jesus Christ and the Law

In the book of Matthew, we see Jesus making very clear that in no way should anyone think that He had come to abolish the law given to Moses or the prophets. Our Lord says:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Matthew 5:17

To the contrary, Jesus highlights the continuing importance of the Law saying:

“Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:19

During His earthly ministry, Jesus would often respond to His detractors by citing scripture saying, “It is written….” He would often be quoting from the laws of Moses and would embarrass the Pharisees by showing how they continually misrepresented the Law, twisted it, or outright opposed it. We must pay close attention to when Christ says, “You have heard that it was said.” It is here that Jesus is pointing out how the Pharisees “say” one thing about what the Law teaches, when it actually teaches another thing entirely. Notice for instance, what Jesus says in Matthew Chapter 5 about loving our enemies. Is this a New Covenant doctrine? Or is Jesus pointing out what God’s law always required?

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies.”

Matthew 5:43-44

But did the Law really command us to hate our enemies as the Pharisees were contending? What was actually written in the Law?

“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”

Leviticus 19:18

We see that love of neighbor and the rejection of vengeance is what is commanded. Further, when we read from Exodus 23, we see this aspect of the moral law applied in the context of dealing with one’s enemy in a practical example:

“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him.”

Exodus 23:4-5

Do you see that Jesus was protecting the Law from the Pharisees distortions? Justice, mercy, and faithfulness towards one’s neighbor means returning his wayward ox, even if the neighbor is a jerk. The point is, we often miss the harmony of God’s law with the message of Christ. It was not the Pharisee’s adherence to the Law that Christ objected to, it was their lawlessness under the false pretense of adherence to the Law. This was their hypocrisy.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faithfulness.  These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”

Matthew 23:23

“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

John 14:21

We see this pattern of Jesus protecting the true meaning of the Law from the distortions of the Pharisees continued with the ordeal of the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8. We will address this scenario later in Chapter 9 of this book.

Clearing Up Misconceptions

Before we delve into the details of the distinctiveness of theonomy as it relates to the administration of civil government, let’s clear up possible preliminary misconceptions to avoid any unnecessary obstacles. What is theonomy not? I’ll list seven:

1. Theonomy is not an attempt to achieve our own salvation or justification through the Law or our works (sometimes referred to as the “Galatian heresy” of Galatians 1 and 2). It is not an attempt to add works to grace. As the scripture teaches in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” We trust in the work of Christ on our behalf for our salvation. Instead, theonomists ask, as redeemed servants of Christ living in the Kingdom of Christ, “How should we then live in all areas of our lives?”

2. Theonomy is not an attempt to go back to Old Covenant Israel. Theonomists affirm that the Old Covenant has been made obsolete by the newer and superior Covenant established by Christ. We do not advocate that anyone seek to obey any law on the basis of its correlation to the particular nation of Old Covenant Israel, but only if the law transcends the Old Covenant and applies to all nations at all times. Yes, there may be disagreement on which laws are transcendent and which were particular to Israel under the Old Covenant, but this is a discussion that can be had in good faith amongst Christians. We do not seek to take the Mosaic laws given to Israel as a unique nation during a unique time and whole-cloth plop it down on every nation state today.

3. Theonomy is not an attempt to bring salvation to society (whether America or any other nation) through a mere rehearsing of the Law of God to a spiritually dead people. The Law cannot save, and in this sense, you cannot “legislate heart change.” We affirm the classic three-fold function of the Law as a mirror, a restraint, and a guide. It is a mirror in that it exposes our sin and our need for a Savior (Romans 3:20). It is a restraint in that it limits the destruction of evil men though temporal consequences (Ecclesiastes 8:11). It is a guide in that it reveals what is pleasing to God in how to live our lives as obedient Christians (Psalm 119:105-106).

4. Theonomy is not about power hungry, authority obsessed Christians seeking to seize the reins of power by force and attempting to convert people to Christianity at the point of a sword. To the contrary, theonomists understand that true and lasting change can only come about as the people’s hearts are turned to God in repentance. Theonomy is not about Christians seeking political power and authority. Instead, it’s about humbly recognizing God’s power and authority and then taking the responsibility to submit ourselves to it, including in the civil realm.

5. Theonomy is not an attempt to replace civil government with the church or some council of church bishops. Instead, we recognize that civil government, church government, and family government all possess separate jurisdictions and duties under God. Just because God regards something as a sin, does not mean the civil magistrate has authorization to enact a civil penalty to oppose it. Not all sins are crimes (i.e., covetousness). The civil magistrate does not administer ecclesiastical sanctions nor does the ecclesiastical officer administer civil sanctions.

6. Theonomists do not espouse any notion of a “favored nation” status for the United States. Like any other nation, America may rise or fall depending on its fidelity to God. Some theonomists regard the United States Constitution as a departure from fidelity to God as it does not declare the establishment of the Christian religion, nor does it have a religious test for political office. Other theonomists see the U.S. Constitution as not intending to provide a “substantive morality” but instead saw it as a useful document (though imperfect) in providing a sort of “procedural morality” which could be used for either good or evil depending on the faithfulness of the people and its rulers.^[37] Whatever the case may be, theonomy is not “America-centric.”

7. Finally, theonomy is not guilty of “civil Judaizing.” As recounted in places like Acts 15 and Galatians 1-2, the Judaizers were those who had claimed to embrace Christ but were also trying to enforce Jewish customs and ceremonial observances onto new gentile converts. Most glaringly, they were seeking to require that male gentile converts to the Christian faith be circumcised. This amounted to a distortion of the Gospel in improperly dividing the body of Christ along these lines of Jew and Gentile. The Apostle Paul boldly confronted Peter for this error in trying to force gentile Christians to adopt Jewish customs (Galatians 2:14). At the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, there were a group of Judaizers who were opposing Paul and Barnabas and were likewise calling for all new converts to be circumcised and to “keep the law of Moses” in order to be saved.

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Acts 15:1

But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

Acts. 15:5

These men were directly opposed and the Apostles re-iterated that both Jew and Gentile had received the same Holy Spirit (Acts 15:8-9) and Gentiles did not need to adopt Jewish customs for inclusion in the body. Further, they made clear that salvation is “through the Grace of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 15:11). The burdensome notion that salvation could be achieved by keeping the Law was swiftly rebuked.

That being said, nowhere in this passage is the notion taught that Christians were now free to engage in murder, theft, adultery, idolatry and sins of other kinds, simply because salvation is not achieved by works. To this Paul says “God forbid” in Romans 6:2. When the Apostles concluded that they would only require the gentiles to avoid sexual immorality and to stay away from food that had been strangled, was bloody, or was sacrificed to idols (Acts 15:20), they didn’t mean that other sins like murder and theft were “back on the table.” Nor does this passage absolve the civil magistrate of his responsibility to punish evil doers as is reiterated later in Romans 13. The problem was the imposition of Jewish customs like circumcision as a condition of belonging to the Church and the institution of a works righteousness program of salvation. Theonomy opposes both of these errors.

Theonomy does not seek to re-impose a burden of works righteousness upon the believer nor does it seek to re-impose Jewish customs like circumcision upon gentiles.

So now that we know what theonomy is not, what is the basis of theonomy as it relates to its civil function?

Foundations of Biblical Civil Law

First of all, we must recognize that transcendent civil law has always been always applicable to all nations at all times (Deuteronomy 4:5-8). For example, there has never been a time where it was good and just for a civil magistrate to kill an entire family because one person in the family stole a loaf of bread. Secondly, we must recognize that as a result of Christ’s enthronement at the right hand of the Father, all nations are now being called by God’s messengers (His people) to legally conform to the authority of Christ, the Lord of Lords. This begins with putting one’s faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord. But the resulting repentance that all people are called to does not contain any areas of exception. No area of life is omitted from this call to obedience, not even in the realm of the administration of civil justice.

“Then Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you…”

Matthew 28:18-20

We must understand that the nations don’t belong to Christ in some kind of abstract, pie-in-the-sky sense. They belong to Him in a much more significant way than say, a Florida landlord owns the home that he rents out to his tenant. Christ’s authority is a legal reality, and it is all-encompassing of all activity in every nation: The land that nations occupy, their civil governance, their ecclesiastical governance, their family government— everything. We don’t yet see the nations in submission to Christ, but this doesn’t lessen their legal obligation to Him. As such, all peoples of the earth (rulers included) are being formally notified of their obligation to obey Christ. This obligation is echoed in prophetic passages like Psalm 2 which specifically calls out the civil rulers.

Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, And rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, When his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Psalm 2:10-12

Not only does Christ possess legal authority over all nations and rulers, it was always God’s plan to bring about obedience to His Son in all nations through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit promised in the New Covenant.

“And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

Ezekiel 36:26-27

This outpouring of Spirit enabled obedience would one day result in the manifestation of justice not only for just one nation, but across the entire earth as these Spirit indwelt people filled the earth. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.

He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.

Isaiah 42:4

This justice serves both to bless the inhabitants of the earth and also to proclaim the majesty of God to unbelieving nations. We see this prefigured in the Old Testament when God blesses Israel by giving to them His written law code. Prior to this, Israel and the nations around them mainly had access to what they could perceive in the natural world through divine revelation (sometimes called “natural law”). Accordingly, they devised law systems which occasionally had remnants of justice but were more often characterized by flagrant injustice.

It was not uncommon in Ancient Near East cultures for law systems to be marked by disproportionate or arbitrary penalties, mutilation, unequal weights and measures, endless blood feuds and revenge cycles, dishonest scales, retributive justice, bribery, indefinite detention without trial, lack of due process, manstealing, child sacrifice, little to no legal protection for women, slaves or foreigners, and highly centralized rule by a sovereign who was himself, often divinized by the people.

This was in stark contrast to the rules, statutes, and precepts laid out by God for Israel. God’s law for civil magistrates was marked by proportionate penalties (Deuteronomy 16:1820, 17:6, 19:15-21), equal weights and measures, honest scales (Leviticus 19:35-36), due process (Deuteronomy 19:15-19), uniformity of law, impartiality, (Leviticus 24:22) protections for bond-servants (Deuteronomy 23:15), foreigners (Leviticus 19:33-34), women (Deuteronomy 22:25-27), and the poor (Deuteronomy 15:1-11). God blessed Israel by providing them with His written laws. Thus God said to Moses, and Moses to the people:

“See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all the law that I set before you?”

Deuteronomy 4:5-8

There were also laws that God gave that did not apply to other nations (like the laws related to the keeping of the tabernacle and the animal sacrifices). But the fact that God blessed Israel by providing them with His written law codes should put to shame any notion that modern Christian nations should ignore transcendent biblical law and seek to implement what they regard as natural law alone. This is to deny that God blessed Israel when He provided them with these written statutes. The hopeful expectation of the future worldwide application of God’s laws are recounted repeatedly throughout the Old Testament prophets.

Again, in Isaiah we read:

For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness, he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the LORD.

Isaiah 26:9b-10

This is why we must recognize that the manifestation of justice in every realm (including the civil) is not a departure from the prophetic expectation of scripture, but a fulfillment of it. Within the modern church today, there is often little cognizance of the fact that the message of the Gospel is both the cross and the crown. It is the atonement of Christ for sin and also the good news that the resurrected, death-defeating Christ ascended to heaven and is enthroned at the right hand of the Father. Christ is Lord and has been given all authority over heaven and earth. His Kingdom is not of this world, it is of heaven, and it reigns over rinky-dink earthly kingdoms. This is also good news!

This is why we pray that God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. Like the Apostle Paul, we should be determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But we forget that “Christ” isn’t Jesus’ last name. It is a royal title, and that royal title is indicative of His authority, His law, and His kingdom which rules over both heaven and earth. It was the proclamation of this royal title (“Jesus is Lord”) that propelled the New Testament church toward persecution by a kingdom that proclaimed, “Caesar is Lord.”

How do we Know Which Laws are for Today?

So with all that in mind we must ask, what are the aspects of biblical law that apply to civil magistrates today, and how are they to be obeyed? As all Christians should do in any question of ethics, we must inquire of scripture diligently to determine the answer. The task of the theonomist civil magistrate is two-fold:

First, we must seek to determine which commands given by God under the Mosaic law were applicable only to Old Covenant Israel given their unique position in redemptive history as a kind of national incubator for the coming Messiah and the temporary Levitical Priesthood that they lived under. Typically, these were laws related to ceremonial purification and separation laws (clean and unclean), laws related to the temple and the Levitical priesthood and system of offerings and animal sacrifice, laws related to the Hebrew calendar of feasts and holy days, as well as laws related to the land of Canaan, Holy War, and inheritance of the land by the tribes of Israel. For example, Old Testament passages which instruct Israelites on how to sacrifice lambs in the temple are still applicable to us today in the sense that they remind us of God’s character, His provision, that sin must be dealt with, and our need for substitutionary atonement. Or as another example, laws about ceremonial cleanliness are still applicable for us today in that they remind us of God’s holiness, our need for spiritual cleansing, and our responsibility to not try to be like the world. But do we today, living in the New Covenant, read these passages and try to rebuild the tabernacle and reinstitute the Levitical Priesthood system of animal sacrifice? Of course not. The New Testament book of Hebrews is basically a warning against any attempts to go back to what has been made obsolete by the newer and superior Priesthood of Christ.

Second, we must seek to determine which commands given by God were applicable only to Israel in their particular setting in the societal context in which they lived. For example, there are instructions for safety as recorded in Deuteronomy 22:8:

“When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.”

Does this mean that in a nation governed by biblical law, all new home constructions have to include a railing on top of the roof of the house? Of course not. This was a peculiarity to Israel because in those days people would commonly head up to the roof top at certain points in the day.

What principle should be derived by the contemporary civil ruler? Firstly, homebuilders should install safety precautions in the homes that they build. A fence should be installed around a pool so a child doesn’t wander in and drown. The natural gas line that heats the home should not be made with shoddy materials that could easily lead to an explosion. Also, notice that there is no penalty for not building the railing, the penalty only comes if someone is injured. So, the civil magistrate should not infer from this law that he has the authority to regulate preemptively, only to punish when there is a victim.

This is an interpretive approach that enables us to determine the modern applicability of biblical laws given to us under Moses. Sixteenth-century German theologian Johannes Piscator helpfully states:

“The magistrate is obliged to those judicial laws which teach concerning matters which are immutable and universally applicable to all nations, but not to those which teach concerning matters which are mutable and peculiar to the Jewish or Israelite nations for the times when those governments remained in existence.”^[38] It is beyond the scope of this book to provide an exhaustive list of all instances of civil laws and their modern application, but to summarize, what are the law principles and specific crimes recorded in Mosaic law that would always apply to all nations at all times?

Summary of Mosaic Laws that Still Apply

First let’s begin with the more obvious aspects of biblical law that still apply today. In terms of the following principles, no biblical data supports the notion that any of these would cease to apply to all nations at all times.

1. Proportionate penalties (Deuteronomy 16:18-20, 17:6, 19:15-21)

Stealing a loaf of bread requires proportionate restitution, you pay back whom you stole from. Cutting off a limb as in Sharia law or throwing the thief in a cage for a period of years at taxpayers’ expense as in current humanistic law would not be permitted. If the thief has no resources to pay restitution, the thief must labor to pay it back (something akin to a wage garnishment).

Proportionality is present but is also nuanced. Some acts of theft require up to a four or five-fold renumeration of the loss (see Zacchaeus in Luke 19:8). This considers opportunity cost, measures to prevent future theft, and personal inconvenience. It is not permitted (for example) for the civil magistrate to kidnap a kidnapper’s son as a penalty, or for a rapist to be raped as punishment.^[39]

For some civil offenses, the penalty is corporal punishment (Deuteronomy 25:1-3). The number of lashes administered depends on the severity of the crime and can never exceed forty lashes.

2. Just weights and measures, honest scales (Leviticus 19:35-36)

For example, you can’t debase currency and trick people into giving you goods for fake money.

3. Due process (Deuteronomy 19:15-19)

Criminal charges are established on the basis of multiple credible witnesses who are also aware that if they give false testimony, they incur the same penalty that would have been given to the offender (Deuteronomy 19:19).

4. Fathers do not pay for the crime of the sons (Deuteronomy 24:16)

Kings can’t just kill an entire household because someone offended him or broke a law.

5. Impartiality of the Law (Leviticus 24:22)

Same law for all regardless of foreigner or citizens, gender, ethnic background, socio-economic status, etc. No privileged classes.

6. Judges and rulers must be Godly

No bribery. Must be rulers of good ethical character (Exodus 18:21).

7. Negative Law (Exodus 18:15-22, 20:1-17, Romans 13:1-4)

Civil magistrates are limited in their power. According to Romans 13 they are servants enacting God’s vengeance upon evil doers. Nowhere are they given carte blanche license to preemptively compel whatever actions they may regard as beneficial to the people. Except for the command to honor one’s parents, the Ten Commandments are posited in a negative form (“Thou shalt not…”). Civil magistrates are not authorized to punish sins of the heart (like covetousness) but only certain actions (civil crimes). Nowhere is there any biblical law principle given that implies to the civil magistrate that unless scripture forbids them, they can enact any “law” or punishment they wish.

In terms of activities that are considered civilly punishable (crimes) under biblical law, the obvious transcendent infractions include: Murder (including abortion, Ex. 21:12, 22-25), assault  (Ex. 21:18-19), rape (Deut. 22:25), theft (Ex. 22:1), fraud (Lev. 19:3536; Deut. 25:13-16), kidnapping (Ex. 21:16), and false witness in a criminal trial (Deut. 19:15-19). Nothing about the arrival of Christ and His New Covenant means that rapists (for example) should now be allowed to roam the streets raping as they please without punishment.^[40]

In biblical law, options for civil penalties are:

1. Death penalty (for capital offenses), Leviticus 24:17

2. Restitution (theft, injury, etc.), Exodus 22:1-14

3. Indentured servitude (as a means of generating restitution), Exodus 22:1-14

4. Corporal punishment (maximum of forty lashes, depending on the severity of the crime; usually for assault or recalcitrant criminality), Deuteronomy 25:1-3

5. Banishment (for “high-handed” sins of rebellion or sedition), Numbers 15:30-31

Long term incarceration on its own and in its present form is not a biblical penalty. One who is a flight risk could be held during trial, but not sentenced to a term in prison. Manual labor would be implemented instead as a form of temporary forced servitude depending on the nature of the crime. This has the triple benefit of disincentivizing prison-lifer “freeloaders,” not taxing the public to pay for criminal incarceration, and paying back the victim directly.

Some call public flogging barbaric, but the truth is, flogging is less barbaric than long term incarceration. Moreover, in America we haven’t outlawed flogging for recalcitrant crime. We’ve outsourced and expanded it. Beatings, stabbings, cage fighting and worse are carried out by inmates in prison. The weakest are usually affected the most. Suicide is commonplace. We’ve even expanded the recipients of those beatings to those imprisoned for various victimless crimes. Man’s law is cruel and unjust.

Difficult Passages

There are certain sections of biblical law which are more difficult to place. For example, some penalties call for adult sons who are either obstinate criminals or who strike their parents to be put to death (young children are not being referenced here as is sometimes falsely asserted).^[41] Some here argue that this particular penalty was temporary due to peculiar Old Covenant Israelitish necessity of keeping families intact to preserve the tribes of Israel until the coming of the Messiah. The thought is that capital punishment was applied for flagrant disrespect of one’s parents in this era only, and that civil magistrates outside of Israel would not be required to enforce this penalty. Others regard this penalty as a still-applicable, transcendent application of the civil magistrate’s duty to enforce the Fifth Commandment (“honor your father and mother”).

When it comes to civil penalties for outward sins like Sabbath breaking, private or public idol worship, and consensual sexual immorality there is disagreement here as well. Some regard the Sabbath observance requirement itself as completely removed under the New Covenant citing Romans 14:5 and Colossians 2:16. Almost no theonomist affirms the death penalty for Sabbath violations as continuing. All would affirm that sins like blasphemy, idolatry, and consensual sexual immorality remain sinful and are punishable by the church, but theonomists differ on what the civil punishment, if any, should be for such offenses under the New Covenant. The majority of theonomists affirm at least some civil punishments for such offenses remain from banishment to public execution, but a minority disagree.

When it comes to religious freedom, virtually all theonomists would uphold freedom of the liberty of conscience and would only regard high-handed, blasphemy and seditious designs of overthrowing a Christian government as civilly punishable. Finally, as we’ve covered earlier, theonomists do not believe on foisting biblical law by force or coup d’état upon an unbelieving populous. It is only after the jurisdiction has largely been converted out of idolatry that such provisions would be in place. Theonomy is not a system where the civil government goes around and massacres everyone who doesn’t affirm the gospel. This is a distortion of theonomy often trumpeted by its detractors.

Again, whatever the conclusion on some of these areas of dispute, it is important to not deduce that since coming to the perfect formulation can be difficult, secular law is somehow better. What the implementation of theonomy might look like is a union of decentralized Christian nations which have slightly different laws. People could decide where they want to live. Needless to say, we are a long way away from having to face this dilemma.

Man’s Law or God’s Law?

In the final analysis, this all comes down to who we want to acknowledge as the source of law in our nation, man, or God? If we say God, but choose man’s laws, we have a contradiction, and living in that contradiction has produced the idolatry we see before us today.

They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.

Hosea 8:4

Reconstruction begins with the Holy Spirit working in us to obey Christ. May the people of God, our families, our churches, our communities, and our nations return to a more scriptural appreciation for the Law of God in all its ramifications.