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IV. Why men reject theonomy:

There are two reasons men reject theonomy: a worldview problem and/or a theological problems:

1. Worldview problem – The sinner’s problem with theonomy:

Humanism.  Humanism a doctrine or way of life centered on human interests or values; a philosophy that asserts the dignity and worth of man and his capacity for self-realization through reason without God (reject supernaturalism in favor of naturalism).  Humanism teaches that morality is relative and subjective and truth is a matter of personal opinion.  Humanism sees tolerance is a primary virtue. 

The worldview of Christian theism rejects the pluralistic tendencies of humanism, and is humanism’s chief enemy for that reason.  According to Christianity, there is one God who reigns over all, the Bible is His word and is absolute truth for all of life, personal life, job life, marriage life, family order, government order.  When God and man contradict, Christians believe God is right.  Christianity is an exclusive religion – Christians are going to heaven and everybody else is going to hell; this exclusiveness the preachers of tolerance cannot tolerate.  From the Garden of Eden, Satan has tried to convince man to follow a counterfeit humanistic standard instead of the authentic standard by which to model our lives, the Word of God.  The only authentic rule for conduct is in accordance with the Bible.

2. Theological problems  – The average church’s problem with theonomy:

A. Theological problem #1: Antinomianism, the belief that the law of God is inapplicable after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

1) Rebuttal #1: According to the New Testament, the law has not been done away with.  Some parts of the O.T. law are no longer applicable, but only those tenants of the O.T. law which are explicitly retracted in the N.T., like the commandments that mandated seventh-day-sabbaths, kosher food laws, and ceremonial commandments like Passover and sacrifices.  Those were for the Jews until Jesus was to come, and they are no longer applicable today, but the rest of the commandments are applicable today.  The law is not necessary for salvation, for we are saved by grace through faith, apart from the deeds of the law.  But every O.T. Biblical truth not retracted in the New Testament applies today.

Matthew 5:

¹⁷   Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
¹⁸   For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
¹⁹   Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

John 14:

¹⁵   If ye love Me, keep My commandments...

²¹  He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me...”

I Corinthians 9:

²⁰   And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
²¹   To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

Romans 13:

⁸   Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
⁹   For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
¹⁰   Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Rom.3:

³¹   Do we then make the law void through faith?  God forbid, yea, we establish the law.

Faith in God doesn’t do away with the law, but rather, establishes the law in our hearts, because faith “worketh by love” (Galatians 5:6) and “love is the fulfillment of all the law”.

I John 2:

³   And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 

⁴   He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

If someone does not keep God’s commandments, they don’t truly believe or trust in Jesus, because James 2 says that faith without works of obedience is the same kind of faith that the devils have, who believe in God and tremble, yet disobey Him.  “Faith without works is dead,” and dead faith cannot save you.

2) Rebuttal #2: If the Lawgiver is good, it’s impossible for the law to be done away with, even for all eternity, for “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” (Romans 7:12)  The law simply proclaims what is right.  Is it right to love God?  Is it right to love your neighbor?  Will it ever be okay to hate God and your neighbor, even in heaven a billion years from now?  If God were to do away with the requirement to love Him and love our neighbor, then, according to His own Word, he would be unloving and evil.

B. Theological problem #2: “Dualism” or “Compartmentalism” – the belief that the state should be secular and shouldn’t involve itself in spiritual matters and that the church should be spiritual and shouldn’t involve itself in matters of government.

Rebuttal: It’s impossible to be neutral with regard to the Creator.  Jesus said,

Matthew 12:

³⁰   He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

You are for God or against Him, you obey Him or disobey Him, you’re a servant to sin or the Savior - whether you’re a President, a professor, or a junior high drop out.  Jesus is Lord of all, or he’s not Lord at all.  You can’t compartmentalize your life, as if you can serve God on Sunday and serve the devil every other day of the week.  Either your heart belongs to Him and He sits on the throne of your life, or else He doesn’t and you’re hellbound. 

Matthew 6:

²⁴   No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.  Ye cannot serve God and mammon (the things of this world).”

James 4:

⁴   Know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity with (hatred for or hostility towards) God?  Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

Luke 6

⁴⁶   Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Most of those who bring forth arguments against theonomy postulate that the government should be secular, and the church should be spiritual, and that there should be no intermingling between the two.  This philosophy is contrary to the teachings of Christ.  Is there any part of your life or our lives where He shouldn’t reign?  He is Lord of all, and He calls us to be salt and light in all of society, government houses and legislatures not excepted.  If you’re a Christian political leader, you cannot divorce your devotion to God from your obligation to your constituents, because Christ is Lord over every area of your life.  As long as the Bible remains God’s rule for conduct, Christianity is acting in accordance with it.

Liberals like to argue that governments cannot legislate morality.  But every piece of legislation either legislates morality or immorality, there’s no middle ground.  If it’s in compliance with God’s Word, it’s good legislation that legislates His morality, and if it’s contrary to His Word, then it’s bad legislation that legislates immorality. 

All civil nations, to some extent, have laws and sanctions for those who break the laws.  The question is, whose laws should we enforce in our nation?  By whose law should our nation govern itself?  Mans?  The humanists?  The atheists?  The homosexuals?  The Supreme Courts?  Should we pick and choose what moral laws our nation should enforce, or should we enforce all of the law of God in our land like God demands?  John Adams said to Thomas Jefferson in 1815: "The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by His own laws..."

V. What about “the separation of church and state”?

The phrase, "the separation of church and state," is nowhere found in the U.S. Constitution or the Declaration of Independence.  However, references to the Christian God are found in these founding government documents.  (“The separation of church and state” is a founding principle of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto, by the way.)  The phrase “the separation of church and state” was coined in America from a letter the principle framer of the Constitution and Third President Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association assuring them that he would keep the Government out of the internal affairs of the Church (NOT the Church out of the Government).  He assured them that the state would not endorse a particular Christian denomination, such as England had her “Anglican Church.”  The same time he wrote this letter, he presided as Superintendent of the school district of Washington, D.C.  Of two textbooks required by him in every classroom in his district, one of them was THE HOLY BIBLE!  (the other was a book of Isaac Watts’ hymns).  Government endorsement of Christianity over other religions was prevalent at the time that the founders wrote the first amendment, so government endorsement of Christianity can not be a violation of what they intended that amendment to be.  They intended to forbid government endorsement of a particular denomination of Christianity at the expense of other Christian denominations.  Christianity is true, and it can never be wrong for individuals or nations to endorse truth.

President Jefferson wrote these words in 1781 that now appear on his memorial in Washington, D.C.: "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?  I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever."