Although the extreme form of Theonomism has only affected a small number of Reformed members in South Africa, it seems that Theonomist Postmillennialism has a greater underlying influence in the Reformed Churches in South Africa. General churchgoers in the Reformed Churches of South Africa generally confuse the Regulatory Principle with Theonomism and are uninformed about precisely what Theonomism is. Furthermore, signs of Theonomism as it developed in the USA are also visible in South Africa. Yet, there is great ignorance about the exact effect that Theonomism has on Reformed congregations in South Africa, especially regarding the eschatological views held by individual congregations.
The thesis of this article is that the Theonomistic eschatology influences congregations’ mission and causes a shift from a focus on proclaiming the gospel to the nations, in being a church that seeks to restructure the institutions of political societies.
Theonomism originally developed in the United States of America (USA). Theonomism, as it developed in the USA through the writings of Rousas J. Rushdoony, Gary North, Greg L. Bahnsen, David Chilton, Gary DeMar, Kenneth L. Gentry, and Ray Sutton, is described by Kline (
If Rushdoony is the architect of the theological and philosophical system, and Chilton is the general contractor in charge of developing and popularizing postmillennialism, Gary North is the site foreman with the on-the-ground plans for taking dominion. (p. 31)
The influence of Theonomism should not be underestimated. Frame (
Gaffin (
Although Theonomism is a declining movement in the USA, Ingersoll (
Confusion about what Theonomism is, and the different groups that classify themselves as Theonomist, necessitates that Theonomism must first be described. Theonomistic views are sometimes incorrectly classified as the ‘Regulatory Principle’ (McCrorie
North (
Redemption – salvation by grace and faith alone – is the only hope of man in this and the coming century.
The continuing validity and applicability of the entire law of God, including but not limited to the
A
Presupposition apologetics, as opposed to proof apologetics, are advocated.
A decentralised social order, where the civil government is only one legitimate government among many other governments, including family government and ecclesiastical government, is the basis for a free and orderly society.
Theonomism is also known as Reconstructionism, which gives a better expression to the political objective of Theonomism.
God’s Law (especially, but more than the Mosaic legislation) is valid and binding today. God’s Law and obedience to it, become the instrument for the postmillennial victory of Christians in society. (p. 5)
The Reconstructionist nature of Theonomism is the call to build the Kingdom of God on earth through forms of government, or the church applying the judicial law of God in the geopolitical social environment. It is therefore a reconstruction of society, through the application of the judicial law. In building up the Kingdom of God on earth through the application of the Old Testament judicial laws, some Theonomists, such as Bahnsen (
Theonomism’s view on the Kingdom of God forms part of the encyclopaedia of eschatology. The church’s confession about when God will establish his Kingdom on earth, is divided within Eschatology into mainly two categories, namely the Premillennial and Postmillennial eschatological views. In both categories, the Millennium refers specifically to the Millennium or 1 000 years in Revelation 20. All millennial views place the Millennium either before, or after the second coming of Jesus Christ. The result is that there are only two main categories of millennial positions: Premillennial – ‘pre’, because Christ comes before the Millennium, and Postmillennium – ‘post’, because Christ comes after the Millennium. Premillennialism can be further divided into two subsections, namely Historical Premillennialism and Dispensationalism. Postmillennialism is further divided into Postmillennialism and Amillennialism (Venema
There is a common saying in eschatological circles that not all Postmillennialists are Theonomists, but all Theonomists are Postmillennialists (Kloosterman
What Theonomism adds to eschatology, is that the Church, through the working of the Holy Spirit, must participate in the golden age, by bringing about the Kingdom of God by implementing and applying the Old Testament judicial laws. Kline (
The brand of postmillennialism adopted by the Chalcedon (Theonomist) writers includes something more. They do appeal to the prophecies that portray the messianic kingdom after the model of the visible Israelite theocratic kingdom and they interpret this prophetic picture as having fulfilment – visible, earthly fulfilment – during the millennium (which they understand as being coextensive with the pre-consummation history of the New Testament church rather than a special period at the close of that church age, as many other postmillennialists view it). Thus, Bahnsen maintains that the theocratic reality which fulfils those prophecies already exists and will come to increasing visibility in preconsummation history. Within the millennium, a universal theocracy (or Christocracy) will prevail on earth with all nations and kings serving and blessing Jesus Christ, the Lamb on David’s throne. (p. 630)
Although Theonomists have widely differing views on how and to whom the judicial laws should be applied on earth, the Church plays a key role in the implementation or initiation of the application of the judicial laws (Ice
The uniqueness of Theonomism’s eschatology lies in its specific understanding of the Kingdom of God, established on earth through the implementation and application of the Old Testament judicial laws by the Church, or various forms of government. North (
The missing element was biblical law, once the details of the theonomist position began to take shape, Christian Reconstructionism became a full-fledged system Biblical law establishes the basis of a positive alternative. (p. 1)
North is referring to the missing element which Rushdoony (
This core element of Theonomistic eschatology lies in the Theonomistic hermeneutical principle of the continuity between the Old and New Testament covenant. This continuity of the covenant contrasts with Dispensationalists’ focus on the discontinuity of the covenant between the Old and New Testaments. Kline (
To put the matter in a comparative perspective, this theory of Theonomic politics stands at the opposite end of the spectrum from Dispensationalism. The latter represents an extreme failure to do justice to the continuity between the Old and New covenants. Chalcedon’s error, no less extreme, is a failure to do justice to the discontinuity between the Old and New covenants. (p. 619)
According to Kloosterman (
The hermeneutical error of Theonomism is entrenched in the distinction it makes between the royal and priestly elements of the Kingdom of God. The Israelite kingship along with the priesthood forms part of the theocratic prototype of God’s redemptive work, which points to the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. This thought is part of the hermeneutical error that the Chalcedon movement and specifically Bahnsen make. The whole kingdom of Israel serves as typology – not just the priestly or the kingly part (Kline
That means that the civil magistrate is supposed to execute capital punishment in all cases for which it is prescribed by Moses, and thus not only for offenses such as incorrigibility in children and homosexuality, but for offenses like blasphemy, apostasy, idolatry, witchcraft, Sabbath-breaking, advocacy of worship of other gods than Yahweh, etc. (p. 439)
In doing so, Bahnsen exempts the kingly government of Israel from the prototypical Kingdom that points to Jesus Christ.
Theonomistic hermeneutics causes its eschatology to have no choice but to move the Kingdom of God to a future expectation, that will only come about in the golden age through the establishment of a Christocracy (Gaffin
Probably contrary to the desires and intentions of modern theonomy’s best exponents, the movement as a whole has spawned a kind of evangelical activism within the church that is in danger of substituting a Christianized society for the church’s primary mission of preaching unto repentance and conversion. (p. 17)
This shift in focus for congregations has enormous implications for how each congregation views their calling.
The Theonomistic eschatology causes a focus on calling, where members must actively participate in the establishment of the Christocracy on earth. By its very nature, this calling focuses on and requires a great deal of commitment to the development of God’s kingdom as an obligation. This view on calling is heavy, and success in the calling is accomplished by restructuring all societal contexts in which the members are involved (Ray
To provide a critical evaluation of the Theonomistic form of Postmillennialist eschatology, another form of Postmillennialism must be considered, namely Amillennialism. Amillennialism is a form of Postmillennialism, because it also expects the return of Christ after (post) the symbolic Millennium. The characteristic distinction between Amillennialism and Theonomistic Postmillennialism is the view on the golden age. Amillennialism does not believe that the Church will experience any golden age on earth in present times. Wherever the church flourishes, according to Amillennialism, there will always be great opposition. The Kingdom of God is only visible in the Church through believers who are converted. The Kingdom of God is not established by the application of judicial laws by social institutions, or forms of government. According to Amillenniastic eschatology, the Kingdom of God is something that has already come, and not something that still needs to come. However, the fullness and final establishment of the Kingdom of God is something that would only instituted after the return of Christ, by the union of heaven and earth (Venema
Criticism of the Amillennialist eschatology is that it easily leads to passivity, which does not promote missionary work; or that it adopts an anti-community or institutional attitude (Allen
Theonomist Postmillennialism views the church as a visible, geographical, political institution that rules on earth before the return of Christ. Kline (
Bahnsen’s position is that the Old Testament prophecies of visible prosperity for the kingdom are being fulfilled in the visible prosperity of Christ’s established kingdom on earth, in the present visible church on earth undergoing development in relation to the nations of the world. (p. 627)
Amillennialism also views the Church as a geographical political institution, but it differs from Theonomist Postmillennialism in the sense that they do not regard the Church as a visible geographical political institution before the return of Jesus Christ, but that these prophecies of the visible state of the church rather indicates something that will come about after the Second Coming, in its eternally glorified form.
Theonomist Postmillennialism, as Bahnsen (
From this one can deduce that Theonomy advocates a type of Christianised state, an ideal state that acts on behalf of the Saviour on earth. Bahnsen (
Indeed, it is this model of the Israelite kingship that is used when Old Testament prophecies depict the theocratic kingship of the future age, the Christocratic kingship which does operate in the name of the Redeemer-God, as Bahnsen recognizes and for that very reason, finds he cannot identify it with the civil magistracy. In this recognition of the truth, that the civil magistrate does not function in the name of the Redeemer, Bahnsen lets in by way of the back door, the fact that there is after all a decisive difference between the Israelite theocratic kingship and the civil magistrate. (p. 630)
The eschatological view of Theonomist Postmillennialism changes the nature of missionary work. They believe that it is now the Church’s role to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, by implementing the Kingdom’s judicial laws. This causes their attitude towards missionary work to change to an aggressive Christocracy, where the Church forces the nations to live under the rule of the Christocracy. ‘For God’s commission to the civil magistrate, as understood in theonomic politics, stands in unmanageable tension with God’s commission to the church to evangelise the nations’ (Kline
This eschatological view of Theonomism reduces the eschatological expectation of the Church. It denies that Christ, through his Spirit, has been building his Kingdom for the last 2000 years. There can be joy over one sinner who is converted, but according to Theonomist eschatology, this is not enough, because they are waiting for the visible Kingdom on earth. The idea of what Kline (
Exposed here in the content and mood of Chalcedon’s eschatological teaching, is something at once deep and characteristic in Chalcedon, and yet terribly alien to the gospel of Christ, alien to the spirit of the church’s present evangelistic mission in the world, alien to the eschatological patience of biblical faith and hope and love. (p. 630)
Gaffin (
Theonomistic eschatology causes an underestimation of the New Testament eschatology. By emphasising the Kingdom of God in the future, and the Church that is to bring the Kingdom of God on earth, the coming of God’s Kingdom as a present reality is undermined. A focus on the eschatological expectation that has yet to come to earth, causes the Church to do everything to bring the Kingdom of God to earth one day in the golden age. Excitement about Christ who reigns and calls sinners to repentance
Furthermore, according to Venema (
[
The eschatological expectation of the Church determines the focus of the Church’s task on earth. According to Amillennialism, any opposition experienced by the Church should not discourage the Church, but rather lead it to perseverance in the proclamation of the gospel. The reality is that the Church has experienced opposition, from Christ’s ascension through the ages, and will continue to encounter resistance in the future. The church’s focus on obeying Christ’s command to preach the gospel to all nations should not be taken over by building an earthly kingdom. Christ is building his Kingdom through the ages. Abraham, Lazarus, and all the other faith testimonies are already part of this kingdom. The Kingdom of Christ can be exceedingly small on earth at times, but this does not affect the greatness of God’s Kingdom in heaven. Therefore, the angels sing in joy over one sinner who is converted. The Church are strangers on this earth. The Church does not seek fixed structures and earthly foundations in the implementation of judicial laws. The Church clings in faith to the heavenly city, which has solid foundations, and of which God is the builder. Despite the opposition the Church is experiencing here on earth, the Church is not taking its eyes off Christ, who is already victorious.
According to Carter (
It cannot be denied that theonomists are characterized by a sincere desire to honour Christ as Lord. Neither can it be denied that theonomists, as a group, tend to be very well prepared! But it can be argued, and it is often argued, that they have not yet learned to make their defense with gentleness and respect. And until they do, they will not likely serve the corrective function within evangelicalism, that they likely would otherwise. While I am not, and almost certainly never will be, a theonomist in terms of the total system of beliefs, I do believe that a wider exposure to their passion for the Old Testament, and their commitment to evangelism and Christian education, could serve as a much-needed tonic against the increasing corruption and confusion of the evangelical movement. (p, 2)
From Carter’s quote, it seems that Theonomism has made an important contribution to Christian thinking in different areas, and interaction with these Theonomistic ideas should be carefully considered. The focus of this article, however, was to show that the Theonomistic eschatological view leads congregations’ focus to shift from proclaiming the gospel, to seeking to restructure the institutions of political societies to form a Christocracy. Although the extreme form of Theonomism has only affected a small number of Reformed members in South Africa, it seems that Theonomist Postmillennialism has a greater underlying influence in the Reformed Church in South Africa. As Ingersoll (
The Church’s eschatology has a significant effect on its identity and its understanding of its role and task in the present age. Gaffin (
This is the eschatology taught in the New Testament – a realised-eschatological and therefore decidedly optimistic Amillennialism, optimistic about the victory – present (and past) no less than future – being realised in and through the church. (p. 34)
Misunderstanding eschatology affects the Church’s identity and focus in this world. The Postmillennialist optimism of the Kingdom of God on earth, to the extent that the Church will receive almost no opposition during the ‘golden age’, leads to a wrong perspective on the Church’s task in the world.
According to Jesus, the church will not have drained the shared cup of his suffering, until He returns. The church cannot afford to evade that point. It does so at the risk of jeopardising its own identity (Gaffin
The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.
M.D. is the sole author of this research article.
This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of position of any affiliate agency of the author.
‘Q. What does God require in the second commandment? A. We are not to make an image of God in any way, nor to worship him in any other manner than He has commanded in his Word’ (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 35).
Also see Gentry’s (
For more details on this debate, refer to Ice (