Christian Government

The alternative to government by God’s law and Spirit working through the inner man is the totalitarian state.^[1]

Christian Reconstruction is not a partisan political group. It’s a form of government. Christian Reconstruction is Biblical theocracy, which means the direct, and unmediated, rule of God by way of God’s law written upon our hearts and God’s Spirit empowering us for works of service. This is the nature of the New Covenant:

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. (Heb. 8:10)

Notice that there are no saints mentioned. The mother of Jesus is not mentioned. There are no mediators but Christ who is our new Moses, and our new high priest (Heb. 3:1-6, 4:14-16). He is our God, and we are His people. Rushdoony writes,

Because God’s law now indwells His people, He is fully their God, and they are His new human race.^[2]

The New Covenant, therefore, is the direct rule of God in the heart of the believer and, based upon the description in the book of Hebrews, the redemption is described as having the law of God written upon the heart. Wait, what happened to heaven? Aren’t we redeemed so that our souls might be delivered from hell? Contemporary gospel preaching emphasizes the afterlife, but our concern is the present life. What did Christ come to do?

God through His law speaks to every man. With the coming of Christ and the new creation, beginning with His resurrection, and continuing in our regeneration, the law is now written in our hearts (Jer. 31:31-34). Every man in Christ must be a walking law and an evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit. God’s government of the world begins with the self-government of the Christian man.^[3]

The new creation reality is a new human race having the law written upon the heart and the presence of God’s Spirit to apply it. This is Christian Reconstruction which is why we describe it as a form of government. If you’re a statist, then you understand the word government as being that of the state, which is why critics believe that godly reconstruction is a mission to take over of the existing federal system. It’s not.

In an interview with Bill Moyers, Rushdoony mentioned that he was close to being a Libertarian, but in that sense, he was emphasizing only his strong belief in self-government. However, Rushdoony was no secularist. He was advocating the embracing of dominion responsibility by the self-governing Christian while resisting statist infringement upon Christian liberty.

In other words, Rushdoony wasn’t simply against statism, he was for Christian liberty in terms of God’s law while recognizing that humanistic statism has long been the historical foe and oppressor of that liberty.

Christian Reconstruction is therefore a return to the form of Christian government as advocated by the writer of Hebrews who emphasized that the law was written upon the hearts and minds of believers. Obviously, there is a reason for that, and that reason is the Kingdom of God:

Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. (Heb. 12:28)

In light of the coming Kingdom—one which cannot be moved—we are to “serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear,” and God sought to secure this through the New Covenant. One aspect is the law being written upon our hearts and minds, but the other aspect is the Holy Spirit empowering us to apply that law for the sake of advancing God’s Kingdom. Rushdoony wrote:

The Holy Spirit works to further God’s Kingdom and reign. He is God, and He is God-centered in all His ways, not man-centered.^[4]

This is the essence of Christian liberty. We are directly ruled by God so that we will not be enslaved to sinful, totalitarian, humanistic man or his state. God is at work to advance His dominion through a new humanity in Christ prepared for godly reconstruction by means of the law and the Spirit:

Where man and society are concerned, God’s total government and predestination works to sanctify man and society by working from within, transforming the regenerated man and His world through the Holy Spirit. Where non-Biblical faith seeks to gain control, the result is totalitarianism. The alternative to government by God’s law and Spirit working through the inner man is the totalitarian state.^[5]

Can you see the simplicity described here? God is at work within us by the law and the Spirit in order to extend His dominion into every sphere of life. This should help us to better understand the importance of Christian Reconstruction.

Someone recently commented on Facebook, “Is Christian Reconstruction even a thing anymore?” Do they see godly dominion as a fad or movement? Was the law written upon the heart erased over time? Has the Holy Spirit departed from within us? Has God’s mission changed?

This is why the Chalcedon Foundation continues unabated in our mission of Christian education. What is still needed is for this message to continually be published and promoted to as many as our sovereign Lord has called. As the world becomes stronger in its rebellion to God and His law, the need grows urgent for Christians to mount a resistance in the social order. Chalcedon is committed to equipping that Christian resistance!

This is why your support is so desperately needed, because the work of Chalcedon is funded by the tithes and offerings of our partners who understand the importance of our mission and are willing to help sustain it with prayer and financial gifts.

Please take a few moments today to prayerfully consider sending your most generous tax-deductible gift to Chalcedon. We simply cannot fulfill this ministry without you, our partner. May God richly bless you in so doing!

^[1] R. J. Rushdoony, Sovereignty (Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 2007), p. 8.

^[2] R. J. Rushdoony, Hebrews, James & Jude (Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 2001). p. 73.

^[3] Sovereignty, p. 11.

^[4] R. J. Rushdoony, Systematic Theology in Two Volumes (Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 1994), p. 301.

^[5] Sovereignty, p. 8.