The King in Our Lives
Too often, people are negative in their profession of faith; they are against sin, which is merely common sense. Everyone is against other people’s sins, while being indulgent of their own. Even criminal gangs are hostile to having any member cheat or rob them. However, we can be against our own sins and still be far from godly.
- R. J. Rushdoony
Paul in Romans 6:12 says, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” If we read this verse in isolation from the preceding one, we fail to see its meaning. Romans 6:11 requires us to be dead to sin but “alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Too often, people are negative in their profession of faith; they are against sin, which is merely common sense. Everyone is against other people’s sins, while being indulgent of their own. Even criminal gangs are hostile to having any member cheat or rob them. However, we can be against our own sins and still be far from godly.
Our faith is not negative. It is not merely being against sin; it is the positive faith in and obedience to Christ as our King or Lord. It is pharisaism and hypocrisy to see ourselves as good because we say yes to Jesus and see others as bad because they do not. Faith is more than a matter of words. It is life, a life lived in faithfulness and obedience to Christ as King. It means that Someone reigns or is king over us, even Jesus Christ, so that we live and move and have our being in obedience to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. To be redeemed by Christ means that we are His possession and property and we live in terms of His law. It means that there is a king in our lives, and His name is Jesus Christ. To be under a king is to be obedient to Him and to serve Him. Who is the king in your life?
- R. J. Rushdoony
Rev. R.J. Rushdoony (1916–2001), was a leading theologian, church/state expert, and author of numerous works on the application of Biblical law to society. He started the Chalcedon Foundation in 1965. His Institutes of Biblical Law (1973) began the contemporary theonomy movement which posits the validity of Biblical law as God’s standard of obedience for all. He therefore saw God’s law as the basis of the modern Christian response to the cultural decline, one he attributed to the church’s false view of God’s law being opposed to His grace. This broad Christian response he described as “Christian Reconstruction.” He is credited with igniting the modern Christian school and homeschooling movements in the mid to late 20th century. He also traveled extensively lecturing and serving as an expert witness in numerous court cases regarding religious liberty. Many ministry and educational efforts that continue today, took their philosophical and Biblical roots from his lectures and books.