Theology of Government and COVID – Part 3

Welcome to part three of this series looking at a Biblical theology of government and certain applications to our current cultural moment. For links to the other installments, see the list below.

  1. Principle #1 – Civil Governments have a Legitimate Authority
  2. Principle #2 – Civil Governments have a Limited Authority
  3. Principle #3 – Theocracy is Inescapable
  4. Principles Applied

In today’s episode, we are looking at the third principle and thinking about the fact that all nations are, in fact, theocracies. The question is, which God is in charge?

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Westminster Confession of Faith 1.4-5

Today is Wednesday and we continue our weekly walk through the Westminster Confession of Faith. The next two points in section 1 are excellent and well worth contemplating. Last week we considered the canon of Scripture; today we look at the authority of Scripture.

1. Of Holy Scripture

IV. The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man, or Church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof: and therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God.

V. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to a high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture.[a] And the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is, to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God: yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.

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The Resistance – Repentance – Part 1B

Continued from yesterday…

Acknowledge Corporate Sin

In our churches, we need leaders who will help us see the big corporate sins of our age. We’ve often softened our congregations up on the easy topics that leave us feeling justified. It’s easy to rail against greed – especially when we think it is something that only rich people have. And rich people are people who earn at least $25,000 more than me. It’s easy to turn our applications into calls for more people to give up time in their ‘secular’ callings to spend more time helping out in the church institution. These soft and convenient applications have become staple.

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The Resistance – Repentance Part 1A

In a recent short article, we suggested that in New Zealand, and probably much of the Western world, find ourselves on the ‘edge’ of something. And when I say “something”, I do not mean pink cupcakes with chocolate sprinkles. More the kind of something that Gandalf refers to when sitting with Pippin on the walls of Minas Tirith and says, “It’s the deep breath before the plunge.” The war is about to heat up. It’s been slowly simmering, but the rate of temperature increase is starting to look exponential, and war looks imminent. Let’s hope for better things, but prepare for this eventuality.

What ought we to do in these times? As I continued to consider the ten suggestions for the Christian Resistance which I proposed previously, I realized that many ideas intertwined and overlapped. As you will see, there will be some repetition in our series “The Resistance”, but that is good, because repetition brings ideas to the forefront of our minds, and there are some things that we Christians have allowed to drift to the back of our minds that ought to be front and centre.

So today and tomorrow we look at the first ‘ought’  for the Christian Resistance. We must acknowledge our individual and corporate sin as the reason we find ourselves in this current situation and repent by making changes where Christ in his Word calls for change.

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