Regeneration: The Key to the Reconstruction of Civil Law by R.J. Rushdoony

Theonomists are often accused of being revolutionary anarchists who believe that all nations are illegitimate except those governed by the judicial law of Moses (actually, Theonmists believe that all Biblical civil law is to be upheld, not just that revealed under Moses); this is not the case, instead we believe that the gospel must mightily advanced before men and nations will submit to God’s law-word. In the meantime, we must submit to unbiblical law-systems except when they require us to sin (and so the position that modern Theonomists adopt is not what John Calvin is attacking in the section of his Institutes that latent antinomians appeal to). R.J. Rushdoony explains this in more detail below:

The only true order is founded on Biblical law. All law is religious in nature, and every non-Biblical law-order represents an anti-Christian religion. But the key to remedying the situation is not revolution, nor any kind of resistance that works to subvert law and order. The New Testament abounds in warnings against disobedi-ence and in summons to peace. The key is regeneration, propaga-tion of the gospel, and the conversion of men and nations to God’s law-word. Meanwhile, the existing law-order must be respected, and neighbouring law orders must be respected as far as is possible without offence to one’s own faith. The pagan law-order represents the faith and religion of the people; it is better than anarchy, and it does provide a God-give framework of existence under which God’s work can be furthered.

R.J. Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law, Presbyterian and Reformed, pp 113-114

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