Note from the Editor: The Following essay reflects a Theonomic perspective. While theonomy fits within the frame of the Theopolitical perspective, it is one of a number of approaches that affirm the importance of a civil magistrate that confesses Christ and takes biblical law seriously, while rejecting both sacralism and radical two-kingdoms theology. These other perspectives are also within the Canadian Theopolitan framework.
Preface:
It’s not difficult to see that Western civilization has reached a point of crisis and is now experiencing free-fall into a full-scale globalist, communo-fascistic revolution. While the revolution has in some ways been slowed down in the US, Canada and the UK are operating in hyper-drive. We can see the revolution all around us, whether it be the traditional family as an institution being sabotaged from every possible angle, the widespread murder of our pre-born, elderly, and now mentally disturbed neighbours, no-fault divorce, the porn industry enabling sexual predators, the rainbow mafia receiving legal protection to force everyone else to celebrate their perversion along with them, or our fundamental, constitutionally-protected rights to freedom of speech, expression, and religious practice according to our denominational distinctives as Christians. Furthermore, in the Canadian context, we have multiple forms of theft being enforced in the name of taxation, to the extent that the province of Alberta could very well successfully vote to secede from Canada this coming October. All the while, our corrupt Prime Minister, Mark Carney, is openly friendly and cooperative with the Chinese government, looking to work with them to usher in the “new world order,” or, as Klaus Schwab of the WEF would put it, the “fourth industrial revolution.” By the way things have been progressing, Western civilization as we know it is on its last legs. Why? We have been disloyal to the Lord Jesus Christ and the national covenant He made with us at our founding. What we are experiencing is the judgement of Almighty God, and the only way out of this is nationwide repentance and reformation back to the Word of God.
So, how did we get here? We got here because the Church adopted theologies of cultural retreat and defeat, and then proceeded to teach the culture that God only really has something to say to the private, spiritual, and “sacred” parts of life, but the many areas of the public square are temporal and “secular” are ultimately going to be burned up in the end, so “why bother polishing brass on a sinking ship?”, as they say. This kind of Pietistic outlook has caused the Church in the West to become cowardly, fool-hearty, hypocritical, and has resulted in her spending the past 120 years steadily ceding 1,500 years worth of Christian culture and civilization over to pagans to “have at it,” since it’s ostensibly not a “gospel issue.” Far from it being actually pious, a Pietistic two kingdoms outlook results in Christians flatly disobeying Jesus’ command to be salt and light in the earth, to live in light of His total Lordship over all.
In response to both the cultural Marxism and secularism of our day, as well the Pietism of the Church that has allowed for this to happen, a movement in Reformed and Reformed-adjacent circles has developed in the past few years, which calls itself Christian Nationalism. Their vision is, as per their website, to “restore Christendom for the glory of God” and to build “a Christian nation rooted in truth, beauty, and the authority of Christ the King.” Now, I would never want to disparage the good and beautiful things that were developed during the first Christendom in Europe – things that are in keeping with God’s holy law-Word – for I am truly grateful for the work of the Spirit through the sincere, though imperfect, efforts of our Christian forefathers to be faithful to our Lord to the extent that they understood the Word of God in their day. Yet, at the same time, there was a strong propensity among the scholastics to synthesize biblical teaching with pagan categories, especially coming from the Greco-Roman world.
I have argued elsewhere that this is precisely what Stephen Wolfe and his disciples are forwarding in seeking to return to Thomistic mediaeval sacralism, natural law, and the ethnocentric nationalism and kinism that’s developed from this theological and philosophical paradigm.[i] This framework and trajectory can clearly be seen on the Christian Nationalist homepage under their “Resources” page where the No. 1 podcast they promote is Stone Choir,[ii] whose host is Corey Mahler, a Lutheran excommunicated for spreading ethnic vainglory, as well as hatred towards Jews and blacks.[iii] Those on team Christian Nationalism may say that I’m “poisoning the well” at this point. However, it seems to me that the ball is firmly in their court to explain why they define “nation” along primarily ethnic lines when the Bible doesn’t, why they’re promoting such moral degenerates as Corey Mahler, Michael Spangler, and Joel Webbon as significant leaders within their movement, and why the rest of Wolfe’s disciples rise up to defend these men when they do things like promote the need for a Protestant version of Franco or Hitler to restore Christendom,[iv] or condemn inter-racial (i.e. inter-ethnic) marriages as ostensibly anti-creational[v] – and all this in the name of “no enemies to the right” (NETTR). Truly, I say, the project devoted to returning to mediaeval sacralism has proven itself to be just as poisonous to the health of Christ’s Church and her ability to effectively advance His kingdom in the world as its Pietistic counterpart. The entire two kingdoms tree – both its Pietist and sacralist sides – needs to be chopped down once and for all, never to be replanted.
So then, if it’s not some branch of the two kingdoms tree, stemming from its root in Thomas Aquinas’ nature-grace divide, that we need, then what should replace it? Upon what foundation should we seek to build the new Christendom? What are the biblically-grounded theological and philosophical categories that will provide the kind of consistent, coherent foundation upon which to rebuild civilization under the most holy kingdom-rule of Jesus Christ, as well as guarding us from the ditches at the same time? Let me suggest that the answer is not at all revolutionary, but one of reformation back to the law-Word of God. We must allow Scripture to define the fundamental components that go into building civilization on its own terms, for the one, true, and Triune God has indeed spoken. God is not capricious, as some suppose – He didn’t create us for taking dominion of His good world and then leave us without the blueprints or tools for how to do this in a way that would glorify and enjoy Him forever. No! Rather, He’s given us a kingdom charter for all of life in His Word, filled with instruction and example that we’re meant to follow.
What follows is my proposal for how theology and philosophy intersect on the fundamental components that go into building civilization, all the while seeking to do so standing consistently on the Holy Scriptures, for that is the only firm foundation on which to stand. Indeed, there is no higher court of appeal, and no higher arbiter, in all matters of faith and life than the very law-Word of Almighty God. Likewise, in this endeavour I’m seeking to be internally consistent, whilst avoiding the either-or fallacy, and thus I employ John Frame’s biblically-based triperspectival paradigm as a means to do so. Furthermore, in terms of organization, I’m beginning at the highest principles and work my way down to how they flesh out in the common, everyday occurrences of man. Finally, I’m seeking to show how the fall impacts those principles as they concern man and the world, as well as how the gospel answers the fall in progressively bringing renewal and reformation to the ends of the earth, to the eternal glory, praise, and enjoyment of the one, true, and Triune God. My prayer is that this work can assist the Church of Jesus Christ in working together to build the new Christendom.
Triperspectivalism:
In his work, Systematic Theology, John Frame introduces a framework for holding together the main aspects of any concept, whether theological or philosophical, one rooted in the unity and diversity of the Godhead.[vi] He calls this framework triperspectivalism, for any true concept existing in God’s good world as a result of His creative word is made up of three aspects: the normative, situational, and existential. The normative aspect is the governing principle, the situational aspect is the place and circumstances in which that governing principle is being applied, and the existential aspect comprises the people directly involved in this arrangement. Furthermore, these three aspects necessarily will either be defined by God in His holy, inspired, inscripturated Word, or they will be defined by a false god and its word instead. “Let God be true though every one were a liar” (Rom. 3:4). There can be no middle ground, for neutrality is an impossibility. Fundamentally then, Frame’s triperspectivalism is really Cornelius Van Til’s presuppositionalism applied to every arena of theology, philosophy, and life.
Worldview:
In addition, the late Christian thinker Greg Bahnsen had in essence a triperspectival framework in the work he was involved with, particularly in the areas of apologetics and ethics. In his lectures to a group of Christian college students on defending the faith, Bahnsen taught that everyone has a worldview, which functions as their basic operating system and lens through which they view, interpret, and interact with the world.[vii] In the second of these lectures, he defined worldview as “a theory of reality, knowledge, and ethics.” When set in the triperspectival framework, ethics would be the normative aspect, reality would be the situational aspect, and knowledge the existential aspect. Ethics answers the question, “By what standard?” Knowledge answers the question, “Says who?” Reality answers the question, “How does this flesh out in time, space, and history?” The truth of all three of these questions are objectively and consistently revealed to us in God’s holy, inspired, and unalterable Word. All other world-and-life-views prove themselves false by providing alternative answers to these questions, ones that render them inconsistent and contradictory, both on their own terms and in comparison to the truth of creation and Holy Scripture. The inescapable truth is that we live in God’s good world as bearers of His image, all of which He wisely rules according to His holy law-Word.
Ultimate Authority:
Now, it’s important to establish who or what exactly is the ultimate authority, for this authority is the determiner of reality, knowledge, and ethics for all people, in all places, and at all times. If a people do not honour Yahweh – Who has eternally existed in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – as ultimate, they will honour someone or something else instead. Indeed, as the one, true, and living God, Yahweh alone is the God Who speaks. All others are utterly impotent and mute false gods. “The have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in the their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them” (Ps. 115:5-8). And so, Scripture speaks of God’s word in three senses: His creative and sustaining word; His breathed-out, inscripturated Word; and His eternally begotten, living Word. This can be seen in the triperspectival paradigm. As the normative aspect of God’s authority, His inscripturated Word constitutes, in principial form, the infallible historical record of which that He decreed to take place, from before the foundation of the world, which is everything (Eph. 1:11). This He breathed out as He moved various and sundry men to put pen to paper, as it were, by His Holy Spirit. As His authority’s situational aspect, the Almighty’s creative and sustaining word is the real world application of His eternal decree. Furthermore, God’s Son is the existential aspect as His eternally begotten, living Word, Who took to Himself a true human nature over 2,000 years ago in the womb of the Virgin Mary, thus becoming the incarnate Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:5-7). So then, Yahweh’s ultimate authority can be summed up in this way: God the Father spoke all creation into existence through God the Son, the living Word, Who carries it all along to its intended destination by the power of His Holy Spirit, Who breathed out His law-Word, which are the Holy Scriptures of the Older and Newer Testaments (John 1:1-3, Col. 1:15-17, 2 Pet. 1:19-21).
Lordship:
Indeed, Scripture speaks prolifically of God as both the Lord of His creation, covenant, and kingdom. God the Father is Lord through His Son and in the power of His Holy Spirit. He is truly “Lord of heaven and earth” (Acts 17:24-25). In considering God’s Lordship triperspectivally, John Frame notes His authority, control, and presence. His perfect authority over all His creation constitutes the normative aspect.[viii] His perfect control over all things, great and small, in all places and at all times, constitutes the situational aspect. Lastly, God’s perfect presence throughout His created order is the existential aspect of His Lordship. These three aspects can clearly be seen at work in a passage like Isaiah 46, which stands in the midst of a lengthy treatise on why Yahweh is the one, true, and living God, while all others are false (Isa. 40-48). Truly, if Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is the true Lord over all, then all others who make claims of ultimate lordship are usurpers and frauds. Indeed, the fundamental assertion of the Christian Scriptures is that Jesus Christ is Lord of all (Rom. 10:9-10). Indeed, it’s either theocracy (God’s rule) or autocracy (self-rule). If we will not submit ourselves to Christ’s good and holy totalizing rule, we will necessarily try to rule ourselves in one way or another.
Ethics:
As the Lord of all, the first thing God reveals concerning His unchanging standard of good and evil is Himself. Just as God Himself is love and also faithfulness – for He cannot possibly be any other – so also God Himself is the law. He Himself is the ultimate standard of justice and righteousness over all beings, whether spiritual or human, in all places and at all times. This is what He wrote in a creational sense on the hearts of men at creation, when He made us in His image, male and female (Rom. 2:14-24). This is the same codification of Yahweh’s moral character He later summarized on two stone tablets, which He wrote with His own finger on Mt. Sinai, which is commonly called the 10 Commandments (Ex. 20:1-17, Deut. 5:6-21). This unchanging definition of love for God and love for neighbour (Matt. 22:37-40) was originally applied in the creational covenant in terms of taking dominion of God’s good creation as His image bearers (Gen. 1:26-28), as well as including a prohibition against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which represented looking to any other source to define good and evil outside of God’s already revealed holy law (Gen. 2:16-17).
As history progressed, God’s law was early on applied in the ecclesial sphere in terms of Yahweh’s prescription for public worship, as well in the familial and civil spheres in terms of cultural and civilizational development (Gen. 4-5). That positivization of God’s law was further developed in terms of civil magistrates and proportional retributive justice in the regiving of the cultural mandate at the time of Noah (Gen. 9:5-6), and then later further developed in all three spheres – family, church, and state – through the various civil case laws, holiness codes, and ceremonial laws (Ex. 20:23:19, Lev. 1-27, Deut. 12-28). To this day, though the circumstances of some of those positivized laws were specific to national Israel’s life in the Promised Land, and Christ’s death and resurrection have also altered some of the ways in which God’s statutes now apply – especially those pertaining to the ecclesial sphere – nevertheless, in principle, the whole of it remains in full force until all is fully accomplished in human history (1 Tim. 1:8-11, Heb. 12:18-29). Indeed, the Lord Jesus Himself, the unchanging divine Law-Giver, made this abundantly clear when He declared, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:17-20).[ix]
In this way, within the paradigm of triperspectivalism, the normative aspect of biblical ethics would be God’s unchanging moral character, as summarized in the 10 Commandments, and further summarized in the two greatest commands, which are to love the Lord our God and love our neighbours as ourselves. Likewise, biblical law’s situational aspect would be its positivizations and applications into various and sundry life circumstances, whether it be in the life of the individual, family, church, or state. Lastly, its existential aspect would be Yahweh, our eternal, unchanging Triune Lord, along with all mankind and his heart motivations, in all places and at all times. Truly, it’s either theonomy (God’s law) or autonomy (self-law). If we will not submit ourselves to Christ’s good and holy law under His totalizing rule, we will necessarily try to rule ourselves according to our own fallen and unholy law in one form or another.
Covenant:
Building on this then, covenant is a foundational concept in Scripture, that informs our understanding as to how God has designed us to both relate to Him, as well as to each other, as those created in His image. In seeking to take into account the broadest amount of biblical data possible, O. Palmer Robertson defines a covenant as “a bond in blood sovereignly administered.”[x] To take it one step further, we could say that “a covenant is a bond in blood sovereignly administered,” with attending blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. This becomes even clearer when set in the triperspectival paradigm. A covenant’s normative aspect is God’s unchanging, eternal law, as summarized in the 10 Commandments (Ex. 20:1-17, Deut. 5:6-21), and further summarized in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:37-40). Likewise, a covenant’s situational aspect is the specific place and sphere of society that law is meant to be applied – whether it be to all mankind across the face of the earth, the family, the local church, the catholic (universal) Church, a business, the state, etc. And finally, its existential aspect is comprised of those parties involved, both human and divine. Biblically speaking, within the context of covenant, God graciously binds Himself to His people as a Father to a son (Deut. 1:30-31, Matt. 6:9, Rom. 5:18-19). Indeed, as Herman Dooyeweerd observed, the issue is not with creational structures, but rather with ethical direction.[xi] It’s not whether there will be a covenantal head who will lead others under his charge and represent them before God, but rather in which way will he lead them, and before which deity will he represent them. Will he lead them in loyal faithfulness to the one, true, and Triune God of Holy Scripture, or will he lead them in rebellious unfaithfulness, so serving some false god or other instead? There is no neutrality.
Kingdom:
Tied together with covenant is the concept of kingdom, which necessarily involves three things: a king or ruler, the standard by which he rules over his subjects, and the land or realm in which he rules. Now, the normative aspect of God’s kingdom is the righteous and just standard by which His rules, which is His eternal, unchanging law, as summarized in the 10 Commandments (Ex. 20:1-17, Deut. 5:6-21). It is the very definition of love for God and love for neighbour, and the standard by which all men must live life in His kingdom. The realm in which God rules is the entirety of creation, as He causes heaven to invade earth. This is His kingdom’s situational aspect. Indeed, the prayer our Lord taught us to pray is this, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). Furthermore, the land God gave His Son to rule as His Messiah (Anointed King) was “[all] the nations as Your heritage, and the ends of the earth Your possession” (Ps. 2:8). The promise has always been that Messiah Jesus, and all His people in Him, would inherit the whole world (Matt. 5:5, Rom. 4:13), and that His kingdom-rule would gradually, progressively, and unstoppably grow in the earth until the whole of it is successfully transformed by His righteous and just rule (Dan. 2:31-45, Isa. 42:1-4, Matt. 13:31-33). This then means that the progress of world history is shaped by the progress of the kingdom of God in it, since time, space, and history are a part of the world which God created in the beginning, and has ever since been sustaining by the word of His power (Col. 1:15-17). Finally, the existential aspect is the Ruler and His subjects. God the Father gave a kingdom to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who rules it by the power of His Holy Spirit and through His redeemed people. The citizens of His kingdom are His covenant people, born again by the Holy Spirit and baptized into the Triune name of Almighty God (Matt. 28:18-20, John 3:5-7). King Jesus charges His people – as they cling to Him with the empty hand of living, repentant faith – to bring all the nations under His rule, baptizing them in the name of the one, true, and Triune God, and teaching them to obediently live in His good world through rightly applying His law to each and every area of life, and so turn creation into God-glorifying culture (Gen. 1:28-30, Gen. 9:1-7, Matt. 28:18-20). It’s therefore not whether men with turn creation into culture, but rather in which direction. Will that culture-making be in faithful loyalty to the one, true Ruler over all – as heaven come down to earth – or will it be in rebellion against His holy kingdom-rule? Those are the only two options since, if men are not for Jesus and His kingdom-rule, they are necessarily against Him (Matt. 12:30).
Creation:
Now, the theatre in which covenant and kingdom are enacted is God’s own creation, which He declared to be “very good” (Gen. 1:31). God instantaneously created the whole universe and everything in it out of nothing “in the beginning,” and then immediately spent the first 6 days of world history (i.e. 6 normal 24-hour days; cf. Ex. 20:8-11) setting the sky, sea and land in order and filling each of those habitats with their befitting flora and fauna, and declaring it all to be good (Gen. 1:1-25). It was intrinsically good because they were created free from sin’s corruption. It was good because it was now all set in its proper place. But, it was also teleologically good, for it was fashioned to be a good home – a good ecosystem – in which mankind could live and take dominion. Then, in the second half of Day 6, God created mankind in His image and likeness (Gen. 1:26-27). Thinking in triperspectival terms then, creation’s normative aspect is its intrinsic goodness, its situational aspect is its organizational goodness, and its existential aspect is its teleological goodness.
Now, an often overlooked, but vitally important, reality to God’s creational order is that it’s created as one integrated unity, rather than as two separate orders – one physical and the other spiritual. The physical and spiritual aspects of creation are integrated parts of one unity – a creational unity that is entirely distinct from its Creator. This sets the Scriptural view of creation apart from various and sundry forms of paganism, which view the spiritual order as a higher realm than the physical order, one which must be attained. Indeed, it is to this holistic, unified view of creational reality that the Scriptures consistently testify. For example, as it concerns creation as a whole, Colossians 1:15-17 declares of Jesus Christ, “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” The Son of God holds all things, whether spiritual or physical, together as a unity by the word of His power. Likewise, as it pertains to man in particular, Genesis 2:7 tells us that “Yahweh God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature [lit. ‘a living soul’].” It’s not that the “real” man is a spiritual soul temporarily living inside a physical body, looking for its eternal release. Rather, man himself as a spiritual-physical unity is one, integrated living soul. This why St. Paul can speak of the hope of the resurrection on the Last Day, both for image bearers and for the created order as a whole (Rom. 8:18-25). The issue then is not whether we’re living in the supposed “right” part of creation – spiritual or physical, heavenly or earthly, sacred or secular – but rather in which direction we’re living as image bearers in God’s good world. Our lives are either directed in ways pleasing to the Lord according to His Word, or in ways that are in rebellion against Him.
Image of God & The Dominion Mandate:
Genesis 1:26-27 records for us, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
So, what exactly does this mean? The image of God is simply the way in which God created us as the capstone of His creation to take dominion of the rest of creation, as per His covenant with us (Gen. 1:26-28). It’s the reflection of His Lordship, but on the creaturely level – His authority (normative), control (situational), and presence (existential). Another way of saying this is that we are meant to teach as prophets (authority), rule as kings (control), and steward as priests (presence). As prophets, we’re meant to teach others the truth, beauty, and goodness of Yahveh’s Lordship over absolutely everything. As prophets, we’re meant to teach all men and nations to submit faithfully to the true King over all kings and Lord over all lords – the one, true, and living God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In addition, as kings, we are meant to rule as Almighty God’s vicegerents – as those to whom He’s delegated real, but limited authority – that we would do so under His ultimate rule. As kings, we’re meant to press forward the crown rights of Yahweh and submit all areas of life to His sovereign governance – no whether it be self, family, church, or state. And finally, as priests, we are to steward creation by building a godly culture through cultivating right worship (cultus) in each and every area of life. By what standard are we meant to live as bearers of God’s image in His good world? We’re meant to do this in keeping with His eternal, unchanging law, which He wrote on our hearts in a creational sense at creation, and then later codified on Mt. Sinai in two stone tablets. This immovable, transcendent moral standard is what informs the conscience of each and every person, no matter where or when they may live (Rom. 2:14-24). We’ve been created to glorify God and enjoy Him forever through turning creation into culture that reflects His truth, beauty, and goodness out into the world for all to see, and do so through the right application of God’s righteous and just statutes.
This plays out in ways different for men than women, for God has hardwired men to the be men, and women to be women. Yahweh has designed men to be leaders, and women to follow male leadership in their lives. He’s hardwired men to conquer and build, while He’s designed women to nest and beautify. Likewise, He’s designed men as providers and protectors, and women as nurturers and caretakers. Furthermore, He’s hardwired men to be much more visually oriented, and women to be much more emotionally oriented. All these design features can be directed either in ways pleasing to the Lord according to His Word, or in ways that are in rebellion against Him. In either case, design precedes function, and God-given sexed societal roles and functions cannot be disconnected from the way He has wisely created us male and female in His image from the beginning (Gen. 2:7, Gen. 2:20-23, 1 Cor. 11:7-8).
Culture:
Furthermore, a central component to our creational purpose in taking dominion in God’s good world is turning creation into godly culture. Culture is religion externalized, as Henry Van Til once put it.[xii] It’s the worship of the people made manifest in the public square. The Bible’s term for God-fearing culture under the Lordship of Messiah Jesus is the kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33). All other cultures are antichrist cultures in one way or another, since they’re all rooted in pagan worldviews. Only the culture which Christ, by His Spirit and through His people, creates in the world is rooted in the truth of God’s worldview, as revealed in Holy Scripture. As set in the triperspectival paradigm, God’s revealed worldview is the normative aspect. It’s what the Bible objectively declares about ethics, reality, and knowledge, and thus systematically informs the way we interpret the world around us and live therein. In addition, the situational aspect of culture is the real-world application of God’s worldview to living in a particular place over an extended period of time, beginning in the private aspects of life and working their way out into every nook and cranny of the public square. Furthermore, its existential aspect is the various families and clans living together, the majority of whom truly fear God, are loyal to King Jesus, and are committed to His revealed worldview, not just in terms of doctrine, but also in terms of practice. This is how godly culture is made. Thus, religious values are what give rise to cultural values and, when applied, result in cultural artefacts such as wine, furniture, musical compositions, language, and literature (e.g. Gen. 4). Image bearers will inevitably turn creation into culture – grapes to wine, trees to tables and chairs, etc – but, depending on their worldview, that culture will either be developed in ways that reflect the truth, beauty, and goodness of Yahweh in loyalty to Him, or in ways that profane His truth, beauty, and goodness in rebellion against Him.
Ethnicity:
Now, when we think of ethnicity as moderns, we typically have in mind a tribe or clan with blood ties to a common ancestor. It’s the covenantal entity of family enlarged. This is what the Bible refers to as meeshpakha in the Hebrew OT (e.g. Gen. 12:3), or ethnos in the Greek NT (e.g. Gal. 3:8). There’s three components to a clan then. First and foremost, a tribe or clan consists of its families and its appointed chief, all of whom can trace their lineage back to a common ancestor. For example, Genesis 10 records that Canaan was the son of Ham, the son of Noah. The descendants of Canaan were the sons of Canaan (Canaanites), but they were also more distantly the sons of Ham. Likewise, Genesis 49 records the 12 tribes of Israel, one of which was Benjamin. Benjamin was Jacob’s youngest son. His descendants were known as the sons of Benjamin (Benjaminites), but they were also more distantly the sons of Abraham. This is a tribe or clan’s existential aspect. Secondly, the clan is authoritatively directed by the decisions of its chieftain, or its covenantal head and representative. This is a clan’s normative aspect. This could involve where the clan would dwell, with whom they would be willing to trade or go to war against, all of which is meant to be in service to Yahweh, the one, true, and living God, in accordance with the precise rule of His holy law-Word. As a clan grows in size and spreads out geographically, long-standing decisions become understood social norms. Yet, these decisions and understood norms are only as binding as they conform to and stem from the values of the kingdom-rule of Jesus Christ. Finally, the situational aspect is the place where a clan lives. A chieftain may lead his people in shifting locations for a variety of reasons. For example, Abraham was called upon by Yahweh to take his kindred from Ur of the Chaldeans westward to the land of the Canaanites, which he obediently did (Gen. 11:27ff). This here is the biblical of the family enlarged, which today we refer to as an ethnicity.
Nation:
As for nations, like families and local congregations, they are treated as covenantal entities in Holy Scripture. In short, a nation, biblically-speaking, is a medium- to large-sized fortified town with its adjacent regions, used primarily for agriculture. This is what the Hebrew OT refers to as goi (Gen. 10:31), and the Greek NT sometimes refers to as polis (Rev. 11:8), and sometimes also as ethnos (Matt. 24:7). As covenantal entities, a nation’s constitution is to be based in God’s eternal, unchanging law, which is summarized for us in the 10 Commandments, and further summarized in the words of Christ to love the Lord our God with our whole being and love our neighbours as ourselves (Deut. 5:6-21, Matt. 22:37-40). This is a nation’s normative aspect. Furthermore, its situational aspect is the intended application of that law-order to a fortified city-state and its surrounding regions, or several of them united together under the same constitution. Likewise, the existential aspect of a nation is the various families and clans living in those city-states and regions who have sworn to live under the constitution in loyalty to the God Who gave that law, as administered through duly appointed civil magistrates who act as covenantal heads and representatives of the people (Ex. 18). Truly, it doesn’t matter whether these families and clans are all descended from the same common ancestor or not, for what matters is faithfulness to God in Christ Jesus and the covenant He has graciously made with their particular nation. Thus, under this triperspectival understanding of what constitutes a nation, it’s not whether a nation will be covenanted with a deity, but rather with which deity it will be covenanted. Will it be covenanted with the one, true, and Triune God of Holy Scripture, or will it be with some false god? Will it be committed via its constitution – along with its intended application and enforcement thereof – to loyally serve King Jesus, or will it commit itself to live in rebellion against His holy rule? The reality is that there’s no neutrality.
Society (Sphere Sovereignty):
Sphere sovereignty is a term coined by the late Abraham Kuyper to describe the way the Bible differentiates between different spheres – covenantal jurisdictions – of limited authority delegated by God to mankind, as His creatures.[xiii] There are three main spheres of delegated authority which Scripture progressively reveals in various ways: the familial, ecclesial, and civil arenas of society. In the family, the husband and father is given an extensive, though still limited, amount of authority over a relatively small group of people, namely, his wife and children. In the congregation, elder-pastors are given a medium amount of authority over a medium sized group of people, namely, baptized believers who are formally covenanted together in church membership. And in the state, civil magistrates have been given a small amount of authority over a large group of people, namely, those living within their geopolitical boundaries. Furthermore, whilst these three God-given spheres of limited, delegated authority are distinct yet inter-relating covenantal entities, all of them exist in complete subservience to the one, all-encompassing, totalizing kingdom-rule of Almighty God – given by the Father to the Son, Who’s advancing it in the world by His Spirit and through His redeemed people. So then, under the kingdom of God as the only totalizing principle, society is fundamentally organized in terms of church (normative aspect), family (existential aspect), and state (situational aspect).
Indeed, these are not only covenantal entities, but also creational ones. The God of creation truly is the God of the covenant. Beginning with creation then, Yahweh created man in His image and placed him in a garden in the eastern region of a land called Eden (Gen. 2:8). He covenanted with him, as a Father to a son, to take dominion of creation, first in the garden, then throughout Eden, and then to the ends of the earth, and to do so according to His unchanging, holy law (Gen. 1:26-28). He provided man with a suitable wife to help him accomplish this cultural mandate, and commanded them to have many children, raising them in the fear of the Lord to be the next generation of culture-makers. Now, this garden was planted on top of a mountain as a kind of cosmic temple where Yahweh dwelt with man in true fellowship (Eze. 28:11-16). Later, the temple was designed to reflect this creational reality (1 Kings 6:29-32). The temple was built at the top of Mt. Zion, the city of Jerusalem built on the way down, and Israel and the rest of the world stretched out from there, just as the garden was planted atop a mountain, and Eden and the rest of the world extended out from there.[xiv] This is also why the Great Commission would later begin in Jerusalem, extend throughout Israel, and then to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). In this way then, God’s covenant community is comprised of families, who are drawn up the mountain of God by His Spirit to His temple, as it were, to learn the ways of His Son’s Messianic kingdom-rule and fellowship with Him. Then, in true loyalty to Him, after heavenizing earth in their own homes and in the ecclesial sphere, they come back down the mountain with the treasures of the temple to heavenize each and every area of life in the public square, including the state, which was formally included as a creational, covenantal sphere in the post-fall, post-diluvian world in which we now live (Gen. 9:5-6). This is the image provided for us in Isaiah 2:1-5, depicting how the world is transformed by the power of the gospel. Furthermore, this is precisely that for which Jesus commanded us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). Truly, “the zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this” (Isa. 9:7)!
Now, this principle plays out in how God’s law is applied, depending on which societal sphere is in view. We can see this most clearly in the civil due process, as well as in how Jesus applies it to ecclesial due process. Deuteronomy 19:15-21 outlines that, only on the basis of two to three true witnesses – found truthful through the cross-examination of a plurality of judges in a court of law – can any charge be established. The judges shall show no pity or partiality, but must swiftly bring proportional retributive justice to bear through the penal sanction that’s due, that the victim and his or her family would be made whole again. Jesus applies this in Matthew 18:15-20 to the church discipline process. Only on the basis of two to three true witnesses – found truthful through the cross-examination of a plurality of elder-pastors in a congregational court – can any charge be established. The elder-pastors shall show no pity or partiality in their judgement, but must swiftly bring restorative mercy to bear through excommunication, that the guilty one would be made whole again. The goal of civil due process is retributive justice towards the one found guilty, but mercy towards his or her victim(s). At the same time, the goal of ecclesial due process is restorative mercy towards both the one found guilty and his or her victim(s). Here church and state are established as two separate covenantal spheres under the one, all-encompassing, totalizing kingdom-rule of King Jesus. This also provides the necessary structures of accountability, lest the civil sphere should try to overstep its God-given jurisdiction, and so begin acting in tyrannical ways towards one or both of the other two, thus creating the need for enacting biblical means of resistance.[xv] Such is the importance of operating on the principles of sphere sovereignty, for without these delimitations under Christ, society would quickly descend into chaos, either in the way of anarchy, or authoritarianism, or a combination thereof. It’s either Christ or chaos. It’s either the city of God or the city of Cain (Gen. 4:1-5:32). There is no neutrality anywhere.
The Fall:
Shortly after our good heavenly Father created our first parents, Adam and Eve, placed them in the garden of Eden, and covenanted with them therein, they violated the prohibition to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was an application of God’s law, in addition to His requirement to apply it in terms of ruling, stewarding, and subduing creation into a God-glorifying culture. He said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17). On a certain day shortly after the Lord gave this command, Adam and Eve were walking through the middle of the garden where this tree was planted when they were approached by Satan, come in the form of a snake. There, he deceived Eve into disobeying Yahweh’s command, while Adam stood beside her, abdicating his responsibility as her covenant head to lead, provide for, and protect his wife (Gen. 3:1-6). This led to idolatry by trying to be their own ultimate authority through experiencing good from evil on their own terms, instead of trusting the definition of good and evil which God had already defined for them in His holy law. This resulted in blaming-shifting and scapegoating – Adam blamed God and his wife, and Eve in turn blamed the serpent (Gen. 3:12-13).[xvi]
Due to our first father’s disobedience, Yahweh brought the curse of death to Adam and all those covenantally united to him under the creational covenant, that is, his wife and all their descendants, which is all mankind (Rom. 5:12-13). Indeed, sin and death is the root problem with all that’s wrong in the world. This death is threefold – physical, spiritual, and eternal. Firstly, the moment Adam sinned, he received the curse of spiritual death, which means he became enslaved to sin, a passionate lover of sin, loyally living in lockstep with sin’s demands and building culture accordingly, a devout follower of the devil, and fully committed to being at war with the one, true, and Triune God. “There is no fear of God before [his] eyes” (Rom. 3:10-18, Rom. 8:7-8, Eph. 2:1-3). This spiritual death covenantally follows to all of us, and is the normative aspect of the curse. Secondly, the moment our first father disobeyed and the curse came into effect, his body began physically degenerating, which eventually resulted in physical death. This physical death naturally follows to all of us, and is the curse’s situational aspect. Finally, eternal death is the end result of remaining at enmity with God and committed to sin under its powerful command. It is the resurrection of all the unrepentant on the Last Day unto eternal punishment in the lake of fire, along with Satan and all his demonic hordes (Matt. 25:46), where they will receive all of God’s pure, retributive justice and none of His love and grace. It’s where “[they] will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of His anger, and [they] will be tormented with fire and sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment [will] go up forever and ever, and they [will] have no rest, day or night” (Rev. 14:9-10). This is the existential aspect of the curse of death brought in judgement upon all those who unrepentantly remain in Adam.
The Gospel (Redemption Unto Consummation):
The gospel is the good news of God’s kingdom entering human history through the Person and work of Jesus Christ (Matt. 4:23-25, Matt. 9:35-38). By His Spirit and through His people, Christ is slowly and steadily, but surely and unstoppably, liberating everything in His good world from the slavery of sin, corruption, and death and setting it right again under His holy rule (Matt. 13:31-33, Eph. 1:10, Col. 1:19-20). The power of the gospel brings all aspects of our fallen, sin-corrupted lives under the rule of King Jesus as He exercises His Messianic authority over all things, on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10, Matt. 28:18-20, 1 Cor. 15:24-28). Indeed, man as an integrated, living soul – body and spirit together as a unity – fell into sin and death, and therefore man as a unity must be redeemed. All of this Jesus fully accomplished as the incarnate God-man in His perfectly faithful obedience unto death on a Roman cross over 2,000 years, where He fully absorbed in Himself the just punishment for sin in the place of an innumerable multitude the Father had given Him before the foundations of the world (John 3:14-17, John 6:37-40, Rom. 3:21-26, Eph. 1:3-6, Col. 2:13-15). Three days later, God bodily raised Him from the dead, fully vindicating Him in His Messianic work. 40 days later, He bodily ascended to His Father’s right hand in heaven, from where He is praying into reality, and so progressively bringing to pass as the great Priestly-King, all which He accomplished in His death, and is doing so by the power of His Holy Spirit and through His redeemed covenant people (Acts 2:22-36). This will all culminate on the Last Day when He brings His kingdom-rule, creational order, and covenant community to their unified, perfected, climactic glory through corporeal and physical resurrection on the Last Day, both all true believers and the created order itself (Rom. 8:18-25). On that Day, King Jesus will sit upon His throne, opening the books, and will judge all people according to their works – the unrepentant according to their deeds done in rebellion against God unto eternal damnation, and believers according to their works proceeding from and vindicating their repentant, living, God-given faith in the Son of God unto eternal life (Rev. 20:11-15). Truly, solely by the sovereign grace of the eternal God, the Lord Jesus Christ is in fact bringing redemption from sin and death (normative) to the ends of the earth, in each and every sphere of life (situational), and to an innumerable multitude living therein (existential). As the old Puritan hymnist put it, “No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.”[xvii]
Concluding Thoughts:
Here then are fifteen components that, when taken together, provide a solid, robust, and coherent theological and philosophical foundation for building Christendom 2.0. This is a vision for the future that’s intentionally rooted in the Trinitarian nature of God, the way He’s designed the world to function, and the mission He’s been on since the beginning to rescue it from the curse of sin and death, in and through Jesus Christ. Furthermore, this is a vision that’s intentionally rooted in taking God at His word, as He’s enunciated in His most holy Word. As the Christian foundations that built Western civilization are now largely destroyed, it’s high time we repent of our national apostasy and rebellion against the Lord of all, that, in His grace and mercy, He might forgive us, and bring to us back to honouring Him in rebuilding a distinctly Christian culture and civilization as a manifestation of His Messianic kingdom-rule, on earth as it is in heaven. To His name alone be all honour, glory, and praise. Amen.
[i] See Of Wolfe & His Christian Nationalist Project, < https://canadiantheopolitans.ca/2025/04/24/of-wolfe-his-christian-nationalist-project> and A Pastoral Response to Wolfe’s Christian Nationalism, < https://www.ezrainstitute.com/a-pastoral-response-to-wolfes-christian-nationalism>.
[ii] See the Christian Nationalist homepage, < https://christiannationalist.com>.
[iii] See the decision of the Michigan District of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS), condemning the teachings of Corey Mahler and the Stone Choir podcast, < https://michigandistrict.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/WorkbookIII_TuesdayRelease.pdf>.
[iv] X, Michael Spangler, < https://x.com/spanglermt/status/2035033544066523327>.
[v] Ruslan KD, Interracial Marriage Full Debate w/ Joel Webbon & Godlogic, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNFwCdbw-Ec>.
[vi] Frame, John M., Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2013), 33.
[vii] Grace Family Baptist Church, Basic Training For Defending The Faith, <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjSIFDZIs-qdcrGyhfxNyI0ATw7Gg1vQV>.
[viii] Frame, John M., Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2013), 31.
[ix] Bahnsen, Greg L., By This Standard: The Authority of God’s Law Today (Nacogdoches, TX: Covenant Media Press, 2020).
[x] Robertson, O. Palmer, The Christ of the Covenants (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1980), 4, 15.
[xi] Glas, Gerrit, Dooyeweerd’s Approach to Philosophical Anthropology, < https://research.vu.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/406339418/Dooyeweerd_s_approach_to_philosophical_anthropology.pdf>.
[xii] Grant, George, Dr., What is Culture? Religion Externalized, Center for Cultural Leadership, < https://christianculture.com/discover/what-is-culture-religion-externalized>.
[xiii] Kuyper, Abraham, Sphere Sovereignty (West Lynn, OR: Monergism Books, 2024), < https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/kuyper/Sphere%20Sovereignty-Kuyper-New.pdf>.
[xiv] Jordan, James B., Through New Eyes: Developing a Biblical View of the World (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1988), 228-234.
[xv] Kayser, Phillip, The Divine Right of Resistance: Biblical Options for Opposing Tyranny, (Biblical Blueprints, 2021).
[xvi] See Rigney, Joe, Leadership and Emotional Sabotage (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2024).
[xvii] Watts, Isaac, Joy to the World, < https://hymnary.org/text/joy_to_the_world_the_lord_is_come>.
