Theonomy in Christian Ethics Quotes

“The Word of God is a seamless garment, and men who deny its law deny its eschatology also, and are deprived of God's power. It is not surprising, therefore, that this is an era of impotence for the church.”
― Greg L. Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics

“With its continued dismissal of the law of God in ethics, Fundamentalism expressed both a "spiritualized" form of situational ethics and a "Christianly submissive" statism.”
― Greg L. Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics

“If we will not have inscripturated morality from God as our sociopolitical standard, we have no principle to protect us from those who wish to play god.”
― Greg L. Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics

“The Older Testament commandments are not mere artifacts in a religious museum, nor are they ideals suspended over an age of parenthesis and appropriate only for the coming day of consummation. They are the living and powerful word of God, directing our lives here and now.”
― Greg L. Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics

“The law was never viewed as defining justice exclusively within the narrow confines of Israel. "All of the statutes" revealed by Moses for the covenant nation were a model to be emulated by the non-covenantal nations as well [Deuteronomy 4:6-8]. Accordingly, the Mosaic law was a standard by which unredeemed Canaanite tribes were punished [Leviticus 18:24-271 and which "non-theocratic" rulers were called to obey [Psalm 119:46; Proverbs 16:12] or prophetically denounced for violating [Isaiah 14:4-11; Jeremiah 25:12; Ezekiel 28:1-10; Amos 2:1-3; etc.].”
― Greg L. Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics

“Christ and His apostles endorsed the validity of every Old Covenant Scripture, command, word, letter, and stroke [2 Timothy 3:16-17; James 2:10; Matthew 4:4; 5:18-19]! The New Covenant itself writes the law known in the Old Covenant (in Jeremiah's day] on our hearts today [Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10]. Christ, you see, directs us to obey Moses as well!”
― Greg L. Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics

“The believer is not true to the Great Commission if he plans to disciple the nations without teaching the nations to obey the law of God as well as to observe the ecclesiastical sacraments (read Matthew 28:18-20). If the believer is going to be a trustworthy physician, then, he will give the unbelieving world not only a diagnosis of it's moral dilemma, but especially the gracious antidote from God-all of that antidote, which means the gospel with the entirety of God's law. The physician who gives only a portion of the remedy is untrue to his patient; but when the physician is the Christian taking God's remedy to sinners, and when he holds back from giving the full remedy, he is also tragically untrue to his Lord.”
― Greg L. Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics

“Just as the Son delights in the holy law of His Father, even so the Spirit of God promotes the law as the pattern of our sanctification.
Neither the Son nor the Spirit can be placed in opposition to the Father's law; if this were not so the unity of the Trinity would be dissolved.”
― Greg L. Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics

“Christ is our great High Priest who sacrifices Himself to discharge the curse of law (Gal.
3:13; Heb. 2:17-3:1; 4:14-5:10). He functions as a prophet of the law, properly interpreting it and freeing it from the overlaid traditions of men (e.g., Matt. 15:1-20). And because the Son of God has heeded the law and hated all lawlessness, God has exalted Him as the Anointed King (Heb. 1:8 f.). The three-fold office of Christ is unified around the permanent expression of God's will, His holy law.”
― Greg L. Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics

“The law does not save a man, but it does show him why he needs to be saved and how he is to walk after he is saved.”
― Greg L. Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics

“One must choose theonomy or autonomy, but autonomy is morally crippled. So also are half-way measures between theonomy and autonomy; the blending of the two yields subtle antinomianism.”
― Greg L. Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics