Why Theonomy Must Be Rejected
By Al Baker - Posted at Forget None of His Benefits:
Published July 9, 2026
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea, Habbakuk 2:14.
I am sympathetic toward Theonomy (a combination of two Greek words—Theos which means God and nomos which means law). I surely desire to see God’s people live by His word and for that word to affect every aspect of our day to day living. A Christian should know that God’s word has full authority in our lives and its precepts are true and all people everywhere will be judged according to God’s standard, His law, on the day of judgment. Furthermore, Theonomy is right to challenge the “myth of neutrality” which attempts to taint government with secularism. A positive contribution by Theonomy in the last fifty years has been to move Christians toward more involvement in conservative politics, limited government, and the free market economy.
Theonomy entered the lexicon of theological words in the early 1970’s through Rousas John Rushdoony’s three volume work The Institutes of Biblical Law. Greg Bahnsen, also contributed mightily with his book Theonomy In Christian Ethics. Simply put, Theonomy teaches that the civil law of any nation should follow the example of Israel’s civil and judicial laws under the Mosaic covenant, the Old Testament. One fruit of Theonomy is spelled out by Bahnsen in his aforementioned book in the chapter entitled “The Abiding Validity of the Law in Exhaustive Detail.” He says, “The civil precepts of the Old Testament standing judicial laws are a model of perfect social justice for all cultures, even in the punishment of criminals.” Therefore, Theonomy teaches that just as Israel in the Old Covenant was to execute homosexuals, adulterers, and recalcitrant children, so we should do the same today, and the church should be judged by how well they are carrying out these Old Covenant mandates.
