8/12/2019 1995 Issue 10 - Theonomic Ethics and the Westminster Confession: Theonomy in the PCA - Counsel of Chalcedon

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There is an unfortunate recurring

oppositionto theonomicethics among

many

reformed Christians. t is

unfortunate

because reformed

Christians

operating

under the

Westminster Standards ought to be

the first to recognize the legitimacy of

theonomy. I have prepared this brief

and

somewhat sketchy paper

to

provide some

inSights into

why

reformed

Christians,

particularly

within my own denomination (the

Presbyterian

Church

in

America),

ought not be opposed to theonomy. I

hope

that these ideas, laid out in brief

form,

might

be

helpful to

those

reformed

Christians who need to

provide a response to their

reformed

brethren

who

find it necessary to resist

theonomy

.

The

onomy

in the

PCA

l .

The

General

Assembly

of

the PCA has

dealt with theonomy on

several occasions and

on

each

occasion has allowed

adherence to theonomy:

M7GA, Report on

Theonomy, p.

194-195: The last paragraph of text:

Ou r

suggestion

is that the General

Assembly

consider

this subject a

matter

of lib

erty

at

this

time.... Since varying

views have

been

held by Refonned people

in the past on this subject,

no

particular

view

of

he

application

of

the

judidallaw

for

today

should

be made

a basis for

orthodoxy or

excluded

as

a

heresy.

M9GA,

Review and

Control of

Presbyteries

Report,

Section IV:

Minutes recommend for approval with

exception, Entry 7 (p.

145):

Evangel

--June

10,

1980,p.

5., Items

19A.

4.C&D

-

examinations

of

candidates on

theology

were

postponed

for

issue

ofTheonomy .

This is contrary to the

Sixth General

Assembly instructions ....

.

Entry 9 (p.

146 ): Gulf Coast Presbytery ...

Theonomy made an

issue

and test of

orthodoxy

in examining candidate

for

transfer of

icensure contrary to Seventh

General Assembly

pronouncement.

MIOGA,

Case

1:

Compla

int of

Stephen M. Lee, et aI.,

against

Gulf Coast

Presbytery.... (The

presbytery]

failed to

sustain

the

theolOgical examination

of

Raymond Bradford Fell because

of

his

particular view

of

he application

of

God's

Law for today, that view being what is

commonly

referred

to as 'theonomy

.'

Reasonsfor

the

complaint:

1.

The action

of

the Gulf Coast

Presbytery

is contrary

to Ca) the

guidelines

of

the Seventh

General Assembly

... ,

and (b)

the report

of the Ninth General Assembly

admonishing

Gulf Coast Presbytery

for

making an issue

of

'theonomy

in

the

licensure examinat

ion

of

Raymond

Bradford Fell.

[Sustained, p.

55)

MllGA Recommendation

29

Addendum:

Since

there are

differences

of

opinion

with

regard

to the application

and

'general

equity' of

he various penal

sanctions, this declaration shall not

be

used by the couris

of

the Church to

ind

the conscience

of

elders

in the PCA.

2. Morton H. Smith (letter

of

recommendation or a theonomic

pastor, written to Allen

C.

Harris,

May30, 1989

:

The PCA has tahenthe

position

that theonomy is

not to

be used

as

a

m

eans

ofudginga

man to

be heretical

or orthodox.

Interestingly,

theonomic

ethics

critic Dr. Meredith G. Kline (WI],

Fall,

1978)

has lamented:

Cha1cedon

[sc

.

theonomyl is not

without roots in res

pectable

ecclesiastical tradition. It is in fact a

revival

of

certain teaching contained

in

theWestminster Confession ofFaith

-- at least

in

the Confession's Original

formulations. These particular

elements in the Confession... have

been subjected to official revision.

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THE COUNSEL

of

Chalcedon November

1995

The revision, however, has left us

with standards whose proper legal

interpretation is

perpl

exed by

ambiguities,

an d

the

claim of

Chaleedon is that

it is

the

true

champion ofconfessional orthodoxy.

Ecclesiastical courts operating under

The Westminster Confession

of

Faith

are going

to

have their problems,

therefore, if they should be

of

a mind

to bring the Cha1cedon aberration

under their judicial scrutiny.

3. I have been a minister of the

PCA for twelve years and in two

presbytertes, having

never

had any

theonomic problems or allegations of

error charged against me. Generally

though not always),

where theonomyhasbeen

a

problem in

a PCA

church is

when

those who

oppose it stir up trouble.

The Meaning of

General Equity in the

Standards

4. As Donald

Remillard noted in his A

Contemporary Edition

of

the Westminster ConfeSSion

of

Faith

p.

v):

The initial text of the Westminster

Confession of Faith was presented to

the English speaking people in 1646.

This occurred only thirty-five years

after the publication of the Kingjames

version of

the

Bible in 1611.

Consequently, its original grammar

and vocabulary reflect a mode of

communication long dated

and

'foreign' to contemporary forms and

styles of English usage.

The Assembly wrote the

Confession of Faith

in

Elizabethan

English identical with

th

e

KJV,

even

0 emplOying its phraseology and (2)

us

ing it as the text for the Scripture

proof texts. It may be reasonably

concluded that the employment of

the term

equity

in WCF 19:4 would

have the same linguistic function

as

when

it appeared in the KJV. The

word equity appears ten times

in

the KJV:

8/12/2019 1995 Issue 10 - Theonomic Ethics and the Westminster Confession: Theonomy in the PCA - Counsel of Chalcedon

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Psalm

98:9 KJV):

"Before the LORD; for he cometh

to judge the earth: with righteousness

shall he

judge

the world, and the

people with

equity.

(Heb.,

mesharim ,

"uprightness") Notice the parallel

of

"righteousness" and

equity.

Ps

a

hn

99:4 1\jV):

The king's

strength

also love

til

judgment;

thou

dost establish equity,

thou executest judgment and

righteousness

in

jacob. (Heb.,

mesllarim,

"uprightness") Notice the

parallel

of equity

wi

th

judgment and

righteousness.

Proverbs

1:3 KJV):

To

receive

the instructionofwisdom

,

justice, and

judgment,

and

equity

.

(Heb.,

mesharim,

"uprightness")

Notice the inclusion of

equity

with

wisdom, justice and judgment.

Proverbs

2:9 KJV):

"Then

shalt thou understand

righteousness,and judgment,

and

equity;

yea, eVelY

good path.

"(Heb.,

meshari111,

"uprightness")

Ibid.

Proverbs

17:26 KJV):

Also

to

punish

the just is

not good,

nor

to strihe

p,inces

for

equity

.

(Heb.,

yosher, upr

ightness")

Ecclesiast

es

2:21 KJV):

"Forthere is

a

man

who

se

laboU1'is

in

wisdom,

and

in knowledge, and inequity;

yet to a mall

that hath not laboured

therein shall he leave it for

his

portion.

This

also

is vanity and

a

great evil. "

(Heb.,

Idshron,

"right, benefit)

Isaiah

11:4 KJV):

But with righteousness

shall

hejudge

the poor, and reprove

with

equity

or the

meek

of he

earth:

and

he

shall

smite

the

earth

with

the

rod

of

his

mouth,

and

wi th

the

breath

of

his

lips shall he slay the

wic11Cd. (Heb.,

mislwr,

"uprightness")

Isaiah

59:14 KJV):

And judgment

is

turned away

backward, and justice standeth

afar off:

for

truth

is

allen

in

the

street, and

equity

cannot

enter.

Micah

3:9 KJV):

Hear

this

,

I

prayyou,ye

heads

of

h

e

house

of

acob,

and

p'inces

of

the house.

of

Israel, that abhor judgment,

and

pervert

all

equity.

(Heb.,

yashar,

"right,

uprightn

ess")

Malachi

:

6 KJV)

The law

of truth

was in his mouth,

and

iniquity

was

not found in

his

lips

: he

walked

with me in peace and

equity,

and did turn

many

away from

iniquity.

(Heb.,

mishor,

"uprightness")

5.

We

should notice, as well, that

there is remarkable difference in the

treatment

of

the "ceremonial law"and

the 'JudiCial law" in the Confession.

(I)

Without equivocation the

ceremonial law is declared "abrogated"

19:3).

But the judicial law is said to

have "expired," except forthe "general

equity.

Why

was it

not

declared

"abrogated" and reference made to

the New Testament for judicial

principles?

Or

to pre-Mosaic

directives,

such

as the Noahic

Covenant? And why do the judicial

laws appear in the proof-texts for the

Larger Catechism exposition of the

Ten Commandments? Samuel Willard

(1640-1707), pastor at Boston's Old

South Church, in his

Compleat Body

of Divinity

(posthumous, 1726):

With

respect

to

the

judicial Laws,

we

must

observe, that these were Appendices,

partly of

the Moral,

partly of

the

Ceremonial

Law:

Now

such as, or

so

far

as they

are

related to

the

Ceremonial,

they

are doubtless Abolished

with it.

As,

and as

for

as they bear respect to

the

Moral

Law, they do,

eo Nomine, require

Obedience perpetual, and

are

therefore

reducible to Moral Precepts.

(2) Throughout

th

e exposition of

the Ten Commandmentsin the Larger

Cat

echism, we

find refe

ren

ce

to

numerous case laws We must

remember that the division of the Law

by

the Confession is three-fold: Moral

(which involves

only

the 10

commandments), ceremonial (which

involve symbolic, redemptive laws),

and judicial (which involves all the

rest, many

of which

are cited in the

Larger Catechism). Interestingly, even

one

of

the

more

difficult capital

pUnishment laws (Deut. 13) appears

several times

in

proof-texting the

second commandment.

(3) At

WCF

20: 1 we read:

But,

under the new testament, the liberty

of

Christians is

further

en

la

rged, in

their

freedom from the yoke of he

ceremonial

law,

to

which the

j

ewish

Church

was

subjected

.... No mention

of the moral

or judicial divisions

of

the law are

noted here.

6. Equity

in the

Webster's New

Twentieth

Century Unabridged

Dictionary: "

l justice;

impartiality;

the

giving

or

desiring

to give to each

ma

y

his

due.

With

righteousne

ss

shall

he

judge

the

world, and

the

people

with equity.

In the Oxford English Dictionary the

word

equity

is dealt

with

thus:

equity ofastatute

according

to

its

reason

and

sp

irit

so as

to

make

it apply to cases

for which

it does not expressly provide."

ln

the original WCF

23:3

we read:

"all

blasphemies

and

heresies

be

suppressed and they cited

Lev.

24:16

and Deu . 13:5 as proof-texts.

How

could "general eqUity" exclude the

notion?

For ins

t

ance, Puritan

Thomas

Cartwright his Second

Rep ly

(cited in

Works of

john

Whitgift

[Parker

Society ed., Cambridge: University

Press, 1851], 1:270):

And, as for

the judicial

law,

fora

sm

uch

as

there are some

of

them

made in regard of the region where

they were given, and

of

the people to

whom

they were given, the prince

and magistrate, keeping the substance

and

equity

of them (as it were the

marrow), may change

the

circumstance

of them

, as the times

and p

la

ces and manners

of

the people

shall require. But to say that any

magistrate

can

save

the life

of

blasphemers, contemptuous and

stubborn

idolaters

,

murderers,

adulterers, incestuous persons, and

such like, which God be his judicial

law hath commanded to be put to

death, I do utterly deny, and am ready

to prove, if that pertained to this

question. (TO BE CONTINUED)

November

995

THE COUNSEL

of

Chalcedon

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