Biblical & Theological Issues

(First published in Areopagus Journal Vol. 11 No. 2 – Extreme Eschatology)

by Brandon Robbins

Do you believe God can fail to achieve his ultimate purpose for His creation? Do you believe there is anything that could stop God from finishing what He starts? Is there anyway He will be unable to fulfill His promises? Does God begin anything without knowing how it will all come to an end? I hope, like myself, you would answer “No” to all of these questions.

Yet, these questions provide a good starting point for understanding the convictions of those who hold an eschatological view called postmillennialism. The intention here is to layout the basic viewpoint of postmillennialism and the basic biblical support that is often given for this view of the end times. I will then point out what we must be cautious of if we choose to believe that this is indeed the biblical view of what is to come. I don’t believe that postmillennialism is inherently dangerous. But there are those in the Christian community that use postmillennialism to support other mistaken  and potentially dangerous theological beliefs. These beliefs center on the role of Christian ethics and the Old Testament ivil law in the greater culture. I am speaking here of a system of belief known as theonomy. We will discuss theonomy and its conviction that we need to apply the Old Testament Mosaic Law in its entirety to modern life. They believe that the civil authorities should hold all people, whether Christian or not, to all the biblical standards of conduct laid out in the Old Testament.

Now this is a somewhat over-simplification of theonomy and we will look at possible variations in what follows. My intention is to show that theonomy is not inherently or necessarily connected to a postmillennial view and that the error of theonomy is in reality not connected in anyway to eschatology but to a faulty view of the law and the role it plays in the overall redemptive plan. So we will first begin with a brief sketch of this end times view, then move on to a discussion of why theonomy is thought to be connected to it. I will show that although it is the case that all or most theonomists are postmillennialists, it does not follow that all postmillennialist are or should be theonomists. I will then provide a few short critiques of theonomy in general.

WHAT IS POSTMILLENNIALISM?

Let us start out by clarifying what we mean by postmillennialism. Broadly speaking it is the view that the world as we know it will come to an end after the millennial age. Thus, the “post” in postmillennial stands for the idea that Christ’s return is after the 1000 years spoken of in Revelation 20:7. Within this postmillennial view, however, we find two broad camps. One camp, more popular in the past than now, believes that the world will enjoy a very literal 1000-year “golden age” brought about by the preaching of the gospel after which Christ will return. Many writers during the time of the Reformation and in the First Great Awakening held this view. Jonathan Edwards believed in a literal 1000-year gospel age and was at least open to the idea that this age started around the time of the Reformation when the Gospel was freed from the captivity of the Catholic Church.

The more popular version of postmillennialism that we find today sees the “1000 years” not as an exact period of time, nor as a literal golden age, but as symbolic of the church age that began in New Testament times when the gospel began to spread to the uttermost parts of the earth. This means that the church age is seen pretty much in the same way that most amillennialist understand it with, of course, one difference. Postmillennialists have a more positive perspective on the effects of gospel preaching and the progress of God’s kingdom during the church age. They see the church age as an age of over-all progression of the gospel and the Christian faith that results in the gradual restoration of God’s rule and influence throughout the world. It is its optimistic view of the influence of the gospel on culture that sets postmillennialism apart from other views of the end times. Let us now look at a brief sketch of the biblical basis of postmillennialism.

THE BIBLICAL BASIS FOR POSTMILLENNIALISM

There are a number of texts that postmillennialists look to tor support. We will briefly survey the more prominent ones.

Ezekiel 47:1–10

Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side.

Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee­ deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river.

As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.

There are a number of conclusions that are drawn from this passage and passages like it in the Old Testament. The river is understood as the work of the Spirit in the converting of souls. One can see the progressive and expanding nature of the work of the Spirit here. The church starts off rather small like drops falling from the side of the temple but slowly grows as we move downstream. This growth is so great that these drops turn into a mighty river that heals everything it touches! One day this mighty healing river will reach the sea. When that happens, we see that the sea is healed. The healing of the sea is understood as a dramatic work of the Spirit globally that causes the world to enter the golden age of the gospel. The whole earth, or to put it more distinctly, all the nations of the world, will flock to the Lord. It is this conviction that God is on a global mission redeeming a people from every tribe, tongue and nation that is the root of the postmillennial perspective. As echoed in Psalm 22, “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and He rules over the nations.” This is the hope we find throughout the Old Testament, the hope of global renewal. As we move on keep this idea of global, national renewal and redemption in mind. We now need to look at another core conviction that, although true, has played a major role in some postmillennialists falling into error.

Genesis 1:26-28

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. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

The creation mandate found in this text is one of the core beliefs that postmillennialism focuses on. Here God gives to Adam his and humanity’s commission. Humanity is to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and have dominion. This is a call for humanity to fill the earth as images of God reflecting His glory over the whole face of creation. This command to fill the earth and exercise dominion does not end with the Fall but is restated before the flood in Genesis 6 and after the flood in Genesis It is obvious that God’s plan for humanity is to fill the earth and exercise dominion. Yet we have this problem that the filling up we are doing is as fallen your deeds, 0 Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, 0 King of the nations! Who will not fear, 0 Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” In the New Testament we find a renewal of our call to fill the earth, this time though it is to preach the good news. By the power of the Spirit, people are renewed in the image of Christ. God’s original plan was not deterred. When viewed as a whole, the above texts seem to bring all of scripture together-from God’s original calling to fill the earth, to the covenantal humanity, not a people seeking the glory of our creator. Still, we find early on that God promises Abraham that he will be a blessing to all nations (Gen. 12). We understand that this promise of redemption comes to us through the great seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ. It is this promise of redemption through Christ to all nations that postmillennialist hold on to in hope.

Revelations 5:9-10; 7:9-10; 15:3-5

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll And to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you  ransomed People for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they Shall reign on the earth.”

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,” Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

In the New Testament we find a renewal of our call to fill the earth, this time though it is to preach the good news. By the power of the Spirit, people are renewed in the image of Christ. God’s original plan was not deterred. When viewed as a whole, the above texts seem to bring all of scripture together-from God’s original calling to fill the earth, to the covenantal promises to Abraham to be a blessing to the nations, to the church’s commission to renew people in the image of Christ and the prophecy that in that day there will indeed be a people from all nations. It is a beautiful picture and the postmillennial focus on God’s ability to infuse His creation with redeeming grace is very powerful. But it will become evident that applying this positive outlook in the wrong way can become a scary proposition.

Now our goal here is not to give either a full­ blown defense or critique of postmillennialism. We are providing simply a basic sketch of this viewpoint in order to show, whether it is true or not, how it might be taken in a wrong direction.

The problem as we have stated is the possible connection with theonomy.

WHEN THINGS GET OUT OF HAND

Postmillennialism provides a framework for understanding a progression in God’s redemptive work globally. Some who hold this view see some connections between this redemptive work and how the church relates to the state and how to apply the biblical law in modern life. This is where theonomy comes up. In my criticism of theonomy I am going to follow two basic lines of thought. First, I will show that theonomy has a wrong view of how the law applies today; second, I will show that there is not a necessary connection between postmillennialism and theonomy.

But before we focus on theonomy in particular we need to look again at the basic postmillennial approach of dominion theology. One of the reasons I provided a sketch of this view is to see how dominion plays out. There is no doubt that humanity has a call to exercise dominion over creation. Often the command given to man to exercise dominion is called the creation mandate. But what happens when the creation mandate becomes a cultural mandate? This might seem to be a mere play on words but this shift speaks to the heart and danger of postmillennialism. Let us look at Psalm 8:4-6:

What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.

This is the type of passage one may use to show that man has a continued call to exercise dominion over all earthly things, including culture. So the implication drawn by theonomists is that, since we are to have dominion, we must subject the government and all people, even those outside the church, to the biblical levitical law. On what grounds do we say that civil authorities are bound to the Old Testament law? What support do we have for binding those outside the church to the standards of Mosaic Law? Theonomy again is the belief that we should seek to have our nation governed by the Old Testament law, that even those outside the church should be subject under the civil government to every aspect of the biblical law. Thus, not only would murder and stealing be illegal,  but  so would adultery, homosexuality, working on the Sabbath, and public blasphemy-and all these punishable by death. This would sure raise a little heated debate in our cultural climate!

At first blush it might seem that something like this would go hand and hand with postmillennialism. Human beings are called to exercise dominion for the glory of God. And when, as postmillennialists believe, the nations come more and more under the sway of the Christian faith, would it not be right to implement in the civil sphere of culture God’s righteous standards as revealed in His word? So say the theonomists.

But there really is no necessary connection of theonomy to postmillennialism. Theonomists may naturally take their cue from postmillennial eschatology, but a postmillennialist need not embrace theonomy. The Old Testament law was something that held Israel as a slave master and its civil aspects are not enforced in the same way for the church today. The postmillennialist is committed to the idea of a Christian exercising dominion, but this does not mean that we are called to force those who are outside the church to the same moral standards. Although postmillennialism believes in the progression of the gospel this does not mean that every person in a given society are going to be within the church. Just because we might hold the view that the church’s influence over the culture will increase this does not mean that the church should require that the civil law should enforce all the Old Testament moral standards on those outside the faith.

This brings us back to the discussion of law and gospel. How is the covenant that was revealed to Moses related to the gospel of Christ? Robert Reymond explains it clearly when speaking about the church’s role today in contrast to what we see in the teaching of theonomy. He states,

The Church is to address the spiritual and moral needs of men and women who are, prior to their salvation, by nature slaves to sin and Satan, and who are, after their salvation, in need of instruction in the details of living out their most holy faith before a watching world.

Reymond goes on to argue that the church’s call is to exercise its authority over the spiritual and moral condition of the Body of Christ, not to exercise authority over the state. This is a key line of thought concerning how a postmillennial view of the end times might be applied to daily life without falling into the error of theonomy. It is not the role of the church to fight for legal boundaries to moral issues, but it can at the same time make a stand on those issues. Therefore, just because we are not to exercise dominion over the state on moral issues does not mean that the church should remain silent. We are to call repent and believe, not to live out the law or die!

What we need to understand is that in both the Old and New Testaments the foundation of our hope was in the promise. We see the picture of this promise in God’s dealings with Abraham. We see the fullness of this promise in the person of Christ. There is unity of purpose and direction in God redeeming a people for himself, not a unity of binding a people under the law. In other words, we can defend a unity in the working out of grace throughout the Bible and still see the disunity of the administrations of grace. Paul makes this point in both Romans and Galatians. In Romans chapter 4 Paul makes it clear that righteousness has never come from the law; that salvation has always been based on the promise and faithfulness of God. In Galatians Paul makes the case that the law did indeed have a purpose in the process of salvation. In particular he makes the case that the law served as a slave master that was to point Israel and us to the promise. The law still serves to show us our sin and our need of grace and the promises of God.

The point that we need to make here is that even if the postmillennial perspective is correct, that does not mean that the law functions in the same way throughout all administrations of God’s covenant. Paul makes clear that the law was to Israel a slave master and is not in effect in the same way today. This does not mean that there is anything wrong with the law, or that its civil standards cannot function as a guide for helping governments establish a just state. It only means that Christ came as the perfect Israelite and fulfilled the law to the letter. Christ is the perfect covenant keeper of the law and we are no longer bound to it in the same way. Because we are found in Christ by faith, we are not bound to the covenantal Law of Moses. If it is a reality that we are no longer bound to the law of Moses why should we hold those outside of Christ to that standard to begin with? Not only does theonomy provide a false understanding of the law’s role, but it also fails to see the distinction between the function of the church and the sate. Postmillennialism can be seen as faithful to Scripture if it is not allowed to bring in a faulty understanding of law and the application of the law wrongly placed in the sphere of civil authorities.

Brandon Robbins is a staff apologist for the Apologetics Resource Center, Birmingham, Alabama.

NOTES

1 John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2008), 218.

2 See Kenneth Gentry, He Shall Have Dominion: A Postmilliennial Eschatology (Draper, VA: The Apologetics Group, 2009), 186-189.

3 Meaning we are called to apply the same punishments given in the Old Testament not that we are still bound to the dietary laws.

4 Robert Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998), 866.

5 Ibid, 865.

7 What I mean by “bound” here refers to the way in which the law functioned in a corporate national way under the old covenant. The universal standards of righteousness found in the law are just as true today as they where then, but we are not bound to a covenantal law with promises of land and favor if we keep the law. If Israel had kept the law, they would have received the national blessing promised therein. Christians are a part of the new covenant that is built on better promises which the Lord will bring to completion.

8 For a fuller response to theonomy see William S. Barker and W. Robert Godfrey, eds., Theonomy: A Reformed Critique (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990).