Postmillennial Worldview

PMW 2023-068 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

This is the third and final installment of my series on the benefits of God’s Law in today’s world. In this article, I will provide a few examples of particular societal benefits that accrue from an approach to culture based on God’s Law.

1. God’s Law establishes stable monetary policies
It obligates government to maintain just monetary policies by requiring that “you shall not have in your bag differing weights, a large and a small. You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. You shall have a full and just weight; you shall have a full and just measure, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you” (Deut 25:13–15; cp. Lev 19:35–37; Prov 11:1; 20:23; Eze 45:10; Mic 6:11). The Law thereby prohibits three contemporary monetary phenomena that have contributed so heavily to the economically precarious position of modern nations: fiat money, fractional reserve banking, and deficit spending.
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PMW 2023-067 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

This is the second in a three part series on the benefits of God’s Law for today. In my last article I dealt with the practical (personal) benefits of the Law. But the Law of God is not simply a system of personal morality. It also reveals to us a corporate morality covering the social, political, and judicial spheres as well.

1. God’s Law provides an unchanging foundation for society
In the self-consciously Christian approach to social ethics, an unchanging Law becomes the basis of social order, rather than the changing whims of legislators, the mood of the populace, or the fads of revolutionaries. God’s Law is unchanging: “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, / And Your law is truth” (Psa119:142). “The sum of Your word is truth, / And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting” (Psa 119:160). Therefore, Moses warns God’s people: “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it” (Deut 12:32; cp. Psa 119:44, 137, 142, 144).
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PMW 2023-066 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

This is the first in a three-part mini-series on the benefits of God’s Law for today’s world. I will begin by noting that God’s Law promises practical benefits for the individual living according to its directives. We may see this in just a few random samples.

1. God’s Law outlines specific moral behavior
Thus, it eliminates guesswork from moral conduct. “Thy word is a lamp to my feet, / And a light to my path” (Psa 119:105). The Christian should not be one who gropes in darkness, but one who walks in the light (1 John 1:7). Thus, God’s Law keeps us from stumbling morally by informing us of God’s will for “How blessed are those whose way is blameless, / Who walk in the law of the Lord” (Psa 119:1). We read of the righteous man: “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, / Nor stand in the path of sinners, / Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! / But his delight is in the law of the Lord, / And in His law he meditates day and night” (Psa1:1–2).
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PMW 2023-065 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Sadly, many challenges against Greg Bahnsen’s Theonomy in Christian Ethics (TCE) are based on mistaken assumptions rather than careful observations. This is the case with one of Bahnsen’s loudest critics, Dr. T. David Gordon who wrote his “Critique of Theonomy: A Taxonomy” (CT).

Gordon’s “Critique” opens with a few comments on polemics, noting potential areas of difficulty (CT, 23). He recognizes (as we all should) that our polemics can be undercut by “whatever is untrue, unclear, or unhelpful” (CT, 25). Unfortunately, by overstating his case he inadvertently succumbs to that which is “untrue, unclear, or unhelpful.” Continue reading →

PMW 2023-064 by Milton Terry

GENTRY INTRODUCTION
This study is taken from Milton S. Terry’s, The Apocalypse of John. Terry was an excellent scholar and historian. This material should be helpful for Revelation enthusiasts.

JOHN ON PATMOS

Why Was John on Patmos?

John’s own testimony is that he “was in the island which is called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 1:9). The phrase “on account of the word of God” (διὰ τὸν λόγον του θεου; dia ton logon tou theou), according to the well-established usage of διὰ (dia) with the accusative, means for the sake of the word. It gives the ground or reason for what is stated. So in chapter 2:3, it is said: “Thou didst endure for my name’s sake;” that is, the great objective reason for the endurance in the midst of trials was devotion to the name of Christ. So again in 4:11: “On account of thy will they were and were created;” that is, all things were brought into existence because that was the will of God. The same meaning inheres in this formula in 6:9; 7:15; 12:11,12; 13:14; 18:8, 10, 15; 20:4. Now, according to 1:2, “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” are no other than this Revelation concerning all things which John saw. Continue reading →

PMW 2023-063 by Herman Ridderbos

GENTRY INTRODUCTION

The following material is taken from Ridderbos’ important work: Paul: An Outline of His Theology (pp. 44ff). Some of his footnotes have been omitted as unnecessary for my present concern. I highly recommend that my readers study Herman Ridderbos, Geerhardus Vos, and Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. as insightful biblical scholars (even though they are amillennial).

RIDDERBOS EXPLICATION

The extent . . . to which Paul saw the advent and work of Christ as revelation of the fulfilling activity of God in history and as the breaking through of the great time of salvation can immediately be demonstrated on the basis of a number of typical pronouncements from his epistles.

Galatians 4:4

What is said in Galatians 4:4 of “the fullness of the time” and in Ephesians 1:10 of “the fulness of the times” is surely of special important:

“but when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son.”

“the mystery of his [God’s] will …, unto a dispensation of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon earth.” Continue reading →