Conclusion to Part I
Updated: 1/20/20
Jesus came to them and spoke to them and said, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey all the things that I have commanded you. See, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18–20).This book is a call to Christian action. Every Christian is supposed to be an activist. He is to do this on behalf of God. This is an aspect of economic stewardship. He is also to do it in the name of God, which is an aspect of trusteeship. Trusteeship is primarily judicial.
To understand our obligations as economic stewards and trustees, we must understand the biblical covenant. This is a five-part covenant: God, man, law, sanctions, and time. I have discussed this in detail in my book, Unconditional Surrender: God’s Program for Victory (2011). I got the idea from the book by Ray Sutton, That You May Prosper: Dominion By Covenant (1987). (http://bit.ly/rstymp)
With respect to economic theory, the basic structure of the covenant is this: God’s ownership, man’s stewardship, property, judgment, and inheritance. In this book, I have categorized the covenantal economic structure in terms of God's program for economic reform: providence, service, leasehold, entrepreneurship, and compounding. The theocentric economic principles of these five categories are these.
Providence: God owns everything
Service: God delegates ownership
Leasehold: God prohibits theft
Entrepreneurship: God evaluates performance
Cmpounding: God mandates growth
These rules apply to everyone. God established His covenant with mankind. It defines humanity. There is no escape from these requirements. God evaluates every person’s performance day by day, and He declares final judgment at the end of time. The model for this is the first day of creation. God declared His own work good at the end of each day’s work, with only the exception of the second day. There are standards of performance. God imputes success or failure in terms of these standards. As creatures made in the image of God, we are to think God’s thoughts after him. We must also impute success or failure in terms of God’s Bible-revealed standards.
All government begins with self-government under God’s laws. This is the governing principle of the individual covenant. In this sense, all government is theocentric. The debate throughout history is the nature of the God who is at the center of this inescapable five-point structure. There is no social theory apart from these concepts: sovereignty, authority, law, sanctions, and succession. The debate is over the God who is sovereign. It is this question: “Who’s in charge here?”
A fundamental economic concept is this: the division of labor. The division of labor began with creation. The Second Person of the Trinity was the Creator (Colossians 1:15–17). For mankind, the division of labor began in the garden before the fall. Adam needed Eve to help him in his tasks (Genesis 2:18). God made a covenant with both Adam and Eve with respect to joint family responsibilities (Genesis 1:26–28). This is why a Christian activist should marry in terms of his calling. His calling is the most important thing that he can do in life in which he would be most difficult to replace. He needs help with his calling. Fulfilling the dominion covenant is usually a joint responsibility shared by husband and wife. It must be fulfilled personally. Once the marriage is established, it must be fulfilled inside the family. For covenant-keepers, it is also fulfilled in the institutional church. There are also responsibilities associated with civil government.
Because of the division of labor, not everybody is equally qualified and equally skilled to be a servant in each of these areas. There must be specialization. This is inherent in the division of labor. But there is no escape from responsibilities in each of these covenantal areas. In each of these areas, sin still exists. Therefore, in each of these areas, there must be reform in terms of God’s standards. There must be Christian activism.
I have discussed a number of aspects of Christian activism. Here are just a few of them.
Our primary purpose is to build the kingdom of God in history.
Cause-and-effect is inherently ethical.
Obedience to God produces success in history.
The world is inherently fair because God is inherently fair.
Stewardship rests on this principle: success through subordination.
Faith in this coherence is the basis of Christian confidence.
Everyone needs a systematic plan for his life.
All reform should begin with self-reform.
Most people have a job and a calling.
Everyone should improve his skills in both job and calling.
One way to do this is to teach.
The ownership of property is a mark of responsibility.
Knowledge is personal and decentralized.
Influence and power flow to those who take responsibility.
Each person has multiple responsibilities in multiple covenants.
The family is the central social institution in history.
It is the first training ground for dominion.
It is the screening agency for leadership in other areas.
The church extends into eternity.
The church is the bride of Christ.
God does not dress his bride in rags.
The purpose of the institutional church is the Great Commission.
The primary inheritance of the church is its confession of faith.
Civil government is mandated by God.
It imposes negative sanctions against public evil.
A civil government is more predictable than rule by gangs.
There are multiple civil authorities.
Mobility improves liberty.
Self-government produces liberty.
Religious neutrality is a myth.
God requires the state is to protect private property.
The politics of plunder is immoral.
The welfare state is the politics of plunder in action.
Politics is fourth, not first.
Christian activism begins with self-government. Self-government alone is insufficient, however. We are members of other covenantal institutions. Most of us are members of families. Christians are supposed to be members of churches. We all live under the jurisdiction of multiple civil governments. Because each of these areas is burdened by the effects of sin, each of them is an area of mandatory reform. This is the implication of the Great Commission. Jesus died for the sins of the world and also for the sins of individuals. Redemption is comprehensive. It is not “souls only” redemption.
Every Christian has a responsibility to become an activist in all four areas of life. But this is just the beginning. In Part II, I discuss non-covenantal areas of life in which most Christians have definite responsibilities. To be an effective activist in one of these areas of life, a person must become an activist in more than one area.
Once you believe this, you will see how important budgeting your time is. Time is the only irreplaceable resource. Once it is gone, it is gone forever. Wasted time is gone forever. This is one reason why God mandates a weekly day of rest. He understands that there is always a temptation to self-destruct in the lives of people who constantly seek out responsibilities. The day of rest is a way that we declare that we are not sovereign; we are merely servants. There are limits to what we can accomplish. God is responsible for building His kingdom. He invites us to participate in this joint effort, but He does not ask us to self-destruct. Redemption is by grace, not works. Successful reform is by grace, not works. This applies to personal reform; it also applies to institutional reform. We do not save ourselves through work. We do not save our societies by work. Yet work is required. This is why me must establish priorities. We must establish a comprehensive plan for our lives. We must budget our time and our money.
Because Western civilization has adopted the power religion in preference to the Christian religion, reformers see themselves primarily as political reformers. This is because the power religion rests on the doctrine of the omnipotent state. Salvation is seen primarily as political salvation. This outlook is a mistake. Activism is supposed to begin in those areas of our lives in which we have legitimate authority and therefore legitimate responsibility. It starts with self-government. It does not start with political activism. It extends to political activism, but it does not start there.
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To read the entire book, go here: https://www.garynorth.com/public/department197.cfm.