Ep. 2: What Does Romans 13 Say About Civil Government?

A discussion of the main points of Gregory Baus' article on the historical, confessionally Reformed view of Romans 13 and a Reformed view of stateless civil governance. Also there's elaboration on lex talionis and the non-aggression principle, the Old Testament (Mosaic Covenant) theocracy, and establishmentarianism.

https://reformedlibertarians.com/002

Main Points of Discussion

00:00 start

00:33 episode description

01:02 article https://tinyurl.com/r13civgov
  audio version https://tinyurl.com/r13stateless

01:22 summary of preliminaries

02:22 lex talionis and the non-aggression principle

05:43 distinction between civil governance (viz, administration of civil justice) and the 'state' (viz, territorial monopoly on coercion and final say)

06:53 summary overview of article Reformed Political Resistance annotated bibliography https://tinyurl.com/RefoPoliResistBib

07:41 an issue of exegesis, not political theory

09:00 major point: the default providential view is inconsistent with the passage and other Scripture passages, was rejected by the Reformed churches in their confessions, and contrary to sanctified common sense

09:45 discussed elsewhere:
  Presbycast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC95p88UzKg
  Gospel On Tap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UcwN0x5tvY
  Daniel 3 Biblical Anarchy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm_wh1ndsxw

10:00 documentation from Reformed confessions; no obligation to submit to unjust rulers or unjust laws

12:58 Why isn't old (Mosaic) covenant a violation of the non-aggression principle and a model for civil governance in new covenant era? And why do we affirm disestablishmentarianism?
  Against Civil Establishment Of Religion : https://reformedlibertarians.com/against-civil-establishment-of-religion/
  Hodge's full article : https://www.trinityfoundation.org/journal.php?id=92

18:51 summary of history of establishmentarianism

Additional Resources

• Answers to Objections to Reformed view of Romans 13: https://reformedlibertarians.com/episode/why-isnt-the-state-biblically-justified-resolving-romans-13-objections/
• Meredith G. Kline's article on theocracy: https://meredithkline.com/klines-works/articles-and-essays/the-relevance-of-the-theocracy/
• Lee Irons' article on theonomy: https://www.the-highway.com/theonomy-hermeneutic_Irons.html
• Lane Tipton's article on theonomy: https://www.kerux.com/doc/1501A1.asp
• T. David Gordon's article on theonomy:  https://web.archive.org/web/20200718055717/http://tdgordon.net/theology/theonomy.pdf

The Reformed Libertarians Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute: https://libertarianchristians.com and a member of the Christians for Liberty Network: https://christiansforliberty.net

Audio Production by Podsworth Media - https://podsworth.com

What is The Reformed Libertarians Podcast?

The Reformed Libertarians Podcast aims to educate and inspire listeners to intelligently embrace and passionately promote a view of libertarianism as grounded in the Reformed Faith, and informed by a Reformed worldview.

Exploring free society from a Reformed perspective, hosts Kerry Baldwin and Gregory Baus discuss culture, society, politics, economics, theology, philosophy, worldview, and more. Follow the show at reformedlibertarians.com and discover how to think about liberty and human flourishing based in the Reformed Faith.