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Douglas Wilson in his book Mere Christendom: The Case for Bringing Christianity Back into Modern Culture (Canon Press, 2023) argues that “theocracy” is inevitable. He regards the standard that governs a society as its functional sacred writ; since every society is governed by some such standard, he argues, every society is a theocracy of some sort. Wilson wants the Bible, which actually is sacred writ, to be that standard for our, and every, society. Wilson expects all, not just the church, to adhere to God’s Word, with the civil magistrate enforcing both tables of the law. While all persons everywhere are indeed called to bow the knee to Jesus Christ, in this era only God’s people will ever do that. If people are forced to submit to the whole of God’s law on some basis other than a renewed will, it will have to be coercive, especially in our current culture.
In this world, as Richard Gaffin notes in his seminal piece “Theonomy and Eschatology,” the righteous will continue to suffer, and there is no future golden age before the return of Christ. Wilson, however, calls for “mere Christendom” now, presumably one shorn of the undesirable excrescences of earlier Christendom(s). Requiring the whole of a pluralistic society like ours, much of which is antithetical to God and his Word, to submit to God’s Word, however, highlights the problem. Historian Mark Noll, in his recent masterwork on the Bible in this country, notes that though the Bible was in earlier years “America’s Book,” we have since witnessed a precipitous plummet, what he calls “the rise and decline of a Bible Civilization (1794–1911).”
Wilson, recognizing the decline, notes that the standard in contemporary culture is some mash of ideologies like Marxism, expressive individualism, and the rest of the beliefs that comprise our reigning secularistic unbelief. Thus, he regards the current reigning religion as “secularism,” the conviction that God must be excluded from the public square, not only in the counsels of the state but also in the boardroom, the classroom, the factory floor, etc. Wilson divides his book into four sections: critiquing secularism and its concomitants; setting forth the basic dimensions of mere Christendom; clearing up misconceptions about mere Christendom; and the plan to restore Christendom (Christendom 2.0 as Wilson calls it).
Wilson espouses “principled Christian conservatism” (58), with politics seeming paramount (98–99): all the “alphabet agencies” of the bureaucracy must be eliminated (EPA, IRS, and the like), term limits and redrawn districts required, etc. (72–73). The feel of the whole book is that heaven demands, as reflected in the Bible, a Christendom that is a theocratic libertarian’s dream (Wilson self-identifies as a “theocratic libertarian,” 120), and we should all get in line with that.
I suppose Wilson’s theocracy will put an end to all that inconvenient political debate and disagreement that occurs not only with the ungodly but also with fellow believers who don’t think that God mandates libertarianism (even if they prefer it). This is just why C. S. Lewis opposed theocracy: Lewis realized that the worst sort of civil government is one that claims detailed divine sanction though it really does not have divine sanction as to specifics (119–120). Wilson acknowledges Lewis’s opposition but seems completely to miss his point for it. Calvin also did not find the Bible committed to any form of civil government (Institutes, 4.20.8) or to carrying out Israel’s civil polity (4.20.14). Wilson, however, seems to think that the form the kingdoms of this world must take enjoys divine mandate.
Jesus Christ’s kingdom, though, is not of this world and his servants don’t bring it about by fighting (John 18:36), which includes insisting that our political views be enshrined in law as if they were divine writ. Many of us well understand the impulse to throw open the window and tell the world how mad we are and that we’re not going to take it anymore. Believers have long had to contend with the frustration of the wicked prospering (Psalm 73). Certainly, the disadvantaged, the oppressed, and the dispossessed have. As the psalmist discovered, though, the ultimate solution is not in revolt, but in coming into God’s presence and realizing the truth of his plan being worked out, resulting in his, and our, ultimate victory, discovered as we worship him (vv. 16–17). We need to be calling our society to join us in this, to find their lives hidden with Christ in God as we have. Here’s the only hope for either end of the political spectrum.
The most any Christian can personally hope for are political, social, and economic views that are in keeping with the principles of God’s Word, not political, social, and economic positions that embody “thus saith the Lord.” Here’s why: the Bible contains principles that may correspond with different political, social, and economic approaches. It is not the purpose of the Bible to furnish us with a detailed blueprint of many things in life but rather to tell us about the person and work of Jesus Christ, calling us to faith and repentance and to walk in union with him in newness of life. Wilson’s approach demands more; his “mere” Christendom is not so mere for all that.
Christians certainly may, and should, seek to have biblical principles, whether garnered through natural law or the Bible, given societal expression. The need of the hour in our highly politicized and polarized time is for Christians, whether called to preach or simply to witness (1 Peter 3:15), to hold forth the hope that is found only in Christ and his gospel. We should not sound like we are promoting just one more political program in a world drowning in partisan politics. The last thing the world needs is more hopelessness of that sort. We should, by our word and deeds, testify to a King who stands the kingdoms of this world on their head, a King who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
The author is an OP pastor and professor at Mid-America Reformed Seminary.
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