Covenantal Unity From Genesis to the New & Better Covenant

“Thus while Calvin described Adam’s arrangement in paradise as gracious — Calvin maintained it was distinct from the one covenant of grace first promised to fallen Adam in Genesis 3:15 and successively to the OT and NT Church. Underscoring the unity of the covenant of grace from its first postlapsarian (fall) declaration until the present, Calvin writes;

‘The covenant made with all the patriarchs is so much like ours in substance and reality that the two are actually one and the same. Yet they differ in the mode of dispensation.'”

Jonathan Beeke
Duplex Regnum Christi — p. 90

1.) Per Beeke on Calvin the covenant of works was a gracious covenant though gracious to a different degree than the covenant of grace. We might note the difference as prelapsarian creational grace vs. postlapsarian redemptive grace.

2.) The covenant of grace is a unity. Therefore, we can say that any theory of the covenant (such as R2K’s theory) that insists that the Mosaic covenant was a return to a covenant of works “in some sense” is significant error. It is at the very least heterodox and even more likely heresy — at least as it lies in the hands of the R2K “theologians.”

3.) The New and Better covenant remains a unity with the covenant unfolding in the OT. It is the realization of all that was heretofore only promised. If the New and Better covenant brought in by Christ was completely divorced from the unfolding of the covenants (progress of covenantal redemption) then we would have to say that the saints in the OT were not saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Historical Reformed Two Kingdom Theology & the Magistrate’s Relation to the Church

“The duplex regnum Christi (twofold kingdom of Christ) as advocated by the Reformed orthodox is not simply — and certainly not principally — a church/state distinction. It is not that that the Reformed orthodox merely distinguished the twofold kingdom as to God’s essential power over the state and Christ’s mediatorial power over His church. Rather, this 17th century distinction is couched in Christological terms, and, more specifically, its basis of distinction is the manner of Christ’s work — that is, whether He is considered to rule essentially as God, or personally and mediately as God-man. For this reason, many of the Reformed orthodox could claim a universality to both the mediatorial and essential kingdom of Christ. As seen in the representative context covered in the following chapters, in this way the Reformed orthodox could consistently argue that the magistrate has a task given to him by Christ (who is mediator and defender of His church); in their mind, however, the magistrates responsibility is limited to the defense, protections, maintenance, and promotion of Christ’s church.

It is also apparent that the doctrine of Christ’s twofold kingdom did not lie dormant following the first generation of Reformers, but even into the 17th century there were continued and ongoing development. An equation of the regnum essentiale (essential reign)/ regnum mediatorium (mediatorial reign) distinction with the early Protestant political/spiritual kingdom distinction is simply not plausible; certainly this is evident were one to only apply the question regarding duration to it. As the following chapters argue, the duplex regnum Christi, as related to the varying political contexts within which it was expressed, experienced ongoing maturation and refinement in both its terms and significance.”

Jonathan Beeke

Duplex Regnum Christi — p. 118

1.) When Beeke writes; “in their mind, however, the magistrates responsibility is limited to the defense, protections, maintenance, and promotion of Christ’s church,” the explanation as to how this is a limitation on the Magistrate is found in the fact that the Magistrate does not handle the keys to the Kingdom and the state can not be a institution responsible for personal conversion. The State remains part of Christ’s Kingdom but it is not responsible for handling the realities of grace (Word & Sacrament).

2.) If Beeke is correct here then R2K with its view on 2k theology is a retrogression to an earlier more immature understanding of 2k theology, though that assessment is definitely an insult to that earlier Reformed 2K covenant theology of Bucer, Calvin and Bullinger, whom would have never countenanced the complete innovations of R2K.

You R2K fanboys out there, read that Beeke quote again… read it carefully because it completely torpedoes the Jesuit Van Drunen’s R2K project.

3.) Clearly, this quote establishes that the 2nd generation Reformers understood that the Magistrate was responsible to uphold not only the 2nd table of God’s Law but also the 1st table. These theologians of the 17th century would have been appalled by R2K’s argument that Magistrates are NOT to uphold the 1st table of God’s Law or are not to particularly defend, protect, maintain, and promote Christ’s church among the citizenry.
We see here again that R2K’s reckoning of covenant theology with its constant cry of God ruling “by left hand and right hand,” as that is misinterpreted and misapplied by R2K “theologians,” is an aberration to what covenant theology in Reformed historical context taught. The invoking of that “ruling by left hand and right hand” language is more of a Lutheran construct as attested to by Beeke elsewhere in his book;

“The primary distinction of the 17th century Reformed scholastics was no longer Luther’s ‘God’s left hand vs. God’s right hand,’ or even Calvin’s ‘spiritual-as-distinct-from-political-kingdom,’ but instead a kingdom and rule as it pertains to the Logos as the 2nd person of the trinity, to be distinguished from a kingdom and rule as it pertains to the theanthropos, the God-man Jesus Christ.”

Jonathan Beeke
Duplex Regnum Christi — p. 106

Scripture, Westminster Divines, & Claims of R2K Wingnuts

“The truth is, Scripture was never meant to be read as a handbook to civil government. That is one reason why the Westminster Divines appealed to “general equity,” natural law. The Statement mentions general equity four times and natural law twice.”

R. Scott Clark
American Reformed Court Jester

This is something that Clark does by way of habit. He says things that are manifestly not true. Here he suggests that the Westminster Divines did not believe that Scripture provided tons of insights for civil government. This is a huge dissimulation on Clark’s part. Consider if you will that,

The Westminster Divines also appealed to Scripture over and over again as to guide how the Magistrate is to implement Christian religion;

Westminster Larger Catechism Q. #191 – What do we pray for in the “second petition” of the Lord’s prayer which is Thy Kingdom Come?

A – the Kingdom of God is to “be countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate.”

And WLC

Q-108 which asks what are the duties required in the second commandment.

A – “the disapproving , detesting, opposing all false worship; and, according to each one’s place and calling, removing it, and all monuments of idolatry.”

The magistrate’s place and calling requires him to remove all false worship and all monuments of idolatry.

And

Q-118 “What is the charge of keeping the sabbath more specially directed to governors of families, and other superiors?”

The answer says that it is directed to other superiors, because “they are bound not only to keep it themselves, but to see that it be observed by all those that are under their charge.”

Now, this may not be a “handbook to civil government” type stuff but it clearly demonstrates that Clark is wrong (again) on the idea that the Westminster confession doesn’t give precise instructions on the role of the Civil Magistrate.

If you value coming to truth on this subject then by all means avoid Dr. R. Scott Clark and R2K “theologians.”

The Linkage Between Gramscian Cultural Marxism & R2K

“Socialism is precisely the religion that must overwhelm Christianity. … In the new order, Socialism will triumph by first capturing the culture via infiltration of schools, universities, churches, and the media by transforming the consciousness of society.”

Antonio Gramsci

And per the professoriate at Westminster-Cal what does R2K Christianity, as taught from the pulpit, have to say about Gramsci’s socialism? Well, the answer is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING because for the minister to speak from the pulpit about such a subject would be an example of a minister “getting out of his lane.” Indeed, R2K teaches that it is wrong (sin) for the minister to speak on such a subject as Cultural Marxism from the pulpit. R2K reasoning says, “Ministers are experts on the Gospel. They are not experts on philosophy, or culture, or Marxism. Therefore they should not spend their time speaking on something they know very little about. These are subjects for the common realm. Ministers are in the grace realm and should concentrate on that realm.”

Don’t you see how wicked R2K is? It is working hand and glove to bring down Western Civilization. If ministers won’t speak out against R2K and other associated cultural ills that stem from Cultural Marxism, as from the pulpit, then the church is going to become completely and overwhelmingly irrelevant. Cultural Marxism is the trojan horse dedicated to destroying the West and R2K is essentially saying, by silencing the mouths of clergy, “bring that Trojan Horse on into our churches and into our civilization boys.”

It is hard to determine which is more wicked…. R2K or Cultural Marxism.

This is why I hate R2K.

Religion is an Inescapable Category; Because of that Pluralism is a Myth

“Yet, if the Two Kingdoms doctrine (dual-fold kingdom) is biblical (and that’s where my leanings are in this debate), it would seem that we might have to acknowledge that the self-avowed Satanist has a point when he says:

‘Feucht is openly a theocrat who courts the attention of politicians and seeks to proselytize through his performances,’ Greaves said. ‘He has his opinions, and we have ours, but one thing the government can not do is preference his viewpoint over ours by giving him exclusive access to perform a concert on the Capitol grounds. That stage is every bit as much ours as it is his, so, in the name of pluralism and religious liberty, there are some state capitols that are likely soon to be hosting Satanic Planet shows.’

Comment left on R. Scott Clark blog

I unwind this comment because this is, in many respects, the essence of what the R2K ‘can’t shoot straight’ gang is teaching.

The key here is the statement ‘but one thing the government can not do is preference his (the Christian’s) viewpoint over ours, (the Satanists)’ as combined with the invoking of the classical liberal’s sacrosanct principle of ‘pluralism and religious liberty.’ The reason that this is key is because the minute the government begins to not preference religious viewpoints they (‘the government’) at that very minute have violated the sacrosanct principle of ‘pluralism and religious liberty’ because the government at that point is preferencing the religious viewpoint of somebody somewhere that insists that pluralism as a religious viewpoints is his religious viewpoint that should be preferred by the government and so forced on everyone else. Indeed when any government prefers the religious viewpoint that they as the government should not preference Christianity over pagan religions they have at that very moment preferred a religious viewpoint of somebody else’s over my religious viewpoint that Christianity should be preferred as the religious viewpoint over all other religious viewpoints.

Religion is an inescapable category and because of that pluralism is a myth.

Elsewhere Clark writes,

“The secular is not our enemy. It is our friend.“

Dr. R. Scott Clark
America’s Reformed Court Jester

The word “secular” falls so easily off of people’s lips, but we must ask… ‘what is it?’

Is it the realm where no religious views are welcome thus keeping those realms clean from endorsing any one faith or is it the realm where all religious views are welcome thus keeping those realms clean from endorsing any one faith?

If it is the first of those two is it really possible to have a common realm that is clean of all faith? If it is the second of those two isn’t it the case that the faith that has been endorsed for the common realm is any faith that allows all other faiths and so a version of polytheism?

The secular is neither our friend nor our enemy because there is no such thing as “the secular.” It is a myth made up by those who are drunk with enlightenment categories. There is in now way that any realm can be faith free. No such thing as a realm that can be “all faiths” because then the faiths that insist that their faith alone is the true faith are not allowed. Those faiths must give way to the faith of “all faiths.”

R. Scott Clark is not a wise man who is really just a representative of the Enlightenment project desiring to reinterpret Reformed Christianity through the ideological lens of Anabaptist liberalism.

Clark and all his R2K ilk are enemies of the Church of Christ.