The law of God properly understood prescribes limited civil government.
I recently finished reading the work “The Great Decommission” by my good friend and professor Stephen Perks (England). In it, the director of Kuyper Foundation distills the correct interpretation of the passage found in Matthew 28:19-20, known as The Great Commission.
Interior Capilla del Pocito (1777, Architect: Francisco Guerrero y Torres), Mexico City. Medieval sacred art expressed very well the influence of Christianity on culture, justice, institutions and the system.
Image credit: Jorge Chapas, personal archive.
“Go therefore to the people of all nations, and make them my disciples; Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you…” reads in my Bible version Dios Habla Hoy (DHH). For Perks, this modern translation is ambiguous and wrong, if one looks at classical Greek, manuals, tradition and experts in exegesis and interpretation.
The well-translated passage does not command discipling, baptizing, and teaching “the people,” but rather the nations themselves, according to Perks, having serious social and political implications.
On Christmas Eve I invited you to think on the need to disciple the nations, baptize the nations and teach the law of God to the nations. This does not mean establishing a theocratic State (government of God), nor subordinating the government to the Church as divine right supposed; nor to impose a particular religion.
Discipling, baptizing and teaching the law of God to nations means impregnate their institutions, culture, justice and system. The Great Decommission, the title of Perks' work, claims that Christians have failed in that mandate, either when we have evaded our social and political responsibilities, or when we have assumed them but have not done so in accordance with God's law in matters of government, economy and society, that is, in accordance with the principles of limited civil government, freedom in the markets and private property. Contact me if you want to know more!
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Guatemala, December 13, 2023