Samuel Renihan on Government's Responsibility According to the Noahic Covenant vs. Legal Abortion and the Erosion of Marriage

On Sunday, 11/29/15, at Trinity Reformed Baptist Church, Samuel Renihan preached a sermon on the Noahic Covenant from Genesis 9. The entire sermon may be heard HERE. In the section transcribed below, Renihan applied the commands/principles of the Noahic Covenant to human government, and he explained how current laws/practices concerning abortion and the erosion of marriage in our society violate the proper purpose of government. (The understanding of government positively represented below is consistent with the biblical understanding of government articulated by David Noebel in Understanding the Times, which I commend as well.)

"According to God's Word in the Noahic Covenant, which applies to all mankind, government's (or the collective social) responsibility is to promote life and the family. Mankind is to 'be fruitful and multiply' (that's the family); society (man looking out for man) should promote this fruitfulness and multiplication, and as a result, any government that corrupts the family or murders the innocent is a government in direct treason and disobedience to the God of the universe. They are abusing the sword entrusted to them by turning it on the innocent rather than the unrighteous.

"Now, you know what I'm going to say. There is not a more poignant, convicting, and blatantly convicting example of this rebellion in our society than the active, government-funded, government supported legal status and pursuit and protection of abortion. Is there anything more contrary to mankind's basic commission to 'be fruitful and multiply' than to murder our own children and to protect murder by law? Is there anything more insane than to murder children?

"[Our society has effectively said,] 'Okay, we are to be fruitful and multiply and to kill those who murder, so let's kill our children and protect the ones who do it.' That is high treason against God.

"The American promotion of abortion (well really, it's a global promotion of abortion) and the recent erosion and destruction of marriage (first through 'no-fault divorce,' and second through 'homosexual marriage') are high treachery and bold-faced rejection of one of the most basic duties of all mankind. Don't let abortion and marriage become political party issues. It's a mankind issue. It's a social issue. It's a 'love your neighbor' issue. It's an issue common to all societies and all peoples.

"In America, we have a common Constitution by which we are all to live (in case you didn't know), but there is a more fundamental constitution by which we are all to live, and that's the Noahic Covenant governing the common kingdom of mankind. Don't say, 'Oh, I'm pro-this or pro-that, because I'm Republican or Democrat or some other thing.' It's a mankind issue; it's not a party issue. As a society, as human beings, we must promote, preserve, and protect the life of individuals and the family. Those are our most basic commitments, and (as a result) we (society) must punish the wicked, we must put to death murderers, and we must seek (with God's help, brothers and sisters) to manifest real, loving, thriving families in our own homes.... 

"We need to show God's love in our families and in our lives."

Jeffrey D. Johnson: "the church does not replace Israel"

In the following selection from The Kingdom of God: A Baptist Expression of Biblical and Covenant Theology, Jeffrey D. Johnson explains why Reformed Theology-at least in its Reformed Baptist expression-should not be considered "replacement theology."

It is not as if God changed His mind about who were to receive the promised inheritance. From the beginning, the inheritance was reserved only for a select few who had been chosen by God. To illustrate this, Paul turned to the story of Jacob and Esau, the twin sons of Isaac, who were both the natural-born, circumcised grandchildren of Abraham. Yet according to Paul, the inheritance was not intended for all of Abraham’s physical seed. Rather, it was intended only for those whom God had chosen beforehand:

9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Rom 9:9-13).

What made Jacob different from Esau was not his birthright or his works, but divine election. Prior to the birth of these twin boys, there was a prophecy that proclaimed, “The older shall serve the younger” (Gen 25:23). This prophecy proved that God is the One who determines who will receive the inheritance.

In the same way, prior to the gospel breaking through to the Gentiles, there was an Old Testament prophecy that predicted this event: “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved’” (Rom 9:25; cf. Hos 2:23). “And in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ it shall be said to them, ‘Children of the living God’” (Hos 1:10). In addition, Paul went on to explain that the Old Testament made it clear that only a small number of the physical seed of Abraham would be saved: “And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ‘Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved’” (Rom 9:27). Thus, the first reason why the majority of physical Israel were rejecting the kingdom was that the promises were exclusively given to God’s elect people, who consisted of Abraham’s spiritual seed.

….

[As seen in Romans 15], the church does not replace Israel. Rather, believing Gentiles are grafted into the same tree with believing Jews. That is, Gentiles do not enjoy a different inheritance but share in the same inheritance that was promised to Abraham and his seed. As Paul specifically indicates later in the chapter, “the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings” (Rom 15:27).

A couple of qualifications that I would add to the above:

• Johnson writes, "the promises were exclusively given to God’s elect people, who consisted of Abraham’s spiritual seed." I would say that the promises are primarily secured by God's elect Man, Jesus Christ, who was fully qualified as the fulfillment of Abraham's seed in both the physical and spiritual sense. These promises, first enjoyed by the elect from Abraham's physical seed [for the most part], were expanded through Christ to all the elect: Abraham's spiritual seed from both Jews and Gentiles. I believe-based on some other passages in his book-that Johnson would agree with this.
• Johnson writes of "a select few." I believe, based on passages like Daniel 2:35, Matthew 13:32, and Revelation 7:9 that-in the final analysis-the group of the elect will not be few, but innumerable, demonstrating the richness of God's grace in Christ.

The Characteristics and Destiny of False Teachers from 2 Peter 2:1-10a

1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed,

I. False teachers:

A. Secretly introduce destructive heresies (v.1).

B. Deny the Master who bought them (v.1).

C. Gain many followers (v.2).

D. Cause the way of truth to be maligned (v.2).

E. Indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires (v.10).

F. Despise authority (v.10).

II. False teachers DO the above things because false teachers ARE:

A. Sensual (v.2).

B. Greedy (v.2).

C. Exploitative liars (v.2).

D. Unrighteous (v.9).

E. Reckless (v.10).

F. Self-willed (v.10).

III. Because of what false teachers DO and who false teachers ARE, false teachers WILL:

A. Bring swift destruction upon themselves (v.1).

B. Face the long-established judgment of destruction (vv. 3-8).

C. Be kept under punishment for the day of judgment (v. 9).