God's Standard

The reason that modern Christians have so much disagreement over politics and the role of the state is that most believe the New Testament, but do not take the Old Testament seriously. Many Christians have never studied the Old Testament law, because they believe that the law has been replaced by grace. Even those who know that Jesus has not abolished the law are uneasy, because they have accepted the conventional wisdom that the Old Testament is harsh and cruel.

This creates a serious problem, because it leaves Christians with nothing to say about the role of the state. The New Testament teaches very little about the state and law. The reason is that God does not repeat himself. His word on these issues is contained in the Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, so it does not need to be repeated in the New Testament. Those who ignore the content of those books are left with a big hole that has to be filled in some other way. Without a standard to decide the role of the state or judge the performance of government, many Christians who teach on political issues end up following a secular prophet.