and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood – and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His Father and His God – to whom be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5-6)

For they do not speak peace. But they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land. (Psalm 35:20)

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to the God the Father. (Colossians 3:17)

Introduction

America has held its election. So now what? The tendency among many of us is to think that once the results of the election is in, we can now set back, rest on our laurels, and hope for the best. Unfortunately such thinking is the by-product derived from the belief system that government exists to do something for us. Now let the ones elected do their thing. Such a mindset has shaped this country with the rise of progressivism, particularly since the Great Depression and FDR. Today the State machine is chocked full of unelected bureaucrats that devise rules and regulations that inundate our lives. What should our response be going forward now that the American people have responded somewhat strongly to the last four years of progressivism?

A Judaeo-Christian Perspective

Writing from the perspective of a Judaeo-Christian worldview, I would like to challenge Christians to counter this tendency. Government, whatever that is, does not exist to do things for us. That is especially true for those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus, the Christ. As the verse from Revelation (1:5-6) that forms the heading for this blog tells us, Jesus has redeemed us, not only for salvation, but also to be a kingdom of priests to His God and Father. This means above all, that we are to exercise dominion over our culture. Unfortunately, the church has taken a position of passivity regarding its dominion mandate. There are various reasons for this, which can form the subject matter for other articles. [e.g. see Church & State.] But what exactly does it mean to exercise dominion?

The Dominion Mandate

Dominion is synonymous with government, absolute authority, and sovereignty, but within the confines of self-government. While passivity might characterize many Christians in respect to their view of politics and the State, another misunderstanding of sovereignty leads some Christians to believe that all laws should reign at the national level reflecting Biblical law. Theonomy is a loaded term that can unfortunately lead to misunderstanding Christians’ view of government. First, whether one believes it or not, God is sovereign, and He does rule the nations. (Christ is the ruler of the kings of the earth.) The time will come when His sovereignty will be fully realized, here on earth and throughout eternity. As Christians, how are we called to live in the meantime? We need to navigate the channel between passivity that has led to our institutions being handed over to the culture at large, and the notion that we are to establish a heaven on earth via State power. We should most definitely be active in political matters. The culture at large is fine with Christian passivity, telling many Christians that they for sure should do their thing and stay out of politics. (There is a difference between theocracy and theonomy.) When Christians voice their political views, many in the culture will cry separation of church and state, which is a gross misunderstanding of the separation clause as written in the Constitution. Note the scream of Christian Nationalism today from those who caricature Christians who are politically engaged. On the other hand, some Christians hold a view of dominion that seeks to seize power of the State in the form of some coercion. The latter is a minority compared to those Christians who want to remain aloof from politics. But one would not realize that fact listening to the verbal attacks on the church from the progressive crowd.

We Are a Kingdom

As Revelation 1:5-6 tells us, those whom God has called to be in Christ have been made to be a kingdom through His atoning work. We are a kingdom of priests. We are to exercise dominion over the earth. Rather than seizing State power, kingdom work is to be carried out by believers through the body of Christ, the church. What we should demand of the State is our constitutional rights to do just that – to worship as we believe, to impact our culture through what we believe and how we live, and to be the salt and light that will draw people to the church. Such of way of living out our beliefs, however, is far from being passive regarding our political contexts. For example, we should stand and fight for those Christian business men and women who have been sued, taken to court, and fined for seeking to operate their business lives in alignment with their Christian beliefs. We should seek an end to abortion in a manner that saves the lives of the unborn while also aligning with the Constitution. We should have the freedom to live out our beliefs in the commonwealth so as to impact our culture for our beliefs. We should take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Dominion means living out our Christian beliefs in every area of life – work, education, family, etc. as Colossians 3:17 calls us to do. The church is to be a beacon of light for the culture. The light draws people to itself by what it is, the light. As the body of Christ, the church, we should be living out what we believe in every area of our lives. Then we will be exercising dominion, and only then will we draw people to the Light that makes up the church. Dominion is not a passive idea, nor is it a call to seize political power by coercive force. I think many Christians understand the latter, but too many Christians embrace a passivity toward political matters.

Progressivism Is not Passive

Living quite in the land is not a bad thing. Neither is it a passive preoccupation. As we have witnessed over the past four years, and with other administrations as well, progressives in politics are anything but passive. In recent years we have witnessed a rise of political clout targeting Christian engagement in the political realm. Again, think of florists and bakers who have lost or who have come close to losing their businesses because they sought to align their business operations and services with their Christian values. Note the imprisonment of peaceful protestors who have made their beliefs known at abortion clinics. Witness the onslaught of the nonsensical caricature of so-called Christian Nationalism. Mark the aggressive nature of the public education establishment toward private education (specifically Christian private schools) and parents who homeschool their children. Some states mandate that homeschoolers should be forced to use curricula designed for public schools, the very thing from which parents want their children separated. Private Christian colleges should take a page out of Hillsdale College’s playbook and refuse government subsidy for education. Parents who homeschool or send their children to private schools (Christian and secular) should demand an end to having to pay school taxes that uphold institutions from which parents desire to remove their children. Progressive politicians are not passive. Nor should the body of Christ acquiesce to State mandates regarding their children’s education. Living quiet in the land is not subservience to those who seek to determine what values families should hold or how they live, raise, and educate their children. Progressives talk the game but they don’t walk what they talk. They speak peace – equity, equality, love, justice – but they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land. Those who hold different values from the progressives are targeted as oppressors. It is they that want to determine what values people should hold. We as Christians should not play their game.

Conclusion

America has held its election. The question now becomes what will we do going forward. Will we continue to look to the State for an answer to all our dilemmas? As Christians I hope we choose to self-govern and exercise dominion in the culture, not by the coercive power of the State, but by the way we live reflecting the power of Christ that dwells in us. For the moment, progressivism and its agendas has been cancelled. Don’t think for one minute that progressives will go passive. The body of Christ needs to demonstrate that while we want to live quiet in the land, we will not acquiesce in passivity. We will exercise dominion in its true Biblical meaning. Elections come and go. Impacting the culture by the way we live in Christ in a long-term endeavor. Our passivity has handed over our institutions to a culture that is at best antagonistic toward God’s precepts, and at worst actually despises God’s law, actively setting the power of the State against anything that demonstrates that people want to engage their culture through God’s commandments.

God commanded a mandate to exercise dominion. Such a mandate is not a passive activity, politically or otherwise.

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D./November 14th, 2024

ANALYSIS OF POWER/DOMINION MANDATE