The Gospel Isn’t a Social Agenda

There are those who write and preach, in the words of Professor John R. DeWitt, as if “The whole of the Christian age awaited the advent of their ministries, that it is only with them and with the burden of what they to say, that the Christian faith began to make sense and to be understood in all its implications.”

The above quotation certainly could be applied to many who in recent years have become the sirens of militant neo-postmillennialism. Also known by the names of “Christian Reconstruction,” “Dominion Theology,” or “Theonomy.”

These self-appointed apostles of social adjustment can oftentimes be seen traversing the religious horizon promoting their own list of dos and don’ts. Their desire is to “reconstruct” society according to the law of God putting away the social and political evils they see in every corner of our country.

Now don’t get me wrong. The Christian must never be indifferent to sin and evil; we must actively oppose the national sin of abortion, the oppression of the weak by the strong, and the corruptions which are apparent in every corner of our society! But we must do it according to the word of God, the Bible and not by rearranging the furniture on the Titanic.

It is through the preaching of the Gospel, applied by the Holy Spirit, that men will come under conviction of sin. The Gospel is God’s instrument to not only change the hearts of men, but to transform society as well. (See-Romans 10:17; Galatians 3:1-8; and Colossians 1.)

Christian reconstruction, by its very nature necessitates deemphasizing the preaching of the Gospel for the “busy-ness” of always prosecuting social and political agendas. While we as Christians must strictly obey the moral law of God (The Ten Commandments), the law by itself will not bring about a golden age of societal transformation. It is through God’s ordained means, the preaching of the Gospel for the conversion of sinners where the promises of Christ are reserved.

The New Testament writers were not trying so much to change the world and make it a better place to live. They were not trying to restore paradise, which was lost long, long ago. But they were preparing the world for its inevitable end.

They were not social reformers first of all, but heralds of the returning Christ. You are never truly defeated as you sojourn through this world for Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world (John 16:33)” and Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:20: “For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes; wherefore also by Him is our Amen.”