Joseph Gilbert

Grateful to @AmReformer and @tlloydcline for publishing my article, “The Theological Origins of Political Power.” My hope is that it brings depth to our discussions of political authority and its relationship to religion within God’s created order. americanreformer.org/2026/03…

The politics of the Protestant tradition is connected to and both influences and is influenced by the theology of the tradition. This can be acknowledged while still treating the two as separate sciences, each with its own proper form and matter, powers and purposes.

“Thus all have confessed that no [civil] polity can be successfully established unless piety be its first care, and that those laws are absurd which disregard the rights of God, and consult only for men.” - John Calvin

Happy freedom from the tyranny of the papacy day! #HappyReformationDay

This is antinomian. @sophaller tells @TheoVon that he is already forgiven and doesn’t need to worry, even though he is living in sin. @TheoVon, you must repent of your sin and come to Christ if you desire forgiveness.

“But as the magistrate ought to purge the Church of offences by corporal punishment and coercion, so the minister ought, in his turn, to assist the magistrate in diminishing the number of offenders. Thus they ought to combine their efforts, the one being not an impediment but a help to the other.” - John Calvin

A claim I’m willing to defend: A significant strand of the scriptural case for Christian nationalism draws upon traditional Reformed covenant theology, which distinguishes Israel’s ecclesiastical and civil governments and regards its civil order as instructive for nations today insofar as it embodies enduring moral principles, expressed in the general equity of its judicial laws.

The Reformation can be understood as the vindication of the civil magistrate from the bondage of the papacy.

Anyone want to sponsor a seminarian to be able to buy all the gold @BerithPress is putting out? 👀

Politics is not merely about policies, it is about leaders with virtue. Those who govern our societies ought to exemplify the virtues that every citizen should strive to cultivate. Their courage and justice should inspire us to greater acts of virtue in our own lives. Their piety, or lack thereof, will shape the moral character of the nation.

The gospel of God’s grace does not destroy nature but restores it and orders it toward a higher end. The principal end of the gospel is not temporal life but eternal life. Yet, through its effects, the gospel transforms temporal life, for the higher end orders and governs the lower according to its proper powers and ends. In politics, this means ordering temporal life toward the common good, which includes both earthly and heavenly goods, each pursued according to its proper mode of attainment.

"I confess if one looks to the eternal purpose of God, in which all things, even future ones, are observed by God as present Act. 15. 18. and to the merit and impetration of Christ, who offered a most sufficient λύσρον [ransom] to God for the expiation of all our sins. As also to the promise given by God in the Covenant of Grace concerning their remission, it can be said that remission under this relation [σχέσει] extends to all sins, whether past or future. But if one attends to the actual remission itself, which is done through the intimation of the absolutory sentence in the heart of the believing and penitent man, it cannot be referred except to sins already committed; so that for the taking away of the guilt of subsequent sins, a particular application of remission is required, not only as regards the sene and assurance of remission, but also as regards the true and real pardon itself." - Francis Turretin

This resource will be an absolute game changer for theological research for years to come. Much thanks to @mereorthodoxy and @StvenWithAnI for putting so much work into this. Time to pick up and read!

Christ is Lord and Savior of all.

Your daily reminder that 'nature' and 'covenant' are not the same thing.