ChristianTrader
Puritan Board Graduate
So the real fight is over whether or not there needs to be a recontextualization for today's circumstances vs. the magisterial reformers getting it completely right instead of denial vs. acceptance of natural law.
Yes, for all the magisterial Protestants, natural law = moral law = decalogue in both tables.
They were all, more or less, theocrats, even Luther! They did not always distinguish clearly between their own circumstances (as heirs of 1000 years of Christendom their context made it nearly impossible for them to imagine things any other way) and those of national Israel.
That's why I say that we must re-contextualize the 16th century theory of two kingdoms in a post-theocratic, post-Christendom world. The first colonial Synod of the Presbyterian Church in 1729 recognized this fact implicitly.
As I understand the pre- and post-theocratic obligations of the civil magistrate, they do not entail enforcement of the second table. Only the Israelite theocracy was authorized to enforce the second table.
rsc