In Matthew 22.21, Christ responds to those who would entangle him by using a Roman coin with Caesar's image. He tells them to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.
This passage has generated a great deal of discussion over the centuries and not a few are confused by it - and as a result end up explaining it away.
Many Christians in the United States embrace the notion of American Exceptionalism - the notion that the nation due to its unique historical position and role is above common judgments. As it is the representative of liberal democracy and freedom and the focus of good in the world, it cannot be judged by the same standards as other nations. At times it must tackle tough and nigh on impossible tasks resulting in situations that would cause other nations to fall under severe judgment. The US must be exempt from such charges and condemnations. It cannot be held to the same standard.
Recently I sat through a sermon on Psalm 112. It was a workshop in moralistic non-redemptive-historical preaching. It wasn't that the content was awful or the exhortations uninspiring, but the preacher missed the essential component of the passage and read it in a Judaized fashion. While disappointing it generated some great and edifying conversation for the drive home.
Dominionists and other advocates for Christians in government will often appeal to the example of Daniel and his three friends as a case for contemporary New Covenant believers working for a pagan government – to do good it is argued.
Psalm 9 calls for the Lord to rise up in judgment on the wicked nations, while the related Psalm 10 takes up a tone of lamentation and a continued call for judicial action – but in a more narrow context. The condemned self-idolatry of the nations plays out in a more immediate sense in the way the wicked (the rich and powerful) crush the poor and the weak.
It is not uncommon for Theonomists and other advocates of Dominion Theology to make an appeal to the Book of Jonah as an example of a pagan society transformed. Nineveh's repentance represents (to them) a kind of prototype of what would take place over one thousand years later under the New Covenant.
This psalm is well known by many for the words of comfort it provides regarding the plight of the believer in the world and the abiding sense of injustice that can gnaw away at us if we let it. The wicked flourish and the righteous always seem to suffer and lose.
When this passage is treated it is common to emphasize the fact that the Christian's relationship to Christ transcends earthly familial relations. Additionally, the topic of adoption can be touched upon, the idea that a Christian becomes part of the family of God and how this relationship and status is of far greater import than our earthly relations.
Psalm 2 is a favourite among Postmillennialists. It speaks of the kings of the Earth setting themselves up in opposition to God and His Anointed – a clear anticipation of the coming Christ.
Their nations are given to Christ as His inheritance and He
will break them with a rod of iron. The nations are consequently warned and
instructed to kiss the Son, in other words to submit to and reverence Him.
