Boyd’s first chapter, “The Kingdom of the Sword,” actually had quite a few good observations in it. He was very good in describing the way vengeance escalates, and how a particular civil order can confuse itself with the kingdom of God, and how Jesus told His followers that they were not supposed to function the way the Gentiles did, grasping for power.
The basic setup in this chapter is this. God did not establish civil governments, but rather “ordered” them to make them not quite so bad as they otherwise would be. Fallen man had already come up with this way of dominating our fellows, and God “ordered” it in such a way as to bring some good out of it. When that good happens, we as Christians should be thankful. And we should labor for justice within the limits of this system, all while not holding our breath. These are observations in a chapter where Boyd quotes a gentleman what has the last name of Yoder.
The reason we don’t hold our breath is that while God manages to restrain evil somewhat through the civil order, all civil governments are in necessary degrees satanic, demonic, and influenced by the god of this world, who is the devil. In short, Boyd argues that nothing whatever can be done about this. Not every civil government is equally bad at every moment, but all civil governments are equally compromised, and therefore we should invest ourselves in the kingdom of God. “But no earthly kingom, however good, is exempt from the scriptural teaching that it is part of ‘Babylon,’ a worldwide kingdom ruled by Satan” (p. 21).If we have high hopes for the righteousness of the civil order, those hopes are going to be dashed.
While he makes many shrewd observations in this chapter, many of which folks in the religious Right do need to hear, the hinge of his whole argument is screwed into an astounding exegetical mistake — and it is not surprising that the door doesn’t shut right at all.
Boyd says this:
“Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (John 14:30).
“And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged” (John 16:8-11).
Boyd mentions the fact that Satan had the authority to offer the kingdoms of the world to Christ in the temptation in the wilderness, which is quite true. And Christ refused, but not because it would be bad for Him to have them. He refused because He came as the conqueror — He came to take them, and would not receive them as a gift.
I am not saying that Boyd is a Manichean, but it appears that he has a Manichean view of history. History is a static tug-of-war between good and evil, and nothing ever really changes. But in Scripture Christ came, died and rose again, and nothing can ever be the same. There has been a turn in the tide of battle. Christ humiliated the principalities and powers, and made a public spectacle out of them. The kings of the earth, who used to be held in thrall by this arche are now told to serve a different arche, the Lord Jesus Christ. They are told to kiss Him lest He be angry. They don’t have to worry about the anger of their old master — he has been thrown down.
In times past God allowed the nations to walk in their own ways (Acts 14:16). That’s not true anymore.