Quotes from Kenneth L. Gentry Jr.

As goes the family, so goes the faith; as goes the faith, so goes the culture.

The old covenant structure and ceremonial obligations, which included the sacrificial system and various ritual and typological features, is established only with Israel. Yet it was established on a moral substructure rooted in the unchanging righteousness of God which promoted perpetually obligatory commandments of God.

The Christian must see God's Law as a guide for his own personal behavior. God's Law is law, not suggestion. It is fundamentally obligatory, not merely recommended.

Since our problem is primarily ethical, and since our sin blinds us to righteousness, God's Law is essential to our struggle against sin because the Law defines it. Indeed, "where there is no law, neither is there violation" (Rom 4:15). That is, without God's Law we cannot properly understand what sin is: how can there be an ethical violation if there is no known ethical standard?

When the Law is properly understood and its threats heard and feared, it exercises a restraining power within the souls of sinners, which is the end result of true conviction of sin.

The Law does not have the power to sanctify; that is the Holy Spirit's ministry as he operates in the gospel. But the Law sets forth the God-ordained pattern of righteous behavior thereby providing an objective standard for the Spirit-filled Christian so that he might know what God expects of him. Sanctification is not guided or governed by warm feelings, cultural mores, or doing-the-best-I-can. It is guided by the moral character of God revealed in his Word.

So we see that God created man as a dominion creature who is commissioned with the "Cultural Mandate" (Gen 1:26) to subdue the earth to the glory of God. The question arises then: Will man subdue the earth to God's glory as God intended? That is, will God's creational purpose for man be realized — in history? Postmillennialism declares that it will.

This presentation is dealing the question of the modern relevance of God's Law today. What I propose to do is defended the notion of the applicability of God's Law; when the law is properly interpreted according to its Old Testament setting, and adapted to new covenantal conditions. -Theological Bootcamp II, The Intention of God's Law

So we see that God created man as a dominion-oriented creature who is commissioned with the "Cultural Mandate" (Gen 1:26) to subdue the earth to the glory of God.[21] The question arises then: Will man subdue the earth to God's glory as God intended? That is, will God's creational purpose for man be realized — in history?

So then, the end of history is contingent: it will come whenever it may be that Christ delivers up the kingdom to his Father.[41] But this will not occur until "after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power" (see also: ESV). Consequently, the end will not occur, and Christ will not turn the kingdom over to the Father, until after he has abolished all opposition.

Note that his enemies become his footstool while he is seated at God's right hand (where he appears after his ascension: Acts 2:33–35; 5:31; 7:56; Rom 8:34; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; Heb 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Pet 3:22) — not after leaving that place and returning to earth at his Second Coming. Again, his victory will occur in contemporary history as Christ presently rules from heaven.

Church history begins with his legal victory at the cross-resurrection-ascension, continues progressively as he subdues all of his other enemies, and ends finally at the eschatological resurrection, which conquers the final enemy, death.

Because of this, Zion becomes an image of God's rule in the world. In the New Testament the images of Zion and Jerusalem transcend Old Testament realities, reaching to heaven itself (Gal 4:25–26; Heb 12:22; Rev 14:1). Thus, the New Testament sees the center of divine rule being transferred to heaven, where Christ currently rules over his kingdom (John 18:36; Rev 1:5).

In the New Testament the Lord Jesus Christ appears in order to fulfill the Old Testament hope of the Messiah. He presents himself as the king who has come to establish his kingdom in anticipation of his universal rule.

the apostasy laws in God's Law are not laws against mere unbelief or misguided worship. Those laws were designed to protect the legal integrity of the nation (criminalizing such actions as treason, conspiracy, seditious revolt, and espionage) and to bring judgment against wicked idolatry (criminalizing such actions as cultural subversion and public mayhem).

The Law thereby prohibits three contemporary monetary phenomena that have contributed so heavily to the economically precarious position of modern nations: fiat money, fractional reserve banking, and deficit spending.

This idea of "becoming a Jew" indicates ceremonial distinctives are in view rather than moral ones. No one "becomes a Jew" by not killing, not committing adultery, or not coveting (keeping the moral aspects of the Law). They do "become a Jew" by undergoing the ceremonial distinctives which marked the Jews off from the Gentiles (circumcision, food laws, cleansing rituals, and so forth).

Here we must recognize that the ceremonial law by design is never intended to be an end in itself. It always is prophetically and typically forward-looking, anticipating the coming of the Redeemer and the finalization of salvation through his work. The ceremonial law foreshadowed the eternal truths of Christ's work.

Some decry the law as an imposition of religion. But all law imposes religion in that law is necessarily religious, for all law is an expression of morality.

We must recall that the new covenant does not bring with it a new Law, but rather the power to keep the same Law.

as Clowney well notes, "we must recognize that this is not spiritualization in our usual sense of the word, but the very opposite. In Christ is realization. It is not so much that Christ fulfills what the temple means; rather Christ is the meaning for which the temple existed."[139