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Question 2

The lesson describes Puritan certainty that “God’s moral law was still the law of Moses” (including putting witches and idolaters to death and enforcing Sunday as the Old Testament Sabbath); how does that view of God’s intentions compare with Jesus’ teaching and the early Christians’ understanding of the kingdom of god and “two kingdoms”?

Another way to ask: The Puritans thought the law of Moses still applied (like killing witches and forcing Sabbath rules). How does that compare with what Jesus taught and what early Christians believed about God’s kingdom and the “two kingdoms” idea?

Direct Answer The transcript contrasts Puritan Old Testament law-enforcement thinking with what Bercot says the early Christians taught about “the kingdom of God” and “two kingdoms,” which the Anglicans studied but did not embrace—implying the Puritans were moving in the opposite direction by using state power to enforce Mosaic-style religion.

Support from Transcript:

Bercot says, “to the Puritans, God’s moral law was still the law of Moses,” including that “blasphemers, idolaters, sorcerers, and witches must be put to death.”
He highlights their use of Exodus language: “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”
They treated Sunday as “THE Sabbath of old,” banning travel and most recreation, even things “nowhere” forbidden in the Old Testament.
He notes Anglicans studied early Christians, but “never embraced what the early Christians taught and practiced about the kingdom of God, about the two kingdoms and separation from the world.”
Laud and the Puritans both “believed in using the power of the state to enforce uniformity” in the church—showing a coercive model.

Discussion Follow-ups What would it look like to take “two kingdoms and separation from the world” seriously when thinking about law, punishment, and religious practice?

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