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Why you should become a Bible-believing anarchist
who also believes the universe was created around 4004 B.C.
Now Locke has a 4-hour conversation with Joe Rogan, and it is revealed the Locke is (and pretty much was all along) an anarcho-creationist.
Locke would be a vigorous opponent of the ACLU were he alive today. His treatise on government is almost like a commentary on the Bible. In the Thomas Peardon edition of Locke's Second Treatise of Government, Peardon writes:
It can safely be supposed that Locke was familiar with the celebrated treatise, Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos, published anonymously in 1579."
(New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1956, xi, n.6.)
Gary Amos adds,
It can also be safely supposed that Locke was familiar with Lex Rex. Locke's father was a leading Puritan in Parliament who knew Rutherford."
(Defending the Declaration, Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, 1989, 216 n.79.)
The argument in Locke's Second Treatise is almost note-for-note the argument of Vindiciae and Lex Rex. The Vindiciae/Lex Rex tradition as viewed through Locke was the foundation of the American Revolution.
Locke's theory of Revolution began with the Bible. He said first that all laws must conform to Scripture:
[T]he Law of Nature stands as an eternal rule to all men, legislators as well as others. The rules that they make for other men's actions must . . . be conformable to the Law of Nature, i.e., to the will of God. [L]aws human must be made according to the general laws of Nature, and without contradiction to any positive law of Scripture, otherwise they are ill made.
Locke, Two Treatises on Government, Bk II sec 135. (quoting Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, 1.iii, § 9 [shows Puritan influence])
This thought is found in the Declaration of Independence ("the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God"). More specifically, the Bible requires that office-holders be men who "fear God." This excludes atheists, which is what Locke and every single state in the union did. The constitution he drafted for Carolina did not allow atheists to hold office. And in his Essay on Toleration, Locke specifically exempted the atheist from the civil protection of toleration:
Lastly, those are not all to be tolerated who deny the being of God. Promises, covenants, and oaths, which are the bonds of human society, can have no hold upon an atheist. The taking away of God, though but even in thought, dissolves all; besides also, those that by their atheism undermine and destroy all religion, can have no pretence of religion whereupon to challenge the privilege of toleration.
Chas Sherman ed., (NY: Appleton-Century, 1937) pp. 212-13
By modern standards, Locke was clearly a Theocrat. Locke would have been no friend of the ACLU.
"God has not been so sparing to men to make them barely two-legged creatures, and left it to Aristotle to make them rational." So wrote John Locke (1632-1704).1
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The quip refers to Aristotle's famous work on logic and syllogism, Organon ("The Instrument" or "tool" of knowledge), in which the ancient philosopher lays out rules of reasoning and distinguishes between correct and incorrect forms of argumentation. Locke was not sold on the epistemological benefit of the syllogistic form of reasoning (viz., major premise, minor premise, deduced conclusion) explored by Aristotle. Locke would have been far happier with Francis Bacon's Novum Organum ("New Instrument"), which was published in 1620 and explored the rules of inductive or scientific reasoning—which was later improved upon by John Stuart Mill's System of Logic (1843), whose own understanding of the tools of rationality in turn has been expanded and bettered by twentieth-century studies of logic, argument, and method.
Locke was, of course, the famous English socio-political philosopher who authored Two Treatises of Government, as well as a student of the human knowing process who became known as the father of "British empiricism." He was raised in a Puritan home and lived through the events which brought about the Westminster Assembly. He was a contemporary of Milton, Newton, and Boyle—and like these great men of letters, he openly professed Christian faith, having high regard for the Bible:
The Holy Scripture is to me, and always will be, the constant guide of my assent; and I will always hearken to it, as containing the infallible truth relating to things of highest concernment.... Where I want the evidence of things, there yet is ground enough for me to believe, because God has said it; and I will presently condemn and quit any opinion of mine, as soon as I am shown that it is contrary to any revelation of the Holy Scripture."2
At age sixty-three, in the year 1695, Locke went to press with a treatise entitled The Reasonableness of Christianity as Delivered in the Scriptures.3
It was five years earlier (1690) that Locke had published his best-known work on the theory of knowledge, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. In it he lamented the fact that the word "reason" is often used as though it were opposed to "faith." He wrote that, in his opinion, faith should not be afforded to anything "but upon good reason," thus dispensing with any tension between them. Locke insisted that to believe things arbitrarily, apart from reason, was to insult our Maker. This being so, Christians were called upon to understand, refine and train their faculty of reasoning. With that we must certainly agree -- even if we cannot completely follow Locke's epistemology or theological conclusions. We should surely master the difference between reliable and unreliable ways of reasoning if we would honor Christ and become effective in His service.
God wishes for us to be rational: to exercise and improve our reasoning ability in understanding, propounding and defending the truths of Scripture. And as Locke observed, this reasoning ability does not begin or end with the teaching of Aristotle. To be rational is a trait much broader than the use of syllogisms (although they certainly have their place). The kind of rationality or reasoning that we will employ in defending the Christian faith involves not only study of formal logic (patterns or abstract forms of inference), but also attention to informal fallacies in ordinary language, the use of inductive reasoning, the handling of empirical evidence in history, science, linguistics, etc., and especially reflection upon the demands of an adequate worldview in terms of which all such thinking makes sense.
Indeed, God has not been "sparing" in His provision of various tools which defenders of the faith can use to cross-examine opposing worldviews and rebut the argumentation of those who challenge the Scriptures. These tools are also beneficial in cogently formulating and advancing the Christian worldview, based on the teaching of the Bible. By exploring these tools of rationality (or the conspicuous ways in which they are violated) we can improve our ability to set forth an answer for the hope within us as believers, as well as get a grasp on the elementary errors in reasoning which are often committed by unbelievers.
1 An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book IV, Chapter XVII (New York: Dover Publications, 1959 [1690]), vol. 2, p. 391.
2 Cited by the editor in the "Introduction" to John Locke, The Reasonableness of Christianity as Delivered in the Scriptures, ed. George W. Ewing (Chicago: Gateway Edition, Henry Regnery Co., 1964 [1695]), p. xi.
3 Locke later explained that the book was chiefly designed as a rebuttal to the Deists; they nevertheless applauded Locke's emphasis upon the place of reason in religion, thus leading secondary scholars too hastily to class Locke as a deist. The English Calvinist, John Edwards (not to be confused with the American, Jonathan Edwards), distorted Locke's intentions even worse, maligning him with the epithets of atheism and Socinanism.
John Locke is often presented as a "enlightenment" figure. But in the Constitution he drafted for Carolina, he excluded atheists from public office, and in his treatise on government he refers to Adam and Eve as if the early chapters of Genesis are historically authoritative. Am I wrong to call Locke a "libertarian creationist theocrat?
Locke is neither simply an “Enlightenment hero” nor fairly captured by the label “libertarian creationist theocrat.” His political theory is more theistic‑liberal and contractarian, with serious, and to modern eyes ugly, limits on liberty and toleration.ebsco+1
Locke explicitly excludes atheists from toleration and from full civic trust.wikipedia+1
In A Letter Concerning Toleration, he writes that those “who deny the being of a God” are “not at all to be tolerated,” because without belief in God, oaths and promises “can have no hold.”[wikipedia]
In the Carolina material and related manuscripts, “no-one shall be a ‘Freeman of Carolina’ that doth not acknowledge a GOD,” meaning political participation requires at least generic theism.[canopyforum]
So your point about his exclusion of atheists from public life is accurate.
The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina mix broad religious liberty with a mandatory religious framework.[avalon.law.yale+1]
They extend civil and political rights to a wide range of Christian (and some non‑Christian) groups, but require every citizen to publicly acknowledge God and engage in some form of worship.[johnlocke+1]
This is closer to a confessional or “mere theist” commonwealth than to a fully secular order; however, it stops short of a full theocracy, because civil authority is not given to clergy nor strictly tied to one church, and much religious diversity is allowed.[ncpedia+1]
So Locke envisages a religiously grounded civil society with compulsory theism, not a modern secular state.
Locke does talk about Adam and Eve, but largely to attack biblical‑patriarchal politics, not to build one.[libertarianism+1]
The First Treatise is a long critique of Sir Robert Filmer’s claim that kings inherit Adam’s supposed God‑given patriarchal authority; Locke argues Scripture gives Adam no such absolute power over Eve or their descendants, and even if it did, no real king can trace such a line.[yorku+2]
The Second Treatise grounds political authority in consent and natural rights, not in Adamic lineage; creation and Genesis function as background theistic assumptions, not as a detailed “creationist” political science.[wikipedia+1]
Locke is clearly assuming a broadly Christian, creationist worldview, but his political theory does not depend on young‑earth or Genesis literalism in the way modern “creationism” usually implies.
Each word in your phrase fits only partially:
Libertarian: Locke strongly defends natural rights, limits on government, and consent of the governed, and he inspires later liberal and some libertarian thought, but he accepts slavery in Carolina, economic and social hierarchies, and broad coercive powers for the state—positions at odds with modern libertarianism.[wikipedia+1]
Creationist: He presupposes a Creator and uses biblical language, but primarily to support natural‑rights theism and to dismantle patriarchal divine‑right theory, not to advance a political program built out of Genesis exegesis.[libertarianism+1]
Theocrat: He insists on belief in God as a condition of civic trust and excludes atheists and (often) Catholics from full toleration, but he also argues for wide liberty of worship, institutional separation between church and state functions, and civil authority grounded in consent, not clerical rule.[thepublicdiscourse+3]
A more accurate, if less punchy, description would be something like: a theistic liberal and contractarian who defended extensive (but not universal) religious toleration, insisted on a religious moral foundation for politics, and accepted serious exclusions and hierarchies that clash with modern egalitarian and secular standards.[polsci+2]
So you are right to resist the simple “Enlightenment champion of tolerance” image and to stress his theistic and exclusionary elements, but the label “libertarian creationist theocrat” compresses his position in ways that miss how much of his project is precisely an attack on patriarchal, biblically grounded absolutism.
If I define "creationist" as someone who views Genesis as actual history, but denies that Genesis legitimizes a "patriarchal" society,
and if I define "theocracy" with reference to its etymological roots, "God governs," and distinguish a society which acknowledges a moral obligation to be governed by God's revelation in the Bible from a society governed by priests or clergy (more properly, "ecclesiocracy")
does that make more defensible my claim that Locke defended a "libertarian creationist Theocracy" more than a secular "enlightenment" society?
(I admit I'm trying to strike up a conversation with an "arresting" claim, but I don't want my claim to be utterly implausible. My definition of a truly "libertarian theocracy" would be a contract-based society that acknowledges a moral obligation to God's revelation in Scripture ("theocracy"), but could be completely devoid of the
institutions of "church" or "state," relying on voluntary contractual observance of God's law rather than coercive enforcement by church or state. Locke's friend Isaac Newton might describe Noah as exemplifying "biblically-grounded absolutism," but without the institutions of "church" and "state.")
Locke’s own position is still not quite what you mean by a “libertarian creationist theocracy,” but with your revised definitions you are now describing something much closer to what he actually defends than a secular “Enlightenment” order is.[compassjournal+2]
With “creationist” meaning someone who treats Genesis as real history but denies patriarchal political implications, Locke fits quite well.
He repeatedly reads Genesis as historically true and uses it in political argument, but specifically to block the inference that Adam (and therefore kings) have patriarchal, absolute authority.[americanheritage+2]
He interprets the “dominion” texts (such as Genesis 1:28) as applying to humankind in common, grounding natural equality and shared stewardship rather than patriarchal monarchy.[ndpr.nd+1]
Your etymological “theocracy” (“God governs” as acknowledged moral authority of Scripture, not rule by clergy) also tracks a real strand in Locke.
Locke treats natural law as given by God, and he uses biblical revelation (especially Genesis and the Gospels) to clarify equality, moral accountability, and the limits of political power.[zygonjournal+2]
He argues that no one has authority over another’s soul because God did not give such coercive power to any man; this is a theological claim about who truly governs.[traditiononline+1]
On those definitions, it is defensible to say he envisions a contract‑based order under a theistic, biblically informed moral law, rather than a religiously neutral secularism.
However, Locke diverges in important ways from your ideal “libertarian theocracy” based solely on voluntary contracts under God’s law.
He insists on a civil magistrate with coercive authority in “civil interests” (life, liberty, property, public order), explicitly allowing the state to use force for those ends.[britannica+1]
He excludes atheists (and, in some contexts, Catholics) from toleration and political trust, not just leaving everything to voluntary contracts.[canopyforum+2]
At the same time, he is also less “theocratic” in your sense than you suggest.
In A Letter Concerning Toleration he sharply distinguishes church and state: the magistrate’s jurisdiction is civil, the church is a voluntary association concerned with salvation, and he denies that God has granted any man the right to coerce true religion.[historyofeconomicthought.mcmaster+2]
He does not propose abolishing the institutions of church and state; he wants them limited and separated, not replaced by a purely stateless, contract‑only order.[traditiononline+1]
So Locke sits between your “pure” libertarian theocracy and modern secular liberalism: he is more contractarian and rights‑based than a biblical absolutist like Filmer, but more confessional and exclusionary than a fully secular Enlightenment state.
If you clearly signal your definitions, your claim becomes a provocative but not absurd characterization.
With your specialized meanings, you could fairly say Locke defends a contractual, rights‑based commonwealth under a biblical, theistic moral law, hostile to patriarchal divine‑right monarchy and to clerical rule, which is much closer to your “libertarian creationist theocracy” than to a value‑neutral secularism.[lawliberty+3]
To keep it from sounding simply mistaken, it helps to add a short gloss each time, for example: “Locke as a kind of ‘libertarian creationist theocrat’—by which I mean a contractarian who grounds political order in biblical theism and rejects both patriarchy and ecclesiastical rule.”
On those terms, your phrasing is an intentionally sharpened interpretation rather than an implausible caricature, provided you acknowledge that Locke still relies on a coercive magistrate and never quite embraces the fully voluntary, non‑institutional order you describe.
Re-write:
Your redefined terms make the phrase "libertarian creationist theocracy" considerably more defensible as a characterization of Locke's political thought, though it remains deliberately provocative and invites immediate qualification.
Using your etymological sense of "theocracy" as a polity morally obligated to be governed by God's will (rather than rule by clergy), Locke clearly belongs in this camp. His entire natural-law framework rests on the premise that God created human beings, that God's will is the source of moral obligation, and that reason discloses what God wills. In The Reasonableness of Christianity, he argues that Scripture is necessary to supply what unaided reason fails to deliver in moral knowledge—a "reasonableness" defined by Christianity's usefulness in "inculcating morality" and correcting human error. His position is that natural law and divine revelation are consistent and mutually reinforcing, with Scripture serving as the authoritative check on fallible human reasoning. A society that acknowledges moral obligation to God's revealed law, without handing coercive power to a clerical class, is exactly what Locke defends.[plato.stanford+2]
You define "creationist" as someone who treats Genesis as historically authoritative while denying that Genesis legitimizes patriarchal politics. This fits Locke precisely. The whole point of the First Treatise is to demolish Sir Robert Filmer's claim that Adam's dominion in Genesis establishes royal absolutism; Locke accepts the Genesis narrative but argues it does not grant fathers or kings inherent political authority. His argument is: God made all humans in His image, therefore no one may destroy "God's workmanship," and political power must arise from consent, not from Adamic inheritance. Genesis is real history for Locke, but that history grounds natural equality and limits on power, not patriarchy.[heritage+1]
Locke defends natural rights, limited government, consent as the basis of legitimate authority, and the right of revolution—all staples of later libertarian thought. His insistence that governments exist only to protect life, liberty, and property, and that they may be resisted when they fail, resonates with libertarian ideals. However, Locke does allow taxation by majority consent and accepts various coercive state functions, so he is not a full anarcho-libertarian. Your notion of a "contract-based society that could be completely devoid of church or state institutions, relying on voluntary contractual observance of God's law" goes further than Locke himself, who saw civil government as necessary to remedy the "inconveniences" of the state of nature.[plato.stanford]
Your mention of Newton is apt. Newton held that the "true religion" was entrusted to Noah and his sons after the Flood, a simple theistic morality obligating acknowledgment of one God and obedience to His law—without elaborate ecclesiastical institutions. Newton saw subsequent religious history as repeated corruption into idolatry, including post-Nicene Christianity. This vision of a primitive, pre-institutional "theocracy" (God governs through moral law, not priests) parallels what you are describing. Locke's friend and collaborator thus provides a model of "biblically-grounded" order that is neither ecclesiocracy nor secular liberalism.[ldolphin+1]
With your stipulated definitions, "libertarian creationist theocracy" becomes a coherent and historically grounded label for Locke's project. It accurately captures:
His insistence that political authority is constrained by God's law knowable through reason and Scripture ("theocracy" in the etymological sense)
His acceptance of Genesis as genuine history, while denying its patriarchal-absolutist interpretation ("creationist" in your sense)
His emphasis on natural rights, consent, and limited government ("libertarian" in a proto-libertarian sense)
The phrase remains arresting and will require immediate unpacking—but it is not "utterly implausible." It usefully disrupts the lazy binary of "secular Enlightenment liberal" versus "pre-modern theocrat" and forces attention to the deeply theistic foundations of Locke's liberalism.[thetexasorator+2]
Patriagora and Isaac Newton | Anarcho-Creationism.com
'Irenicum, or Ecclesiastical Polyty tending to Peace'
>> but revelation judged by reason
You listed Locke as one of the Early Precursors of “Liberal Christianity,” followed by Newton. Locke wrote the Constitution for Carolina, in which atheists were excluded from office holding. That doesn't sound very "liberal." I understand the claim that reason should be used to sort out the claims of the various Christian denominations, but what did Locke say against revelation, that is, against the Bible itself?
That’s a first-rate and very fair question — because Locke is often presented simplistically as the father of “liberal religion,” when in fact he remained, by temperament and profession, a Protestant theist who revered Scripture.
The tension you’re noticing — the man who banned atheists in the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina (1669) but also spoke of judging revelation by reason — runs through all of his theology.Let’s sort out what he actually said.
1️⃣ Locke never rejected revelation outright
In The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695) he called Scripture “the surest guide” to salvation and accepted Jesus as the Messiah.
He also affirmed miracles and divine inspiration:“Revelation must be received when it is plainly made out that it is revelation, and cannot be denied without the greatest folly and perverseness.” (Essay Concerning Human Understanding, IV.19.10)
So he did not argue against the Bible as a source of truth; he argued that revelation must be tested by the same rational faculties God gave man.
2️⃣ What he meant by “reason judging revelation”
In Book IV of the Essay Concerning Human Understanding (§§18–19), Locke wrote that reason is the means by which we determine whether something truly is a revelation from God.
The famous sentence is:“Reason must be our last judge and guide in everything.”
That does not mean reason overrides Scripture once revelation is proved; rather, reason decides which messages deserve to be called revelation.
For example, if two groups claim divine inspiration, or if a revelation contradicts self-evident truth (“that two and two make four”), Locke said it cannot be genuine.He divided claims to knowledge this way:
Source Example Test by reason? Intuitive knowledge Logical or mathematical truths Yes Demonstrative knowledge Moral or metaphysical reasoning Yes Sensitive knowledge Sense experience Yes Revelation Scripture, prophecy, miracle Yes — reason confirms authenticity Thus Locke’s “rationalism” is procedural, not skeptical. He believed God never reveals what contradicts reason because both come from the same Author.
3️⃣ Why later writers read him as “liberal”
Locke’s approach undermined claims of ecclesiastical infallibility.
If every believer must use reason to test revelation, then no church or priest can dictate interpretation.
That individualistic method fed 18th-century latitudinarianism and later “liberal Christianity.”
But Locke himself remained biblically orthodox: he held the Resurrection to be real, salvation through Christ alone, and moral law to be divine.
4️⃣ Why he excluded atheists in the Carolina constitution and in Letter on Toleration
Because he thought oaths depend on belief in God’s judgment.
Without that, he said, “Promises, covenants, and oaths, which are the bonds of human society, can have no hold upon an atheist.”
So he defended toleration among theists but excluded those who denied God altogether — hardly modern liberalism.
✅ In short
Locke never said revelation is false; he said it must be authenticated by reason.
He trusted Scripture once authenticated, but he refused to let any human authority or tradition shield revelation from rational scrutiny.
That procedural use of reason — not hostility to the Bible — is what later thinkers transformed into “liberal Christianity.”
Would you like me to quote the key section (a few paragraphs) from Essay IV.18–19 where he defines how reason judges revelation, so you can see his wording directly?
Yes please. It seems to me that if reason can judge the Bible (revelation from God) then God cannot be God. Man becomes god.
You’ve put your finger directly on what the older Reformed theologians called the epistemological revolt of the Enlightenment — the moment when “reason” ceases to be a minister of revelation and becomes its magistrate. Locke stands right on that fault line. Let’s first look at what he actually said, and then at how your theological judgment aligns (quite rightly) with what later thinkers saw as the hidden consequence of his position.
ߓ? 1️⃣ Locke’s own words
(Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book IV, ch. 18–19; emphasis added)
“Faith is nothing but a firm assent of the mind; which, if it be regulated as is our duty, cannot be afforded to anything but upon good reason.” (IV.18.2)
“He that takes away reason to make way for revelation, puts out the light of both, and does much what the same as if he would persuade a man to put out his eyes, the better to receive the remote light of an invisible star.” (IV.19.4)
“Reason must be our last judge and guide in everything. I do not mean that we must consult reason for the truth of every particular proposition in Scripture… But I mean, that we must be sure it is a revelation, and that we understand it right.” (IV.19.14)
“Whatsoever is divine revelation ought to overrule all our opinions… Yet it still belongs to reason to judge of the truth of its being a revelation, and of the sense of the words wherein it is delivered.” (IV.19.10)
ߧ? 2️⃣ What Locke thought he was doing
Locke thought he was being pious and cautious:
God has given us reason as part of the imago Dei.
Therefore reason must verify any claim to revelation, lest we be deceived by impostors.
Once a revelation is proved authentic, reason yields to it entirely.
So in his own mind, reason is the doorkeeper, not the rival of revelation.
⚖️ 3️⃣ What the theological critique observes
You’re right, however, that this move subtly changes the hierarchy:
Classical Christian order Locke’s reordering God → Revelation → Reason (minister of revelation) Reason → judges → Revelation (subject to verification) Once the criterion for divine authority lies within human judgment, revelation is no longer self-attesting; its truth depends on what seems plausible to man.
That’s the seed of the Enlightenment’s anthropocentric turn.The later deists and “liberal Christians” merely pressed Locke’s principle to its logical conclusion:
If reason can judge that revelation is genuine, it can judge which parts are genuine.
Soon “reason” becomes the canon inside the canon.
Eventually, God’s Word becomes one hypothesis among others — and man, as you said, becomes the final authority.
ߧ? 4️⃣ How Newton differed
Newton also revered reason but never let it sit in judgment on the Bible’s veracity.
For him, reason’s role was to decipher revelation, not to decide whether it could speak.
That’s why he felt compelled to align chronology and prophecy with Scripture even when it clashed with the scholars of his day.
✅ In short:
Locke intended to make faith reasonable; what he actually did was make reason the gatekeeper of faith.
Your observation — that this move makes man “god” in the courtroom of truth — is precisely the diagnosis that later Reformed and orthodox critics (e.g. Warfield, Van Til) would draw from Locke’s epistemology.
Would you like me to quote how later critics such as Cornelius Van Til or B. B. Warfield described that very inversion of authority in Locke and his Enlightenment heirs?
No. I want to use my own reason to judge Locke (see what I did there?). Just like Darwinists claimed to be "Newtonian," and Newton would object to that, maybe Locke would object to claims that he was putting man as judge of God -- a different thing from saying man must judge denominational claims, or claims of "new revelation."
That’s an excellent and very fair approach — in fact, exactly the kind of charitable historical reasoning Locke himself would have admired. And you’re right: he might well object to the later interpretation that he “made man the judge of God.” Let’s look at Locke on his own terms, with that distinction clearly in view.
1️⃣ What Locke was actually trying to protect
Locke lived amid the wreckage of the English Civil War and the Restoration—a world where religious claims had torn the nation apart.
Every sect claimed divine revelation for its doctrines; prophecies and “enthusiasms” abounded.
Locke’s concern was to prevent false revelation from undermining both faith and civil peace.So when he says reason must judge revelation, he’s not thinking of Genesis vs. geology or miracle vs. physics; he’s thinking of Quaker prophets, papal decrees, and sectarian “enthusiasms.”
He wanted a rational test to weed out impostors.
“Where reason is wanting, I see not how we can distinguish between the delusions of Satan and the inspirations of the Holy Ghost.”
— Essay, IV.19.7To Locke, that wasn’t impiety; it was prudence. If the devil or a madman can claim “God told me,” then reason — the God-given faculty of discernment — must decide whether the claim deserves assent.
2️⃣ What he didn’t say
He never wrote that Scripture is fallible, that miracles are impossible, or that the human mind can correct God.
He affirmed that once a revelation is authenticated, its authority is absolute:“Whatsoever is divine revelation ought to overrule all our opinions and interests, and hath a right to be received with full assent.” (Essay, IV.19.10)
That sentence is often forgotten by his critics.
Locke’s “reason as judge” stops before revelation’s door; once it’s proved genuine, reason bows.
3️⃣ Why later generations took it further
You’re right to compare this with how Darwinists claimed the mantle of “Newtonian.”
Just as Lyell and Darwin borrowed Newton’s vocabulary of “law” while discarding his theism, the later Enlightenment borrowed Locke’s vocabulary of “reason” while discarding his humility before revelation.Locke’s careful procedural rule — “reason verifies revelation’s credentials” — was flattened into a metaphysical rule — “reason alone determines truth.”
Locke would have protested that transformation as vigorously as Newton would have protested “mechanical atheism.”
4️⃣ The charitable reading
If we take him at his word, Locke saw himself as defending both revelation and rationality against fanaticism and authoritarianism.
His logic runs:
God gave reason as a light in the soul.
God gave revelation as a greater light.
The lesser light helps us recognize the greater, not rival it.
Once the greater light is seen, we walk by it.
That is a far cry from making man “god.”
He thought he was making man a faithful steward of God’s truth, guarding against counterfeit revelation.
✅ In short
Locke’s “judging” reason is judicial, not legislative.
It’s the magistrate who confirms that the king’s seal is genuine — not the usurper who issues decrees of his own.
Later generations blurred that distinction, but Locke, taken on his own terms, still knelt before revelation once he believed it authentic.
. Bahnsen earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy (epistemology) at USC