Previous Q&A with Tom Hicks here. Follow Tom on Twitter here.

Evan: Tell us about yourself.

Tom: I’m the Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Clinton Louisiana, where I’ve been pastoring for more than eight years. They are a faithful church, committed to Christ, and to the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. I received my MDiv and PhD degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. I received a major in Church History and a minor in Systematic Theology. My wife Joy and I have been married for twenty-two years, and we have four wonderful children.

Evan: Pastor Tom, you have two projects coming out in early 2025. What led to your work on these projects?

Tom: The first book, What is a Reformed Baptist?, began as a small pamphlet that Founders Ministries asked me to write. As I worked on it, I found myself wanting to write more, and the pamphlet turned into a book! In many ways, it is the fruit of a lifetime of thinking about the doctrines that are at the heart of the Reformed Faith and Baptist theology.

The second book, Theonomy Old and New, is a collaborative project with Dr. Sam Waldron, the President of Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. I wrote the second part of the book, which aims to explain and refute what has come to be called “general equity theonomy.” I never expected to write about Theonomy, but when versions of the doctrine began to emerge several years ago on the internet and in Baptist circles particularly, I felt a burden to respond publicly. These two books are also related in that What is a Reformed Baptist? carefully lays out the confessional Reformed law/gospel theology, and in a sense, this second book applies that same theology in order to refute an error.

Evan: How do you hope What is a Reformed Baptist? will be used?

Tom: This book describes some of the distinctive doctrines of Reformed Baptists, especially when compared to other Baptists on the one hand, and Reformed paedobaptists, on the other. It is not a work that attempts to refute every alternative view or even to refute all of the best arguments against the Reformed Baptist position. Rather, it simply sets forth what Reformed Baptists believe in a positive sense.

I tried to write the book for people who do not have any formal theological education, but who are still motivated to understand Reformed Baptist theology. My hope is that that this volume will be useful in Sunday School classes, discipleship courses, and membership classes. I tried to write it to provide instruction to the mind but also encouragement to the heart. I also hope the book will be useful to people beyond the Reformed Baptist tradition, not only to help them understand what we believe, but also to serve as a useful aid in outlining some of the basics of the Reformed Faith more generally, including the doctrines of the law and gospel, the covenants, the regulative principle of worship, and Christian liberty.

Evan: Do we need a work on Theonomy? What do you hope would come from a project like this?

Tom: I do believe we need a book on Theonomy, since it has seen a resurgence in recent years. The word “theonomy” means “God’s law.” Theonomy teaches that God requires modern nations to embrace whole Old Covenant judicial law as the blueprint for every society. But this book shows that, in fact, Theonomy does not stand for “God’s law,” but instead it mishandles and misapplies Scripture in ways that the historic Reformed tradition avoided. Both Sam Waldron and I spend a great deal of time describing the position of our opponents to make sure we engage with them fairly. In the end, we argue that Theonomy does not have a correct understanding of the kingdom of God, that it does not properly apply the Reformed hermeneutic to the judicial laws of the Old Covenant, and that it is inconsistent with the Reformed confessions. The book is a caution about Theonomy, while gesturing in a better direction. My hope that anyone considering Theonomy, especially in our Baptist tradition, would read this book, and reconsider.

Evan: Pastor Tom, thank you for doing this Q&A. I am thankful for your friendship and your ministry. May the Lord continue to bless you, your family, and your labors for His glory!

This is what Tom Nettles has said about What is a Reformed Baptist? – “The method that Tom Hicks uses in his discussion of these theological topics should serve as a model for the way we all do theology. With Scripture as the sole authority, Hicks interacts with tested and proven confessional articles from the Second London Confession. Respected and careful theologians provide another guideline for his discussions as he enlists them to give insight on pertinent points of doctrinal development. The analogy of faith is employed as he demonstrates the pervasive textual data in support of his maturing theological propositions. Always included is the element of encouragement that the particular truth provides the Christian in belief and obedience and the formative and vivifying effect that it has on the life and health of the local congregation. The nine chapters, chock-full of edifying biblical and theological development, should provide a helpful resource for pastors and a challenging and edifying guide for study groups in the local church.”

If you are able, pick up a copy of both of these helpful volumes! Links are below.

To purchase a copy of What is a Reformed Baptist?

To purchase a copy of Theonomy: Old and New

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Evan Knies is an elder of North Hills Church in West Monroe, LA. He serves as the publisher for Courier Publishing and teaches at Claiborne Christian School. He is the husband of Lauren and father to Maesyn and Josiah. He is a graduate of Boyce College and Southern Seminary.