He interprets these commandments, as found in the Old Testament of the Bible, as the foundation of moral and ethical principles for both individual behavior and the governance of societies.

In this theocratic model, religious and political authority would be closely intertwined, with civil laws derived explicitly from biblical teachings.

However, he found the book "a bit rough-hewn", noting that it "began as a series of lectures" and in some respects still resembles one, and that it contained "considerable repetition".

"[1] The journalist M. Stanton Evans described The Institutes of Biblical Law as "a work of prodigious scope and erudition" and a "thoughtful book" in National Review.

[4] Joe Bageant suggests that if the United States experiences a fourth "Great Awakening", historians may one day "document it as beginning in 1973 with the publication of R. J. Rushdoony's seminal The Institutes of Biblical Law.