On_Christ_and

On Christ and Culture

Rev. Robert A. Lotzer

1. The Definition of Culture

a. Culture is the sum total of what an individual acquires from his society, beliefs, customs, artistic norms, food, habits, crafts which come to him not by his own creative activity but as a legacy from the past and it is conveyed by formal and informal education.

b. Culture will include food getting, housing, clothing, ornamentation, eating habits, mating practices, marriage, family organization, kinship systems, status/social classes, ownership, inheritance, trading, government, war, religion, magic, language, music, sports, entertainment.

"Culture is human civilization in its totality: human reproduction, the building of cities, science, engineering, technology, mining the earth, agriculture, civil government, industry, trade, commerce, economy, education, the fine arts, literature, architecture, entertainment, etc." (Lee Irons, Explanation of Christ and Culture: Four Views).

c. American culture is a mosaic of many cultures -- culture includes a plan which meets the physical, social and ideational (knowledge) needs of society.

2. Important Definitions of Culture

a. Culture Traits: the smallest units of culture (i.e. wave, saying "hello," smile, etc.)

b. Culture Complexes: the combination of traits (for victory, we give a victory sign, the Wave -- raised arms and shout, etc.)

c. Sub-Culture: a cluster of behavior patterns related to the general culture and yet at the same time distinguished from it (preserving a tradition -- Amish people, nudist colony).

d. Counterculture: a person or group that is counter to the norm of culture (attacking the culture -- KKK, Neo-Nazi movement).

3. How Do Cultures Develop?

a. British Anthropologist -- Bonislaw Malinowski (1944) -- "Everyone has the same basic needs, how someone fulfills those needs makes up their culture."

1.) The Seven Basic Needs by Malinowski

a.) Metabolism -- water, oxygen, food

b.) Reproduction -- survival of society, sex, marriage, kinship

c.) Safety -- prevention of bodily injuries, warfare

d.) Bodily Comforts -- clothing, pleasures, recreation, entertainment

e.) Movement -- sports, activities, transportation

f.) Growth -- maturation process, human and physical development; emotional, intellectual, spiritual

g.) Health -- preservation of the body

We might add: spiritual, self-worth, communication, social acceptance.

b. Missiologist -- Lloyd E. Kwast also asks if a Martian were to come from Mars to Earth what would he notice about earthlings:

1.) Behavior -- What is done?

2.) Values -- What is good, beneficial or best that leads to certain kinds of behavior?

3.) Beliefs -- What does this people think is true that affects their values?

Some may have similar values and behavior while holding to radically different beliefs. May be a distinction between

operational beliefs (beliefs that actually affect values and behavior) and theoretical beliefs (beliefs which have little practical

impact on values and behavior).

4.) Worldview -- What is real?

This deals with the ultimate questions of reality that may or may not be clearly presented yet form the basic core of why man does and thinks they has he does. James Sire, The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog, 3rd ed. lists 8 different worldviews: Christian theism, deism, naturalism, nihilism, existentialism, eastern pantheistic monism, the new age movement, and postmodernism. C. S. Lewis narrowed them down to 3: atheism, pantheism, and theism. This is a very important area of discussion on the Christian's relationship to culture, but we will not enter into it at this time. We will save a discussion on worldviews for another time.

4. How Does a Christian Relate to His Surrounding Culture?

Helpful Works:

1. H. Richard Neibuhr, Christ and Culture (New York: Harper & Row, Pub., 1951).

2. Kenneth A. Myers, All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes: Christians and Popular Culture (Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Books, 1989).

3. Michael S. Horton, Where In The World Is The Church: A Christian View of Culture and Your Role In It (Chicago: Moody Press, 1995; P&R Press, 2002).

4. Michael S. Horton, Beyond Culture Wars (Chicago: Moody Press, 1994).

5. Gene Edward Veith, Jr., The Spirituality of the Cross: The Way of the First Evangelicals (St. Louis: Concordia, 1999).

6. The Works by Luther and Calvin on vocation and calling

From the earliest days of Christianity there has been some degree of distinction (but not always separation) between Christ (the church) and the surrounding culture:

Jesus -- Caesar and God (Mark 12:13-17); High Priestly Prayer (John 17:9, 11, 14-15, 18; cf. v. 20); Before Pilate (John 18:36).

How do we balance the truth of "not of the world" and yet Jesus sends us "into the world" to be salt and light (Matt. 5:13-16; Great Commission, Matt. 28:18-20) and to suffer for his sake (1 Pet. 2:13-25; 3:14-17; 4:12-16)?

St. Augustine spoke of two cities and two loves (the city of man and the city of God); Luther and Calvin spoke of two kingdoms (the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of men); early American revolutionaries spoke of the separation of the church and the state; Abraham Kuyper and Herman Dooyeweerd spoke of different spheres (usually the state, the family, and the church) each distinct from one another and having their own realm of sovereignty.

How do these two realms or spheres relate to one another (the church and the surrounding culture -- includes more than just the government of the state)?

H. Richard Neibuhr's Christ and Culture presented 5 basic patterns of how Christians have related to their surrounding culture throughout church history:

1. Christ of Culture or Culture Above Christ (1 Cor. 9:20-21; 10:23-33) -- Christianity serves the surrounding culture so that the world sets the agenda of the church (no antagonism). The culture controls and forms Christ (the church). It so accommodates Christianity to the world's values that it is identified with the culture and vice versa. When the surrounding culture changes, the church must change with it (or be revised) in order to remain relevant. There is hardly any difference between the two.

We see this for instance in liberal theology. Major proponents: Gnostics, Peter Abelard, Schleirmacher (father of classical liberalism). When the Age of Reason/Enlightenment rejected the supernatural then the church, to be relevant, jettisons the supernatural teachings (demythologize) of scripture. During the age of romanticism, Christianity became a religion of feelings, focusing on the subjective in disregard for the objective truth of scripture. During the age of Darwin, the evolutionary social progress of man shaped the church to become a social institution to affect change upon society to remove its ills. In the twentieth century we have witnessed a whole host of social movements -- existentialism, process theology, socialism/fascism, liberationists, civil right movements, peace movements, gay rights, feminism, deconstruction and theological relativism -- each one revising Christianity to fit their new message.

But we also see this among evangelicals in the modern church growth movement in which the church changes its teachings and practices to keep up with a postmodern culture. The church performs market surveys to find what religious consumers want and then like any other successful business they change the ancient doctrines of the faith and time-tested worship practices for whatever doctrines and styles are vogue. Rather than hearing the basic problem of man, sin, and God's answer in the person and work of Jesus Christ, sermons become pep-talks, positive messages of self-esteem, psychology self-help, and principles for successful living. In trying to be relevant, these evangelicals, like their liberal forefathers, have simply developed a cultural religion which actually looses its relevance to sinful man because it offers nothing more than what culture already offers and usually is able to far surpass the church in providing.

2. Christ Against Culture -- (1 John 2:15-17; 4:1-6; 2 Cor. 6:14-18) The surrounding culture is so corrupt and polluted by sin that the Christian's/church's only response is to separate/withdraw (an antagonist relationship) from the sinful, corrupt culture and create a distinctively Christian sub-culture. Christians are to divorce themselves from the world. The church then becomes an alternative to the surrounding culture for those who refuse to take part in this world.

This view has been seen from the very early stages of the church, especially in the early monastic movements. We also see it in the Anabaptist subcultures (radical reformers), fundamentalist separatism, and various Christian communal living experiments. Major proponents of this position: Tertullian (160-220, "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?"), Monasticism, Leo Tolstoy, Jakob Amman (founder of Amish), J. N. Darby, Jacques Ellul. The Amish and Mennonites (the separated brethren; Anabaptists tradition) would be a clear example of this pattern in which a group of Christians band together in opposition to the culture, rejecting military service, contemporary dress, and modern technology. The Schleitheim Confession of the Anabaptists (1527) says:

Since all who do not walk in the obedience of faith . . . are a great abomination before God, it is not possible for anything to grow or issue from them except abominable things . . . God further admonishes us to withdraw from Babylon and the earthly Egypt that we may not be partakers of the pain and suffering which the Lord will bring upon them.

We also saw this in the early twentieth century among premillenial fundamentalist who responded negatively to the postmillennial triumphalism of the earlier centuries with disillusionment of the church's failure to improve society and responded by separating from their surrounding culture into the enclaves of fundamentalist piety. These fundamentalists made a major turn-about during the 1940s - 1950s and again in the 1960s-1970s through the writings of Carl F. H. Henry and Francis Schaeffer, which resulted in many neo-evangelical social movements (see below). These movements reached their heyday with the election of Ronald Reagan and George Bush to the office of President and by linking themselves with the Republican Party. However, with the election of Bill Clinton to office, these evangelicals began to rethink their social activist role and political self-interests group and now seem to be receding from social experiments through the use of political parties.

We also find this in modern evangelicalism with Christian phone directories, music, art, trinkets (WWJD bracelets, bumper stickers), clothing (Christian T-Shirts), and even science. In many ways, evangelicals have bunkered down in their own little fortified subculture in trying to protect themselves from the moral decay of the surrounding world.

Again, this view reduces Christianity to another cultural religion with its own taboos and morals and rejects its involvement within the world in service of love and evangelism as Christ commanded in John 17:15, 18. In this new culture what defines its members is usually what they are against in the world and what makes them distinctive from the world. Usually evangelicals have not been very good at creating a high-culture simply because most of those in these movements are more familiar with low or pop culture. Therefore, their writings (i.e. novels, literature), music, film, art, etc. tends to be very poor forms of culture. Rarely do you find Christians who are writing novels of lasting value or writing classical music or ballets. Rather than engaging the world and investing in the surrounding culture its own talents and values, those who are opposed to culture withdraw and create a religion that has little interaction with the world.

3. Christ Above Culture -- (Acts 17:22-31) -- Synthesizes Christianity's ideals with the best that the world offers. High view of general revelation. Typically found among Roman Catholic theologians. Major proponents: Clement of Alexandria, Aquinas, Tillich, Neo-Liberalism.

This view and the following are very similar in their approach to create a distinctively Christian culture or that the church reforms culture. However, their methods or means are different. The former wants to transform the culture but alone the lines of general revelation and natural law. The latter wants to transform the culture through special revelation or the laws of the Bible (usually Moses). Both views essentially desire to produce a Christendom -- or a theocracy. This desire was seen during the Middle Ages as the Holy Roman Empire seen as a fulfillment of the OT theocracy where the emperor was both holy (like King David) and a Roman Caesar. The empire was the Christian body of Christ and this is why all subjects, including infants, were baptized as members of the holy empire. It was the goal of the Holy Roman Empire through the preaching of the gospel and the use of the sword to "evangelize" all civilization to the ends of the earth, hence the crusades and the inquisition. But this view continued on in England and America in the Puritan commonwealth movement where America was seen as the new world and the persecutions from England began to develop here in the Salem witch trials and the persecution of Baptist and Presbyterian ministers.

4. Christ the Transformer of Culture (Matt. 5:13-16; 13:33) -- Instead of culture becoming the norm for the church or the church simply separating from culture, this pattern sees culture as something redeemable and therefore Christianity is the standard to which the culture must conform. Christians attempt to make the world conform to the biblical ideal. This approach will also create and promote a distinctively Christian approach to art, music, economics, statism, science, and every other sphere of life as a model to which culture should conform. Society should be reformed until it approximates a Christian civilization.

This approach also has early roots in church history going back to Constantine (306-337) who brought an end to the persecution of Christians by making the Roman empire a Christian state and thereby forcing all his subjects to become Christians. We also see this during the Reformation and Puritan commonwealths, the nineteenth century social reformers (temperance movements), the twentieth century liberal theologians (liberal social movements like the feminists, civil rights, and liberation theologians), and many contemporary Christian political activists. In fact, an interesting sociological development in the twentieth century is to see the change in the modern fundamentalist movements from separatism to activism in the Moral Majority (Christian America) and Christian Reconstruction movements. Neo-Kuyperian's understanding of sphere sovereignty has tended to blur the distinctions between a common culture and the church by referring to all society (spheres) under the rule of Christ. While it is true that Christ rules over all, we must make a distinction in the way he rules over the different spheres (see below).

Christians band together to stand against the modern evils of culture (cultural wars) and use powerful, political influences to change/remake society into their close proximity of their "Christian" view of the world (making the Christian Bible the law of the land).

This view mistakenly confuses the kingdoms much like the liberal theologians of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It often underestimates the pervasive effects of the Fall and the scope of human sinfulness in our culture. No human being can keep the law of God, including whole cultures and societies. This includes Christian leaders who even if they were to gain the upper hand would ultimately fail in creating a Christian utopia or ideal state this side of glory. Every Christian commonwealth has failed for this very reason. Once Eden fell the culture of this world will stand opposed to the glory of the kingdom of God, no matter what earthly leader is sitting upon the throne. All earthly governments, even so-called Christian ones, are transient and will prove disappointing, corrupted by pride and injustice, until Christ comes to consummate the age. This age, and its kingdoms, are temporary and are not the lasting kingdom to come.

This view also misunderstands the nature of the gospel which comes through faith alone and not coercion from the sword. The power of the kingdoms of man is the sword and when the church and the state are joined then the church uses the power of the sword to bring about external conversion. Again, the result of a Christian nation is to reduce Christianity to a cultural religion that is ultimately doomed to fail. The only kingdom that is completely ruled by Christ is in heaven and will only be realized on the earth at his return. Christianity is the result of the work of the Holy Spirit and the only way to impose this upon unbelievers is to water down Christ to rules that can be written into and enforced by civil law.

5. Christ and Culture in Paradox (1 Cor. 7:31; John 17:9-21) -- the last approach recognizes that God has instituted both spheres or realms but for different purposes. The Christian must fully live in both kingdoms or spheres without separating from them or confusing them. Jesus calls the believer both to be distinct from the world and at the same time to be in the world. The culture cannot transform the church and the church cannot escape from the world and yet the church (used generically to refer to individual Christians, not the church as an institution, i.e. spirituality of the church) should not attempt to conform the world according to its own standards but according to the standards that God has given to the culture. The Christian is active in his culture through what is called the doctrine of vocation (see below). It should always be remembered that God rules over both kingdoms and he has given his law to both of them to rule them so that when either attempts to rebel against that law they should be called into conformity, however, only according to that law which God has given to them.

These two spheres or realms have different purposes or goals: one is for the salvation of sinners and the other is given to bring order to society and restrain sin. Each has different constituencies: one includes all the redeemed or all the covenant community which transcends all nations and the other is divided by different geographic boundaries. One is applied to a special, redemptive people and the other is temporary and common to all men. Each has different laws, but the same lawgiver: one is ruled by special revelation/law of Christ and the other is ruled by general revelation and natural law. Each uses different means to accomplish its purpose: one uses the gospel through the Word and Sacraments and the other uses the sword. Christians are called as dual citizens to serve actively in both kingdoms and at the same time.

We see this pattern especially taught by the Magisterial Reformers like Luther and Calvin. We should distinguish between their teachings and their actual practice. Neither was able to fully work out their teaching on the two kingdoms to the extent that they reached their ideal.

Luther's reaction to the Medieval dominance of the church over the state and the rebellious peasant revolt which threatened the persecution of the reformation by the German princes led Luther to make the church subject to the state.

Calvin, while wanting the consistory to have separate powers from the state in the spiritual affairs of the church, he still seemingly approved of the execution of Michael Servetus, the anti-Trinitarian heretic that was burned at the stake in Geneva.

Also, both Luther and Calvin argued for a very conservative approach to resistance to the state because the princes were opposed to such resistance and the magisterial reformers were afraid that the princes would try and stop the reformation and they did not want to be associated with the radical reformers.

However, we must be careful in reading the reformers because they were still under the Christendom model of the Middle Ages. This model was not finally rejected until the American Revolution.

This view is also worked out in the major Reformational confessions: For instance:

WSC Q102: What do we pray for in the second petition?

A102: In the second petition, which is, Thy kingdom come, we pray, That Satan's kingdom may be destroyed; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it; and the kingdom of glory may be hastened.

However, the confession goes on to blur the separation of these two kingdoms and the ideal of the two kingdoms did not come into closer proximity until the American Revolution and seen the sermons of the Baptist and Presbyterian ministers.

The danger of this view would be to misunderstand the nature of God's law upon the two kingdoms. The other is to confuse the idea of dual citizenship so that either both will intrude upon the sovereignty of the other or some in the kingdom of God will loose sight of their responsibility in the kingdom of man.

5. A Biblical View of Culture -- The Two Kingdoms -- Use Lee's explanation and chart.

Creation -- God set up a holy temple and theocracy in the Garden of Eden. As a temple, the Garden was the sanctuary where Adam would come to worship and serve God as his priest (2:15). As a theocracy, which includes both the reign and realm of God rule, Adam served (along with a suitable helpmate (Gen. 2:18-25) as God's vice-regent with the responsibility of subduing and filling the earth as God's theocratic kingdom (Gen. 1:28; i.e. the cultural mandate). As we see, the cultural mandate including work and protection (2:15) to discover and bring order to creation to make it useful in fulfilling the mandate (2:19ff.). The creation was something that needed care, discovery, and organization (i.e. science). In the Garden, God made man a kingdom of priests (cf. Ex. 19:5-6; Rev. 1:5-6; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9). In the Garden all of Adam's cultural work was holy (religious work) to the Lord and he was to work (along with his helper and seed) to fulfill the kingly-cultural-cultic mandate until his work was finished (the garden sanctuary became an earthly theocratic city) in which he would, like God, enter into the rest of enjoyment of his finished work (Gen. 2:1-3). There was no distinction between the common or secular and the holy or sacred. Through the cultural mandate, Adam (and his seed) would bring about the kingdom of God on earth.

Fall -- However, the fall brought about a curse that is common to all creation. Now the cultural mandate will continue, but it will no longer be sacred/holy work for the people of God alone and it will not ultimately produce the consummate goal of a theocratic city of God. Rather, Adam is told that this kingdom-city will be brought about redemptively only by a future seed who will destroy their enemy and through his own suffering will gain access for them to the tree of life (Gen. 3:15, 24). Now man's common cultural work will be frustrated by the common curse upon all men, including physical death (Gen. 3:17-19; Adam is federal representative of the entire human race) and reproduction will continue in pain and trial (Gen. 3:16) and all will be performed in warfare with Satan (Gen. 3:13-15) until redemption is brought about through the future seed (therefore, the curse will be common to all men and temporary until the seed has finished his work). Once Adam is exiled from the holy theocracy, and the priestly activity is passed to the cherubim (Gen. 3:24; i.e. the sacred work), Adam was sent into the common culture (East of Eden) to continue the cultural mandate (3:23).

Summary of Common Curse:

1. The culture (East of Eden) under the curse is continues after the fall and it is common to all mankind. It is no longer sacred work.

2. The cultural mandate will no longer fulfill its original purpose of bringing about the utopia of the theocratic kingdom of God. After the fall, the cultural mandate can no longer bring about the kingdom of God.

3. This purpose will be fulfilled through redemptive warfare.

4. The cultural mandate will be frustrated, difficult, and will ultimately end in death. The culture, under the curse, is temporary until the seed comes.

But this temporary cultural mandate also includes a realm of common grace, not only the common curse. God promised Adam that if he sinned he (and his posterity) would die in judgment (Gen. 2:17). However, when Adam did sin, God delayed the judgment. In the curse, God also showed his grace which is now common to all mankind (Adam as the federal representative of the whole human race).

Summary of Common Grace

1. Results from the delay of judgment. After the fall, God could have destroyed the whole world, but he doesn't. Instead he shows grace to all in order to bring about his redemptive plan. There is a sense in which creation now serves redemption, even if it is not aware of it (the backdrop of redemption). God delays his judgment (and continues to do so even today) so that his redemptive plan will reach its completion. If God were to destroy all mankind, then even his elect would be destroyed. Until that day when his last elect people are saved, then the wheat and the tares will continue to grow together in this common society (Matt.13:24-43; 2 Pet. 3:3-15). This mixture of the wheat and the tares is not a bad thing but rather God's common grace in that mankind continues to exist until the time of appointed destruction.

2. Involves temporal blessings only, these are not eternal. These blessings will one day end at the end of this passing age. Therefore we should not derive our ultimate comfort, satisfactions, and hope from these blessings (1 Cor. 7:29ff.). The cultural mandate continues but it is only temporary. The results and accomplishments of the cultural program and civilization will not survive the future purification of fire (2 Pet. 3:10)

3. Restraint of sin is involved. Mankind takes creation and perverts it, but God does not allow it to happen wholesale. The earthly city is still Babylon and will not, as a nation, be converted, while individuals within the city of man may. All mankind has not been as wicked as he can be but he is restrained by a common, natural law written upon man's heart (Rom. 2:14-15) and God has given the power of the state to follow and enforce that natural law upon man to bring order to society (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Tim. 2:1-6; 1 Pet. 2:13-17). Government, politics, rule of law comes about only when two sinful people begin to interact and there comes a need to have a standard in place to determine what to do. Government is given to control people and give them a peaceful, organized place to rectify their differences. Again, the purpose of this restraint is ultimately to bring about the plan of redemption. We will discuss the relationship between the church and the state later below.

4. It is undeserved. Mankind doesn't deserve these benefits.

5. It is common to all the elect and reprobate alike (Matt. 5:45; Acts 17:25-26).

6. It is truly beneficial and preserves the society and culture. John Calvin has written:

Whenever we come upon these matters in secular writers, let that admirable light of truth shining in them teach us that the mind of man, though fallen and perverted from its wholeness, is nevertheless clothed and ornamented with God’s excellent gifts. If we regard the Spirit of God as the sole fountain of truth, we shall neither reject the truth itself, nor despise it wherever it shall appear, unless we wish to dishonor the Spirit of God. For by holding the gifts of the Spirit in slight esteem, we contemn and reproach the Spirit himself. What then? Shall we deny that the truth shone upon the ancient jurists who established civic order and discipline with such great equity? Shall we say that the philosophers were blind in their fine observation and artful description of nature? Shall we say that those men were devoid of understanding who conceived the art of disputation and taught us to speak reasonably? Shall we say that they are insane who developed medicine, devoting their labor to our benefit? What shall we say of all the mathematical sciences? Shall we consider them the ravings of madmen? No, we cannot read the writings of the ancients on these subjects without great admiration. We marvel at them because we are compelled to recognize how preeminent they are. But shall we count anything praiseworthy or noble without recognizing at the same time that it comes from God? Let us be ashamed of such ingratitude, into which not even the pagan poets fell, for they confessed that the gods had invented philosophy, laws, and all useful arts. Those men whom Scripture [1 Corinthians 2:14] calls “natural men” were, indeed, sharp and penetrating in their investigation of inferior things. Let us, accordingly, learn by their example how many gifts the Lord left to human nature even after it was despoiled of its true good (Inst. 2.2.15).

We receive true benefit from this common grace that is given to both believers and unbelievers. An unbeliever can discover truth and the unbeliever's use of that truth can greatly benefit us as believers (e.g. science, arts, music, literature, civic law, psychology, etc.). We ought to make full use of the wisdom of unbelievers that is gained through rationality and scientific empirical reasoning (Luke 16:8; Matt. 10:16). Unbelievers (or wisdom gained through natural revelation alone) can even be helpful in correcting our interpretation of the scriptures (i.e. geo-centric universe, the time or age of creation, etc.). When the scriptures denounce the wisdom of this world, it is denouncing that wisdom that is being used in rebellion to God's revelation, not wisdom in general (cf. 1 Cor. 1:20, 27). All truth is God's truth (cf. Hoekema, The Bible and the Future, p. 74).

7. There is now a new distinction between the common and the holy. The holy (sacred) is that which pertains to the eternal kingdom of God, anything that will arrive in heaven, that belongs to the eternal state. The common (secular/non-sacred) is anything that ends at the consummation; it does not mean that these things are evil or sinful, only temporary (i.e. marriage, art, music, literature, civil government, etc.)

6. The Doctrine of Vocation

The Reformers restored the biblical doctrine of the priesthood of all believers (1 Pet. 2:5, 9) and its practical work among the life of the believers in their day to day lives in the doctrine of vocation or calling. The word "vocation" comes from the Latin "vocatio," which is derived from the verb, "vocare," to call. The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers and the doctrine of vocation, while not denying the absolute necessity of the clergy, was a response to the Medieval doctrine of limiting the priesthood and the term "calling" to the religious orders of the church. In the time of Constantine everyone became a Christian through a royal edict from the emperor in which every citizen was baptized into the state church. This resulted in the fact that being a Christian did not mean much more than being a member of a civil religion. In the fourth century, some Christians began to react to the conversion of the whole Roman empire and the low standards of morality among many so-called Christians. In order to find a way of being a serious Christian who is called to holiness some Christians began to pull away from society in order to follow what they believed to be true piety for the believer. They turned to Matthew 19 and the Sermon on the Mount and found new rules that should guide the believer like the call to absolute poverty (Matt. 19:21) and the total renunciation of marriage or celibacy (Matt. 19:12) and true obedience according to the Sermon on the Mount. They took vows of poverty, chastity, and radical obedience and entered a monastery, set apart from the world, in order to practice serious Christianity (monks and nuns). The terms "conversion," "vocation," "profession," and "religion" became technical terms for those who had denounced the world and followed their calling from God to true religion. Monasticism became religion so that to be a monk or nun was to be religiously following your calling or vocation. As you can imagine, soon there began to develop within Christianity a distinction between those who were "really" religious and holier than those who were not as serious about being religious. This "higher way" began to be seen as a way of doing good works to please God and gain salvation.

The Reformers reacted to this doctrine of religious works or so-called "good works" by emphasizing the fact that the doctrine of justification by faith alone. In fact, they went on to emphasize that works that are done for God alone hidden in the dark halls of a monastery were not good works at all. They argued that God does not need our good works, our neighbor does and if our works do not serve our neighbor in love then they are not to be considered good. The Reformers rejected the idea that true Christians isolate themselves from the world and their neighbor and just sit in their monasteries trying to do good works to please God. Luther argued:

If you find yourself in a work by which you accomplish something good for God, or the holy, or yourself, but not for your neighbor alone, then you should know that that work is not a good work. For each one ought to live, speak, act, hear, suffer, and die in love and service for one another, even for one's enemies, a husband for his wife and children, a wife for her husband, children for their parents, servants for their masters, masters for their servants, rulers for their subjects and subjects for their rulers, so that one's hand, mouth, eye, foot, heart, and desire is for others; these are Christian works, good in nature (Quoted in Veith, 78).

What Luther is denying is the idea that ascetic self-denial and trying to appease God through rituals and moralistic good works is in any way pleasing to God as fulfilling a good work. God can only be pleased through faith alone in the work of Christ alone, because God can only be pleased in the good works of Jesus Christ. Our relationship to God is only based upon grace alone and forgiveness of our sins. But now that we have been justified by faith alone, that love which we have received from God should now flow to our neighbor. A good work must actually help someone. We are now motivated by God's love for us and the Holy Spirit who works in our lives to love our neighbor as Christ loves us.

This meant for the Christian believer that there is no longer two levels of salvation or two classes of Christians. Having a vocation or calling was not something only for the truly spiritual, rather it applied to all Christians in all categories of life and in every nature of a true calling in life. The man who gets up early in the morning to plant the seed and harvest field, the shoemaker who makes the shoe and sales it at a fair price, the woman who milks the cows and cleans the children are fulfilling their calling just as a missionary who travels afar or the priest who performs the mass. In our day-to-day labors, the hidden God is working to channel his common love for mankind through us. Luther called these works of the hidden God the "masks of God" and what Calvin would refer to as the providence of God in which we don't necessarily see God who is acting upon his creation, but we experience his common grace and love for all creation through the day-to-day vocations of his creatures. God is graciously caring for the human race through the work of other human beings. Luther wrote:

In his vocation man does works which effect the well-being of others; for so God has made all offices. Through this work in man's offices, God's creative work goes forward, and that creative work is love, a profusion of good gifts. With persons as his "hands" and "coworkers," God gives his gifts through the earthly vocations, toward man's life on earth (food through farmers, fishermen, and hunters; external peace through princes, judges, and orderly powers; knowledge and education through teachers and parents, etc., etc.). Through the preacher's vocation, God gives the forgiveness of sins. Thus love comes from God, flowing down to human beings on earth through all vocations, through both spiritual and earthly governments (Quoted in Veith, 75).

How are we to live our day-to-day lives as Christians in this world? Through the ordinary, often mundane life of making a living, going shopping, being a good citizen, and spending time with our families. Parenthood, farmers, laborers, soldiers, judges, retailers, etc. are God's hands or masks by which he bestows his common good and love upon all mankind (cf. 1 Thess. 4:11-12). And it is through these day-by-day vocations or callings that we serve our fellow man by doing good works and living out our union with Christ. When Luther was asked how one served God as a Christian he told them by going to his shop, making a good product, and selling it at a fair price, by loving his family, by raising and educating his children, by serving his fellow man in love and selfless service. We could extrapolate this out in every way in life so that you are fulfilling your calling by getting up on Monday, going to work, serving your boss or your clientele, by buying groceries, eating a meal in a restaurant, watching your favorite television show or movie, drinking a beer or smoking a cigar with your friends, helping your neighbor change a flat tire, by cutting your grass, washing your car, wiping your children's noses, going to the doctor, buying a well-crafted grandfather clock, enjoying a beautiful piece of art or the magnificence of West Texas sunset, etc. In this way your life in the world, in the surrounding culture, may look rather mundane and not something super-spiritual, but that is how we serve in humility, service and love.

Luther contrasted the "theology of glory" with the "theology of the cross" so as to emphasize the radical difference between the life of the Christian who is in Christ who humbled himself and suffered for us versus the life of those who think serving God is something radically different from real, down-to-earth life or as something that should constantly be seen in signs and wonders. Just as the life of the Christian in the church is clothed with the rather mundane means of grace, Word and Sacraments, so the life of the believer is humble and concrete in this life.

Things don't have to be "spiritualize" or made "Christian" to be pleasing to God in the common realm of the day-to-day life of the believer. To do so is to confuse the two kingdoms. God rules this world through two kingdoms: in the spiritual realm he actively rules through the Word and Sacraments and in the earthly realm he rules through vocation. When we daily pray the Lord's Prayer and ask for our daily bread, God doesn't deliver it to our table like manna in the wilderness he brings it to us through the work of the farmers, the baker, the truck driver, etc. The entire culture is interdependent so that we need the employers, employees, the bankers and investors, the transportation of goods and the technological means of production. In each of these areas of life God is distributing his good gifts to his creation. Being loved by our spouse and children is in a real sense experiencing the love of God for us his creature.

But what do we do when human beings sin in their vocation? There are those who violate God's common or natural law and neglect their responsibilities to love and serve their neighbors and in the process hurt one another. This is brings us to another "masks" of God's providence or another vocation and that is the mask of government, the state.

There are other governments other than the state as well. For instance there is the government of the parents over the children where even if a father or mother is naturally selfish the very act of raising children causes someone who is self-centered to serve his children, even if he constantly complains about it. The husband, under the power of the hard work of a marriage, ends up giving himself to his wife and serving her. But we want to now turn to the government of the state.

7. The Relationship of the Church and the State

Concept of the State -- Civil Government

Gen. 4:1-5 -- persecution of the righteous line. Enmity against the seed of the woman -- martyrdom (Gen. 3:15) -- constant warfare.

However, you expect God to take Cain's life yet God preserves Cain's life & protects him.

God begins a common grace order -- undeserved kindness

Cain is the founder - the first king of this new world order. It will be protected until the final Day of the Lord.

Beginnings of the State -- vv. 14-15

Cain's Complaint -- v. 14

A Banishment from face of ground

B Hidden from God's face

A Unsettled/Wandering/Exiled Life

B. He will be abandoned to perils of lawless world

2 Major Complaints

1. Cain is going to banished and exiled from the ground.

2. God is going to be hidden from Cain & therefore Cain is going to be killed by others.

(Deut. 31:16-18; Ps. 13:1-2; Ps. 22:24; Isa. 40:27; Micah 3:4) -- hidden from God's face -- absence of Divine protection.

Cain was afraid to be out in society (outlaw) w/o God's protection -- absence of justice; lawless.

God's Protection -- Origin of Civil Government (v. 15) -- God gives us politics, government as a way of resolving social conflict.

Social conflict -- disagreements arising in society because of differing beliefs, values, and attitudes; conflicts over society's priorities and competition for scarce resources.

Government -- individuals, institutions, and processes that make society's rules about conflict resolution and the allocation of resources and that possess the power to enforce them.

Formal statement: "therefore" -- Num. 25:12

Given in form of a law -- "If anyone does . . . then . . . (cf. Ex. 21ff Case laws)

Sign: some think literal mark but it doesn't say a literal mark visible expression or reminder to God (rainbow, Sabbath, etc)

We don't know what the sign is -- God is confirming what He promised to Cain with a sign.

Concept of "blood feud" -- replaced by civil justice cities of refuge -- set up to protect again "blood -feud"

Rather, a formal system of justice to stop blood-feuding. It is formal, an outside source from the family.

Not given only to Cain, but to all mankind (vv. 16-17).

He builds the city that was promised in v. 15 -- a legitimate common grace world realm. Man can therefore build a life, society without fear of lawlessness; there will be structure and order and protection for man to flourish.

Lamech -- hearkens back to Cain, therefore he understood that it is applied to all mankind. Lamech is not satisfied with God's justice.

He perverts God's justice order -- beginning to pervert God's order; society & continues into chp. 6 -- until God wipes man away.

God re-establishes Common Grace Order (9:5) after flood. The whole world had been limited to merely 8 people --redemptive community. God has to re-established the Common Grace order so that we know that it is still in effect.

Judicial protection

When we want to understand what God says about civil government, we don't go to theocratic states. We must go only to common grace realm. Gen. 4, 9; Rom. 13 Non-theocratic Government.

Israel as a Theocracy -- It is only in the nation of Israel that the cult and culture are reunited as a republishing of the life in Eden. There the culture becomes holy as a picture of the true kingdom to come in Christ.

The Proper Relationship Between the Church and the State

How do we be responsible citizens?

1. Respect the separation of spheres and the different constituencies within each of those spheres. There are basically two separate realms over which God rules: the state and the church. Each sphere is completely autonomous and separate from the other sphere. We serve God in the realm of the church by receiving in faith his Word and Sacraments. But God serves also through our unique fellowship as believers when we show particular kindness and humility in serving fellow believers in the church. As we give to others, God uses us as his channel of love to give to our fellow Christian.

We come to the church and God serves us in giving us everything that we need, by his grace alone, to serve our fellow man in our day-to-day vocations. Then we enter into the world to serve in our vocations. Some may serve as politicians, judges, the president, soldiers, etc. Some may lobby to influence the political process. Some may serve as policemen, or firemen. But here as well, God channels his love through his creatures as each man serves his fellowman.

There are different constituencies within each realm. The state is limited to the national, geographic boundaries. The church transcends all geographic boundaries and is made up of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

2. Respect the different means. God rules these different realms differently.

The Reformed and Lutheran distinction is made between the one office of Christ as King (regnum Christi; Matt. 28:18; Eph. 1:20-23; Phil. 2:9-11; 1 Cor. 15:23-28) that is distinguished between (cf. Berkhof, 406-411; Mueller, Christian Dogmatics, 314-318; Muller, 259-230):

a. regnum gratiae -- the kingdom of grace, or Christ's royal rule, blessing, and defense of his present people, the church as earthly pilgrims, established in the hearts and lives of his people (Luke 11:20; 17:20-21; Matt. 5:5; 11:28-30; 13:23, 30, 49; Eph. 2:5-6; Col. 1:13; Rev. 1:5-6).

b. regnum potentiae -- the kingdom of power, or Christ's royal reign over the universe, his providential and judicial administration of all things in the interest of the church. He is Lord of all creation without distinction. His reign is universal and general or natural.

c. regnum gloriae -- the kingdom of glory, when Christ reigns over the glorified church, both presently and in the new heavens and new earth when he will subdue all his enemies and bring the whole church into its triumphal reign.

These divisions or distinctions do not indicate several reigns but merely distinctions in the manner and exercise of rule.

Church (regnum gratiae): Gospel -- means of grace (Word and Sacraments) -- Zech. 4:6; forgiveness of sins; special, redemptive grace. It's power is spiritual, ministerial and declarative. The Word of God is the ultimate rule and only binds the conscience of the believer in matters of faith and practice within the covenant community. The kingdom of God advances through the preaching of the gospel, not the sword. We do not use the power of the state to further the gospel. However, where scripture is insufficient, natural law may be used to assist the order of the church.

State (regnum potentiae): Sword; the enforcement of the law (natural law). Common to all men; God rules by common law and grace. Even over those who do not recognize his present rule. Since it is common to all men, it should be religiously pluralistic and neutral. Christians do not try to impose a distinctively Christian (or even Judeo) law upon society through the kingdom of power but are to pursue their dual citizenship according to the distinct policies of each kingdom. When a government oversteps its boundary in forbidding us to follow what God has commanded or commanding us to do what God has forbidden then we must peacefully resist and suffer the consequences for our actions (cf. Acts 4:19-20; 5:29; Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pet. 2:13-17). Also, if the state permits us to lobby for good laws for the common good of the state then we should argue for those laws on the basis of a common or natural law given to all man. This is also true when we are calling the state back to just laws.

The special, redemptive laws of Christ (or even Moses) should not be imposed upon a common kingdom. This was especially serious during the reformation with some of the Anabaptists. While some withdrew from society, others became violent revolutionaries (like Thomas Muntzer's peasant revolt) and tried to overthrow the modern government and impose the law of Moses upon the state to create a new Christendom (very similar to the modern-day reconstruction movement). Its interesting that these folks are wanting to create a so-called "Christendom" while at the same time trying to impose the laws of Moses, the Israelites, to do so. Quote Calvin and Luther.

That man is under a twofold government . . . we must keep in mind that distinction which we previously laid down (cf. Inst. 3.19.15) so that we do not (as commonly happens) unwisely mingle these two, which have a completely different nature . . . that Christ’s spiritual Kingdom and the civil jurisdiction are things completely distinct . . . Yet this distinction does not lead us to consider the whole nature of government a thing polluted, which has nothing to do with Christian men. That is what, indeed, certain fanatics who delight in unbridled license shout and boast . . . But as we have just now pointed out that this kind of government is distinct from that spiritual and inward Kingdom of Christ, so we must know that they are not at variance (Inst. 4.20.1-2).

Also read from my edited copy of Luther's sermon (How Christians Should Regard Moses).

Also, quote Robinson in the Church of God. The church should not be in the business of waging war, coercing obedience, and punishing wrongdoers. Neither should the state be in the business of telling pastors what to preach or to whom to administer the sacraments. The church does not depend upon power, social prestige, rhetorical manipulation, or human-designed programs. Rather it has been given the Word and Sacraments which may seem weak and humble to the world, but are like clay vessels that carry the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit.

3. Respect the different goals and purposes of the two kingdoms. The purpose of the church is to redeem man by the gospel and forgiveness of sins. It is the work of the church to transform the heart of man as the Spirit of God works through the means of grace. However, it is not the purpose of the state to transform men's hearts or to make them a moral creature. It is the responsibility of the state to bring order to society, restrain, and work for the common good of all its citizens. Therefore, we don't work through the state to try to change men's hearts, rather that is the work of the gospel within the realm of the church. Neither does the state work through the church to transform its citizens to create a utopia or ideal society. That is to use to sword to coerce faith in God.

We should not align our particular faith with a political party so that the world sees our faith as merely political. "You can be a real Christian unless you hold to this particular political platform or you vote for this particular candidate." The world often sees the church as angry and at war with them. However, as Paul reminds us, our warfare is not with flesh and blood. Our fellowman is not our enemy is some sort of cultural war. He is the mission field upon which we are to share our faith and love. The only way to change the hearts of men is through the gospel, not the sword. The laws of the land will never change the hearts of man. If we truly want to impact society and see some degree of moral transformation it will only come through the proclamation of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Also, while we should be good citizens and vote for candidates that will fulfill their common responsibility to the citizens of this nation we should not put all our hopes in thinking that the state can create a moral society or even that the state will always protect our freedoms and bring us external peace. Also, since the state is within the realm of the common good and ruled by common or natural law, a Christian candidate may not necessarily be better than a non-Christian candidate. Luther once said that he would rather be ruled by a smart Turk than a stupid Christian. Just because someone is a Christian does not mean that he has a particular vocation as a politician or that he is qualified to make good decisions for the nation because those decision are for the common good and are based upon the common, or natural law of all man. Being a Christian does not make a politician a better one any more than being a Christian necessarily makes one a better fireman, or ship-builder, or architect, or policemen.

The Value of the Two Kingdoms Doctrine

It keeps the two realms distinct so that it frees up the believer to be a good citizen and actively serving in the secular or common realm of life (he is not hiding away from the world in a monastery). Also we are not trying to turn the culture or the state into something that it can never be: Christian. A culture or state can't be Christian anymore than a pot or chair can be a "Christian" or "holy" pot or chair. Whether you call a chair a Christian chair or a secular chair it still fulfills its purpose no matter who sits in it. The same is true of the government and society. This culture is temporary and passing away. It will never be Christian until Christ returns and takes over the world. Until then we should work to make it a better place to live so that we will be at peace and the church can continue to fulfill its commission. We should work to help improve the lives of our fellowman by faithfully serving in our day-to-day vocations. But our ultimate hope is in another place. By not trying to enforce laws that are distinctively Christian, which truly cannot be followed without the Gospel anyway, then we are not excluding our fellowman and citizen who may not be a Christian. If we try to impose the Ten Commandments or Christian prayer upon society, then we must be sure that a Buddhist or Muslim will soon follow us to get their laws and prayers that are distinctive to their faiths upon society. And if we are going to persecute and exclude those who have faiths different from ours when we are in power, then what is to stop the next rule who is not a Christian from persecuting and excluding us from society. We must always remember that the society and culture and state is a common grace institution for the common good, not redemptive, of all mankind (Matt. 5:45). What is appropriate in one realm is not appropriate in another realm (e.g. the surgeon).

It also guards against the church becoming a political organization and being enveloped by the cares and concerns of the surrounding culture so that the church looses its message and is no longer faithful to its calling and commission from Christ. The church is not to use the sword (coercive power) to promote the gospel. The world should not see us as constantly angry and at war with the world. They are our mission field, not a battle field where war is bring raged and all our energy is being expended for a culture/state that will one day pass away. When the church becomes like the world then it becomes only a social religion that has lost its power.

In this way, Christians faithfully serve as active citizens in both kingdoms called to serve in our vocations doing good works and called by faith to receive God's forgiveness by his grace. In this way we are in the world but not of it.