The Christian a Citizen of Two Kingdoms

Every person is a subject of two kingdoms, one of which is spiritual, the other earthly. The unbeliever is in the kingdom of Satan, the believer belongs to the kingdom of Christ. Both the godly and the ungodly are citizens of an earthly kingdom or country, without any difference in the nature of their citizenship. However, Lutherans have not always been as great a blessing to their country as they should have been. They may, in general, be decent and law-abiding citizens, but they are often not active enough in making their influence felt for the betterment of politics and civil life.

Christian Citizenship

We are all citizens of two kingdoms. One is the kingdom of this world. Into it we are born; in it we sustain our bodies and do our work. The other is the Christian Church, in which we have become members by faith. In it we do our spiritual tasks; in it we pray, serve the Church, and do mission-work. This is the purpose for which we have been placed on earth. Christian citizenship has positive contributions to make. It will advance the cause of those movements which tend to strengthen the guarantees of order and law. The Christian citizen will he will conscientiously labor to keep separate Church and State; to keep sacred the institution of marriage; and to protect the morals of youth.

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Public Square in the Era of C.F.W. Walther

When we look to Walther and our synodical forebears for advice on the question of the church and the public square, we find little encouragement for political activism on the part of the church. Although there is room in Walther's theology for such activism on the part of government officials and perhaps even voters who are Christian, there is none at all for the church per se, for God has established two separate institutions, church and state, each with its own purpose and role. The task of government is to look after man's temporal well-being; the task of the church is to preach the Word of God in its truth and purity for the salvation of souls. Clearly, each has more than enough to do without entering into the work of the other.

Lutheran Ethics in View of Justification, Sanctification and the Two "Kingdoms"

The Christian is justified and brought to faith by God's grace alone. His sanctification is worked by the Holy Spirit in two ways; by daily drowning the Christian's old nature through the application of the law, and by producing the fruits of the Spirit through the Gospel. The Christian, then, in motivated to do good works by the movement of the Spirit through the Gospel and is restrained from doing evil by the Law. The Christian must also consider in what sphere he finds himself to determine his ethical response. Is he in the sphere of the government, where law rules? Or the sphere of the church, where the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount reign supreme and Christians are called to a life of repentance? Only by properly understanding his motives for ethical behavior, and discerning the realm in which he finds himself, can the Christian begin to evaluate what the most ethical courses of actions would be.

Righteousness Exalteth a Nation

Christians alone are able to do good works which God is pleased to accept for Jesus' sake as fruits of their faith. Their righteousness is of an entirely different kind and quality from that of the unbelievers, Cp. Matt. 5:20. They serve God from the heart and conduct their entire lives according to His will. They are deeply grieved by the sins of their fellow citizens and by the ungodliness in their nation. But they pray fervently to God to spare their country from severe punishment, and they do everything in their power to improve the moral conditions.

The Social Doctrine of the Augsburg Confession and its Significance for the Present

In this essay Sasse describes the theology of the "two regimens" (more commonly called "two kingdoms") of the state and the church. Sasse addresses the widespread misunderstanding of the kingdom of God. He speaks of attempts to "ecclesiasticize" or "Christianize" the world which would eventually result in the "secularization" of Christendom. Later social scientists and historians would describe this as the "politicization" of Christianity.

The Two Governments and the Two Kingdoms in Luther's Thought

Martin Luther sought to answer two fundamental questions. First, what is the purpose and task of secular authority and what-in view of Christ's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount-should be the attitude of a Christian called to exercise it? Secondly, what are the proper limits of secular authority and what is the fitting relationship between it and spiritual authority? Luther avers that the exercise of governmental power is not founded on the consent of the governed, but on the ordinance of God. . His doctrine of the two kingdoms combines the insight that the Church's prime duty is to publish abroad the message of both the forgiveness of sins for Jesus sake and the future restoration of our vitiated human nature in eternity with the acknowledgement of the essential God-pleasingness of the performance of provisional secular tasks in faith.

The Two Realms in the Lutheran Confessions

The distinction between the two realms or governments is a central and distinctive feature of Christianity. The distinction between the spiritual and the political realms differentiates not between interior spirituality and outward institutions, but between evangelical and legal institutions. As God's unique evangelical institution the church is governed by the gospel in Christian liberty, not by the law. The legal-contractual fringe of church-life is not a part of its essence, and remains accountable within the civil-political realm. When addressing non-Christians the church's preachment of the law is bounded by her missionary commission, hence limited to the second use. While the Table of Duties must be proclaimed to all Christians, governments and states as such are accountable to God not through the church but through all who have standing under Rom. 13:1-7, and by way of natural reason and law.