Kingdom of the Left
Since the twentieth century, Lutherans have spoken about a “two-kingdoms” doctrine to work out the relationship between church and state.[1] Martin Luther, living before this vocabulary developed, worked with concepts of “two governments” or “two authorities.” When he wrote about church and state, he categorized them as “estates” rather than “kingdoms.” Luther’s writings on temporal authority remind us that temporal authorities in the state are appointed to maintain peace.
When Luther writes about two kingdoms in On Temporal Authority, he writes of a kingdom of God and a kingdom of the world. In this text Luther writes that believers, living under Christ, belong to the kingdom of God. Those who are not Christians belong to the kingdom of the world.[2] Luther would have Christians live in such a way that satisfies both of these kingdoms, serving God inwardly and the neighbor outwardly.[3] For Luther a Christian lives in God’s kingdom and under temporal authority.
In On Temporal Authority Luther locates temporal government within the kingdom of the world. The kingdom of the world needs laws to uphold peace, so God establishes a government within that kingdom. Luther speaks of this government in terms of “temporal authority,” “temporal government,” “civil law,” or “the sword.”[4] The temporal government is to preserve external peace and to prevent evil deeds. It does not make anyone righteous in God’s eyes.[5] Luther bids Christians to live under temporal government for the good of the neighbor. This means that the Christian pays taxes, honors those in authority, and serves and helps the governing authority.[6]
For Luther, “governing authority” was a concrete term, meaning particular individuals holding offices. Luther’s focus on concrete individual authorities is evident in his explanation of the fourth commandment in the Large Catechism. Luther’s discussion here is about the people God has placed in authority and so given responsibility to care for and serve those subject to their authority.[7] Luther thinks of governing authorities as concrete individuals because he lived before the development of modern nation-states with institutionalized bureaucracies. Temporal authorities for Luther were primarily nobles who inherited and wielded the civil sword.[8] This means that Luther’s specific counsels to individuals in and under temporal government is written to advise Christians on how they relate to magistrates, and to advise princes and nobility in carrying out their vocations.[9]
The concrete nature of Luther’s view of authority is also evident when Luther describes the temporal government as an estate. Luther lists three orders or estates that God has instituted in this world: church, home, and state. Church and home are instituted in the Garden of Eden, but the state arises only later in order to keep sin in check.[10] When Luther speaks of “estates,” he means offices in which people serve and the people holding those offices. His conversation on three estates focuses on the concrete office-holders: pastors, parents, princes, etc.[11] Luther’s view of the state consists of God’s authority given to individual rulers to preserve peace and prevent wickedness.
What would Luther say about temporal authorities and elections in the United States? Since many of Luther’s specific counsels (beyond general principles of living under temporal government) address situations dealing with particular authorities he knew from the Holy Roman Empire (princes, dukes, emperor, city councils, etc.), one needs to be careful in applying those counsels directly to the different authorities that make up the government of the United States. Perhaps a better approach is to identify what scriptural passages and doctrines Luther used in his works dealing with political matters in the sixteenth century and ask what those passages say about temporal authority in the United States, since these passages apply to Christians of all time. Working from passages like Romans 13, Luther saw civil government as God’s instrument to maintain peace. This passage is a call to government to maintain peace and not to abuse its power. It is a call for citizens to honor and support the authorities God has placed over us.
The Rev. Aaron Moldenhauer is associate pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, Beecher, Ill. The article was first published here.
Be Informed
Want to know how to help children resist progressive indoctrination? Katy Faust of Them Before Us can help.
Be Equipped
“The world places an inordinate value in authority, whereas in God’s eyes, the subordinate person is more valuable than the one in authority.” Turns out there can be joy in subordination in Christ! Learn more by clicking here.
Be Encouraged
If a couple came to me and said, “Pastor, we’d like to get married, and we’d like to do everything we can today to make sure our marriage ends in divorce tomorrow,” then I would tell them that the first thing they should do is move in together. Cohabitation is that destructive to marriage and family life.
It almost seems ridiculous to point out that a politician did something hypocritical, but Kamala Harris inverted reality in an especially egregious way during her first (and hopefully last) vice presidential visit to an abortion facility last week. As part of her ongoing campaign against life, she claimed, “I have heard stories of — and have met with women who had miscarriages in — in toilets.” Like most of Harris’s speeches, she had said it all before. The vice president shared a video clip of herself repeating the same story on “The View” in January. Harris said she could not believe states still resist abortion “in this year of our Lord 2024,” before saying, “Women are having miscarriages in toilets.”
In his younger days, Bob Barker, former host of the television show, “The Price is Right,” hosted another show called “Truth or Consequences.” On this program contestants were asked questions and if they gave incorrect answers, there were consequences. There was a penalty for getting things “wrong.” Now the consequences weren’t life threatening. They involved comical stunts which may have been a bit embarrassing, but were endured as good-natured fun. At the close of every program, Barker signed off saying, “Good night, hoping all your consequences are happy ones.” It was an instant and enduring hit from the 1940s through Barker’s time with the show in the 1960s.
"What is the leading indicator of just about everything bad? The lack of a father, that is to say a Joseph, in the home." Learn why the Rev. Dr. Peter Scaer says the world needs more Josephs!
Thanks be to God, "There is only One who truly loves us 'no matter what' — only one family that will never fail us." Read more from Cheryl Magness.
Was the nuclear family a mistake? Cheryl Magness--in this two-part series--explains why it's the exact opposite.
Jesus is risen; He is risen indeed! But there’s more good news for those who believe in Him. He clearly says, “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19). Wow! What a statement. It calls believers to a confident hope that comes from knowing that even death itself has been conquered by the one who created and redeemed us.
For Christians around the world, it’s Good Friday today. I know that it sounds strange to say that the day when Jesus died on the cross is “good,” but it is. The real, lasting solution to the problems in every human heart, even the very problems of the whole world, is the sinless son of God, Jesus, exchanging His perfect life and His innocent death as a substitute for our sinful life. In His death and resurrection, eternal justice is served, enduring mercy is offered, and real, eternal life is possible again for us, for all. The God who created us is the only one who can also redeem us.
After reviewing what was said at their Baptisms, LCMS confirmands affirm their intention “to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it” (LSB p. 273). Nevertheless, confirmation is often the last time we see some of these young people in church. When they become adults, some children return, but many do not.
After reviewing what was said at their Baptisms, LCMS confirmands affirm their intention “to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it” (LSB p. 273). Nevertheless, confirmation is often the last time we see some of these young people in church. When they become adults, some children return, but many do not.
As a new mother, I once had a friend and her daughter over for a playdate. After we set our babies down on a bright red and blue blanket I had spread on the floor, she commented, “I love this quilt. It’s so stimulating!” The comment arrested me. I suddenly felt as though my child were one of the microscopic crustaceans from my college physiology lab to be plied with caffeine so we could observe its heart rate.
Teach them how to think, not what to think. That's what Senator Braun's commercial says we need. And in that, he's typical of much of the conservative movement. But scratch the surface of that phrase, and you end up in a world of hurt. Our kids need to be taught goodness, must be inculcated in the natural law, must be formed in an education that is value laden. Education always includes moral formation.
What is your responsibility to the government—the state? What do you owe the state? While you are contemplating that question, ask yourself this: What is your responsibility to God—the church? What do you owe the church?
When we look at our nation, it is easy to get quite discouraged. For example, we are up to 33 trillion dollars in debt as a nation. House prices are through the roof, eating up over a 1/3 of people’s monthly income. Real inflation with some goods and services is upwards of 10 percent. Socially, things are also chaotic; you can’t turn the television on without getting blindsided by woke ideology. And to make things worse, we indirectly have our fingers in the war in Ukraine and have political connections to a war in Israel.
In his book, The Death of Character, James Davison Hunter says,
When Newsweek poses the question, “How Do We Restore a Sense of Right and Wrong” on its cover, it tacitly acknowledges that our “sense of right and wrong” is less and less present to the living memory of our entire culture . . .
When we look at our nation, it is easy to get quite discouraged. For example, we are up to 33 trillion dollars in debt as a nation. House prices are through the roof, eating up over a 1/3 of people’s monthly income. Real inflation with some goods and services is upwards of 10 percent. Socially, things are also chaotic; you can’t turn the television on without getting blindsided by woke ideology. And to make things worse, we indirectly have our fingers in the war in Ukraine and have political connections to a war in Israel.
We live in a very strange world. It is world that says men and women are the same. In fact, they are so much the same, that a man can decide he is a woman, or a woman can decide she is a man, and everyone around that individual is supposed to act like this is just the way things are. It is asserted that men and women are completely interchangeable, and so marriage can occur between a man and a woman or between two men or between two women.
So, God brought all the animals to him. He named them all one by one. While they were good, something just was not right. Dogs and cats just didn’t do it. So, God made woman from his own bones. Now at last man was just like God—two persons in one flesh. Adam So God brought all the animals to him. He named them all one by one. While they were good, something just was not right. Dogs and cats just didn’t do it. So, God made woman from his own bones. Now at last man was just like God—two persons in one flesh. Adam called her woman—she-man and named her Eve (“life”), because she would be the mother of all people. God’s creation was finally complete. He had made marriage and the family. This was very good..
Most of us never tire of flipping to a new calendar and the new opportunity to begin fresh. There is something about it that feels good. It signals an opportunity to wipe the slate clean, to start anew, and maybe, just maybe, this next year will end better than the one we just put behind us.
And so, it happened among us. Everyone knew, not all that long ago, that marriage was between one man and one woman. Obama said so, and even mentioned God. Hillary Clinton made a speech on the senator floor, invoking time and tradition.
New Year’s Eve is a time when Americans gather to ceremonially put the past behind them and cast their hopes forward for a blessed New Year.
A blessed Christmas day this weekend as you all hear again that “In the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ, the Lord” (Luke 2:1112).
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“I won't indoctrinate my children but will let them decide for themselves.” Non-believers boast that their children are free and critical thinkers, taught to be kind and non-judgmental. Remarkably, though, these free-thinking children end up just like their supposedly free-thinking parents.
Abortion is tragic, a deadly and heartbreaking deceit. No bond is more sacred, more profound, than that of a mother and child. Life’s journey begins in the womb, given by God as a safe space, a place for shelter, warmth and nurture.
Blessed Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving if you still allow the practice of giving thanks in your home. Each year in November there seems to be more and more Americans advocating for the eradication of the Thanksgiving Holiday.
Since the twentieth century, Lutherans have spoken about a “two-kingdoms” doctrine to work out the relationship between church and state
Since the twentieth century, Lutherans have spoken about a “two-kingdoms” doctrine to work out the relationship between church and state
We have a right, not a privilege, to life. Life is a gift from God, and it may not be unjustly taken from us.
Years ago, when my sons were small, we had a delightful friend at church who also had young boys. He often repeated to his sons his own father’s refrain to him: “Be a man!”