January 31, 2019

Lutherans and politics (no. 1): God's Two Kingdoms

This is the first in a four-part series on the Lutheran approach to politics. The goal is to provide Christians with an understanding of the concepts the Lutheran Church uses to inspire and guide its forays into the public sphere.  

The political world that Martin Luther lived in was much different than our own. For example, Luther lived in a time before constitutional democracy as we know it.  Yet there are fundamentals about politics that don’t change. The theological points that Luther asserted in his reformation had political repercussions. This is no different from our own day. When the Bishop of the ELCA writes an open letter concerning some public issue, the Lutheran church is venturing into politics, and it is intended to get peoples’ attention.  What we find, indeed, what we would expect, is that some people view this as a welcome addition to the public debate on issues, while others feel that such forays are unwelcome intrusions into politics.  This is the first in a four-part series that seeks to clarify how the Lutheran Church justifies its political involvement as the logical result of having a public theology. 

Our first concept is Luther’s distinction between the Two Kingdoms of God, the kingdom of God’s right hand and the kingdom of God’s left hand. God’s right-handed kingdom represents the spiritual realm, and the left-handed kingdom is the civil realm. Everyone’s job is to try to keep the two kingdoms in balance.  The left-handed kingdom promotes order in the world, keeps sin in check, and provides for people’s worldly needs. The right-handed kingdom promotes faith, teaches about the reality of sin and forgiveness, and provides for people’s spiritual needs. 

The best balanced relationship between the two is when people, who all live in both realms at the same time, are living and interacting in good faith and in accordance with justice and peace in both realms.  Then those in authority in one realm respect those in authority in the other, and they encourage each other to carry out their respective mandates, and all is well. Sometimes, however, the effects of sin, both institutional and individual, on human interaction demand that the authority of one realm be brought to bear on the other realm. For example, on the one hand, crime in the church is to be punished by the state. On the other, unjust laws and corrupt state actions are to be criticized by those in spiritual authority.  

It is the latter example that has inspired this set of articles, because many people either misunderstand the church’s critique of the state, or resent it. The rule of thumb for the church that follows Jesus of Nazareth is that the ends never justify the means. State sponsored cruelty or injustice is never justified, even if the state points to some greater goal.  This is because both “kingdoms” were created by God for the good of society, and both belong to God, who judges both. Neither realm is exempt from God’s demand for justice and mercy. This does make the work of the state and the church more difficult, but there are no exemptions, no excuses, no short cuts.  For its part, the church should continue to support the state in the hard work of keeping sin in check and providing for people’s worldly needs while continuing its own work of promoting faith, justice and mercy in the world. 

Next time, living our lives in the “Three Estates.”  +PL

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