“Therefore, in order that none of us may stumble on that stone, let us first consider that there is a twofold government in man: one aspect is spiritual, whereby the conscience is instructed in piety and in reverencing God: the second is political, whereby man is educated for the duties of humanity and citizenship that must be maintained among men.  These are usually called the ‘spiritual’ and the ‘temporal’ jurisdiction (not improper terms) by which is meant that the former sort of government [spiritual] pertains to the life of the soul, while the latter [temporal/political] has to do with the concerns of the present life – not only with food and clothing but with laying down laws whereby a man may live his life among other men holily, honorably, and temperately.  For the former [spiritual] lies in the inner mind, while the latter [temporal/political] regulates only outward behavior.  The one we may call the spiritual kingdom, the other, the political kingdom.”

“Now these two, as we have divided them, must always be examined separately; and while one is being considered, we must call away and turn aside the mind from thinking about the other.  There are in man, so to speak, two worlds, over which different kings and different laws have authority.”

Near the end of The Institutes, in the opening paragraphs concerning civil government, Calvin reminds us of this distinction.

“…Whoever knows how to distinguish between body and soul, between this present fleeting life and that future eternal life, will without difficulty know that Christ’s spiritual Kingdom and the civil jurisdiction are things completely distinct.  …It is a Jewish vanity to seek and enclose Christ’s Kingdom within the elements of this world… (IV.XX.1).”

So does the Christian’s liberty in Christ mean we can ignore civil laws?

“Through this distinction [between the spiritual kingdom and the political kingdom] it comes about that we are not to misapply to the political order the gospel teaching on spiritual freedom, as if Christians were less subject, as concerns outward government, to human laws, because their consciences have been set free in God’s sight; as if they were released from all bodily servitude because they are free according to the spirit.”

In other words, because there are two realms, spiritual and political, Christian liberty doesn’t mean disobeying civil government.  Calvin is right: this distinction is important to keep in mind.  Even though he lived in a day where the theocratic thinking of the Medieval era was still the norm, he well understood how a justified Christian who is free in Christ should live obediently in a civil state.  It’s hard to summarize this section of The Institutes (III.XIX), so I recommend reading it (or re-reading it) for yourself.  Notice how justification and Christian liberty relate, and specifically how Calvin applies that to a Christian’s life in this world under God-ordained rulers (Rom. 13).

I’ll end with a quote that reflects and applies Calvin’s teaching here.  It’s from page 155 of David VanDrunen’s Living in God’s Two Kingdoms.

“Christian consciences are bound to believe and to do as Scripture instructs, but Christians are free to exercise their own wisdom in deciding how to live and what to think about all matters that Scripture does not address (within the bounds of respecting other legitimate authority structures in society). …Church officers should teach Christians to submit to civil authorities, to discipline and educate their children, and to work diligently and honestly.  They should offer them pastoral counsel to help them grow in wisdom in such areas.  But they should not command them what political strategies to follow, what child-rearing methods to utilize, or how to make their businesses run more efficiently.”

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sunnyside, wa

“‘It is especially striking to observe…how the texts [discussed earlier - texts such as Is. 2.3, 19.22, 45:14, 60:7, 61:6, 66:19, 23, etc.] foresee the nations as Yahweh’s worshippers, entering fully and equally into the privileges of Israel.’  Striking indeed.  And so we must finally turn to this climactic point.  For, to visit my earlier metaphor, the Old Testament is not content merely to portray the nations as the spectators of the great drama being played out between YHWH and Israel, not even as clapping spectators who perceive that the drama is ultimately for their own benefit.  The most radical part of the Old Testament vision is yet to come.  For the divine director intends eventually to bring the spectators out of the stalls onto the stage, to join the original cast and then to continue the drama with a single, though infinitely enlarged, company.  The nations will come to share the very identity of Israel itself.  God’s people will burst the boundaries of ethnicity and geography.  The very name ‘Israel’ will be extended and redefined.”

“These things were not the ex post facto [after the fact] theological rationalizations of the apostle Paul seeking to justify the inclusion of the Gentiles in the church.  These things are unambiguously stated in the Old Testament itself as part of God’s mission in relation to the nations of the earth.  As the following survey of texts, drawn again from the Psalms and the Prophets, will demonstrate, when God accomplishes his great missional project for history and creation, the nations of the world will be found to have been 1) registered in God’s city, 2) blessed with God’s salvation, 3) accepted in God’s house, 4) called by God’s name, 5) joined with God’s people.  No more comprehensive inclusion could be imagined.”

Wright goes on to discuss Psalm 47, Isaiah 19.16-25, 56.3-8, Amos 9.11-12, and Zechariah 2.10-11 to give more detail to these points.  He notes that just as people from all nations will be judged if they do not repent and believe, there is hope for all who turn to Christ in faith.  This isn’t God’s plan B – it was his original purpose and plan even before he created the world (Eph. 1.3-4).  It’s woven into the covenant of grace (Gen. 17.4-6).  Here’s how Wright ends this chapter (and how I’ll end this post):

“The distinctiveness of Israel from the nations within their Old Testament history was essential to the mission of God.  But the mission of God was that the distinction would ultimately be dissolved as the nations flowed into unity and identity with Israel.  Only the New Testament gospel would show how that could happen.  And only New Testament mission would show how it did and will continue to happen until their ingathering is complete.”

These quotes were taken from pages 489-490 and 500 of The Mission of God.  All the italics are in the original.

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“The relationship with Adam consists in this, that the human nature of the human race, at that moment solely existing in Adam, was created as being in the covenant of works.  Adam did not enter into the covenant of works subsequent to his creation, but was created in this covenant, being in this covenant from the very first moment of his existence.  At the very moment that he formulated his first thought, he was conscious of God and the covenant, and could not but approve of this covenant.  Therefore, the human nature and its totality, as well as the entire human race in Adam, were created in that covenant.”

“For this reason all men are still born within this covenant of works discussed above [earlier in volume 1].  Upon Adam’s breach of the covenant, the human nature in its totality, that is the entire human race, broke the covenant.  It is therefore righteous [just] that this nature of the human race is rendered guilty, and that every human being, every person, by virtue of having this same nature, has the covenant breach imputed to him, and is deemed worthy of condemnation.  From this it is clear that only Adam’s breach of the covenant and not his subsequent sins are imputed to his descendants.  This is not merely because they are partakers of the same nature but because they were created in the covenant of works and have broken it in him.”

Brakel goes on to discuss, in some depth, Romans 5:12-18 for exegetical grounding of his explanation of the covenant of works and imputation of Adam’s sin.  If you’re interested, you can also read the WCF 6.3 and WLC Q/A 20-27.

The above quote from Brakel is found on page 384 of volume 1 in The Christian’s Reasonable Service (which he wrote in 1700).

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“…Jesus warns them [the disciples] of the possibility of rejection, which he himself had experienced (e.g. 4:28-30), by advising them on how to respond in the case of the refusal of hospitality.  ‘Dusting of the feet’ was an act connected to ridding oneself of defilement, such as when one had traversed Gentile lands.  Ordinarily an action related to self-purification, here it is specifically interpreted as a performative testimony against the village – designed not, then, to render the traveler clean (again), but to declare the village ‘unclean.’  That is, Jesus’ instructions, albeit in a subtle way, circumvent ordinary rules of purity by turning them on their head.  Jesus performed no such act of self-purification upon his return from the land of Gentiles and the domain of the unclean in 8:40, for he had found responsive faith even in the midst of impurity and rejection (8:26-39).  No longer working narrowly with an ethnic definition of Israel as the people of God, he now declares that those who refuse the salvific visitation of God – present not only in his [Jesus'] ministry but also in the extension of his ministry via these twelve envoys – are to be regarded as though they were outside the people of God.  As in jesus ministry so with the apostles,’ to receive the kingdom of God was to receive its heralds.”

With that in mind, read Paul’s sermon in Pisidian Antioch in Acts 13.  There many of the Jews reject, revile, and persecute Paul and Barnabas even though the Gentiles received the message of salvation with joy and gladness.  Paul and Barnabas left Pisidian Antioch after shaking the dust off their feet.  They weren’t shaking the dust off their feet because they came into contact with “unclean” Gentiles.  They were shaking the dust off their feet as a symbol that the unbelieving Jews had “thrust aside” the word of God and judged themselves to be unworthy of eternal life (Acts 13.46).  Or, in the words of Luke Timothy Johnson, “Those who reject the kingdom are themselves rejected from it.”

The above quote by Green was taken from page 360 of his NICNT commentary on Luke.

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“Truth-Centered: The primary aim of the apostles’ preaching was not to contribute to people’s emotional health – not to train them how to cope with stress, to talk themselves out of despair, or to cultivate family relationships.  The apostles’ message was good news, eliciting ‘great joy’ in those who believed it (Acts 8.8; 13.52), but their goal was not to make their hearers feel better. It was to tell the truth: about God and his plan, about humanity and our sin, about Christ and his victory, about the present opportunity for faith and the future certainty of judgment.”

“Revelation-Centered: The apostolic proclamation of truth was derived not from human experience or speculation, but from God’s self-disclosure.  The apostles testified to the convergence of God’s prophetic promise spoken in the Scriptures, on the one hand, and his eschatological fulfillment in Jesus the Messiah, on the other.”

“God-Centered: The preaching in Acts focuses on one relationship that has gone wrong and on what God has done to set it right.  …It is the broken relationship between us and our Creator that lies at the heart of the matter, and this is the relationship that apostolic preaching addresses first of all.  Its aim is not to enable people to function better at work and  at home while they persist in their hatred toward God; rather it is to bring us home to our Father, who will remake us in the Son’s image by the Spirit’s power, so that we reflect his love and holiness in all our relationships.”

“Christ-Centered: The pervasive, dominant theme in the sermons of Acts is Jesus – who he is and what he has done.  This makes sense in view of the central relationship – our relationship to God – that apostolic preaching addresses. …The preaching that builds people toward spiritual maturity does not take them beyond Christ.  Rather it takes them more deeply into Christ, so that their thoughts, attitudes, values, desires, reactions, words, and behavior are transformed by their death with Christ to sin and their resurrection with Christ to life and righteousness.”

If you want a great study of the main themes of Acts, this book must be on your shelves: The Message of Acts in the History of Redemption by Dennis Johnson.

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