Kuyper and Kingdoms

(This is a re-post from May, 2011) In his excellent book that deals with the person and work of the Holy Spirit, Abraham Kuyper talks about prayer and the Holy Spirit's role in it (chapter 3.XLIII).  The section is quite good.  One thing that stuck out to me was how Kuyper explained intercessory prayer with regard to the phrase, …

The Two-fold Aspect of God’s Kingdom (Witsius)

  In Reformed church history, theologians have generally made a distinction when it came to discussing God’s kingdom or kingdoms.  Simply put, historic Reformed theology distinguished between God’s general kingdom (his kingdom of power/nature) and God’s saving kingdom (his kingdom of grace/glory).  Here’s how Herman Witsius spoke about this distinction in his discussion on the …

Turretin and Bavinck on the Kingdom(s)

In historic Reformed theology the doctrine of Christ’s kingdom(s) has usually been discussed like this: Christ is king generally over all things (this is called the kingdom of power).  More specifically and savingly, Christ is king over his people (this is called the kingdom of grace [here and now] and the kingdom of glory [the …

Kuyper and Kingdoms

 In his fine book that deals with the person and work of the Holy Spirit, Abraham Kuyper talks about prayer and the Holy Spirit's role in it.  The section is quite good.  One thing that stuck out to me was how Kuyper explained intercessory prayer with regard to the phrase, "Thy kingdom come."  He said this first of all has …