Pastor's Monthly Message

June 2007

From the Pastor's Pen

The Two Realms

School is almost out, summer is here, a new round of movies have hit the theaters, but what is heating up on TV and will be through the summer?  Politics!  And instantly the Civil Liberties Union and the products of our society yell, "separation of church and state!"  To which Lutherans as loudly yell, "BUNK!"  

Yes, church and state are distinct, but contrary to what every agnostic has been saying, they can and should interact.  So the useful question is, "how should church and state interact?"

This is where the Lutheran doctrine of the Two Realms comes in.  It is also called the Two Kingdoms or the Left and Right-Hand Kingdoms.  The words left-right and kingdom have some negative connotations (left is somehow bad, kingdom suggests autonomy and conflict, and in other contexts: right means God and left means Satan).  So we will use the more neutral term Two Realms.

This doctrine begins with creation, the stuff of the First Article of the Creed: I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.  The Two Realms refer to God ruling His creation in two ways: in the Civil Realm and the Church Realm.  Many would have us make Civil to mean only political, but it is much more than that as the two columns below show.  And yet as the government oversees and people direct it through politics, this is part of the Civil Realm of God.  Romans 13:1 tells who the government belongs to:  God!  So as the government interacts with people and vs., God is active and has something to say.

Where the Civil Realm is concerned with our standing before other people and creation,  the Church Realm is concerned with our standing before God.  Note the big difference between how righteousness comes in the Two Realms.  It is earned by our behavior in the Civil Realm, and it is declared to us in the Church Realm (Christ has won it and we are judged righteous by God for His sake.)  These are the two forms of righteousness: right relationship with people/creation and right relationship with God.  The two forms of righteousness intersect at the same place the Civil and Church Realms intersect: in your life.

          Civil                                                            Church

politics/government                                   proclamation of the Gospel

          home                                                      Means of Grace

         vocation                                                   public worship

       marketplace                                              freely given grace

         marriage                                                     unity of faith

nature/environment                                      stewardship of ministry

      the economy                                               grateful offerings

 teach useful things                                           teach God's truth

          preservation of justice                                  declaration of forgiveness

     work for peace                                    make known God's peace

  the Sword (power)                           humility (a different kind of power!)

            Law                                                      Law & Gospel

earned righteousness                                    declared righteousness

     righteousness before people                              righteousness before God

     human reason                                                       faith

             to preserve creation                                       to restore creation

        relationship with creation                          relationship with Creator

These lists aren't comprehensive or truly parallel contrasts.  But they do demonstrate the breadth of God's participation in life.  They also show how Civil and Church are not at cross purposes.

So, the Civil Realm is about keeping creation together, putting limits on sinful behavior to keep creation from rotting into chaos.  As the Civil Realm's goal is to preserve creation, the Church is concerned with the restoration of creation.  This means that Civil Realm and Church Realm are not opposed to each other even though some inside and some outside the church would claim they are.  The enemy is not the government!  God is at work in both realms.

In the Church, we are "governed" by the Gospel, by what God does (works faith, enlightens, grants forgiveness, declares people righteous and nurtures through the Means of Grace).  In the Church, human reason serves God's truth and the faith He works in people.  In the Civil Realm, we are governed by the Law and human reason plays a big part in administrating that Law.

So a bumper sticker saying, "What Would Jesus Bomb?", suggesting it is always wrong to go to war, is off the  mark.  It is the Civil Realm's job to protect, defend and punish in order to preserve what God has made (people, government, society, nature, etc.).  In fact the Angel of the Lord that appears at critical moments in history to wield both a sword and extend a healing hand is doing God work ... in both Realms (i.e. Gen 16:7ff, 22:11ff, 2Kings 19:35, Acts 8:26, 12:23).  War is sometimes the right thing to do.  The object is to oppose evil.  But because of sin, war is not always just.  This is where human reason must come to bear.  And this is why Luther could say, "I would rather be ruled by a just and wise Turk, than by a foolish Christian."

So Christianity is not the mark of a good ruler.  Being wise in justice is the mark of a good ruler.  The same is true of the tradesman you go to.  A skilled and fair car mechanic, whether he is pagan or Christian, is who you want to fix your car.  A Christian who is a klutz with a wrench is not who you want fixing your car.  Car stuff is Civil Realm stuff.  [Of course it is a bonus if you can get a skilled mechanic that will also celebrate God's blessings with you!  In the same vein, when we can't find a good leader that is also a Christian, it says as much about US as a people, as it does about him or her.]

God is at work in our government, in fact in every government.  It is His government (Rom 13:1).  Whether a leader fulfills the office of president, legislator or king well is a another matter.  In the USA , we each have a hand in choosing and dismissing leaders.  So you and I as citizens are responsible servants of God, along with our leaders, for all the stuff in the Civil Realm.

Do we see God doing Civil Realm stuff in Scripture?  YES!  When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorra, He was working directly in the Civil Realm.  When God gave opponents into the hands of Israel , that was Civil Realm stuff.  As our legislators make laws and our Judiciary apply them, that is Civil Realm stuff.

There is a story told (true I believe) of a small town sheriff who hunted down and captured a serious criminal.  He put the cuffs on him and dragged him off to jail to be prosecuted.  Then he went home, and changed his clothes, picked up his Bible and went back to the jail to share the Gospel with the criminal.  The sheriff was an LCMS layman who understood the Civil and Church Realms.  As a sheriff, his job was to bring criminals to justice.  As part of the church, he shares the Gospel.  The two vocations of sheriff and Christian do not conflict, but they do operate differently in their respective Realms.  Same for the soldier, the parent, the teacher, the citizen.

The doctrine of Civil and Church Realms was a VERY big deal at the time of the Reformation.  Before then Civil and Church tended to get mingled.  Bishops would manipulate the legal system and princes choose pastors and influenced the liturgy used in worship.  The Reformers clarified the role of prince and church.  The Church was to proclaim the Gospel, administer the Sacraments, absolve sins, attend generally to the spiritual life and inform ALL parts of life on which Scripture speaks.  The Civil Realm was to keep order in society, not hinder but rather, support the Church.  The Church did not rule and the ruler did not legislate faith.  They worked together as God's servants in different parts of God's creation.

So as you listen to the political rhetoric, the skewed news stories, proposed legislation and even your own job, let God guide you in both the Civil Realm and Church Realm.  God will provide leaders in government and society.  He will use you to put them into office. 

This is all law.  So where is the Gospel? It is found in the Church, in the Word and Sacraments that God uses to get it into your life.  May the Lord of creation - the Author of Salvation - the Sanctifier, attend to your body AND your soul as He has done-is doing-will do.  Amen.

Pastor Gilkey

If you need to contact Pastor, the following are the phone numbers as well as his e-mail address:

Rev. Kraig B. Gilkey