Andrew Brown

MASTERS: DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH RESEARCH PROJECT 8. Provide a critical evaluation of Luther’s approach to the relationship between church and state. Throughout the long period of Christian History, the church and the state have come into many types of conflict. The government has, through their many policies of persecution and hatred towards the Christians, sought to control the movements and growth of the church. The church has been under been forced to live under pressure from the government, as well as the tyrant politicians and leaders. During the early 4th Century, Constantine was converted to Christianity, and united church and state in his government in order to achieve his goal of uniting his kingdom under his rule. The Roman Catholic Church, which was formed with this combination of church and state rose to power, and brought on a long and pain period called the Dark Ages, where the state political leaders formed policies and laws that interfered with and gained control over many Christians individual spiritual rights. This period was Christendom’s darkest night where Christians were forced to submit to the power of the state and where given no freedom to worship God as they wished. However, God in His infinite mercy raised up a humble but powerful monk called Martin Luther who condemned the political policy of the day, claiming that there should be a completed transition in the relationship between the oppressed and persecuted church and the power hungry state. He did this in his several of the letters he wrote to the Catholic Church, and the public. Martin Luther’s approach to the relationship between church and state is best shown in his [Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms]. In this essay I will explain Martin Luther’s approach on the relationship between church and state (especially from Luther’s doctrine of the two kingdoms), and provide a critical evaluation of this topic. Historical background of the relationship between the church and the state: The period when Luther rose up and presented his thoughts on the relationship between church and state was at the end of a long period of historical darkness, called the dark ages. In order for us to gain a solid understanding of the Luther’s thoughts in this area, we must understand the history of the relationship between the church and the state. During first period of church history, the church was separate from each other, and the church was able to survive without any need of support from the state. The early church population increased at such a fast rate that the Roman government viewed it as a threat to the peace and order of the nation. As a result, the Roman national politicians attempted to control the church by pushing forward policies aimed at persecuting and oppressing the church. Despite this, the church was still able to work and survive outside the control of the government. After centuries of persecution, the State was unable to interfere with and the growth and expansion of the Christian Church, and bring them into complete submission to the Roman government laws and regulations. Eventually they decided to change their plan of attack. The Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, and became deeply involved in the Christian religion. During the period of his rule, he gave up on the previous policies of persecuting the Christian Church. During the year 313 AD, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan concerning religion. This edict permitted freedom of religion in the Roman Empire, and made Christianity equal with all the other religions. It officially stopped the states persecution against Christians, restored all places of worship which had been confiscated to the church, and making good all losses. This Edict made way for the unity and integration of church and state. Constantine (a political leader) decided to make Christianity the national religion, and use the religion of Christianity to achieve many of his political purposes. He offered the church protection, position, and aid. In return for this, he demanded that the church give him the right to have a say in the churches affairs. Constantine kept in a close relationship with the bishops and tried his best to solve the controversies which arose in the church. Thus passing the Edict of Milan opened up a way for the state to intervene and play a role in church affairs. The integration and unity of Church and State under the Constantine government brought in many more negative changes to the church. Firstly, the previously persecuted church was offered a chance to participate in the workings of the state government, and have access to it’s power. Thus, the previous pure, and sanctified church who was under the rule and control of the Godhead decided to join hands with the State and participate in its workings. The Clergy recognized in this new arrangement a copy of the theocratic constitution of the people of God under the ancient covenant, an arrangement whereby people could be joined to the government, believing that the government was being directly guided and lead by God Himself. This was a fatal mistake. The reason for this is: Constantine started to use the new religion to achieve many of his political goals. He nationalized the Christian religion and required all of the members of his kingdom to become Christians. The nationalizing of the Christian religion forced many half or unconverted pagans to join the church. With them they brought their idolatry worship, and pagan customs thus corrupting the pure and holy spiritual standard of the church. The church established many unbiblical rituals (such as the Mass service and the hanging saints pictures in the church, which eventually caused the people to lose sight of the real meaning of spiritual services. Thirdly, church leaders involved in governmental positions had many opportunities to misuse their power. The state threw away the idea of “religious freedom” and gained control over the population of sincere pure Christians. “Early champions for freedom of conscience (Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Lactantius) were ignored as the union of church and state restricted “religious freedom.” Not only were heretics excommunicated from church, they were considered to be criminals against the state. Instead of working to overcome the pagan religions and grow and expand the church by love and patient suffering, they misused their state power to overcome their enemies and increase the population of the church. On top of this, the Roman Catholic Church, was able to use the power that was gained from it’s connection with the state government to control persecute, imprison, and torture any Christians who didn’t submit themselves to their authority, or agree with their doctrines and tenets. As time went on, the Catholic Church acted even more boldly in its hatred and animosity for the truth. It attempted to destroy God’s word from all of Christendom. Many Bible’s were confiscated and burnt in an attempt to ensure that the people could be ignorant of the truth. Only priests and the laity working in the Roman Catholic Church retained the right to access, read, and interpret the Scriptures. All believers in Jesus (both those who were part of the Roman Catholic Church and those who refused to have any connection with it), were not allowed to read the Bible, lest they should understand it and revolt against the Church. This was quite a crisis for all believers. For many centuries many people were forced to blindly follow the teachings of the Catholic Church (which was full of paganism rituals and doctrines that had no foundation in the Scriptures. The masses of Christians and Catholic worshippers were ignorant in regards to the basic fundamental beliefs and doctrines in the Bible, and were easily led astray by incorrect teachings of the false teachers and corrupted priesthood. The situation of spiritual ignorance and darkness continued on until the first half of the 16th Century when God miraculously rose up Luther to condemn the corrupt teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, and their policy of preventing people to have access the Scriptures. Martin Luther courageously taught the truth to the multitudes of deceived and misled people, concerning the distinction that should be made between the Church and State, and Christians’ participation in both spheres. Not soon after the nationalization of Christianity by the emperor Constantine, the Church started to increased it’s involvement in politics. The increased prestige and power the church allowed for it to have great influence and power in the feudal society of the time. The Church was the only centralized institution to survive the Fall of Rome in the year 476, and there after it’s influence and power greatly increased in the world of politics. After this event it played an important role in the restoration of the institutionalized government. Bishops, the leaders of the church during the time, played an important role in preventing further disintegration of governmental institutions, replacing secular authorities in the government, and taking charge of administrative affairs. Later on, during the Middle Ages, churches and governments were so tangled with each other that they ruled and governed the kingdom together. Bishops and abbots (people who played high roles in the church) would both read and write for kings, and even have the opportunity to become a vassal. Local lords (governmental position) appointed local priests (church position), and were expected to work and function in accordance with the standards that were set by the local lords. Thus, it can be seen, that the nationalization of Christianity, the church was able to work with an intimate connection with the state government rulers. Christianity made up the culture of the Middle Ages, and there was no clear distinction between church and state. The bishops spent more time administering civil affairs than looking after the church, and conversely the state often put pressure on the churches to forgo their doctrinal differences in the interests of political stability. The unity of church and state caused a long period of darkness and terror in history. Such a connection between church and state throughout the long period of the Dark Ages caused the loyal Christian Church and pure Christian Church much suffering. During this time the Christian Church suffered much oppression, persecution, and torture at the hands of the politically driven Roman Catholic Church. It was only until the early 1500’s that Martin Luther arose and condemned the unity of the Church and State in His Doctrine of Two Kingdoms. God was able to use Martin Luther to pave the way for the Christians to gradually escape the cruel persecution, spiritual corruption and rule of both the Roman Catholic Church and State Government, and to return to the pure worship of God. Luther’s doctrine of the two kingdoms was brought forth around the year 1538. It was aimed at distinguishing the differences between the church and state of the time he was living in, and the order during the dark ages. The idea of the two kingdoms originally comes from, one of the great theologians of the western church: St Augustine. This idea was developed in order to defend the church against the criticism that it was to blame for the fall of the Roman Empire because it refused to participate in the state religion. He claimed that there are two cities or two kingdoms: the first one being- the kingdom of God (the heavenly city) and the second one being- the kingdom of Satan (the earthly city). Christians belong to the former and unbelievers to the later. Both of these kingdoms will being continuously engaged in conflict until the end of the world when the kingdom of God will prevail over and destroy Satan’s kingdom. Initially Luther accepted this dualism but then later rejected the idea that the world should be identified with Satan’s kingdom. He rightly insisted that God owns this world and that Satan is working and operating in both the earthly kingdom (to destroy law and order) as well as in the heavenly kingdom (to stop people believing in Christ and the gospel). God, however, is able to use the resources of his two kingdoms and two reigns to defeat Satan. Luther claimed that it was wrong to identify God with the heavenly kingdom and Satan with the earthly kingdom, because both God and Satan are at work in both kingdoms and are continually fighting for dominion over each other. Once Luther came to recognition of this, he was able to start to gradually come up with the whole concept of the two kingdoms, and make a way for it to fit the teachings of the Bible so that it can solve various social and political problems of the day. The Martin Luther’s clear explanation of the nature that the church and state should maintain with each other made the way for the church to redefine the incorrect relationship that they had with the state, and guide them to reform their practices and connections with the state. The Martin Luther’s clear explanation of the nature that the church and state should maintain with each other made the way for the church to redefine the incorrect relationship that they had with the state, and guide them to reform their practices and connections with the state. Constantine’s nationalization of Christianity not only opened up a way for the State to get involved in matters of the church, it also encouraged many church leaders to join themselves to the state and work in political positions. This unity of church and state also corrupted the pure spirituality of the church, and allowed the power hungry government leaders to push forward policies of persecution on the true Christians. The two kingdoms theory seeks to explain the exact relationship that the church should have with the state. His explanation was exactly what was needed to push for the Reformation. The Reformation aimed at dealing with issues such as a) the mixture of church and state, b) the misuse of power to persecute anyone who didn’t agree or submit to their authority, c) the widespread corruption of the church that was a result of allowing power hungry government leaders to oppress the Christian Church and hold all of Christendom in spiritual darkness by taking away their right to read the Scriptures and freely worship God. Martin Luther explanation of the Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms deals with all of these issues in some detail, and clarifies exactly the type of relationship that the church should have with the state so that these problems will not reoccur. Martin Luther’s theory of the two kingdoms claims that; God owns and is in control of all creation, and therefore he is able to rule the world using two differing forms of government God: the spiritual kingdom and the secular kingdom. THE SPIRITUAL KINGDOM: THE CHURCH Let’s talk about the spiritual realm/kingdom first. God’s spiritual government (reign), refers to His right-hand kingdom or heavenly (spiritual) realm which is made up of all believers in Christ and those who live under his lordship. God governs the right-hand realm through the means of grace. Here he uses his word rather than reason, gospel rather than law, mercy instead of coercion. The highest and only authority—in this realm is the word of God. This is in higher in authority than the edicts passed by kings, the decrees of parliaments, or the judgments executed in courts. The people who live in the spiritual realm respond to God’s call to come and serve Christ, the Savior of the world, are regenerated and changed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and enter into a special relationship with God based on the righteousness of Christ that is imparted to them as a gift. They are justified and sanctified by faith and live this life with the hope of future glory. God frees them from the bondage to the law, and the punishments it incurs, and the believers are empowered to live a life of love for both God and their neighbor. Thus God, in His spiritual kingdom is able to create a people sanctified unto Himself who will not pollute society by sinning and disobeying God’s law. http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/mackenziechallengeofhistory.pdf There is no need for the people who dwell in the spiritual realm to be ruled with the temporal state law or sword (as those in the secular realm are). This would serve absolutely no purpose as Christians have the Holy Spirit working in their heart, the very one who teaches them to love others as themselves and prevents them from harming and doing injustice to others. Those in the spiritual kingdom are not allowed to interfere or participate in the execution of judgment in the secular kingdom, but are supposed to let the executors of justice in the state kingdom do their job by themselves. THE SECULAR KINDOM: THE STATE The secular government that God is in charge of refers to the left-hand kingdom or earthly realm. This includes all people who live in God’s world, both believers and non-believers. Martin Luther strongly believed that if God didn’t appoint some means to control and rule over man, man’s exceeding evilness would continually destroy themselves. Therefore, God has instituted state government in order to rule and govern sinners in this world, and to curb and keep in check the worst outbreaks of evilness. In this secular sphere, it is not the gospel that rules but the law. The law is not only Bible-based its foundation lies in reason, and nature. The government is to rule with force and power (as opposed to the soft and light rule of grace in the spiritual realm). God authorizes those who govern and rule in state government positions to use force to punish the wicked and promote the good of the society. God rules the left-hand realm (earthly government) through earthly government, particularly through the use of law (both positive law and natural law) and reason. The earthly government mentioned here is broader than the three arms of government that exists in western democracy. It includes those structures of society that are essential for its preservation and good. In the left-hand, law is used to maintain peace and order in society, to restrain men’s evil, and sinful natures so that other members of society are not harmed in any way. Law is also used for the purpose of protecting life and property, to punish wrongdoing and promote the good. The two reigns of God are also dependent on each other and serve each other. This has implications for the relation between church and state. The church is in need of Caesar’s rule in the state government to ensure that it is able to worship God and preach the gospel without interference. On the same token, the secular government needs the church to prayer and intercede on its behalf (whether it realizes it or not) so that it can do its job properly. In fact God commands the church to pray for all people in positions of authority (1 Tim 2:1-2). Luther’s explanation of the two kingdoms aims to redefine the churches relationship and involvement in the state government (both of and before Martin Luther’s time), and seeks to separate the church from the state (and not the state from the church). During Luther’s time and throughout the middle ages, the church gained too much power in the state, and used such power to advance the true cause of religion (to push forward the Gospel), instead of using the church’s own resources and influence to do so. He appealed for the Church to not set up and depose kings, to not annul temporal laws or undermine individual obedience to government, and not to prescribe to the temporal power laws concerning matters of a worldly nature. The doctrine of the two kingdoms calls the church to move away from politics and power playing games, and to work independently of the state in its gospel work. Luther’s views and thoughts on the church’s relationship with the state was one of the main powerhouses that pushed for the church of the middle ages, and his own time to not continue in the errors of the past. Luther’s approach to the relationship between church and state affectively addresses the issue of work that the state should perform. Luther specifically addressed those Christian rulers who held power in the government, particularly the Christian princes of his time, and instructed them on manner in which they should use their power. Luther practically addressed the problems of his time centuries before. He claimed that a Christian prince should specifically aim to deal with those whose teaching encourages disrespect and disobedience for constituted authority. To Luther, this meant for such leaders to both oppose heretics through teaching and preaching the word of God, as well as oppressing and punishing them with the sword. During the event of the Peasants’ War, Luther saw a tight connection between heresy and rebellion against temporal authority, and therefore, he abandoned his 1523 position regarding rulers tolerating false believers and heretics, and instead came to the conclusion that Christian rulers must suppress heretics and their false teachings. Martin Luther thoughts on the limits of the state power also quite greatly contributed to solving many cases of injustice against the church and the gospel. During much part of the middle ages, the state’s connection with the evil and corrupt Roman Catholic Church has attempted to cut short the spreading of the Gospel by persecuting, killing and harassing many true Christians. In many ways the state has attempted to prevent as many people as possible from hearing the Gospel and being converted to the real Gospel. For many years, this was quite a large obstacle to the advancement of the gospel. However, Martin’s Luther’s view of the two kingdoms addresses the state’s misuse of power, and attempts to clarify the position that real believers should take when they are confronted with obeying the unjust laws of the state, or following the truth of God’s gospel. Luther’s views on the church and state also helped the church to gain a clear concept of what to do when the temporal rulers acted beyond the bounds of their authority by their injustice and interference with the Church’s work. Luther’s opinion the state’s usage of its power has worked to instill a correct concept of what a person should do when confronted with an unjust government and it’s laws over the church body. As we have clearly seen already, in Luther’s 1523 treatise, he clearly placed the limits on the exact type of obedience that one owed to temporal authority. Luther strongly believed that the state rulers had no power in regulating and controlling an individual’s faith or conscience, and therefore, when the ruler steps beyond the bounds of his authority and demands the people to violate the word of God, the believer has the right to disobey. To be more specific, Luther went further than simple obedience in such cases and recommended people to actually resist an unjust government without the use of force. Overall, Luther’s approach to the relationship between the church and state was of great worth. It was a powerful proclamation to the Christian world lying in spiritual darkness and oppression from the Catholic Church that pushed forward the Reformation. It especially aimed at solving the core problem that caused the dark ages, the unity of the church with the state. Martin Luther’s explanation of the two kingdoms clearly stated how the state and the church should function, how the church should seek complete separation from the state, and work independently of the state. It also encouraged the state to work towards social peace and harmony in the world, instead of trying to persecute God’s people and interfere with the advancement of the Gospel. Overall, his explanation of the doctrine of the two kingdoms informed both the Christian world, and the state government as to the direct they should take correct the mistakes and problems that resulted from the unity of the church and the state under the Catholic Church. This theory is quite well-rounded in that it explains most aspects of the relationship between the church and the state in detail. Even though this is so, it doesn’t discuss exactly how God is able to work through the state government and execute true judgment and justice in society when no one from the church is able contribute to the morality by participating in any of its workings or policies. This topic is one which should be explored in further research. 4070 words in total!

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