Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

Reflections on the Two Kingdoms
1. Introduction

We should spend a few weeks brushing up on Martin Luther’s doctrine of the two kingdoms, more recently called the doctrine of the two realms. The Lord governs this world through two different kingdoms, the kingdom of the left hand and the kingdom of the right hand. This is not an either/or: you dwell in both kingdoms all the time.

The kingdom of the left oversees the order of creation; and it is manifested most by temporal, secular government. In other words, God puts rulers and authorities in place in order to keep order, keep peace and preserve temporal life in this world. When Congress passes a law, policemen arrest a burglar or soldiers engage in a military action, these are examples of the left-hand kingdom at work.

In contrast, the kingdom of the right is about the order of redemption, of bringing about repentance and the forgiveness of sins. It is manifested most by the work of the Church, in the proclamation of the Word and administration of the sacraments. When a pastor is preaching a sermon, a Sunday school teacher is teaching a Bible story, two friends are discussing a scripture verse or a dad is leading his family in prayer around the dinner table, these are examples of the right-hand kingdom at work.

All people, believers and unbelievers, are citizens of the left-hand kingdom. No one is exempt: if a shipwrecked man is alone on a deserted island, his work of finding food and shelter is the work of preserving temporal life. He may be both the mayor and sole citizen of his community, but he is doing the work of the left-hand kingdom. On the other hand, only believers make up the kingdom of the right hand. This does not make for an exclusionary realm: rather, by the spread of the gospel, believers seek to bring more into the kingdom of the right.

The kingdom of the left is for this world only: there is no need for human authorities to maintain peace or suppress evil in heaven, because Christ Himself will reign directly over His people, and sin and death will be no more. The kingdom of the right hand is both for now and forever: already in Christ, believers have eternal life, and so they will forever in heaven.

The two kingdoms are designed to complement each other. The left-hand kingdom serves the right-hand by maintaining peace and restraining evil, which helps believers to live in peace, worship the Lord and spread the gospel; and the left-hand kingdom relies on the right-hand kingdom to provide Christian citizens who honor authorities and serve their neighbors. Likewise, the right-hand kingdom serves the left-hand kingdom by providing good citizens who honor authorities and serve their neighbors, and relies on the left-hand kingdom to keep the peace.

You might be thinking that this sounds a lot like the American understanding of church and state. There’s overlap, but they’re not the same. The separation of church and state is a legal principle established by man, designed to keep government from interfering with religion. The doctrine of the two kingdoms is a truth instituted by God which determines how government and church are to operate for the good of people.

To illustrate this, imagine that the First Amendment of the Constitution is abolished, and the federal government sends out a sermon to be preached from every pulpit on every Sunday, locking up pastors and parishioners who opt for the preaching of the gospel instead. In such a dystopia, the separation of church and state has disappeared. The doctrine of the two kingdoms, however, continues. The government is seeking to preserve civil order, although it is doing so wickedly in rebellion against God; and the church is seeking to proclaim the gospel, even if believers are doing so as martyrs.

That’s a bit grim, so perhaps another illustration is helpful. At the time of the Reformation, there was no separation of church and state. Luther’s prince, the Elector of Saxony, had the power to imprison the reformers for publishing the Augsburg Confession against the false teachings of Rome. As a believer, Elector Frederick made use of his secular power to keep the reformers safe: and so a ruler of the left-hand kingdom exercised his temporal authority to protect the work of the right-hand kingdom. In a few more years, though, Saxony was ruled by a prince faithful to Roman Catholicism, and then the ruler of the left-hand kingdom exercised authority to hinder and obliterate the right-hand kingdom work of proclaiming the gospel.

Again, these examples are meant to illustrate the distinction between the separation of church and state on the one hand, and the two-kingdom doctrine on the other. The separation of church and state lasts only as long as the First Amendment is protected, but the two kingdoms are at work no matter the political situation.

The doctrine of the two kingdoms is not held universally among Christians. John Calvin posited that it is the role of the church to govern society; so at his direction, the city of Geneva was run by a Christian consistory that established and enforced the laws of the city (including one law that forbade anyone to name his dog “Calvin!”). This is also the polity of Roman Catholicism, which regards the Pope as both the supreme bishop and a head of state. It is reflected in modern times by those who say that our nation is to be saved by a Christian takeover of government. However, a church that occupies no itself with the left-hand details of civil law will soon have little time for the right-hand work of proclaiming the gospel. It does not mean that we abandon our responsibilities as citizens: Luther would look at such talk of a “Christian takeover” and say that the church’s time is better spent teaching its people law and gospel, virtue and grace, thus raising up a pool of people to be good citizens and courageous leaders in the left-hand kingdom.

On the other hand, there were some groups in Luther’s time who declared that Christians should not be part of the left-hand kingdom at all, so they withdrew to form isolated communities to escape earthly government. In doing so, however, they had to organize their society, so they would have to appoint people to make decisions about housing, food supply, sanitation, etc. As soon as they did that, they had created their own left-hand kingdom, the very thing they were trying to escape!

(In fact, our congregation has both left-hand and right-hand kingdom aspects. Our principal left-hand document is the church constitution, establishing structure and order within the congregation. Our principal right-hand documents include foremost Scripture, as well as the Lutheran Confessions, so that we might know and believe the gospel.)

I hope this sets a foundation to further explore the doctrine of the two kingdoms. We’ll spend a few more emails fleshing out the teaching, but here is where we’re headed: as citizens of both kingdoms, how do we address difficult issues from the left-hand kingdom and the right-hand kingdom faithfully, and without confusing the two? That’s the tricky part, and we’ll arrive there soon enough. For now, here’s a quick chart of what we’ve covered, and then it’s on to announcements.