Reflections on the Two Kingdoms
4. Pro-Life in Two Kingdoms
Dear friends,
As we start to explore our roles in two kingdoms, the topic of abortion is an urgent one in Idaho right now. At present, Idaho law includes Statute 18-88 which prohibits abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected (usually around 5-6 weeks); and more comprehensively, Statute 18-622 makes performing an abortion a felony punishable by 2-5 years in prison. In both statutes, the common exceptions (rape, incest, life of the mother in danger) apply.
Repeatedly in media reports, we are told that Idaho thus has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation, rather than one of the most protective of unborn life.
On November 8, Idahoans will consider Proposition 1, the “Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Initiative.” If passed, abortion will be legalized until the unborn child reaches “viability,” meaning it is able to live outside the womb without extraordinary measures (e.g., NICU care), or through approximately the first 8 months of pregnancy.
This is certainly a two-kingdom issue for Christians, where right-hand kingdom moral law is put to a left-hand kingdom vote. Let’s take some time and work our way through considerations in both kingdoms.
Right-Hand Kingdom Considerations
Proposition 1 raises all sorts of considerations from Scripture, and the Small Catechism can help us do a quick summary.
- Whenever we confess the Creed and acknowledge God the Father as creator, we are acknowledging what He says about the creation of man. He declares that He created Adam and Eve in His image and that He entrusts to husband and wife the privilege of procreation. He declares that it is He who is forming us in the womb (Jer. 1:5), fearfully and wonderfully (Ps. 139:14).
- When we move onto the next article of the Creed and speak of Jesus’ incarnation, we are acknowledging that the unborn child in Mary’s womb is the Son of God. We rejoice that when pregnant Mary visits pregnant Elizabeth (Luke 1:39ff), Elizabeth’s unborn son leaps in her womb out of joy that the incarnate Christ is nearby. In other words, each time we confess one of the creeds, we are rejoicing that unborn children are people created in the image of God (even if marred by sin), and whose form Jesus took to be our Savior.
- The Ten Commandments are certainly relevant. For starters, the 2nd Table of the law is summarized by “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mk. 12:31). Who is your neighbor? The one who is in need. The one most in need is the one who is most helpless and vulnerable to harm.
- Specifically among the Ten Commandments, the 5th Commandment, “You shall not murder,” commands us both “not [to] hurt or harm our neighbor in his body,” and to “help and support him in every physical need.” This commandment compels us to defend the unborn.
- The 4th Commandment is also significant in addressing Proposition 1, because the proposition permits a minor to undergo an abortion without parental consent: thus its promoters seek to undermine God’s order for creation, namely the authority of parents over their children.
- Even as we oppose abortion and its legalization, the Office of the Keys also moves us to call for abortion advocates to repent and to offer forgiveness to those who do. Christians leave vengeance to the Lord and pray for the conversion of their foes.
- We also recognize that those who do repent will struggle with guilt, and so love should shape our words and actions accordingly.
- Because this discussion normally takes place in the left-hand kingdom arena of politics, the conversation usually revolves around rights: e.g., the woman’s right to choose or the baby’s right to live. The right-hand kingdom doesn’t operate by rights, but by sacrificial love: the strong defend and take care of the weak. For instance, I doubt that moms often say, “I will nurse my infant because this child has a right to live,” but “I will nurse my infant because he’s hungry and I can provide.”
Left-Hand Considerations
The Pro-Life cause is not exclusively Christian: when I had the opportunity to walk in the national March for Life a couple years ago, we Lutherans were positioned in the parade between the “Atheists for Life” and “LGBTQIA+ for Life” groups! It’s certainly a left-hand kingdom matter, and there’s plenty for us to consider.
- There are many reasonable/nonreligious arguments against abortion. Take, for instance, the impairment argument: if it is wrong for a pregnant woman to ingest substances (i.e., heroin) that will impair her unborn child’s life, how can it not be worse to terminate the child’s life? You can find lists of nonreligious arguments against abortion online, and they’re helpful to know in the conversation.
- We have a unique privilege rarely known in world history: our particular left-hand kingdom is not a kingdom at all, but we have the right to vote on both authorities and legislation. This is a radical change from most of time where a ruler (often appointed for life) would establish law, and Christians would honor the law when they could, or declare “We must obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29) and suffer the consequences. It is simply irresponsible to take for granted the right to vote.
- After the long tenure of Roe v. Wade, one should also not take lightly that, at present, Caesar in Idaho is pro-life! Rather than protesting an unjust law, defeating Proposition 1 maintains a just law.
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Knowing how many left-hand institutions work, believers act in wisdom and do their research, measuring the bias of reports. The assertion, for instance, that Idaho has lost a third of its OB-GYN doctors due to its abortion laws is often reported, but also contested. In fact, the Idaho Board of Medicine reports that the number of active OB-GYN licenses in Idaho increased from 2022-2024.
- It is important to remember that politics is the art of the possible, and achieved through compromise. The believer will often be left with voting for imperfection, if not the lesser of two evils. Let us say for the sake of argument that it’s true that the number of OB-GYNs is decreasing in the state: in that case, the voter is left with deciding whether the lesser evil is fewer physicians or the legalized death of human beings.
The Christian in Both Kingdoms
This is just a smattering of considerations on a sensitive, literally life-and-death issue. How do Christians respond as citizens of both kingdoms?
Some Christian responses are very much identified with the right-hand kingdom. We pray for mothers, for babies born and unborn, for dads and for families, and for husbands and wives who desire to have children. We welcome penitents into the family of God, no matter their past sins. We continue to teach the 5th Commandment and its protection of all ages. We continue to hold fast to our Lord and His gift of life, and we work to make Christ known to others. The focus on evangelism is not avoiding the issue, but going to the heart of it: if there is a mass conversion among Americans to Christianity, the laws of the land will protect the unborn. However, we’re tempted to trust more in laws and political action than the Lord and His gospel, when we ought to give both their respective kingdom’s due.
Some responses as Christians are very much identified with the left-hand kingdom. We do our research and we vote. We support pro-life groups and crisis pregnancy centers, either as a congregation or individually. As individual citizens, we might do more.
Some Christian responses are a mix of both kingdoms, because the two kingdoms overlap. Each year for the Idaho March for Life, we’re pleased at Good Shepherd to host a matins service for all who gather to march to the state capitol under the Lutherans for Life banner; in that service, we rejoice in God’s gift of life, His care for the unborn and the grace He has for all in Christ, and we pray for His help and mercy. After we eat lunch together, we take part in the march: this is largely a political/left-hand kingdom exercise, except that the Lutherans are the ones singing hymns all the way down Capitol Boulevard. As long as we’re demonstrating on behalf of life in our left-hand kingdom walking shoes, we’re going to sing about the Lord of life in the right-hand kingdom, too.
Some may see an email like this as a shift for me: after all these years, is Pastor Pauls suddenly “getting political”? Not really. I have laid out some points in both kingdoms for you to consider, and your theology ought to guide your political views and decisions. I have no plans to turn from pastor to political activist. In the case of Proposition 1, I think your course of action because you are a Christian is obvious.
Does this discussion mean that you should expect social/political commentary from the pulpit? It does not. I’ll take a detour and explain next time.
