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On February 13, 2024 By In Culture

Does Politics Have any Place on the Pulpit? How to Speak to Kings 101

One of the issues that has presented itself to the Christian Church, especially in the last 100 years, is the problem of politics and the pulpit. It was an issue in Bonhoeffer’s day as the Church, especially Christian pastors, went quiet on major cultural-political issues out of fear of being deemed “too political.” This is a problem in the American Church just as it was in the German Church in the pre World War II era. Eric Metaxas points out in his book Letter to an American Church. If it is a problem there, it is so much moreso a problem in the Canadian Church. I heard many such comments whispered from the pews of Reformed Churches in the years heading up to the COVID tyranny of 2020-?. I’ve heard it with increased frequency in the last couple of years. This has lead me to reflect deeply on Scripture and pray about what God demands of the preacher in a time like this. And so I’ll begin by posing a question: does politics have any place in the pulpit?

I submit that this debate is not about whether politics are in the pulpit, but how we preach on politics from the pulpit. Everyone engages in politics of some form or another (whether secular, totalitarian, pagan, or Biblical). It is another question if it is guided by a proper interpretation of the Scriptures.

Be Ye Not Political:

I use the language here that Eric Metaxas uses for the title of the 11th chapter of his Letter to the American Church. This has become an additional commandment in much of the Canadian Church as we silence our pastors and/or as pastors self-censor. Of course, there is something here in this command that we should be warned against. The answer to the problems of our society is not found in the politics and policies of men. The answer is found in the Scriptures. The answer to sin comes from God in His revelation of Jesus Christ. As a Christian Church, we also have to take care not to align ourselves with a political party, although we must “abhor what is evil and love what is good” (Rom. 12:9), wherever it might be found, including in political parties and state leaders. We must also avoid political alliances with evil in order to accomplish a single isolated good. But at the end of the day, there is no Biblical command that says “be ye not political.” It is more a matter as to how to be political.

Is the gospel at the front end? Is the Word of God central? Is worship central? Is the city of God the city that transforms the cities of men? How does it transform the cities of men? These are all important questions.

But in order to understand more what is going in here, we must first acquaint ourselves with secularism.

The Lie of Secularism:

Secularism does not simply refer to the old idea of the separation of church and state which is a good ideal, when understood rightly. Secularism refers to the separation of religion and state, that the state can govern by morally neutral principles, by a social contract, maybe incorporating some of the natural law.

But the problem with secularism is that it is an impossibility. Man is inherently religious. He will either worship the state or he will worship science or he will worship something or someone else. Man needs a higher authority. For that reason, secularism as an ideal has failed at its inception. It failed the minute someone thought it up.

Nevertheless, we continue to promote the lie as a society. That way the Christian faith is kept out of politics, that is, politics being the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area.

The Church has become deeply secularized, separating faith and business, faith and politics, faith and family. But the resounding motto that our people should hear both in the pew and in all of life is this: if Jesus is not Lord over all, then He is not Lord at all. This is the truth that is taught throughout the Scriptures, but especially as we find it in Colossians 1:18–20: “And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Here is the problem. When God’s Laws are mocked, especially the preachers and teachers in the Church cannot be silent. It is an impossibility. It is an impossibility because the initial place that His authority is made manifest is in the Church. The pastors have been given the holy and sacred duty to declare the crown rights of King Jesus.

Christians and Kings:

We see themes of believers standing before and speaking to kings throughout the Scriptures. We hear the true God of the Bible described this way in Deuteronomy 10:17: “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.” Solomon speaks to his son in Proverbs 22:29: “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.” And again in Ecclesiastes 8:3 “Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases.” King David writes in Psalm 119:46–47 “I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame, for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.” Daniel stands before Nebuchadnezzar and Beltashazar to speak the Word of God. John the Baptist rebukes Herod for taking his brothers wife (as a side note: I remember reading of one commentator who claimed that John the Baptist was a young minister who had a promising career that was cut short by political preaching). Paul stands before various kings until he finally brings the gospel to Caesar after Christ commissioned him in Acts 9:15–16: “But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.’” We hear Jesus described by John as “the ruler of kings on earth” in Revelation 1:5 and by Paul to Timothy as “the King of kings and Lord of Lords” in I Timothy 6:15. Jesus Himself says in Matthew 28:18 that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” and that we are to teach the nations all things that He has commanded after going out and baptizing and discipling them. We find this promise in Revelation 21:24: “By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it…” (Remember the principle of “now and not yet” for that passage from Revelation.)

Does the Call to Repentance include Kings?

Jesus writes in Luke 24:46–48 “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

I’ll cut right to the point. Yes, repentance for the forgiveness of sins must also be declared to our civil authorities, regardless of how “political” that might be deemed. This is our basic duty and task as a Church, as a Christian people. Just as Paul was a witness of Christ to Jews, to Gentiles and the children of Israel, so we are witnesses to the reality of Christ’s suffering, His resurrection, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations – that includes Canada.

We see it in the annals of Christian history, as Ambrose called King Theodosius to repentance, Patrick brought the gospel to the kings and princes of Ireland, John Knox called out the sins of the queen of Scotland, Abraham Kuyper tried to bring Biblical principles to bear as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands for a time.

The prophet has a duty to cavil against the evils and pride of all men and call them to bow the knee to Jesus Christ and to find their life in Him. And he has a duty to do it in a particular way. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:1–3: “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.”

Throughout Christian history, Christian kings have sought to bring the laws of Christ to bear, such as Constantine, Charlamagne, King Alfred, William the Silent, and other Christian kings and leaders of the post-Reformation era.

In order to call for repentance, men need to repent of something, they need to turn away from something and turn to something. The primary thing is a recognition among the kings and leaders of the earth that Jesus is Lord over all, and that in order to rule rightly, they must bow the knee to Him. If Jesus is Lord of all, then His principles for justice and law that are found throughout the Scriptures, are the best principles to rule by. Anything that stands in opposition to those principles is fundamentally rebellion against Him, and in His goodness, He died for rebels, to deliver them from their rebellion. We find the promise inPsalm 68:18: “You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.” We find the fulfillment in Ephesians 4:8 where Paul applies this to Christ: “Therefore it says, ‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.’”

Conclusion:

The clear conclusion of what we find in the Scriptures is that the implication of the gospel message that Jesus is our final prophet, priest and king is that there are massive political ramifications to the call to repentance and faith in Him. And yet, the kingdom of Christ advances differently than the kingdoms of this world. The kingdom of Christ advances through the bold preaching of the gospel message, the call to bow the knee and yield allegiance to Jesus as King, the king who came to serve and give His life as a ransom for many (Mk. 10:45). It advances as bold martyrs give up their lives rather than betray or deny their Lord and Master Jesus Christ. As the blood of the martyrs has watered the dry and stony grounds of godless and unbelieving nations, the church has sprung up out of it. This is because we have a God who knows the way out of the grave. It advances as kings and presidents and prime ministers get down on their knees and say to Jesus Christ: “My heart I offer to you Lord, promptly and sincerely.”

So yes, politics do have a place on the pulpit. Jesus speaks to the governance of a specific region, especially when that government begins to mock His laws and Word and despise or even persecute His holy Church. Secular politics are a lie. And no pastor should either assume a lie or preach a lie. The Bible and the truths therein should set the agenda. The Lordship of Christ over all things is central. All men, all parties, must bow before His throne.

This means that those bearing the Word must first and foremost be in submission to it, in their warnings, encouragements, exhortations and praise.

Note: The header photo is an illustration by the Dutch painter Peter Paul Rubens of St. Ambrose barring King Theodosius from the sanctuary after the Massacre of Thessalonika. He would not allow the king to enter until he repented of this massacre.

Note: This is part of a series of items relating to ecclesiology that I am posting on Kuyperian Commentary. You can find other work on my Substack account. My latest essay on Kuyperian is important background to this one.

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On October 12, 2023 By In Culture

Abraham Kuyper Versus the Modernists

What we are experiencing in our times is merely a replaying of classic higher criticism. In the 19th century, Abraham Kuyper argued that modernist scholarship was an attempt to regard themselves as holy. Their worldly wisdom would uphold their elite status because their ethical values were free from religious control.

Kuyper noted that they think they have found the truth, but they have attributed “reality to a mirage, a fairy tale.”a He further argued that the way out of this moral chaos is to make Christian education indispensable to the success of the Church. Since the state was not interested in the biblical concept of truth, “Christians would have to establish their own schools.”

He knew that modernism could only breathe if it kept the lower middle class distant from the political process. In those days, people experiencing poverty remained far from political engagement since most were not allowed to vote because they did not own land. Therefore, Kuyper entered the political scene eager to appeal to the lower middle class. He knew that the poor in the Netherlands wanted to preserve tradition and conserve Christendom in their communities. He called them to enter the political stage to exorcise the modernists from both Church and State.

Our scene today offers us an opportunity to abandon the antipathy towards politics by encouraging the Church to re-enter the stage of history and fight for society’s good; to see their Christian task as far more than merely a spiritual pursuit of heaven, but to see the Church as the fundamental means by which society is transformed.

The modernists today want nothing with truth but opine from the comfort of tenured status, and we must now seek to leave them to their own devices and begin anew with biblical institutions that presuppose the Triune life at every point of human endeavor.

  1. James E. McGoldrick, Abraham Kuyper: God’s Renaissance Man, 56  (back)

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On October 11, 2022 By In Church, Culture

A Creational Apologetic for Mockery

Several recent essays have offered a rich description of what has happened to the winsome phenomenon. Evangelical writers and theologians once known for defending the good have sought to minimize Gospel realities by maximizing opportunities for ecumenical endeavors. These endeavors did not produce the fruit expected, and, instead, it has led inevitably to the prodigalness of the evangelical left.

The result is a Babylonian conundrum leaving these figures defending the other side instead of protecting the voices most closely aligned with the cause of the Gospel. The winsome project has led to the adulteration of the good by compromising the good. My premise is that these authors have failed to see the Church’s role as that of protecting the creational order and priorities at all costs. These priorities negate the winsome strategy and advocate for something more distinctly aggressive regarding our relationship with ungodliness in this world.

To provide a bit of a rationale for what I call “A creational apologetic for mockery,” let me begin by offering some propositions and then conclude with some observations about the state of things in the Church.

First, I argue that creational theology compels us to use mockery against evil. Creation, by its very nature, is an apologetic against principalities and powers. Sun, moon, and stars are not merely heavenly descriptors but symbolic ones which proclaim the heavenly reality as the mode of operation for all of history. This reality presents the dignity of man, the labor of man, the complementarity of woman, and the establishment of priestly categories as fundamental antagonists to the attempts of evil men and their institutions to reverse the created order. Thus, the creation account supplants other accounts with an ideal established order and decency for both private and public arenas.

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On July 15, 2022 By In Theology

Postmillennialism for Dummies

One of the joys of speaking loudly around here is that I get to see some fine china broken in real-time. That’s a metaphor for views being shattered and replaced by something else, for those of you just tuning in.

The thing broken is a variation of pessimistic eschatology and it is being replaced with some happy, hopeful, and hosannah postmillennialism. Mind you, I am not so much concerned about the loyalty to the systematic category, but to the heart of the matter. Because es-cha-to-lo-gy has consequences for casuistry. Say that three times.

It pleases me to see folks going through that radical transformation and sending me notes about it. Just this last week, two brothers texted me separated by 30 minutes sharing with me their newfound dogmatism for stout-beer postmillennialism. And the good news is that they didn’t come into it half-heartedly. They did the hard work of research, reading, and repeating. It is an amazing thing to plant seeds for a long time, only to see them bear fruit much later. God seems to work like that on many occasions. I believe we are reaching a stage of massive theological conversions, and I have alluded to some of these factors before, but the postmil conversion is a fruitful blossoming of many seeds planted long ago.

I have been harping on the postmil “C” chord for a really long time and I think postmil eschatology is beginning to see a resurgence. This may be the result of ecclesiastical behaviors these past two years. In fact, I will go so far as to say that the churches who have been pushing against shut-downs and sundry silliness have postmil bones. Now, lots of other non-postmil flocks have come alongside our efforts, or later decided to peek behind the curtain, but the reality is that the majority of pastors I know who decided to fight the tide named one of their kids or their dogs, B.B. Warfield.

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On May 22, 2020 By In Culture

The Synthetic Gospel of Liberation Theology

As an undergraduate student, I was briefly attracted to liberation theology while never completely signing on. At the time I fancied myself something of a campus radical, relishing the responses I received from my fellow students at our American Christian university in the upper midwest. To be sure, we weren’t UC Berkeley, and I wasn’t Abbie Hoffman or Daniel Cohn-Bendit. I searched through Karl Marx’s writings to find a pithy slogan to put on my dormitory wall, but, to my disappointment, found nothing worthy of even the bare plaster of a monastic-like cell. I genuinely believed that the Christian faith in which I was raised demanded structural social change. Liberation theology was not the first choice in my efforts to apply my faith to the ills of society, but I believed I had to take it seriously and at least look into it.

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On November 5, 2019 By In Books, Culture, Politics, Theology

Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism: Calvinism and the Future

This is the sixth part of a six part article series on Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. He gave these lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary over a series of days in October 1898. Happy International Abraham Kuyper Month!

Here is an overview of Kuyper’s other lectures on Calvinism: Life-system, Religion, Politics, Science, and Art.

In this final lecture, Kuyper begins by summarizing his past lectures with these words: “[Calvinism] raised our Christian religion to its highest spiritual splendor; it created a church order, which became the preformation of state confederation; it proved to be the guardian angel of science; it emancipated art; it propagated a political scheme, which gave birth to constitutional government, both in Europe and America; it fostered agriculture and industry, commerce and navigation; it put a thorough Christian stamp upon home-life and family-ties; it promoted through its high moral standard purity in our social circles; and to this manifold effect it placed beneath Church and State, beneath society and home-circle, a fundamental philosophic conception strictly derived from its dominating principle, and therefore all its own” (p 171).

Kuyper then moves on to look at his current time and suggests where Calvinism can help in shaping and building for the future. He suggests that the topic of his final lecture is “A new Calvinistic development needed by the wants of the future” (p 171). 

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On October 29, 2019 By In Art, Books, Theology

Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism: Calvinism and Art

This is the fifth part of a six part article series on Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. He gave these lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary over a series of days in October 1898. Happy International Abraham Kuyper Month!

Kuyper begins this lecture acknowledging the terrible idol that Art has become. He says, “Genuflection before an almost fanatical worship of art, such as our time fosters, should little harmonize with the high seriousness of life, for which Calvinism has pleaded, and which it has sealed, not with the pencil or the chisel in the studio, but with its best blood at the stake and in the field of battle” (p 142). Kuyper is reminding us to to see the vast difference between the artists in the art shop and the faithful men and women who sealed their confession with their very blood. While art does make an impact on culture and society, those who have died for the faith have the greater victory. 

Kuyper then says, “Moreover the love of art which is so broadly on the increase in our times should not blind our eyes, but ought to be soberly and critically examined” (p 142). We should not create art for the sake of art, nor should we enjoy it for itself. We must do art for God’s sake and glory. This means a high and serious examination of all art in order to bring it in submission to God.   

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On October 19, 2019 By In Books, Culture, Politics, Theology

Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism: Calvinism and Science

This is the fourth part of a six part article series on Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. He gave these lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary over a series of days in October 1898. Happy International Abraham Kuyper Month!

In this lecture, Kuyper shows how Calvinism has impacted the field of Science. He argues that it has done this in four key ways: fostered a love for science, restored its full domain, set it free from unnatural bonds, and solved what Kuyper calls, the unavoidable scientific conflict. 

Calvinism Fostered Science

First, Kuyper shows how Calvinism encouraged a true love of science. The love of science is bound up with a love of God’s character and and how He has lovingly predestined everything. Kuyper says it this way: “But if you now proceed to the decree of God, what else does God’s fore-ordination mean than the certainty that the existence and course of all things, i.e. of the entire cosmos, instead of being a plaything of caprice and chance, obeys law and order, and that there exists a firm will which carries out its designs both in nature and in history?” (p 114) The very ground of scientific investigation rests up the way God has orchestrated and ordained the world. In a random world, there would be no laws of nature for science to study. It is only in a world that is governed by the fatherly eye of God, can there be real science.

Kuyper says, “Thus you recognize that the cosmos, instead of being a heap of stones, loosely thrown together, on the contrary presents to our mind a monumental building erected in a severely consistent style” (p 114). We do not live in an evolving pond of goo but in a grand cathedral with stained glass windows and ornate flying buttresses. All of it is designed by the hand of a loving artist. 

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On October 14, 2019 By In Books, Politics, Theology

Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism: Calvinism and Politics

This is the third part of a six part article series on Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. He gave these lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary over a series of days in October 1898. Happy International Abraham Kuyper Month!

In this lecture, Kuyper shows how Calvinism has impacted politics over the last several centuries. Calvinism has had this impact not because of a particular soteriology, like justification by faith, but rather because Calvinism has given special focus to God’s sovereignty. This teaching impacts all areas of authority in the world: State, Society, and Church. Each of these authorities must submit to the highest authority: the sovereign God. In this lecture, Kuyper focuses on God’s Sovereignty over the State.  

The Nature of the State

Kuyper first begins by explaining the nature of the state, its origin and position in the world. He explains, “For, indeed without sin there would have been neither magistrate nor state-order; but political life, in its entirety, would have evolved itself, after a patriarchal fashion, from the life of the family” (p 80). He also describes the State as a crutch for a lame leg. In a perfect world, this crutch would not be needed, but in a fallen world, the State is a gift of God set up and established under His authority. 

Kuyper then draws out two key lessons. First, that we should gratefully receive the state from the hand of God and also recognize, “…that, by virtue of our natural impulse, we must ever watch against the danger which lurks, for our personal liberty, in the power of the State” (p 81). Kuyper saw correctly that the State is a necessary authority but it also must be restrained. 

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On October 11, 2019 By In Books, Politics, Theology, Worship

Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism: Calvinism and Religion

This is the second part of a six part article series on Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. He gave these lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary over a series of days in October 1898. Happy International Abraham Kuyper Month!

Religion is For God

In this second lecture, Kuyper argues that Calvinism has a religious energy that other theological camps do not. This energy is found in how Calvinism places God and God’s glory at the center of all religious life. This energy restores the true nature of religion and this restoration in turn sets out the full task of man before God.

What is this religious energy in Calvinism? It is that all of the Christian religion must be for God. Kuyper says, “The starting point of every motive in religion is God and not Man” (p 46). God should be our primary and ultimate goal. We must love and worship God for His own sake, not because we are trying to get a reward out of Him. Kuyper says this is our goal: “…to covet no other existence than for the sake of God, to long for nothing but the will of God, and to be wholly absorbed in the glory of the name of the Lord, such is the pith and kernel of all true religion” (p 46). The true demand of the Christian life is that we must spend all our energy following God’s will. 

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