If, as Abraham Kuyper pointed out, every square inch of this world belongs to Christ, does it follow that the church should be involved in every sphere of life? This is an especially important question as Christians in Canada consider who to vote for in the upcoming Federal election on May 2, 2011. I believe the answer is both “no” and “yes”.
I believe the answer is “no” because the church as an organization has been mandated by God to focus on the Great Commission found in Matthew 28. History has shown that when the church, as an organization, starts to focus on areas such as politics, culture, and education it does so at the expense of its God given mandate. This view, of limiting the church to ecclesiastical matters, is expressed well in the Martin Luther’s doctrine of the Two Kingdoms, which was also espoused by John Calvin.
Some Reformed Christians who disagree with the Two Kingdom approach, such as neo-Kuyperians, espouse that Christians ought to work hard to make the world a more God honouring place. For a good discussion of the debate between the Two Kingdom doctrine and the ideas of the neo-Kuyperians see Kevin deYoung’s blog, DeYoung, Restless and Reformed. Personally, I think that the differences between these two views is a false dilemma, and that they are not that far apart. I agree with the neo-Kuyperians that the church ought to say “yes” to involvement in all areas of life, but not under the authority of a consistory or even classis or synod. Individual Christians should band together with other Christians, or even non-Christians, to transform society.
Nevertheless, the Church as an organization has been mandated by Christ to focus on the announcement of the gospel as Dr. Michael Horton, from Westminster Theological Seminary, points out in the video below.
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