The DRC blog was originally established to be a sounding board for discussions of my series on Christ’s Mediatorial Kingship in the RP Witness. It has served its purpose well.
Therefore, while the site remains in its original form, I thought I might take the opportunity to point out what I have learned from the discussion. I want to thank or contributors, especially Darryl and Caleb, for their insightful contributions. Both men have challenged me. They have demand that I think and rethink along the way. I am grateful.
So what have I learned?
1. That Christ is truly King of the Nations (the bible says so) but that his reign is complex and difficult to define.
2. Because Christ’s kingship over the nations is difficult to define, it is best to stand upon the treasury of wisdom borrowed from the last 2000 years of Western Christendom. Speculative theories and ideologies are never helpful in the political realm. America represents a beautiful union between the Western Tradition of Christendom, the prescriptive rights of Englishman, the influence of Reformed theology, and the best of the Scottish Enlightenment. I would rather defend our blessings than criticize our imperfections. The best defender of Christ’s Kingship is not the speculative do-good reformer but the conservative defender of the Western tradition.
3. Theocracy is for ancient Israel and the church. One of the blessings of Christendom is that it gave room for the development of a secular sphere- not divorced from Christ but under Him– in which the politics of this age serve a less than ultimate purpose. Truly God judges nations for their sins. His hand of providence governs the nations. Yet, for Christianity politics is not the realm of faithfulness to revelation. Secular breathing space is important. It provides the possibility of compromise, a possibility unimaginable with fundamentalist Islam. At the end of the day, the most important contribution of Christ’s Kingship over the nations may be the existence of the secular sphere.
More thoughts to come…
I have learned a great deal from your series, Bill. In my not so distant theological/church past, the kingship of Christ was only a fable-like expression embedded in the words of some Christmas carols. Christ was thought of as “my king,” never authoritatively as king of the church much less of the the nations in a real sense. This latter understanding has completely changed my church and world view and has given me renewed sense of Christian confidence.
It is frustrating to think that my formerly twisted understanding of the kingship of Christ was shaped by some nice songs I didn’t like anyway.
sorry to hear of your declension