I won't elaborate for him but I will add that God created a cosmos in which there is hierarchical forms of rule and authority. Christ is king of all existence. He then deligates authority to lesser powers—to his heavenly host (like angels) as well as mankind.
Man as God's image bearer is to take dominion of the earth—to cultivate, subdue, and rule (as God's governors).
God also subdivided his deligated authority to man into four primary forms of government—the church, the magistrate (state), the family, and the individual. Each government has its own specific roles and boundaries—clergy do not declare war, the magistrate does not administer the sacraments, for example.
When man sinned and fell, and all creation was subject to sin, man's governing roles and duties did not change but are now plagued with corruption. Even in a sinful world God did not do away with government. Rather, we are told that God gave the magistrate the sword to reward the just and to punish the unjust.
In 2 Samuel God says "When one rules justly over man, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass sprout from the earth"
In proverbs 29:2, it says "When the rightelus increase, the people flourish, but when the wicked rule, the people groan."
Ultimately we are all under the authority and rule of Christ, whether we accept that reality or not, but not accepting it as a peoples results in evil rulers.
We individually, as households, even as towns and communities and states, can and should resist evil rulers. Part of that resistance is writing code and using open protocols (nostr) and better money (bitcoin). But the heart of that resistance needs to be repentance and a return to rightly ordered rule under the ultimate lordship of Christ.
Replies (5)
Well said, thanks!
"when one rules justly over men"
What's the definition of "rules" here? If rulership is attained by coersive means, then how could it be just?
It’s Christ or chaos. This was very well put brother. I see some Kuyperian theology in here as well.
Good questions.
So the root meaning is basically "dominion" which ties back to Genesis.
As for your second question about coercion, that is a bit more complicated.
The simple answer is that there are plenty of just ways a person may attain authority and rule. That someone would attain authority isn't in itself wrong but, again, an inevitability.
I also should say that coercion once someone is IN authority is baked into the pie. It is not a matter of if they will be coercive but how they will be coercive. Or, put another way, to what end.
For example, I am coercive with my children—I will discipline them if they are rebellious to my authority—but my coercion is aimed in the direction of them being self-disciplined, respectful, and responsible individuals who are not mastered by their emotions and impulses and sins but rather learn how to submit themselves in righteousness to God. My authority as a father is to love them enough to teach them to obey all that God has commanded. That involves coercion.
On the flip side, If I were a tyrannical father I would still have authority over them because of my "governing office" as father but my rule would be using coercion for MY OWN gain, not my children's gain.
This, in principle, is true of magisterial rulers. God calls rulers to love their people and place. To use coercion in righteous ways for the benefit and flourishing of the people.
You specifically asked about attaining power through coercive means. On that note, and this is a harder reality to grapple with, God allows, for his purposes, selfish and evil men to do such things. Just as men can come to power through just means, so they can through unjust means. God is infinitely wise and we often do not understand why he allows all that he does. But, as was stated before, sometimes it is to discipline an unruly peoples. To discipline and rebuke in order to call them back into righteous submission to Christ.
Pardon the novel I wrote in response here. Does all that make sense?
Yes! I have not read nearly enough from Kuyper but I have been consciously influenced by his teachings on sphere sovereignty.
And it starts with the family unit. Men are priests of their households. Men, love your wives as Christ loves the church. Men, be men!
