The key anthropological division, then, isn’t between the inseparable inner and outer person, but between the Pauline “old man” and “new man.” And the term to be contrasted with secular isn’t sacred or spiritual, but eternal. It starts with a contrast between two whole stories or ages, which effectively divides two kinds of life right where the Bible divides them-life in the flesh versus life in the Spirit. But does the Bible divide things so cleanly?Ī doctrine of two ages, on the other hand, doesn’t start with a contrast of two governments and the division of a person’s life between different domains (spiritual/secular inner/outer). Luther’s two kingdoms also divides the person between inner and outer, and places a spiritual government over one and a secular government over the other. The Bible and church have things to say for all humanity. The Bible doesn’t exactly place the church and Word only over God’s people and the state over the rest of humanity. The two-kingdoms formulation is logically tidy, and it has much explanatory power, but it doesn’t quite fit with Scripture’s institutions. But then Luther places two governments over those two communities, one being the state, the other being the Word and to some measure the church. So Luther begins, biblically enough, with Augustine’s two cities, which refers not to two governments but two communities of people: those who submit to God and those who do not. Oliver O’Donovan helpfully transplants this New Testament conversation into the domain of political theology: “The passing age of principalities and powers has overlapped with the coming age of God’s kingdom.”Īdvertise on TGC Forced Logic of Two KingdomsĪ doctrine of two ages is diachronic and derives from the Bible’s covenantal framework, unlike Luther’s two kingdoms, which is synchronic and is built on a logical formulation. The history of new creation began even while the history of the old creation continued. In a nutshell, I would propose that the Spirit-given power of the new covenant requires a doctrine of two ages. A doctrine of two ages or inaugurated eschatology is a popular way among New Testament theologians for characterizing how creation history and redemptive history bifurcated when Christ’s kingdom was inaugurated but not consummated through the giving of the new covenant. I would like to offer an alternative that learns from each of these, but that also draws on the last half-century of New Testament theology. Well-known proposals include Augustine’s “two cities,” Gelasius’s “two swords,” Luther’s “two kingdoms,” and Kuyper’s ideas about sphere sovereignty, which operate inside of what might be called a “one-kingdom” framework. For centuries Christians have considered different ways of relating the church and the world, particularly with respect to the God-established authorities in each domain.

Beyond two kingdoms