Study guide Two kingdoms: Putting others first B
By Robert C. Blezard
ecause of the way God has structured how we live, Chris- tians hold dual citizenship. We are always first and foremost under the authority of God, but also of the civil governments of the country where we live. We give God and country our allegiance in separate and distinct ways. For Lutherans in an election year, this offers some opportunities and cautions.
Exercise 1: Render unto Caesar Mark 12:13-17 and Matthew 22:15- 22 both recount Jesus’ teaching about our relationship between heavenly and civil authority. Read either account and discuss: What do we actually “give” to
God? What does God ask of us in the first commandment? Why is it the sin of idolatry to put one’s country ahead of God? Yet what would Jesus have asked his followers to “give” to Caesar—the Roman ruler who claimed to be divine? What does this mean for North American Christians? How does this teaching fit Martin Luther’s “two kingdoms” idea?
Blezard is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Arendtsville, Pa. He has a master of divinity degree from Boston University and did subsequent study at the Lutheran Seminary at Gettysburg (Pa.) and the Lutheran Seminary at Philadelphia.
Exercise 2: Obey civil authority In Romans 13:1-7, Paul provides support for the two-kingdoms doc- trine. Read the passage and discuss: God ordains civil authorities to exist, but for what purpose? List their duties or responsibilities. What was the dominant reli- gion of Paul’s Roman world? Is civil govern- ment only for God’s people,
or for nonbelievers as well? Was the Roman government Christian- or Jewish-leaning? How could Paul call the pagan Roman regime the servant of God? If government is ambivalent or even hostile to the faith, why are God’s people rightly subject to God and to civil authority? How are God’s people to relate to civil government?
Exercise 3: Thou shall not lie Half-truths and untruths are com- mon currency in politics, but the eighth commandment tells us not to bear false witness against our neighbor. In The Small Catechism, Luther explained: “We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kind- est way.”
Do we sin when we repeat politi-
cal ideas or forward political emails that we know are not true? How should Christians respond to politi- cal untruths? Using Luther’s expla- nation, how should we frame our political talk with people of differing viewpoints?
Exercise 4: Love your neighbor How do the dual commandments to love God with all our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mat- thew 22:36-40) correlate well to Luther’s ideas of the two kingdoms? In North America our neighbors include people of different faiths (or no faith), different races, different political parties, different economic levels and different lifestyles. They
Exercise 6: Tone it down We correctly reprimand our children when they call others names, speak in anger or use put-downs, insults and lies to make their point, and yet these are par for the course for many political talk-show hosts on radio and TV. People who listen regularly to political commentators who use anger, sarcasm and insults often wind up thinking and talking like them.
How does this harm political dis- cussion and inhibit us from finding common ground? What can Chris- tians do to help tone down the politi- cal rhetoric and help discussion to be guided by calmness, reason, logic and fact?
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include people who hold different values and may be in this country illegally. How can we love them? How can public policy decisions help us to best love our neighbors as ourselves?
Exercise 5: Let righteousness roll down
Amos 5:1-24 contains a stunning indictment of God’s people, as well as a restatement of God’s priorities. What wrongdoings are revealed in verses 10-12? What are the modern- day equivalents to those sins in the public-policy and economic sphere? When Amos calls for justice, what does he mean? What would true justice look like in the U.S.? In the world? What would verses 21-24 say about the priorities of your con- gregation? What does verse 24 say about God’s priorities?
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