The speaker behind the podium transformed before our eyes. His rhetorical temperature rose quickly as he opened his argument by calling a local politician “a demon.” As he did so, I could almost see Dwight Schrute pounding his fist and chanting, “Rise and be worthy of this historical hour!”

Our speaker spoke as he did in order to strike a religious chord and to play on people’s fears about the turn of the culture. I share his concern entirely, but demonizing someone on account of their views, however heinous those views are, did not serve his argument or cause. The moment he declared his opponent a demon he unraveled his argument in favor of the sanctity of life. In his anger he forgot that all people, even a politician who does not care about life as they should, are created in the image of Christ.

This episode caused me to reflect on the reality that, as a Christian, I live in two kingdoms simultaneously. This is a truth that would have helped our speaker and that has helped me to think about issues like abortion and the place of Christians in the world.

I did not learn the vocabulary of two kingdom theology until well into adulthood, but I was blessed to be raised by parents who understood that the gospel and politics should not be conflated. We can and should be proud to be Americans who seek justice for our country. We are also called to live and to declare the gospel no matter in what country we live.

I remember December 30, 2006, as a major day in history. It was on that day that Saddam Hussein was executed at Camp Justice for his crimes against humanity. I was sixteen years old and joined the celebration of this occasion with my fellow Americans. When I told my mother about it, however, she replied, “Why would I celebrate that a human died today who, from my knowledge, will now experience eternal separation from Christ? What about that should bring me joy?” She reminded me that, despite his terrible crimes against humanity, even Saddam Hussein was made in the image of God. Although all indicators are that he never chose to follow what he and all human beings know to be righteousness, that does not mean that he lacked the capacity to do good among his fellow men. God created him to do so, but he chose not to.

Some approaches to Christ and culture, however, hold that one can do good only if one professes Christ. This is a confusion of nature and grace (or creation and redemption). This confusion further leads some to argue that the church must perform every good deed. Such an approach ignores the truth that the moral law given at Sinai (Exod 20) was not new at Sinai; rather the moral law was a principle given at creation.

Because every human being knows God’s moral law by nature, even those who are outside of Christ inherently know that some things are wrong. Paul explained this in Romans chapters 1 and 2. In Romans 1:18–20 he wrote,

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Rom 1:18–20)

God’s moral law is “plain to them,” known by all image bearers “since the creation of the world” because God’s attributes are known from “the things that have been made.” That is why all humans are “without excuse.”

Paul elaborates on this point when he writes,

For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. (Rom 2:12–16)

Even pagans—those who are “without the law”—“by nature” do “what the law requires.” This means even pagans know that murder is wrong, that cheating on their spouse is wrong, and that stealing is wrong.

Unbelievers do not need to be united to Christ to have this basic knowledge of right and wrong because the moral law is written on our hearts as God’s image-bearers. To speak of a politician as “a demon” suggests that he is beyond salvation. This directly flies in the face of Romans 3:23, which says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” If a politician is beyond saving, then so are we all. Thanks to the good news, however, we know that no one is beyond saving.

Even if a politician or a raging atheist activist repeatedly commits grievous sin against God, we should not turn our backs on them. This is not because we need to rise up as a Christian army, face them down, and defeat them, but because we are called to pray for their souls. Our cultural opponents are image-bearers corrupted by evil. As much as we long for our culture to be renewed from ungodliness, the need for personal salvation in Christ is more important. We hope that, as people are given new life and true faith, we might begin to see positive changes in our culture.

Satan would like for us to forget the humanity of our cultural and political opponents. He wants us to believe that some people are so in his grasp that God cannot save and renew them, but we know from God’s Word that the only hand that cannot be robbed is Christ’s as he holds his sheep. The Holy Spirit changes the hearts and minds of man in ways beyond our comprehension. We forget who we once were before Christ if we think anyone is beyond the reach of his grace.

Even in a society that seems to be turning increasingly to progressive ideology we see many instances of the moral law revealing its truth. For example, we have seen Christians and Muslims standing side-by-side to oppose destructive policies pushed by some public school boards. We have even seen surprising coalitions to oppose the sexualizing of our children. We should not discount the value of work done for the common good, even when some of the participants are far from Christ.

To be sure, these good actions in no way unite their souls to Christ, which is of ultimate importance. This is a reminder to those of us who are united to Christ, who find ourselves in such a common good coalition, to pray for our non-believing coalition partners. Nevertheless, we can recognize that they are helping this world run in a more orderly way, closer to what God intended for it. People of all religious convictions should feel welcome to fight in causes for the common good of humanity. The common good does not belong exclusively to a certain political party or religious denomination. It belongs to man, who was created to do good.

We should be aware that there are fear mongers among us who try to sell the lie that if we do not stand with them for their particular social issue, the way they do, we become responsible for the church’s inevitable collapse. This premise, however, suggests that human efforts are the real enabling or restricting factor for God’s power and glory. This is not true. As a Christian, my calling is to point others to his majesty, not to pretend that I am involved in its increase or decrease. We do good for others as Christians out of a thankful heart because it is how we are built to be, not because it improves upon God in any way.

Remembering the reality of God’s two kingdoms, the sacred and the common, helps us appreciate the many aspects of life in God’s world. Reminding ourselves that all men are created in the image of Christ and that all men have at least the capacity to do temporal good should cause us to come to our knees in prayer for the salvation of all men. Our hearts should be grieved for those who do evil, our anger should be directed at the originator of evil, and our hope and prayers should be for the only remedy that exists: the hope that Jesus Christ brings us in the gospel.

Understanding that God has created all men in his image and that they are worth defending, whether in the womb or in the world, whether they are spreading messages with which we agree with or not, our hearts should be heavy for our fellow man, worshipful to God for revealing his truth to us, and prayerful for the day that he does the same for them.

©Sarah Perkins. All Rights Reserved.

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Post authored by:

• Sarah Perkins

  

  Sarah Perkins (MSc Business and Management, University of Essex; BA Art, University of Montevallo) is a pastor’s wife, married to Harrison, and artist based out of Michigan. She recently changed from full-time work in education management to being a full-time mom to their son Scott. She is the artist behind Illustrated Theology, also doing all the art for The New Geneva, and enjoys reading, travelling, and remembering and reciting useless trivia.

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