Those of us who are Calvinists and believe in political engagement need to take a close look at what is going on with this “Two Kingdoms” movement.
For those who are not familiar with the movement, it is an argument that when Christians enter the political realm, we are not to argue based on Scripture but rather using natural law or general revelation. Some of its advocates really and sincerely believe that engagement in politics runs the risk of replacing the Gospel with political compromise that leads to theological compromise. Others have far more questionable motives, and the accusation has been made (in some cases, definitely wrongly) that Two Kingdoms theology is a cover to allow liberal politics into the church.
I am not a fan of attacking academia — I am a Calvinist, after all, and I believe in a studied ministry — but this is an ivory tower movement coming predominantly out of one seminary and spreading in academic circles. This is definitely not a grassroots movement. Most theologically conservative Calvinist laymen involved in business or professional lives are also politically conservative.
It's time for elders and laymen to stand up and speak out. The stakes are simply too great to let politically uninformed pastors muddle things up for our churches. They may mean well, but they're causing major problems at a time when we need to be unified to fight against the culture wars that threaten to destroy what is left of biblical Christianity in America.
For those of you who are Roman Catholic, I have a long history of commending your church for taking a stance on politicians advocating obviously anti-Christian public policy. In my own theological circles, we need to deal with the fact that our political history during the Reformation was closely intertwined with fights against Roman Catholicism. How can we cooperate with Catholics now when our history was very different?
The core issue is that we now face an even worse enemy — secularism and “enlightenment” thought stemming from the French Revolution. We can work together against a common enemy so long as we realize our differences.
The Dutch church leader Abraham Kuyper, who became the prime minister of the Netherlands a century ago as head of a Christian political party and was the founder of a Christian university, a daily newspaper and a church magazine, and of what became the nation's second-largest Protestant denomination, advocated cooperation with Roman Catholics in the sphere of the state while strongly affirming the need to maintain confessional integrity in the sphere of the church. In the modern context, Francis Schaeffer and D. James Kennedy held very similar positions.
I believe it is entirely consistent to work with Roman Catholics in the political realm to fight abortion and other evils covered by Romans 13. I believe we need to recognize that our confessions will and should keep us from ecclesiastical compromise, but Romans 13 specifies the primary purpose of the state in ways that not only allow but probably require us to work together as evangelical Protestants, traditional Roman Catholics, and Orthodox Jews.
If Christ has no say in the political realm then only fallen man can be the savior of it. Seems that’s not working out to well in our culture.