Yes, Lutherans do teach the doctrine of the "Two Kingdoms," because it is the biblical teaching.
This is a huge subject. In fact, I taught a whole week's course on this subject at a pastors' conference in Indonesia in March, under the theme, "The Two Kingdoms: The Proper Distinction of Church and State."
Here is a blog report I wrote on that conference: The Luther Academy goes to Indonesia. I'll quote from that article now to give you a quick synopsis of the Lutheran view:
The topic on which I lectured . . . was “The Two Kingdoms: The Proper Distinction of Church and State.” . . .
We started with the distinction of Law and Gospel, since that is the basis for the distinction of how God rules in his two “kingdoms” (or “governments”), Church and State. The “first use” of the Law, written on human hearts, is how God keeps order in the world, especially through civil government. The Gospel is the special ministry of the Church, by which God saves sinners for Christ’s sake for eternal life. Law and Gospel, Church and State--these need to properly distinguished and not confused, so that each can do its necessary job.
The seminal work by Luther on the topic of the Two Kingdoms is his 1523 treatise, “Temporal Authority: To What Extent It Should Be Obeyed” (Luther’s Works, Volume 45). All subsequent Lutheran teaching on this topic stems from this essay. I led the group through this treatise, which was also a good way of getting at the key Bible passages, which Luther handles.
Next we went through the pertinent portions of the Lutheran Confessions, especially the following. From the Augsburg Confession: Articles IV, V, and VII, on Justification, the Ministry, and the Church; Article XVI, on Civil Government; and Article XXVIII, on Church Authority. Likewise, from the Apology: Article XVI, on Political Order. And from the Small and Large Catechisms: the Fourth Commandment and the Table of Duties.
After all of this, we were able to identify six key passages that Luther and the Confessions always were citing: Matthew 22:21, “Render unto Caesar”; John 18:36, “My kingdom is not of this world”; Acts 5:29, “We must obey God rather than men”; Romans 13:1-7, government as God’s servant that bears the sword; 2 Corinthians 10:4, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal”: and 1 Peter 2:13-14, very similar to Romans 13.
Then we went through other biblical and historical examples of how the two kingdoms operate and how they often have been confused. From the Imperial Cult of Rome to Constantinian Christendom to the Medieval Crusades, from the Protestant Reformation to the Prussian Union to issues of Church and State today, history bears witness to the importance of keeping the two kingdoms in their proper perspective.
If anyone's interested, I can send you the three handouts I used at the conference, which give: an outline of the course; excerpts from Luther's essay on "Temporal Authority"; and excerpts from the Lutheran Confessions. Send me a freepmail with your e-mail address, and I'll send you the three documents as file attachments.
I'm planning to use this same material to teach a class at my congregations this fall on the same topic, "The Two Kingdoms: The Proper Distinction of Church and State."
BTW, Luther's important and helpful 1523 essay can be found online in pdf form: "Temporal Authority: To What Extent It Should Be Obeyed"
I'll post a comment on the particular subject of this thread here in a moment.
Leni
God has written his law, a sense of right and wrong, on human hearts. This is the basis for civil law, e.g., laws against murder, stealing, bearing false witness. See Romans 2:14-15: "For when Gentiles, who do not have the law [i.e., the Ten Commandments, given to Israel], 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. . . ."
As much as possible, civil laws and societal norms should correspond to God's Law, his unchanging will for human society. When they do, a society works better. When they don't, a society declines. In our lifetime, American society has declined especially in the areas of marriage and the family, sexual behavior, and the like. We can and should work for improvement in these areas, both in unwritten societal norms and in written civil laws.
Matters such as abortion and homosexual "marriage" (sic) fall under the category of Law. One need not be a Chrisitan to recognize that these things are wrong. Nature, reason, and conscience all attest that abortion and homosexual behavior are wrong. To oppose these abominations is not a distinctively Christian position.
What IS distinctively Christian is the content of the Gospel, e.g., the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of the person and work of Christ, the doctrine of justification, the preaching of forgiveness and eternal life for the sake of Christ. This is the exclusive domain of the Church. This is the ministry of the Gospel.
The Law cannot save. Only the Gospel can do that. The Law can make for a better society, and it should do that.
One more post in a moment on what Michael Horton said.
Thanks for this. I’ll give it a look when I have time. I like guy who knows his stuff.
Thanks for the link, pastor. I downloaded it to read this coming week. Warm regards,
Jim
While my faith and beliefs tie me more to the Republican party, I will, and have, parted company with them at times when the candidate held positions I can not support.