We’re a month away from one of the more sour elections in American history. President Barack Obama is unpopular but so are congressional Republicans. We’re 20 years away from the “Republican Revolution” of 1994, which didn’t produce much change, and six years away from the “Hope and Change” election of 2008, which has left even many liberals hopeless.

At such times it’s good to be reminded about basic principles, and the following book excerpt helps in that vein. It’s the opening chapter to Willem J. Ouweneel’s Power in Service: An Introduction to Christian Political Thought (Paideia Press, 2014). Ouweneel, born in 1944, is a triple doctor with Ph.D.s in biology, philosophy, and theology from leading universities in the Netherlands and South Africa. He was several times a candidate for political office and has taught for 25 years in South Africa and Belgium.

Ouweneel reminds us that even when we’re in a mess electorally, “the Kingdom of God is clearly visible. You can perceive it everywhere where you find people who have submitted their lives to the dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only their individual lives but also their marriages, their families, their churches, their schools, their companies, their societies. …”

Ouweneel favors the separation of church and state but not the separation of religion and society. He points out that “there are no neutral families, no neutral schools, no neutral companies, and certainly no neutral states.” All of life is religious in one way or another, and Christ has supremacy over all. That’s why politics, while far from ultimate, is also far from trivial.

Whichever leaders win next month will disappoint their followers. But disappointment is superior to disaster. —Marvin Olasky

Chapter One: What Is the Kingdom of God?

When, in the French city of St. Quentin, the Huguenots were be­sieged by the Spanish (1557), an arrow was shot from outside, over the city wall. It landed in the market square. A little note was attached to it on which was written an arrogant demand to surrender. The great leader of the Huguenots was Gaspard de Coligny, who fifteen years later was to be murdered during the so-called “Massacre of Saint Bartholomew” (1572), and whose daughter Louise married William of Orange (William the Silent), “father” of the Dutch nation. Both men are forefathers of the pres­ent Dutch king, Willem Alexander. De Coligny gave the order to send the arrow back to the enemy with a little note saying, Regem habemus, “We have a King!” What de Coligny apparently wanted to say was, Do not underestimate us. We have a powerful King on our side, who is the King of kings! If it is not his will, you will not be able to undertake anything against us.

The Kingdom Is Still Advancing

This reply reminds us of the word of the Lord Jesus to Pontius Pilate, which tells us much about the nature of the nation state and its relationship to the Kingdom of God: “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above” (John 19:11). It is the King himself who speaks here: the fettered prison­er, who stands there before the earthly authorities, the Man who, somewhat later that day, was going to be “crucified in weakness” (2 Cor. 13:4), is the King of kings and the Lord of lords (Rev. 17:14; 19:16). Even today, after so many centuries, his kingdom is still “forcefully advancing” in this world (Matt. 11:12, NIV note), not through the power of weapons, nor through the power of political actions as such, but through the Holy Spirit breaking open hearts of people. “Not by might nor by [earthly, carnal] power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty (Zech. 4:6).

It is the wind of the Spirit that blows within this Kingdom of God. It blows through lives, marriages, families, churches, even through schools, companies, and states, and brings individuals and societal relationships under the dominion of Jesus Christ. Be­cause of the Holy Spirit, it is a Kingdom of power; as Paul says, “The kingdom is not a matter of talk [i.e., of idle words] but of power” (1 Cor. 4:20). In connection with the Kingdom, Jesus told his disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8). God’s Kingdom is a domain of power. Already during his earthly ministry, Jesus told his opponents, “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matt. 12:28 NKJV). That is, where the power of the Kingdom is manifested, there the Kingdom itself has arrived.

The testimony of de Coligny did not imply that, because his King was more powerful than the Spanish king, Philip II, noth­ing bad could happen to him. On the contrary, soon afterwards the city of St. Quentin was taken by the Spanish, and de Coligny was taken prisoner until the peace of 1559. His testimony implied rather that, whatever may happen to a Christian, he unswerv­ingly holds on to the kingship of Christ, and to the faith certainty that no evil could ever befall him without the will of him to whom all “authorities and powers” have been submitted (1 Pet. 3:22; cf. Eph. 1:21-22). “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care [or, knowledge]” (Matt. 10:29). Believers can often be just as “weak” as their crucified King but their final triumph is just as sure as that of the King himself. It is under their feet that, in the end, the God of peace will crush Satan (Rom. 16:20).

The Two Kingdoms

It is my conviction that the notion of “Christian politics”—what­ever that may be, that remains to been seen—cannot be separated from the notion of the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom is, first of all, very simply God’s general government over all created things, from the foundation of the world until eternity (cf., e.g., Exod. 15:18, “The LORD reigns [or, is King] for ever and ever”). Secondly, and more specifically, it is the manifestation of God’s counsel to put this kingdom under the feet of Man, and entrust world dominion to his care (Gen. 1:28, “fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over … every living creature”). The first Man, the “first Adam” (cf. 1 Cor. 15:45), has utterly failed in this, for through his fall into sin Adam surrendered his rule to the power of sin, death, and Satan (Gen. 3). This is an aspect of the fall that is not often underscored but which is of great importance.

Indeed, Satan could truly say to Jesus that all the authority and splendor of the kingdoms of this world had been “given” to him (Luke 4:5-6)—and Jesus did not deny it. On the contrary, at anoth­er occasion, he recognized that there is something in this world that can be called the “kingdom” of Satan (Matt. 12:26). Three times Jesus called Satan “the prince [or, ruler] of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). But he could also say that, through his coming into this world and his manifestation of the power of God, appar­ently the Kingdom of God had arrived (Matt. 12:28). Satan, since Calvary a sentenced rebel, will never be able to compete with this Kingdom, no matter how much noise he is still making, “prowl­ing around like a roaring lion” (1 Pet. 5:8).

What the “first Adam” has ruined, the “last Adam” is going to restore (cf. 1 Cor. 15:45-47; then vv. 24-28). In his hands is the “restoration of all things” (Acts 3:31 NKJV). If we look at Psalm 8 in the light of Hebrews 2, this transition from the first to the sec­ond Adam is beautifully brought to light. The Son of Man, under whose feet all created things are put, is no longer (the first) Adam, but “we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suf­fered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (v. 9).

In the Old Testament, the coming of the Kingdom of God in this new, Messianic form is announced many times. A beauti­ful example is Isaiah 9:6-7, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.”

Both John the Baptist and Jesus himself could say in their day that now the Kingdom of God had come “near” (Matt. 3:2; 4:17). In the person of the King, the Kingdom of God itself had arrived. As Jesus told his opponents, “Do not say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:21), namely, in his person. The natural-born Jew could not enter that Kingdom just like that: he had to be born again—born “of water and the Spirit”—just like any Gentile who wishes to enter the Kingdom of God. Without this “new birth,” one would not even be able to “see” (grasp, understand) the Kingdom of God (John 3:1-6). There­fore, the “mysteries” of the Kingdom are only for the true dis­ciples of the King, who keep his royal laws (see Matt. 13:22; 28:19-20). At the same time, the parables in Matthew 13 make clear that, as long as the King has not returned, the Kingdom in its outward form contains both true and false disciples (cf. also Matt. 25:14-30).

The Kingdom as Jesus Christ announced it is “not of this world” (John 18:36). This does not mean that it is not established here on earth. On the contrary. It means that it does not fit into the sinful, demonic, violent categories of “this world.” The phrase “this world” refers, then, to those categories. The Kingdom of Je­sus Christ is established as the very opposite of these evil pow­ers, and until the return of the King it exists in the midst of, and over against, these evil powers. For his followers this may involve shame and persecution. Therefore, until the public coming of the King, the Kingdom largely exists in a hidden form because the King himself is still “hidden” (cf. Col. 3:3); he “went to a distant country” (Luke 19:12). The earth has not yet been filled with “jus­tice and righteousness” (cf. Isa. 9:7), or with the “knowledge of the glory of the Lord” (Hab. 2:14), and this will not, and cannot, take place as long as the King has not re-appeared.

On the other hand, the Kingdom of God is clearly visible. You can perceive it everywhere where you find people who have sub­mitted their lives to the dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only their individual lives but also their marriages, their families, their churches, their schools, their companies, their societies, and even their states (if they have a good majority in them). In this way, Jesus’ followers form a kind of bridgehead for the King in this world, until he will come to utterly defeat his enemies.

The last thing the “world” has seen of the King is that he was laid in a tomb. But his disciples know his “secret”: they know of his resurrection and glorification, they know that all things have been put under his feet, and that “all authority in heaven and on earth” has been given to him (Matt. 28:18). Behind the stage, Jesus Christ has the reins in his hands. His disciples know this; there­fore, they love him, they serve him, and they follow him with joy. Indeed, the Kingdom is a realm of love: God “has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col. 1:13 NKJV).

The Dominion of Christ

We have found two things that are both true: the Kingdom is “hidden” because the King is still “hidden.” But the Kingdom is also manifest in that it comes to light at all places where the rule of Christ and his commandments are being recognized in indi­vidual hearts and lives, as well as in the societal relationships or communities, insofar as Christians can make their mark on them. I will give you a few examples.

A Christian family is part of the Kingdom of God, not necessar­ily because all the children have already committed their hearts and lives to the King, but because the parents have brought the family un­der the dominion of Christ. “In this family we recognize Jesus Christ as our King and Lord,” is the confession of these believing parents.

A Christian school is part of the Kingdom of God, not neces­sarily because all the pupils have already committed their hearts and lives to the King, but because the administrators and the teachers have brought the school under the dominion of Christ. They tell the pupils, as it were, “At this school we maintain—in all weakness—the rules of the King, we teach you the rules of the King, and try to follow these rules ourselves.” Within the safe boundaries of such a school the pupils are not “in the world,” but in the wonderful realm of Christ, that is, the Kingdom of God.

A Christian company is part of the Kingdom of God, not nec­essarily because all its employees have committed their hearts and lives to the King, but because the employers have brought the company under the dominion of Christ. They tell the employees, “In this company, we endeavor to maintain Christian principles of justice and fairness.” This is nothing else but telling the em­ployees that they, the employers, want this company to be part of the Kingdom of God.

A Christian state—perhaps the Dutch Republic of the seven­teenth century was a fair approximation of it—respects the vari­ous views and liberties of all its citizens, but is nevertheless part of the Kingdom of God. This is not necessarily because all its citizens are Christians, but because the authorities introduce and maintain Christian principles into this state, as this comes to light in their way of ruling, and in legislation that is in accordance with the Scriptures.

Separation of Church and State

Let me tell you right away that the things I have just described have nothing to do whatsoever with the notion of the separa­tion of church and state. There is a tremendous misunderstand­ing here. The separation of church and state is a great thing, for which we can all be very thankful. We know from the past what it means when the church rules over the state. This is what the Roman Catholic Church did in the Middle Ages, for instance, by condemning heretics, and then handing them over to the state authorities to be executed. We also know what it means when the state rules over the church, and tells her what to believe and what not to believe, as in communist countries (e.g., North Korea).

Later on I will explain in more detail that church and state—and each family, each school, each company, each associa­tion, etc.—is to be sovereign within its own sphere of influence. Churches should not meddle in state affairs (and family affairs), and states should not meddle in the affairs of churches, families, schools, etc.

Now the tremendous misunderstanding is this: the separation of church and state has been turned into a separation between religion and society. I do not know whether this happens on purpose, or unconsciously, but it is quite a malicious confusion that is intro­duced here. Since the time of the Enlightenment (eighteenth cen­tury), spiritual and political leaders have tried, ever more openly and actively, to ban religion entirely from the public domain. This is what we call secularization: religion has been pushed back to the edge of society, that is, to the private lives of individual people. This is a great triumph for the kingdom of Satan, I must say, and a great drawback for the Kingdom of God. We are all guilty of this, for we have all let it happen. We ourselves have sometimes ac­cepted this confusion between the separation of church and state, on the one hand, and the separation between religion and society, on the other. We ourselves have sometimes begun to believe that religion is a strictly private matter, and that society and the state are (supposed to be) neutral.

Listen: I do not wish for a moment that any church denomina­tion should control the state. I would move abroad if that would hap­pen in my own country. But at the same time, I maintain that the neutral state does not exist. It is nonsense. Within the boundaries of the nation state, the battle between the kingdom of Satan and the Kingdom of God is raging all the time. The same happens within so many families, schools, companies, and—unfortunate­ly—even church denominations and local congregations. But in the state it is perhaps most conspicuous. As long as the King has not yet returned, we cannot escape from this battle. But at least we can do our best to bring to light the Kingdom of God within our own families, and within the schools we send our children to, and within the companies we found, and within the associations, societies, unions, and clubs we form.

Do not worry: we make sure to keep “church and state” care­fully apart. But at the same time, we recognize that “all of life is religion,” that is, all of life is under the dominion of sin and Satan or under the dominion of Christ (or, as unfortunately is of­ten the case, a bit under both). We do not want any church to rule our states, families, schools, and companies, but we definitely want Christ to rule our states, families, schools, and companies. All things have been put under his feet (Eph. 1:22; Heb. 2:8)—that includes all the societal relationships and communities we are in­volved in. What God already did objectively, we want to do our­selves subjectively as an act of faith and love: place all our societal relationships under the feet of Christ. We do not believe in the illu­sion of neutrality. A battle is going on, especially a battle over our children, in which no individual and no institution can pretend to be neutral. An enemy who overtly presents himself as an en­emy is to be preferred to an enemy presenting himself as neutral. We prefer the “roaring lion” (1 Pet. 5:8) to the “angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). The former wears wooden shoes, as we would say in Dutch—the latter wears slippers.

It is unthinkable that the Kingdom of God, as some would have it, encompasses only a few domains of life: your private life, your family, and your church. That would be it. If this were true, it would mean that our schools, our companies, our associations, have to be delivered up to the kingdom of Satan. We cannot let that happen. It is unbiblical and irresponsible. The Kingdom of God manifests itself in all domains of life. This comes to light in that officials in these domains—parents, elders, bishops, teachers, professors, employ­ers, administrators, authorities, etc.—wield their authority in the concrete, explicit recognition that they themselves stand under the authority and commandments of Christ the Lord. This implies that those who are under these officials—children, church members, pupils, students, employees, citizens, etc.—recognize and obey this authority as the authority of the King himself.

In brief: all Christians are to behave as disciples of the King, who live, work and serve out of a burning love for him, whether it is in their marriages, their families, their churches, their schools, their companies, their associations, their political parties, and in their nation states.

Christ and the Gods

Of course, the ultimate destruction of the evil powers will also definitely involve the end of all apostate states. In Psalm 110, which Jesus quotes to the Pharisees and relates to himself (Matt. 22:41-46), it is said of the Messiah, “he will crush kings on the day of his wrath” (v. 5b). Jesus is the “ruler of the kings of the earth” (Rev. 1:5). And already now, the message comes to all heads of state, and all government leaders in this world, “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain. … Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling” (Ps. 2:6, 10). This is why we make intercession “for kings and all those in authority,” not only in order that “we may live peaceful and quiet lives”—it is the task of authorities to take care of that—but because “God our Savior wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:1-4).

“May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him” (Ps. 72:11). Every “king” in this world, every head of state, every president, every prime minister, will one day bow down before Christ. Either he or she does it voluntarily already in the present age—or he or she will do it forcibly before the judgment seat of Christ. “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11).

At the beginning of this section I made a connection between the evil spiritual powers and nation states (or state leaders). This requires some clarification. In the New Testament, Satan, the great apostate “angelic prince,” is called the “god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4). According to Scripture, (certain) earthly states and empires each have their own invisible “angelic prince” (see Dan. 10:13, 20-21). These are the “gods,” who lead the history of their respective nations, just like the Lord guides the history of his people. Clear examples of this guidance by the foreign “gods” can be found in Numbers 21:29 (“Woe to you, Moab! You are destroyed, people of Chemosh [i.e., the ‘god’ of Moab]! He has given up his sons as fugitives and his daughters as captives to Sihon king of the Amorites”) and Judges 11:24 (“Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the Lord our God has given us, we will possess”) (cf. Ps. 58:1; 89:5-7).

Just like Satan himself, these “gods” are only “pretenders,” “usurpers,” “sentenced rebels” (Stuart Fowler). In Psalm 82, we see how God renders judgment among these alleged “gods” (notice the quotation marks in the NIV). The God of Israel is the “God of gods” (Ps. 136:2), the one “to be feared above all gods” (96:4; cf. 95:3; 97:7, 9; 135:5); among the “gods” there is none like him (86:8; 89:6).

In addition to the name “gods”—that is, celestial, created, an­gelic beings (cf. Ps. 29:1; Job 1 and 2, “sons of God”)—there are sev­eral other names for these beings: rulers, authorities, powers, do­minions, thrones (Rom. 8:38-39; 1 Cor. 2:6; Eph. 1:21; 3:10; Col. 1:16; 1 Pet. 3:22). In the great majority of the New Testament Scriptures in which these terms occur, it is immediately clear that the latter refer to angelic powers, whether good or evil. Therefore, several expositors have assumed that this is the case in all relevant Scrip­tures. This would even include Romans 13:1-7 (“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities”) and Titus 3:1 (“be subject to rulers and authorities”). These verses definitely include earthly rulers and authorities, but the underlying thought might be that these earthly authorities are led by angelic powers, whether good or evil. Also in the case of earthly rulers, we would be dealing not so much with “flesh and blood,” but rather with the spiritual authorities concealed behind them (cf. Eph. 6:12).

This holds for the expression “rulers of this age,” too (1 Cor. 2:6-8). Primarily, these are the men who have made themselves responsible for the crucifixion of Christ: Pilate, Herod, and Caia­phas. But the verse might be referring not only to them, but also to the spiritual powers behind these men, the (invisible) “powers of this dark world,” the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (see again Eph. 6:12).

Earthly kings were often worshipped as “gods” because of their close relationship with the angelic princes “behind” them, who were the actual rulers. Thus, in Isaiah 14, behind the earthly king of Babylon, we see the image of his angelic prince (“Luci­fer”) looming; we find the same with the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28. Already the church fathers often saw Satan in these angelic princes. This is not very accurate; the references are to the “gods” of Babylon and Tyre. But obviously these do relate immediately to the “god of this world,” Satan. In Revelation 12, 13, 17, and 19, the “dragon,” that is Satan (12:9; 20:2), is the angelic prince of the Roman empire, which in that Bible book stands for the eschato­logical world power.

This is the power that in the end will be destroyed by Christ. The last battle is between the dragon and the Lamb—an extraor­dinary picture, especially when we see that the winner is not a fire-breathing dragon, but a fire-breathing Lamb (cf. 2 Thess. 2:8; also see Isa. 11:4).

In Summary

Already today, Jesus Christ is in charge. He is the Lord of all. The recognition of this, which is possible only through the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3), is a condition of salvation: “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9).

Jesus has been elevated above all “authorities and powers,” above all the “gods” of this world, and consequently above all earthly authorities. By whatever spiritual powers the earthly au­thorities may be governed, Christ has the supremacy over both the earthly authorities and the spiritual powers behind them. If these earthly authorities consider themselves to be neutral, they are ut­terly mistaken. There are no neutral families, no neutral schools, no neutral companies, and certainly no neutral states. On the one hand, they may be tools in the hands of the evil spiritual powers. On the other hand, even the most wicked governments are “God’s servants” (Rom. 13:4), because he is the “God of gods.”

“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD like the rivers of water; he turns it wherever he wishes” (Prov. 21:1, cf. NKJV). This biblical fact does not take away anything from the authorities’ own responsibility. But at least it shows that, behind the stage, the Lord is in charge, and that surely the claim is as false as it can be that states, or schools, could ever be neutral institutions. That is just an illusion of Enlightenment humanism.

Excerpted from Power in Service: An Introduction to Christian Political Thought by Willem J. Ouweneel. Reprinted with permission of the Reformational Publishing Project and Paideia Press. © 2014. All rights reserved.