The Parallel Relationship Between Luther’s Two Uses of the Law and the Concept of the Two Kingdoms Supported by Luther’s Doctrine of the Priesthood of All Believers
Ryze Xu
The Age of Reformation
Professor Alan Orr
October 12 2018
‘My kingdom is not of this world’(John 18:36-38) as Jesus replied Pilate’s question of whether he was the king of the Jews. By medieval Catholicism definition, this statement is interpreted as a proof of a distinct relationship between the temporal world and the church, with the church being the superior by the enforcement of the law. Martin Luther’s doctrine of two kingdoms and his idea of two uses of the law clearly defies that interpretation and rather redefined the uses of the law and the relationship between Christians and the world. By examining Luther’s writing of Secular Authority: To What Extent It Should Be Obeyed (1523) and selections from A Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians (1531), One can discover a parallel relationship between the two uses of the Law and the concept of the Two Kingdoms with the support of Luther’s doctrine of the priesthood of all believers.
Though dealing with the same subject of the relationship between Christians and the world, Luther’s doctrine denies the difference of status. The Medieval doctrine of the two estates differentiated that the rule of the Catholic church, the clergy belonging to the ‘spiritual estate’, and the laity to the ‘temporal estate’. The spiritual being the superior one could intervene in the affairs of the temporal estate, whereas the latter was not permitted to interfere with the former. Rather than placing the status difference under spotlight, Luther’s doctrine of the Two Kingdoms is executed through ‘The recognition of the equality of all believers’. For Luther, the two kingdoms, the temporal kingdom and the spiritual kingdom, are defined as two ways the God effects his will over the lives of men. The temporal kingdom refers to that dimension of man's life whereby he lives in society, is ruled and governed by the state, and makes decisions and choices of everyday life; the spiritual kingdom is that spiritual dimension of life whereby Christian man lives as a forgiven sinner, showing forth Christ's lordship motivated by love.
The parallel can be drawn in Luther’s Commentary on Galatians where he started with a introduction of the various types of righteousness. Luther then enters into a discussion of the righteousness of law and the righteousness of faith. Luther refers the righteousness of law as a righteousness that’s actively seemed by men to fulfill God’s Law, whereas the righteousness of faith is a passive righteousness can be only received with the work of God. For Luther, the active righteousness is in vain, through which ‘sin is made exceedingly sinful’. Luther argues that both righteousnesses ‘must be kept within their bounds’ where the righteousness of the Law applies to the ‘old man’ and the righteousness of the faith to the ‘new man’. However, the notion of the ‘old man’ and the ‘new man’ exist both within the believer. ‘…a Christian man is both righteous and sinner, holy and profane, an enemy of God and yet a child of God.’ He further develops his argument, asserting that though he commits sins, these do not plague his conscience since he knows he is in Christ. Hence the Two Kingdoms and two kinds of righteousnesses are of all believers.
The Two Kingdoms each links to a use of the law. Luther discusses the use of Law in a more systematic manner in Commentary on Galatians arguing there are two uses of the Law. There is the civil use of the Law and a spiritual one. The civil use of the Law, put in Luther’s words, is to ‘bridle the wicked’. This use of the law is given to restraint sin of man. While it does not lead to righteousness, it shows that there are sin to be restrained thus one is unrighteous. The civil use of the Law does not provide nor produce salvation; it is used by God’s worldly governments, or the temporal kingdom, and civil ordinances, rather, to provide for the public peace and ‘the preservation of all things.’ Since priesthood is given to all believers, the difference in status of spiritual over temporal is no more. The civil Law is applied to all believers.
On the other hand, The theological or spiritual use of the law, as Luther argues, is used ‘to increase transgressions’, ‘to reveal unto a man his sin…’ It acts as a mirror with a purpose to terrify, ‘to rend in pieces that beast which is called the opinion of righteousness.’ and to reveal to man of his sin and his contempt of God, and thus reveal the judgement which the man deserves from God’s wrath. Luther argues this spiritual use of the law as ‘the proper and the principal use of the law.’ In summing up his view on the two different uses of the law Luther states that “the law is good and profitable, but in his own proper use; which is, first to bridle civil transgressions, and then to reveal and to increase spiritual transgressions.”
Luther’s practical use of the Law when paired with his idea of spiritual kingdom seems to demonstrate that when Luther talks of the Christian not needing the Law to teach him due to him knowing it by heart, he seems to be speaking more idealistically, of the ideal Christian. Having thus abolished the medieval distinction between the ‘temporal’ and the ‘spiritual’ estates, Luther draws distinction between the ‘spiritual’ and the ‘worldly’ government of the society. Since God’s spiritual government is affected through the Word of God and the guidance of the Holy spirit. The believer who ‘walks by the spirit’ needs no further guidance from anyone as to how he should act, for he is perfectly in tune with the divine will, and acts accordingly under the Spiritual government. Luther makes the point in Concerning the Letter and the Spirit that ‘the works of the Law’ are those that take place at the urging of the law, while the works of faith are those done “solely for the love of God.” Thus, it could be argued that for Luther the same act could be no longer a work of the law but a work of faith, depending on the motivation for the act; “thus we gain a genuine desire for the law, and then everything is done with willing hearts, and not in fear.”
To sum up, though some inconsistencies occurs in Luther’s argument, between the two uses of the Law and the concept of the Two Kingdoms, a parallel relationship can be discovered with consistent trace of Luther’s doctrine of the priesthood of all believers.
Bibliography
McGrath, Alister E. Reformation Thought an Introduction. 5th ed.
Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
Luther, Martin, and John Dillenberger. Martin Luther, Selection from His Writings. New York:
Anchor Books, 1994.