Hungarian Church Press, 1968 (20. évfolyam, 2. szám)

1968-06-01 / 2. szám

HOP Vol XX Special Number - 29 - (07671)

1968 No 2

At one time, Hungarian Calvinism, especialty the programme of our social activity, was under the very strong influence of the Calvinistio interpretation of the state based on the idea of common grace (Bohateo, Kuyper). Yet the core cf the idea of common grace was the uniquely emphasized thought of God's sovereignty fron which the Reformed teaching concerning the universal reign of Christ is directly deducible. "God is the Sovereign Who, in Jesus Christ, put down all rebellions and subjected the sinful man to His rule so that he be the instrument of His will", 40/ While interpreting the sovereignty of God, Nie sei makes the following comment on Calvin* s teaching about the States "The teaching concerning the secular government cannot be deduced directly from God's providence; it is, to a much greater degree, based, on Christ's royal office« The civil authority is not merely the result of God's providence but a special divine ordinance"<£L) One of the manifestations and the palpable reality of God's long suffering, love, that is to say, of everything that the name of Jesus Christ means in the State, "The State is not the sign of God's anger; it is not the place in

which punishment is meted out. It is the gracious God that acts through

the agency of the St ate" ,42)

The thesis cf Christ's lordship over the whole isorld can only be interpreted in the right manner if we clearly see that the centre of the interpretation of history is the Christ-event, this sovereign act of the Creator and Governor of the world. In the time between the Resurrection and hi^loricuc Return, it is clear to the elect, to the congregation of Christ that He conquered axl principalities and that God put all things under his feet. Hence the State also — just as the whole human life - is the operational field of God's special love and sustaining grace. Not sinful human

nature but the hopeful future of the redeemed man furnishes the basic idea that determines, in the thesis of Christ's universal lordship, the plaoe and role of the State0 The State is the instrument given by God's speoial grace to man in order that He may keep and protect him, thus preparing the ground, in the various patterns of human life, for Christ's royal, rule already established in the fact of the Resurrection and to be revealed in the event of His glorious return. It is in the light cf the two great events of salvation history that the place and role cf the State become evident, in the light of the Resurrection and of Christ's return. This teaching has two poles and the tension between the two determines the task and service cf the State in the time between tlie two aeons.

Humanity redeemed by Christ lives in the dynamic process of continuous change. In, the period between the two aeons human life has two basic types: this is the time of the Church and the time cf the State orders. There is a deep and mysterious connection between these two types of human community,,^,) Both are directed to the same goal: the visible manifestation cf Christ's kingship. The difference between to two is in the fact that while the community of the Church knows cf this kingship and