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

1968-06-01 / 2. szám

HOP Vol XX Special Number

1968 No 2- 30 «

(07672)

proclaims the same, the civil community does not directly know of Christas kingship yet indirectly serves it# The civil community, the State, is the ordinance of God, as the defence of human society against the threatening chaos, thus assuring the operational field of the Churches activity, According to the teaching about the universal kingship of Christ, the State is in the realm of redemption^/The Church as the body of Christ has a deep and mysterious connection with the civil community, the State* The lord and King of both is Christ triumphant over all principalities and powers« Hence the relation cf the congregation cf the Church of Christ to the State can be , nothing else but what was Christas relation to the world:, that is, service, '

We are well aware of the critical arguments advanced against the teaching about Christ’s universal kingship. We are also aware cf the dangerous temptation implicit in the idea of Christocracy which might induce the Church unduly to press her political claims, thus covertly asserting the medieval idea of the corpus Christianum*

Here again we must note that the teaching about Christ’s kingship, just as Luther’s teaching about the Two Realms, while retaining their values as confessions of faith, are becoming progressively reduced to the status of merely regulative principles, to theologoumena vhich make their approach to the same Biblical truth according to different viewpoints«

d) Convergent Tendencies in the Teachings About the State

Can it be said that the teaching about the State in the Hungarian Evangelical theology is determined by conflicting theologies? Both of the aforesaid types have been instruments to help the theologians in their Biblical orientation and in their efforts to recognize the responsibility cf the Christians for public life. The tendencies which, of late, are enfolding on a basic level both in the Reformed and in Lutheran theology are marked by a welcome convergence as regards the teachings both about Christas kingship and the Lutheran doctrine of the Two Realms*

Thus the assumption that the teachings are in conflict is dated. We are not guided by the idea of establishing false harmony Y/hen we agree with Professor Wendland: "The dualism, the duality of the Two Realms denotes only transition, movement, event, and not a stationary condition*oc Therefore, we must seriously ask whether the traditional contrast of the two, as for instance the doctrine of justification against Christ ology, the teaching about the Two Realms against chiliasm and natural law, are still justified and objectively tenable". 46)

It is fron the side of the kerygma, the preaching of the Word, that the teaching about the universal kingship of Christ must be Interpreted, It is the congregation, the Church, that proclaims the Kyrios Christos in this