Living in God's Two Kingdoms Quotes

“Believers themselves are the point of continuity between creation and the new creation.”
― David VanDrunen, Living in God's Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture

“God is not redeeming the cultural activities and institutions of this world, but is preserving them through the covenant he made with all living creatures through Noah in Genesis 8:20–9:17.”
― David VanDrunen, Living in God's Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture

“This two-kingdoms doctrine strongly affirms that God has made all things, that sin corrupts all aspects of life, that Christians should be active in human culture, that all lawful cultural vocations are honorable, that all people are accountable to God in every activity, and that Christians should seek to live out the implications of their faith in their daily vocations. A Christian, however, does not have to adopt a redemptive vision of culture in order to affirm these important truths.”
― David VanDrunen, Living in God's Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture

“Christians should pursue cultural activities not with a spirit of triumph and conquest over their neighbors but with a spirit of love and service toward them. Far too often Christian writers and leaders imbue their audience with a drive to take over- to take over politices, education, the courts, and whatever else or maybe it is put in more platable terms such as taking back instead of taking over as if Christians are the rightful owners of everything and are simply reclaiming what is already theirs.”
― David VanDrunen, Living in God's Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture

“Instead, Jesus explains that his kingdom is about forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration”
― David VanDrunen, Living in God's Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture

“The New Testament announces that until this covenant of grace comes to ultimate fulfillment in the new heaven and new earth, it finds penultimate fulfillment in the work of Christ and his church. The church, united to Christ its Savior, is the covenant community that reaps the benefits of Christ’s work in fulfilling the promises made to Abraham. In the present day the church, and no other institution, can claim this privilege. The church is the community where salvation and eternal life are bestowed.”
― David VanDrunen, Living in God's Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture

“Until that day of ultimate fulfillment, the covenant of grace and the redemptive kingdom find their penultimate fulfillment in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ came, he did not establish the state, or the family, or a school, or a business venture. These things already existed and were governed and preserved under the covenant with Noah. The Lord Jesus Christ established one thing: his church.”
― David VanDrunen, Living in God's Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture

“Few things are more important for the two-kingdoms doctrine than a proper view of the kingdom of God that Jesus announced. In this chapter I will defend a crucial claim: the church is the only institution or community in the present world that can be identified with the kingdom proclaimed by Christ. In the work of Christ and the establishment of the church, God has brought the covenant with Abraham and the redemptive kingdom to penultimate fulfillment.”
― David VanDrunen, Living in God's Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture

“Here, then, is a major clue as to what Christian life in the two kingdoms ought to look like today. Abraham and his descendants were “sojourners” and “strangers” (Gen. 12:10; 15:13; 20:1; 21:34; 23:4; Heb. 11:13), precisely what Christians today are called to be (1 Pet. 2:11). As participants in the Noahic covenant, they joined in cultural activities with their pagan neighbors in the common kingdom. As participants in the Abrahamic covenant, they were simultaneously citizens of the redemptive kingdom, remaining radically separate from their neighbors in their religious commitment as they trusted in the true God for justification (Gen. 15:6) and eternal life (Heb. 11:13–16).”
― David VanDrunen, Living in God's Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture

“Our earthly bodies are the only part of the present world that Scripture says will be transformed and taken up into the world-to-come. Believers themselves are the point of continuity between this creation and the new creation. The New Jerusalem is the bride of Christ (Rev. 21:2). Asserting that anything else in this world will be transformed and taken up into the world-to-come is speculation beyond Scripture.”
― David VanDrunen, Living in God's Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture

“This is absolutely essential for issues of Christianity and culture! If Christ is the last Adam, then we are not new Adams. To understand our own cultural work as picking up and finishing Adam’s original task is, however unwittingly, to compromise the sufficiency of Christ’s work.”
― David VanDrunen, Living in God's Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture

“Before the second Adam no one accomplished the task of the first Adam, and after the second Adam no one needs to accomplish it. The last Adam has completed it once and for all. Christians will attain the original destiny of life in the world-to-come, but we do so not by picking up the task where Adam left off but by resting entirely on the work of Jesus Christ, the last Adam who accomplished the task perfectly.”
― David VanDrunen, Living in God's Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture