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Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture
Political Church: The Local Assembly as Embassy of Christ's Rule
The church is political. Theologians have been debating this claim for years. Liberationists, Anabaptists, Augustinians, neo-Calvinists, Radical Orthodox and others continue to discuss the matter. What do we mean by politics and the political? What are the limits of the church's political reach? What is the nature of the church as an institution? How do we establish these claims theologically? Jonathan Leeman sets out to address these questions in this significant work. Drawing on covenant theology and the "new institutionalism" in political science, Leeman critiques political liberalism and explores how the biblical canon informs an account of the local church as an embassy of Christ's kingdom. Political Church heralds a new era in political theology.
407 pages, Paperback
First published March 26, 2016
27 people are currently reading
257 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Leeman
81 books152 followersJONATHAN LEEMAN is the editorial director of 9Marks, which involves him in editing the 9Marks series of books as well as the 9Marks Journal. He has written a number of books on the church, including Reverberation, and he teaches theology at several seminaries. Jonathan lives with his wife and four daughters in a suburb of Washington, DC and serves as an elder at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington. You can learn more about him and his writing at www.9Marks.org.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
January 24, 2023
4.8 Stars
"Political Church" by Jonathan Leeman is a masterpiece theological tome arguing for a Christian political theory based on Biblical theology. Leeman's central argument is that "the local church is a political assembly that acts as an embassy of Christ's kingdom." The church holds the keys to the kingdom therefore its role is to display God's just political rule amongst a just people amid an unjust world. The foundation of Leeman's argument is a change in our understanding of what "politics" and "institutions" actually are, and then tracing that understanding through the Biblical covenants. What Leeman ends up with is a phenomenal book that presents a political theology that is Biblically robust, focused on Christ, and empowering for the church.
Leeman's book is separated into six long chapters. In the first, Leeman offers a new understanding of what politics is, which is the institutional activity of governance of an entire population backed by coercion by an authority deemed legitimate. Here Leeman emphasizes that there can be no such thing as a "secular" government because all governments are governed by some worldview, which is ultimately religious. Second, Leeman argues that institutions are behavior-shaping entities that tell us who we are and how to act, thus political institutions also function in that capacity. Third, Leeman begins explaining a Biblical view of politics starting in Creation. He states that all politics begins with the truth that the Triune God is Lord and Creator of all and that all authority is derived from his character. Fourth, Leeman delves into the politics of the fall showing that God delegates authority to humans to act as kings over creation, but after the fall in the Noahic covenant men are permitted to establish earthly governments to enact God's justice on earth. In the last two chapters Leeman establishes that while earthly governments have their authority to govern issues concerning justice, the church is meant to be God's redemptive institution where true just political life is lived. The church holds the keys of the kingdom by declaring who is part of this community through baptism, the Lord's Supper, and church discipline, and patiently awaits King Jesus' return to establish his fully realized kingdom at the end of time: the only perfect politic system we can ever enjoy.
In brief, the main strength of this book is Leeman's argumentation. Biblically, he is incredibly sound in his arguments and faithful to the covenants which are the bedrock of revelation and doctrine. As well presents a vision of political engagement that is glorious yet simple - simply being a part of the church and loving one another we fulfill God's design for political life. The weakness of Leeman's book is its length and academic level. This book is not for all, but for those who wish to learn and grow this book is a treasure. So in sum, I highly recommend this book and this will change the way I think about politics for the rest of my life!
"Political Church" by Jonathan Leeman is a masterpiece theological tome arguing for a Christian political theory based on Biblical theology. Leeman's central argument is that "the local church is a political assembly that acts as an embassy of Christ's kingdom." The church holds the keys to the kingdom therefore its role is to display God's just political rule amongst a just people amid an unjust world. The foundation of Leeman's argument is a change in our understanding of what "politics" and "institutions" actually are, and then tracing that understanding through the Biblical covenants. What Leeman ends up with is a phenomenal book that presents a political theology that is Biblically robust, focused on Christ, and empowering for the church.
Leeman's book is separated into six long chapters. In the first, Leeman offers a new understanding of what politics is, which is the institutional activity of governance of an entire population backed by coercion by an authority deemed legitimate. Here Leeman emphasizes that there can be no such thing as a "secular" government because all governments are governed by some worldview, which is ultimately religious. Second, Leeman argues that institutions are behavior-shaping entities that tell us who we are and how to act, thus political institutions also function in that capacity. Third, Leeman begins explaining a Biblical view of politics starting in Creation. He states that all politics begins with the truth that the Triune God is Lord and Creator of all and that all authority is derived from his character. Fourth, Leeman delves into the politics of the fall showing that God delegates authority to humans to act as kings over creation, but after the fall in the Noahic covenant men are permitted to establish earthly governments to enact God's justice on earth. In the last two chapters Leeman establishes that while earthly governments have their authority to govern issues concerning justice, the church is meant to be God's redemptive institution where true just political life is lived. The church holds the keys of the kingdom by declaring who is part of this community through baptism, the Lord's Supper, and church discipline, and patiently awaits King Jesus' return to establish his fully realized kingdom at the end of time: the only perfect politic system we can ever enjoy.
In brief, the main strength of this book is Leeman's argumentation. Biblically, he is incredibly sound in his arguments and faithful to the covenants which are the bedrock of revelation and doctrine. As well presents a vision of political engagement that is glorious yet simple - simply being a part of the church and loving one another we fulfill God's design for political life. The weakness of Leeman's book is its length and academic level. This book is not for all, but for those who wish to learn and grow this book is a treasure. So in sum, I highly recommend this book and this will change the way I think about politics for the rest of my life!
April 26, 2018
Summary: Explores the nature of the church, arguing that it is a political institution that serves as an embassy of the kingdom of God, with implications for both its internal life and its engagement with the nations and governments of the world.
It seems that the relationship of church and state, which we often frame as spiritual versus political, and organic versus institutional, is a perennial discussion. In this work, Jonathan Leeman does a fine-grained analysis of both the biblical material concerning covenant-redemptive history and studies of the new institutionalism and turns much of the traditional schools of thought on their heads, arguing that both church and state are political and institutional, that our separations of spiritual and political realms don't wash, and that our liberal idea of religious freedom ends in the destruction of religious freedom. He argues that both church and state function under the rule of God, albeit under different covenants and functioning in different "ages." He contends that there is no neutral public square but that it is a battleground of the gods and that the state, ordained by God, either acting in accord with God or self-justifying.
Intrigued? I found myself growing more and more intrigued as I followed his carefully reasoned argument to its conclusion and thesis about the nature of the church. Leeman writes in his Introduction:
"Yet the primary claim of this book is that the local church is just such a political assembly. Indeed, the church is a kind of embassy, only it represents a kingdom of even greater political consequence to the nations and their governors. And this embassy represents a kingdom not from across geographic space but from across eschatological time.
"In other words, this book is concerned with the biblical and theological question of what constitutes a local church. The answer, it will argue, is that Jesus grants Christians the authority to establish local churches as visible embassies of his end-time rule through the “keys of the kingdom” described in the Gospel of Matthew. By virtue of both the keys and a traditional Protestant conception of justification by faith alone, the local church exists as a political assembly that publicly represents King Jesus, displays the justice and righteousness of the triune God, and pronounces Jesus’ claim upon the nations and their governments."
Leeman begins by calling into question our conceptions of politics and institutions arguing for a broader conception of politics that includes the church, and that an institutional understanding of the church's life is warranted in scripture. A political institution is "a community of people united by a common governing authority," and he applies this both to church and state.
His next four chapters explore a politics of creation, fall, the new covenant, and the kingdom. He argues that the state operates under the Noahic covenant and has delegated authority to maintain the social order in the present age while refraining from enforcing belief, or impinging upon religious liberty, rooting religious liberty in an absolute standard, rather than in the conflicted conscience of liberal democracy. The church, foreshadowed by Israel, operates under the new covenant as ambassadors of the coming age, ordering its own belief and practice through the "power of the keys" while announcing the coming rule of Christ and its character to the nations.
A particularly striking conclusion is that it is the local church that is the focus of this work, and the only meaningful place, in Leeman's argument, that functions as a kingdom embassy. Furthermore, he argues that the "power of the keys," that is, the power both to admit people into membership and instruct them in truth, and to remove those who, by their lives, repudiate Christ's rule, resides not in a single person or in a hierarchical structure, but in the congregation as a whole. This certainly is consistent with a "priesthood of all believers" theology, but I am troubled with what seems an inevitable consequence of his conclusion, the highly Balkanized kingdom of schismatic Protestantism. Are local congregations the only institutional manifestation of the kingdom?
His development of the idea of church as institution also bears on his discussion of justification and a difference with N.T. Wright. He would contend that covenant inclusion is not the definition of justification which he would maintain is being "declared righteous, but rather the institutional context of justification. This is one example of the careful analysis one will find in this work, in contrast with what Leeman believes is often fuzzy thinking. One also sees this in his critique of "advancing the kingdom" through social transformation without conversion. For Leeman, this begins with defining terms carefully, and distinguishing from notions that accrue more to liberal, Western ideologies than biblical theology.
This is a short review of a very long book. It is not possible here to "show all the work" in Leeman's argument. His premises about politics and institutions and his covenant theology are key to that argument. It is particularly helpful in its conclusion that the church's witness is a political act, in the ways it defines what both church and state do under a sovereign God. His discussion of the politics of forgiveness versus self-justification was another highlight for me in bringing to bear the distinctiveness of the Christian message as it bears on both church and public life.
In a time where political engagement tends consist of knee-jerk reactions to hot-button issues, slogans and soundbites, and efforts to return America to some kind of mythical Christian age, Leeman challenges us to the hard thinking about what our proper role is in our churches, and a framework for how Christians involved with the state might act. Whether you agree with all of his conclusions, the process he uses to reach them will challenge your own thinking and assumptions.
It seems that the relationship of church and state, which we often frame as spiritual versus political, and organic versus institutional, is a perennial discussion. In this work, Jonathan Leeman does a fine-grained analysis of both the biblical material concerning covenant-redemptive history and studies of the new institutionalism and turns much of the traditional schools of thought on their heads, arguing that both church and state are political and institutional, that our separations of spiritual and political realms don't wash, and that our liberal idea of religious freedom ends in the destruction of religious freedom. He argues that both church and state function under the rule of God, albeit under different covenants and functioning in different "ages." He contends that there is no neutral public square but that it is a battleground of the gods and that the state, ordained by God, either acting in accord with God or self-justifying.
Intrigued? I found myself growing more and more intrigued as I followed his carefully reasoned argument to its conclusion and thesis about the nature of the church. Leeman writes in his Introduction:
"Yet the primary claim of this book is that the local church is just such a political assembly. Indeed, the church is a kind of embassy, only it represents a kingdom of even greater political consequence to the nations and their governors. And this embassy represents a kingdom not from across geographic space but from across eschatological time.
"In other words, this book is concerned with the biblical and theological question of what constitutes a local church. The answer, it will argue, is that Jesus grants Christians the authority to establish local churches as visible embassies of his end-time rule through the “keys of the kingdom” described in the Gospel of Matthew. By virtue of both the keys and a traditional Protestant conception of justification by faith alone, the local church exists as a political assembly that publicly represents King Jesus, displays the justice and righteousness of the triune God, and pronounces Jesus’ claim upon the nations and their governments."
Leeman begins by calling into question our conceptions of politics and institutions arguing for a broader conception of politics that includes the church, and that an institutional understanding of the church's life is warranted in scripture. A political institution is "a community of people united by a common governing authority," and he applies this both to church and state.
His next four chapters explore a politics of creation, fall, the new covenant, and the kingdom. He argues that the state operates under the Noahic covenant and has delegated authority to maintain the social order in the present age while refraining from enforcing belief, or impinging upon religious liberty, rooting religious liberty in an absolute standard, rather than in the conflicted conscience of liberal democracy. The church, foreshadowed by Israel, operates under the new covenant as ambassadors of the coming age, ordering its own belief and practice through the "power of the keys" while announcing the coming rule of Christ and its character to the nations.
A particularly striking conclusion is that it is the local church that is the focus of this work, and the only meaningful place, in Leeman's argument, that functions as a kingdom embassy. Furthermore, he argues that the "power of the keys," that is, the power both to admit people into membership and instruct them in truth, and to remove those who, by their lives, repudiate Christ's rule, resides not in a single person or in a hierarchical structure, but in the congregation as a whole. This certainly is consistent with a "priesthood of all believers" theology, but I am troubled with what seems an inevitable consequence of his conclusion, the highly Balkanized kingdom of schismatic Protestantism. Are local congregations the only institutional manifestation of the kingdom?
His development of the idea of church as institution also bears on his discussion of justification and a difference with N.T. Wright. He would contend that covenant inclusion is not the definition of justification which he would maintain is being "declared righteous, but rather the institutional context of justification. This is one example of the careful analysis one will find in this work, in contrast with what Leeman believes is often fuzzy thinking. One also sees this in his critique of "advancing the kingdom" through social transformation without conversion. For Leeman, this begins with defining terms carefully, and distinguishing from notions that accrue more to liberal, Western ideologies than biblical theology.
This is a short review of a very long book. It is not possible here to "show all the work" in Leeman's argument. His premises about politics and institutions and his covenant theology are key to that argument. It is particularly helpful in its conclusion that the church's witness is a political act, in the ways it defines what both church and state do under a sovereign God. His discussion of the politics of forgiveness versus self-justification was another highlight for me in bringing to bear the distinctiveness of the Christian message as it bears on both church and public life.
In a time where political engagement tends consist of knee-jerk reactions to hot-button issues, slogans and soundbites, and efforts to return America to some kind of mythical Christian age, Leeman challenges us to the hard thinking about what our proper role is in our churches, and a framework for how Christians involved with the state might act. Whether you agree with all of his conclusions, the process he uses to reach them will challenge your own thinking and assumptions.
April 17, 2022
Dang.
One of the most unique books that I have ever read. I’m not usually a re-reader, but I read this twice. If you’re looking for a serious book that will help you think logically and Biblically about the relationship between church and state, religious freedom, and a host of other issues—this book is fantastic.
One of the most helpful aspects of this book is Leeman’s repeated emphasis that no one is religiously neutral in the public square. Everyone is “religious”—just some people’s religions claim to be supernatural and others’ are secular. People define “religion” in order to legitimize some viewpoints and delegitimize others. To ban so-called “religious perspectives” from the public square and public policy is, ironically, to act like a theocrat. One is at that point imposing the religious perspective of secularism on the rest of the polis.
At the same time, though, Leeman does a great job of explaining from the Biblical text that Christians shouldn’t not be theocrats, either. God nowhere gives the state the authority to compel belief in him or prosecute false religion—at least insofar as that religion does not lead to violence against others (Genesis 9:5).
One of the most unique books that I have ever read. I’m not usually a re-reader, but I read this twice. If you’re looking for a serious book that will help you think logically and Biblically about the relationship between church and state, religious freedom, and a host of other issues—this book is fantastic.
One of the most helpful aspects of this book is Leeman’s repeated emphasis that no one is religiously neutral in the public square. Everyone is “religious”—just some people’s religions claim to be supernatural and others’ are secular. People define “religion” in order to legitimize some viewpoints and delegitimize others. To ban so-called “religious perspectives” from the public square and public policy is, ironically, to act like a theocrat. One is at that point imposing the religious perspective of secularism on the rest of the polis.
At the same time, though, Leeman does a great job of explaining from the Biblical text that Christians shouldn’t not be theocrats, either. God nowhere gives the state the authority to compel belief in him or prosecute false religion—at least insofar as that religion does not lead to violence against others (Genesis 9:5).
February 15, 2018
While reading Jonathan Leeman's Political Church I regularly found myself thinking, "How does someone develop the biblical and theological ability to formulate such an argument?"
Leeman's book is technical, particularly in the first couple of chapters, though the argument is logical, well-informed, and (in my opinion) never boring. While I agreed with (and have thought about) most of Leeman's conclusions (particularly those related to the local church), this was the first political theology I have read and his avenue of getting to his conclusions was new to me.
My thinking was stirred by this book and I walk away from it with much to reflect on (and a desire to talk through it with someone!), particularly those issues that touch on an individual Christian and church's responsibilities as they relate to the state.
In my opinion, this is an excellent book on a topic I have read very little about (at least the political side of the book). It's also a fine example of Christians thinking deeply and reflectively and bringing the Bible and theology to bear on important issues.
Leeman's book is technical, particularly in the first couple of chapters, though the argument is logical, well-informed, and (in my opinion) never boring. While I agreed with (and have thought about) most of Leeman's conclusions (particularly those related to the local church), this was the first political theology I have read and his avenue of getting to his conclusions was new to me.
My thinking was stirred by this book and I walk away from it with much to reflect on (and a desire to talk through it with someone!), particularly those issues that touch on an individual Christian and church's responsibilities as they relate to the state.
In my opinion, this is an excellent book on a topic I have read very little about (at least the political side of the book). It's also a fine example of Christians thinking deeply and reflectively and bringing the Bible and theology to bear on important issues.
June 28, 2022
Who has authorized whom to do what? That’s the “institutional” lens through which Leeman looks at Scripture. Federal governments, marriages, the common handshake, and, yes, the local church can all be assessed through that lens. Institutions have internal rules, members, mechanism of enforcements, boundary markers, etc. Most salient for Christians, what has God authorized or deputized churches to do?
Chapter 4 on the politics of the fall and chapter 6 on the politics of the kingdom make this book worth the time investment. I’m walking away more confident when speaking about the Bible’s mandates and limitations upon human governments. I’m also more aware of differing views of the keys of the kingdom in Matthew 16, 18, and 28.
The only reason I can’t in good faith give this 5 stars is because Leeman needs more forceful editing. “Chapters” will go on for over 100 pages, when they could be represented as part 1, part 2, etc. and then broken up into more digestible chapters. Leeman acknowledges his own long-windedness throughout the book, and sometimes the best editors (Leeman has edited dozens of other books) aren’t as critical with their own works’ layouts.
For a briefer book that gets across many of the same ideas, check out How the Nations Rage by Jonathan Leeman. For a punchier read-in-one-sitting book that puts these ideas into a sermon format, check out God and Politics by Mark Dever.
Chapter 4 on the politics of the fall and chapter 6 on the politics of the kingdom make this book worth the time investment. I’m walking away more confident when speaking about the Bible’s mandates and limitations upon human governments. I’m also more aware of differing views of the keys of the kingdom in Matthew 16, 18, and 28.
The only reason I can’t in good faith give this 5 stars is because Leeman needs more forceful editing. “Chapters” will go on for over 100 pages, when they could be represented as part 1, part 2, etc. and then broken up into more digestible chapters. Leeman acknowledges his own long-windedness throughout the book, and sometimes the best editors (Leeman has edited dozens of other books) aren’t as critical with their own works’ layouts.
For a briefer book that gets across many of the same ideas, check out How the Nations Rage by Jonathan Leeman. For a punchier read-in-one-sitting book that puts these ideas into a sermon format, check out God and Politics by Mark Dever.
January 2, 2024
In 2016, the world was a mess and I challenged myself to this book in order to make sense of everything that was going on. I had spent too much of my life content with conflicting persuasions about the nature of government, authority, and politics. Leeman's categories were insightful and eye-opening.
7 years later, as my legal theory and political theology have developed, I can find a lot more in this treatise to disagree with - yet I enjoyed it twice as much as I did the last time. If you read one book in your life that deals with political philosophy, let it be this one. It's not easy. It's one of those "read a section, then go for a walk and chew on it" kind of volumes. But it's worth it.
It's not often a theological book gets 5 stars from me, but this will remain one of the most formative texts I've ever read - and one of my favorites. I will forever be in Leeman's debt for equipping me to think about these things. Jesus is King, and all authority is his. 2nd-time read. 5/5.
7 years later, as my legal theory and political theology have developed, I can find a lot more in this treatise to disagree with - yet I enjoyed it twice as much as I did the last time. If you read one book in your life that deals with political philosophy, let it be this one. It's not easy. It's one of those "read a section, then go for a walk and chew on it" kind of volumes. But it's worth it.
It's not often a theological book gets 5 stars from me, but this will remain one of the most formative texts I've ever read - and one of my favorites. I will forever be in Leeman's debt for equipping me to think about these things. Jesus is King, and all authority is his. 2nd-time read. 5/5.
October 12, 2021
Ambitious. Leeman weds ecclesiology and politics through the discipline of biblical theology. This work reveals the roots under much of Leeman's other (and less academic) works. A challenge Leeman reveals for our today is viewing the church as an institution. The "church as a community" emphasis has stripped our churches of many institutional elements found in the NT. Leeman does a good job addressing the "legislated morality" of Christendom and his distinction between the state has a deputized agent (Rom 13) and the church as a delegated agent (Matt 16, 18, 28) is helpful.
December 6, 2022
This was my favorite article/book/resource I've read from Leeman. There's something special about interacting with a thinker inside their "sweet spot". For Leeman that feels like politics and the local church. Masterful work and a must read for anyone trying to understand a political theology. He interacts with theory and thought while remaining primarily driven by a comprehensive view of Scripture.
April 29, 2020
Profoundly interesting book about the political implications of the New Testament local church. Worth reading by every spiritual leader.
December 19, 2022
Jonathan Leeman's most sophisticated work of political theology and ecclesiology to date. If anyone is under any impression that because Leeman heads up a popular-theology-for-pastors website (9Marks), that means he isn't robust or rigorous in his dogmatics or philosophy, then this will set them straight. Prior to seminary and his doctoral work, Leeman pursued degrees in political science, so he is very conversant in political theory. In fact, one of the weaknesses of the book is that it can come across rather wonky and dense at points.
Leeman's basic argument is that we need greater institutional specificity when considering what a church is, what the state is, and what the relationship is between the two. The classic liberal division between church and state has tended to rest on a two-kingdoms sort of view: the Church has dominion over the interior, spiritual realm, while the state has dominion over the exterior, temporal realm. Leeman demonstrates that in reality, all of life is spiritual and all of life is political. Because we cannot suspend our religious convictions in the public square and because Christ is King over "every square inch" of the world, there is no realm where these two "spheres" do not overlap. So, rather than bifurcating the two, we need to understand the unique *types* of authority that the government and church possess. We need institutional specificity.
Leeman constructs this institutional specificity by following along the covenantal storyline of the Bible, beginning with Adam in the garden, commissioned as a priest-king, made in the image of the triune God and therefore inherently social in nature, charged with expanding the borders of Eden to the ends of the earth, exercising dominion (king) and working and keeping the garden (priest). The intrusion of sin appears to muddle this program as Adam is not content remaining a vice-regent and attempts to enthrone himself as king, resulting in the curse of sin. The politics of creation, then, are augmented by the politics of the Fall. Here Leeman reflects deeply on the Noahic covenant and particularly Gen 9:5-6, where the basic building blocks of Paul's "sword of the state" are culled. Someone is authorized to render capital punishment on behalf of God's retributive justice, which implies a just structure of adjudicating crimes between fellow human beings. The justice mechanism of Genesis 9 does not authorize human beings to punish fellow human beings for crimes against God, but crimes against one another--even as we acknowledge that what makes the crimes against one another so heinous, properly wrong, is that our fellow humans are made in the image of God. Therefore, under the domain of the Fall, human government cannot prosecute crimes against God but only crimes between persons, even as it requires its definitions of right/wrong to depend upon God. This is the institutional purview of the government. It has been granted the sword to act as a delegate of God, rendering His punishments temporally, here and now. Leeman's reflections on this chapter are especially relevant to current discussions around religious liberty/toleration and freedom of conscience.
Leeman moves the conversation into the realm of God's people with the politics of the New Covenant. Leeman relies on the work of Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum's "Kingdom through Covenant" to demonstrate that the special covenants of Yahweh with His people are not of a different species than the common covenants of Adam and Noah. Rather, the special covenants model to the world what the common covenants intended. In the covenant of creation and Noah, God intended for the nations to respond to His sovereign rule as His citizens. They rejected it. So, God turns to the family of Abraham and enters into covenant with them as a means of restoring what Adam lost. Leeman argues, "The redemptive storyline that begins with Abraham serves creation's purposes. Specifically, the special covenants serve the purpose of the common covenant by fulfilling them...Politics is distinct from religion, but not separate. When we fail to recognize this, we overly separate these things, and eventually we overly spiritualize salvation and the life of the church,"(pg. 215). So Leeman charts the progression of the people of Israel from Abraham, Moses, David, and New Covenant. God's people are the pilot program for the rest of the world for what submission to Yahweh as King ought to look like. The problem is that we are just as sinful as the world is, just as prone to exalt ourselves as kings and queens. What we need is the work of the New Covenant to write God's law on our hearts, to give us the gift of regeneration through the washing of the Holy Spirit to make us into a new body politic who willingly and freely submits to Yahweh and His laws.
This brings Leeman finally to politics of the Kingdom, how the church is to institutionally conceive of itself as it straddles the already-not yet tension of living with one foot in the eschaton and one foot in our current age. The local church is properly speaking the place where God's kingdom is made visible here on earth vis-a-vis the sacramental identification of the "who" and "what" of the gospel. Leeman hits his wheelhouse strongly with his expansive explanations of Matthew 16, 18, and 28 as he demonstrates that it is the local church who has been authorized on earth to speak on behalf of heaven. Who the local church admits into its membership roles through baptism and the Lord's Supper is the proper application of the institutional authority it has been granted through the keys of the kingdom, binding and loosening. This does not mean that the Christian is restricted to "spiritual" matters only, because Leeman rejects the dichotomy between "spiritual" and "earthly." Yet, the local church does not possess the sword of the state but the keys of the kingdom. The local church is not here to serve as magistrate but as priest-kings of the eschatological age, as embassies of heaven, deputized to speak on behalf of the King. None of this, of course, restricts individual Christians from working for the magistrate or attempting to become a magistrate themselves, nor should Christians attempt to use "secular" definitions of justice and righteousness in the public square. We *must* use God's definitions of morality. Leeman's point is that the local church *as a church* possesses an institutionally different form of authority than the state. The state renders God's retributive justice immediately, the church speaks on behalf of God's justice which will be finally enforced at the final judgment. If one confuses the church with the state, then the church will be warped in its missional aim which the keys of the kingdom grant it.
On the whole, this is an expansive and--at times--overwhelming book. You can find the bones of this book explained more simply in bits and pieces in Leeman's other more popular works, like How the Nations Rage and Don't Fire Your Church Members. But here, Leeman gives all of these thoughts the most thorough treatment. His most frequent conversation partners are Oliver O'Donovan, Richard Bauckham, Miroslav Volf, Charles Taylor, Stanley Hauerwas, Karl Barth, Stephen Wellum, Peter Gentry, and much, much more.
Leeman's basic argument is that we need greater institutional specificity when considering what a church is, what the state is, and what the relationship is between the two. The classic liberal division between church and state has tended to rest on a two-kingdoms sort of view: the Church has dominion over the interior, spiritual realm, while the state has dominion over the exterior, temporal realm. Leeman demonstrates that in reality, all of life is spiritual and all of life is political. Because we cannot suspend our religious convictions in the public square and because Christ is King over "every square inch" of the world, there is no realm where these two "spheres" do not overlap. So, rather than bifurcating the two, we need to understand the unique *types* of authority that the government and church possess. We need institutional specificity.
Leeman constructs this institutional specificity by following along the covenantal storyline of the Bible, beginning with Adam in the garden, commissioned as a priest-king, made in the image of the triune God and therefore inherently social in nature, charged with expanding the borders of Eden to the ends of the earth, exercising dominion (king) and working and keeping the garden (priest). The intrusion of sin appears to muddle this program as Adam is not content remaining a vice-regent and attempts to enthrone himself as king, resulting in the curse of sin. The politics of creation, then, are augmented by the politics of the Fall. Here Leeman reflects deeply on the Noahic covenant and particularly Gen 9:5-6, where the basic building blocks of Paul's "sword of the state" are culled. Someone is authorized to render capital punishment on behalf of God's retributive justice, which implies a just structure of adjudicating crimes between fellow human beings. The justice mechanism of Genesis 9 does not authorize human beings to punish fellow human beings for crimes against God, but crimes against one another--even as we acknowledge that what makes the crimes against one another so heinous, properly wrong, is that our fellow humans are made in the image of God. Therefore, under the domain of the Fall, human government cannot prosecute crimes against God but only crimes between persons, even as it requires its definitions of right/wrong to depend upon God. This is the institutional purview of the government. It has been granted the sword to act as a delegate of God, rendering His punishments temporally, here and now. Leeman's reflections on this chapter are especially relevant to current discussions around religious liberty/toleration and freedom of conscience.
Leeman moves the conversation into the realm of God's people with the politics of the New Covenant. Leeman relies on the work of Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum's "Kingdom through Covenant" to demonstrate that the special covenants of Yahweh with His people are not of a different species than the common covenants of Adam and Noah. Rather, the special covenants model to the world what the common covenants intended. In the covenant of creation and Noah, God intended for the nations to respond to His sovereign rule as His citizens. They rejected it. So, God turns to the family of Abraham and enters into covenant with them as a means of restoring what Adam lost. Leeman argues, "The redemptive storyline that begins with Abraham serves creation's purposes. Specifically, the special covenants serve the purpose of the common covenant by fulfilling them...Politics is distinct from religion, but not separate. When we fail to recognize this, we overly separate these things, and eventually we overly spiritualize salvation and the life of the church,"(pg. 215). So Leeman charts the progression of the people of Israel from Abraham, Moses, David, and New Covenant. God's people are the pilot program for the rest of the world for what submission to Yahweh as King ought to look like. The problem is that we are just as sinful as the world is, just as prone to exalt ourselves as kings and queens. What we need is the work of the New Covenant to write God's law on our hearts, to give us the gift of regeneration through the washing of the Holy Spirit to make us into a new body politic who willingly and freely submits to Yahweh and His laws.
This brings Leeman finally to politics of the Kingdom, how the church is to institutionally conceive of itself as it straddles the already-not yet tension of living with one foot in the eschaton and one foot in our current age. The local church is properly speaking the place where God's kingdom is made visible here on earth vis-a-vis the sacramental identification of the "who" and "what" of the gospel. Leeman hits his wheelhouse strongly with his expansive explanations of Matthew 16, 18, and 28 as he demonstrates that it is the local church who has been authorized on earth to speak on behalf of heaven. Who the local church admits into its membership roles through baptism and the Lord's Supper is the proper application of the institutional authority it has been granted through the keys of the kingdom, binding and loosening. This does not mean that the Christian is restricted to "spiritual" matters only, because Leeman rejects the dichotomy between "spiritual" and "earthly." Yet, the local church does not possess the sword of the state but the keys of the kingdom. The local church is not here to serve as magistrate but as priest-kings of the eschatological age, as embassies of heaven, deputized to speak on behalf of the King. None of this, of course, restricts individual Christians from working for the magistrate or attempting to become a magistrate themselves, nor should Christians attempt to use "secular" definitions of justice and righteousness in the public square. We *must* use God's definitions of morality. Leeman's point is that the local church *as a church* possesses an institutionally different form of authority than the state. The state renders God's retributive justice immediately, the church speaks on behalf of God's justice which will be finally enforced at the final judgment. If one confuses the church with the state, then the church will be warped in its missional aim which the keys of the kingdom grant it.
On the whole, this is an expansive and--at times--overwhelming book. You can find the bones of this book explained more simply in bits and pieces in Leeman's other more popular works, like How the Nations Rage and Don't Fire Your Church Members. But here, Leeman gives all of these thoughts the most thorough treatment. His most frequent conversation partners are Oliver O'Donovan, Richard Bauckham, Miroslav Volf, Charles Taylor, Stanley Hauerwas, Karl Barth, Stephen Wellum, Peter Gentry, and much, much more.
October 24, 2018
My fuller review on SpoiledMilks (10/24/18).
Jonathan Leeman makes a case for the political nature of the local church and argues that it is possible to be political and a Christian. “The purpose of this political community… is to publicly represent King Jesus, display the justice and righteousness of the triune God, and pronounce that all the world belongs to this King. His claim is universal” (294).
The first two chapters asks what “politics” and “institutions” are (being the most technical chapters, Leeman lets his readers skip them. I still read them; I was stretched and I have underlines on almost every page. The state builds the platforms of peace and justice so that the church can “hang signs with Jesus’ name over right beliefs, right practices, and right people—the repenting and believing citizens of Christ’s kingdom” (15).
Chapter three looks at the politics of Creations, particularly that as governed and ruled by the triune God. Chapters 4-6 cover the Politics of the Fall, the New Covenant, and the Kingdom. The local church is an embassy for God’s kingdom. “The church’s life is held together by justification by faith alone, the most powerful political force in the world today for flattening hierarchies and uniting one-time enemies” (14). He has given Christians a particular authority to preach the gospel, make disciples, and display love, peace, justice and righteousness. Everyone worships something—either God or idols. Christians are ambassadors for God (2 Cor 5.20); they mediate his covenantal rule to the world around them and call them to submit to Christ the King.
Recommended?
Though advanced, I do recommend it, especially because Leeman works through the Bible’s covenantal storyline. You may not be a political expert, but you will benefit from reading Leeman’s work. It is slow work, but it is a rewarding read.
Jonathan Leeman makes a case for the political nature of the local church and argues that it is possible to be political and a Christian. “The purpose of this political community… is to publicly represent King Jesus, display the justice and righteousness of the triune God, and pronounce that all the world belongs to this King. His claim is universal” (294).
The first two chapters asks what “politics” and “institutions” are (being the most technical chapters, Leeman lets his readers skip them. I still read them; I was stretched and I have underlines on almost every page. The state builds the platforms of peace and justice so that the church can “hang signs with Jesus’ name over right beliefs, right practices, and right people—the repenting and believing citizens of Christ’s kingdom” (15).
Chapter three looks at the politics of Creations, particularly that as governed and ruled by the triune God. Chapters 4-6 cover the Politics of the Fall, the New Covenant, and the Kingdom. The local church is an embassy for God’s kingdom. “The church’s life is held together by justification by faith alone, the most powerful political force in the world today for flattening hierarchies and uniting one-time enemies” (14). He has given Christians a particular authority to preach the gospel, make disciples, and display love, peace, justice and righteousness. Everyone worships something—either God or idols. Christians are ambassadors for God (2 Cor 5.20); they mediate his covenantal rule to the world around them and call them to submit to Christ the King.
Recommended?
Though advanced, I do recommend it, especially because Leeman works through the Bible’s covenantal storyline. You may not be a political expert, but you will benefit from reading Leeman’s work. It is slow work, but it is a rewarding read.
February 27, 2022
A well-argued, wise, and charitable book. I figured going into it that I'd agree with
Leeman on most of his main points, and I did. I was surprised, in fact, to see just how much
I agreed with him. There were only a couple moments
where I thought a point wasn't as clear as it could be.
My biggest beef with it was Chapter 3's
handling of the Trinity, which he (I believe misguidedly) tries to make the ground of politics.
He is operating here with the view that the transcendent Divine Persons are three centers of consciousness which comprise a society. He is not, I believe, a true Social Trinitarian, but he does
say that the Father and Son must, "organize their interpersonal postures toward one another" according to character traits, and that this yields human politicality. Aside from this chapter (and not all of it), I can give a hearty "Amen" to the book theologically.
My big takeaway: God does not have two kingdoms, but one, in which we find (for the purposes
of this book) two institutions: Church and State, with fully overlapping domains, yet different
callings. Both the Church and the State rule over the entire person, body and soul, yet in different
ways, with different competencies. Leeman also urges us to see things from a perspective of two
ages, where the church is an outpost of Christ's present kingdom and an embassy of his future
eschatological, perfected kingdom which will cover the globe. When you look at a local church, you
are looking at the future.
Leeman on most of his main points, and I did. I was surprised, in fact, to see just how much
I agreed with him. There were only a couple moments
where I thought a point wasn't as clear as it could be.
My biggest beef with it was Chapter 3's
handling of the Trinity, which he (I believe misguidedly) tries to make the ground of politics.
He is operating here with the view that the transcendent Divine Persons are three centers of consciousness which comprise a society. He is not, I believe, a true Social Trinitarian, but he does
say that the Father and Son must, "organize their interpersonal postures toward one another" according to character traits, and that this yields human politicality. Aside from this chapter (and not all of it), I can give a hearty "Amen" to the book theologically.
My big takeaway: God does not have two kingdoms, but one, in which we find (for the purposes
of this book) two institutions: Church and State, with fully overlapping domains, yet different
callings. Both the Church and the State rule over the entire person, body and soul, yet in different
ways, with different competencies. Leeman also urges us to see things from a perspective of two
ages, where the church is an outpost of Christ's present kingdom and an embassy of his future
eschatological, perfected kingdom which will cover the globe. When you look at a local church, you
are looking at the future.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 2, 2019
Really enjoyed this biblical-theological approach to political theology that Leeman takes. He argues that political theology can and should primarily be understood on the Bible's terms, namely through the covenants. At the same time, he argues that modern conceptions of institutionalism can help us understand the political nature of the church. This book is an interesting blend of Bible and political theory, all to essentially make one point - the church is a political institution. Good stuff, though a bit long. I'd like to see Leeman condense this book like he did for The Surprising Offense.
March 28, 2025
"The public square is nothing more or less than a battleground of the gods. And the church is a political institution inhabited by citizens of heaven who bear a distinctly political message: Jesus is king."
Leeman is a great thinker and he brings significant clarity to an array of issues: what politics is, what an institution is, worship, the creation mandate, sin, the covenantal story of the Bible, justification, the mission of the church and more. Essential reading.
Leeman is a great thinker and he brings significant clarity to an array of issues: what politics is, what an institution is, worship, the creation mandate, sin, the covenantal story of the Bible, justification, the mission of the church and more. Essential reading.
July 3, 2018
Very well written, and a very important topic. Leeman puts biblical theology, systematics, and political philosophy in dialogue (with Scripture in the appropriate place of supremacy!) and produces a very thought-provoking view of the church as an embassy of Christ's rule.
October 11, 2018
This is an EXCELLENT book, one I'll no doubt be returning to regularly. There's much to think on and benefit from.
March 13, 2023
Excellent work walking through the "governemnt as plaform for the gospel" argument. Leeman is helpful in the discussion of the christian and polotics.
September 29, 2023
Better Every Time
April 19, 2022
I am friendly to Leeman’s thesis and in fact think it is hard to resist the broader claims given the political framing of the gospel — gospel, kingdom of God, son of David. I do wonder if he is using the concept of political gods as literal objects of worship or more metaphorical.
March 13, 2017
Excellent book with lots of great content but like many academic books it would have been more enjoyable if it were shorter.
June 14, 2016
As the author acknowledges, this book is not for everyone. But if you want to read from someone who has thought deeply about a biblical approach to the institutions of church and state, there are jewels well worth mining here. Chapter Six is transformational.
Want to read
January 20, 2018Read an excerpt here.
Leeman wrote this review of Smith's Awaiting the King.
Leeman wrote this review of Smith's Awaiting the King.
October 2, 2016
The best book on political theology written since Augustine's City of God.
January 31, 2017
Best book I've read on the subject!
June 9, 2016
Great book. Like a technical biblical theology of 'politics.'
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