The titular question seems to me to be central in the current discussion in the Reformed camp between Kuyperians and Klineans. Kuyperians argue that Scripture governs all aspects of human life, including culture and government.[1] Klineans[2] believe that politics and general culture are governed by natural revelation and common grace.[3] On their view Christians should not urge distinctively biblical principles upon the institutions of the broad society; rather, they should draw people’s attention to the demands of natural law, the ethical implications of natural revelation.
I believe that this position is wrong, for the following reasons:
Here are the three endnotes for the quotation above:
1. There are some exceptions. The followers of Dooyeweerd in the Toronto Institute for Christian Studies identify themselves with Kuyper, but they believe that Scripture itself does not govern all of culture. Rather (1) it provides the gospel message by which people are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, (2) it gives us a world-and life-view (creation, fall, and redemption) that we should seek to relate to everything in the world, and (3) it gives specific direction in matters of faith, which on the Dooyeweerdian view is sharply distinguished from other spheres of human learning and social organization. In their view, therefore, Scripture does not give us standards for right and wrong. Rather, those standards are to be found from natural revelation under the impetus of regeneration and a general world view (creation-fall-redemption) derived from Scripture. So in fact the Dooyeweerdian movement holds to a natural law position in ethics, politics, the arts and other cultural matters, more characteristic of the Klinean-Lutheran view than of the Kuyperian.
2. See Meredith G. Kline, Kingdom Prologue (downloadable from http://www.twoagepress.org/books.htm .) Kline’s disciples often connect his position with the Lutheran contrasts between law and gospel and between the “two kingdoms.” I argue that these views are also similar to the Roman Catholic distinction between nature and grace. See Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life, forthcoming, chapter 12 and passim.
3. “Natural revelation” is God’s revelation of himself in the created order, apart from such verbal revelations as Scripture, prophecy, and the divine voice from Heaven. Scripture speaks of this in passages such as Ps. 19 and Rom. 1. “Special revelation” is God revealing himself in words and sentences. The Gospel of redemption through Christ is part of special revelation. “Common grace” is non-saving grace, God’s kindness to those who do not believe in him, including his restraint on their sin.