What is the Church?

The keys of America will be handed over to the saints of the Most High.

At his ascension into heaven, Christ gives to his apostles the Great Commission: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:18-19). In this commission, the Catholic Church finds her mission and has authority because all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to it by God. The purpose of the Church is to disciple all the nations.

It is here where the “liberal vs postliberal” debate should end. The question of whether the state ought to submit to the authority of the Church is not a matter of philosophical debate. It is a matter of theological doctrine. Nonetheless, let us consider these words of Our Lord a bit more deeply.

The roots of what Christ says here are to be found in the Old Testament. When Adam was created, he was established as both priest and king over the creation. Genesis uses both royal words, such as “subdue” and “have dominion,” as well as priestly words, like “work” and “keep” (Gen 1:28, 2:15). Hebrew words for work and keep, abad and shamar, are later used as technical words for the work of the Levites at the tabernacle. The original design of creation is for the rule of a single priest-king. We see many examples of this early on in scripture, such as Melchizedek and Abraham. This is because, as St. Thomas Aquinas explains, religion is a sub-virtue of justice (ST II-II.81). Religion is concerned with the honor which is due to God. Thus, as part of justice, religion is part of what should be considered by politics as well, as justice is a necessarily public matter.

Of course, as Pope Gelasius explains in Duo sunt, these two offices were separated on account of sin. We see an example of this in Exodus, where God takes away the priestly authority of the firstborn sons who participated in the golden calf incident and gives it strictly to the family of Levi. Nonetheless, Levites were still extremely important in managing the political affairs of Israel. We even see in the Mosaic law itself that God places laws about judicial matters right next to ones about liturgical matters. While these two are distinct functions, they cannot be separated. (In the language of metaphysics, there is only a minor real distinction between them). Any claim to authority will necessarily touch on both political and religious matters.

At the Tower of Babel, the nations of the Earth had been divided on account of sin. Moses alludes to this when he sings “When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of men, he fixed the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. For the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage” (Deu 32:8-9). God allowed the other nations to fall under the rule of false gods, but He claimed for himself the people of Israel. However, the intention behind this was not to just have one people. Abraham was told that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen 12:3). Thus, Moses goes on to sing about how one day God will conquer all the nations and they will all recognize Him as the only true God (Deu 32:39-43).

Throughout the Old Testament, Gentile kings play a major role in God’s plan. Joseph serves as advisor to Pharaoh. Elijah anointed Hazael as king of Syria. Daniel serves as advisor to Nebuchadnezzar and even converts him to belief in the true God during his last days. These are only to name a few of many examples. From even long before Christ, the Church has worked to convert the rulers of foreign nations and free them from their idolatry.

By the time of Christ, God had established the Roman Empire as ruler of the world. This was the fourth empire prophesied by Daniel. However, Daniel had also prophesied a new empire that would come, a stone cut without hands, that would smash the fourth empire apart (Dan 2:34-35). This stone then becomes a great mountain which fills the whole earth. This empire is the Church. Christ’s specific language of all dominion being given to him comes from another vision in Daniel: “And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Dan 7:14). However, Daniel goes on to explain that this is not the rule of Christ alone. “And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them” (Dan 7:27). The Church, then, shares in the dominion of Christ over all the nations.

When Christ tells his disciples that all authority has now been given to him, he is announcing the end of the rule of these false gods. The time of Babel is over. At Pentecost, the Spirit comes and brings the gift of tongues, undoing the division of Babel (although also without creating uniformity since the distinct languages still exist). Likewise in the book of Revelation we see that at the beginning of the millennium, which is a symbol for the age of the Church, Satan has been bound so that he can no longer deceive the nations (Rev 20:2-3). This is the hope of the prophets, the coming of all the nations to Jerusalem to worship the true God (c.f. Isa 2, 66, Zech 14, Mal 1:11).

Is this not only a spiritual rule, though? After all, Christ tells Pilate that “my kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). However, this confusion is due to a mistranslation. In Greek, Christ says that his kingdom is “ouk ek toutou kosmou,” not from this world. That is, Christ’s kingdom comes from another world (heaven), but that does not mean his kingdom does not exist in this world.

While it is important that Church and state still remain distinct on account of human sin, in the person of Christ, the two offices are united under a single person, and so, as Boniface VIII teaches in Unam sanctam, the Church has been given the two swords. The spiritual authority of the Church extends into the temporal as the temporal is ordered to the spiritual as its telos. All nations are to be baptized and made disciples. This includes the political authorities.

There have been countless examples of kings who have sought to bring their rule in line with the teaching of Christ. (For two good examples, see Defending Constantine by Peter Leithart and Before Church and State by Andrew Willard Jones.) This is unthinkable for the post-Enlightenment liberal for whom all past Church-state cooperation was merely political propaganda to keep power. The historical record proves them wrong. It is actually the liberal account which is propaganda. Every day, the blood of thousands of innocent children is offered to the god of liberalism. The family has completely collapsed from both social and economic pressures. The environment is desecrated for monetary gain. Something has to change in the way we conduct politics.

Against all of this, the Church stands out as a voice crying out in the wilderness, saying “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand” (Matt 3:2). Despite wrongs in the past, the Church remains a city on a hill, a light to the nations, proclaiming the Gospel. The Catholic Church has always been clear that this Gospel is not one of individualism, but a social one which makes demands on the political rulers of this age.

What then is to be done? We must first realize the inherently political nature of the Church. The actions of baptizing and making disciples are inherently subversive to the liberal order. By evangelizing, the Church asserts that she is not just another voluntary institution, but the divinely established kingdom of God. Different people have different duties according to their station in life, but whatever these duties are, they should always be done for Christ and for the kingdom of God. The mother has a duty to her children, a husband to his wife, and a citizen to his polity. The precise relation between Church and state has varied throughout Christian history, and so these details are not the main concern: recapturing the political nature of the Church is what matters.

In recovering the Church’s political nature, we must remember that we are not in any rush to win. Many fear that if we do not solve all the problems of the world tomorrow, we will lose. When to comes to confronting the left, however, playing the long game can be the most opportune way to achieve victory. That said, we also know that we will win. Victory has been promised by Christ. Our victory for this reason is not based merely on a philosophical grounding of what is right, but on the surety of supernatural faith in what has been revealed. Let us always then trust in divine providence as we build a political order fitting for both the spiritual and temporal powers. “Let the wicked together fall into their own nets, while I escape” (Ps 141:10). The keys of America will be handed over to the saints of the Most High.

If you enjoyed this article by Gideon Lazar, you might enjoy his upcoming online class, “America and the City of God: An Introduction to Political Philosophy.” The class will go  through Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, the American Founding Fathers, and many other important thinkers. The class can provide the classical education you never received, or serve as a perfect high school government course for your homeschooler. You can find out more and sign up here.