For God created the nations. They exist for Him.

I finally was able to flip through a few pages of Kuyper's Lectures on Calvinism, given at Princeton in 1898, while I was on the metro back from having lunch with Kaitlyn and habibti. I've been reading up on the field of culture and Christian interaction with culture, and to a broader extent, the political sphere, for a paper in my Contemporary Philosophy of Religion class. With this in mind, I skipped immediately to Kuyper's lecture of "Calvinism and Politics" and in the first few pages, here's what I found:

"Calvinism has, therefore, by its deep conception of sin laid bare the true root of state-life, and has taught us two things: first--that we have gratefully to receive, from the hand of God, the institution of the State with its magistrates, as a means of preservation, now indeed indispensable. And on the other hand also that, by virtue of our natural impulse, we must ever watch against the danger which lurks, for our personal liberty, in the power of the State."

How gracious of God to bless us with the state, to erect institutions of governance to curb the consequences of our sinful natures. At the same time, this flows into discussion of the doctrine of common grace, which Kuyper was highly criticized for and caused a division in the CRC. I'm going to need to read up more on the topic of common grace, since I do believe it plays a fundamental role in the way Christians think through participating in the public square. But at the same time, Kuyper was known for the "Christ transforming culture" position, which has gotten him, and others who fall in his camp, some flack.

"In Politics also it taught us that the human element--here the people--may not be considered as the principle thing, so that God is only dragged in to help this people in the hour of its need; but on the contrary that God, in His Majesty, must flame before the eyes of every nation, and that all nations together are to be reckoned before Him as a drop in a bucket and as the small dust of the balances. From the ends of the earth God cites all nations and peoples before His high judgment seat. For God created the nations. They exist for Him. They are His own. And therefore all these nations, and in them humanity, must exist for His glory and consequently after his ordinances, in order that in their well-being, when they walk after His ordinances, His divine wisdom may shine forth."

This was another thing that struck me. I think living with a liberal democratic mindset, we're prone to think of individuals as the only unit God deals with. Somehow the way God dealt with nations as a unit in the Old Testament has become pushed into the background; and while I believe there is some warrant for this, since the proclamation of the gospel to the Gentiles did create a seismic shift, it seems like we do not believe anymore that God cares about what nations do as a whole. That God does not judge nations as a whole. I'm not necessarily sure what the direct implications of this are in regards to how we should think about cultural and political engagement, but I think it's worth pondering.

General Update:

I have a friend who I went to high school in town who literally called me the day she was intending to arrive in DC (yesterday). Pray for my time with her! I'm intending to bring her to the Johnsons tonight for the college/intern fellowship night.