The Case for Cosmic Salvation: A Short Dummy's Guide to a Kuyperian Worldview
We are speaking of Lordship with stamina, on steroids, black coffee Calvinists—the kind of Lordship that makes men's beards come alive like Aaron's.
The mission of our congregation in Pensacola is established in a Latin phrase, “Omnia et in omnibus Christus,” Christ all and in all. This theology of God's sovereignty over all things is the guiding principle of our flock.
In this Substack, I want to offer a brief manifesto on this theme, while also clarifying what it is not.
The Lordship of Jesus is a concrete statement. We are not talking about an ethereal Lordship that remains hidden within the four walls of the Church. When I was growing up, there was a saying: “Jesus is Lord today, but he will only be King one day.” That is not what we are proclaiming.
We are proclaiming the whole theological house; we are advocating for the full Lordship and Kingship with no separation or distinction. The same Lord who reigns is the same king who rules.
We are speaking of Lordship with stamina, on steroids, black coffee Calvinists—the kind of Lordship that makes men's beards come alive like Aaron's. And it's crucial for good Christian people to swallow this truth in one sitting, rather than in stages. If you attempt to consume this reality in fragments, you will only find more confusion.
The Soteriology Lordship
The confusion exists because of the theological priorities of the modern church. In our evangelical culture, the theme of Lordship is exclusively reserved for that soteriology (salvation) category of systematic theologies. But to be provocative in a minuscule sense—and Christians need healthy doses of provocation these days—individual salvation is not enough. Salvation divorced from life is not enough.
We cannot be content with a God who takes men from Eden to the New World only to deliver them from hell. And if this sentiment is too shocking, therein lies the problem. We have become too content with soteriological discussions that never go beyond the individual and his acts of piety and private devotion, and we never move on from it; we never ask, “What hath salvation do with our world?”
The Cosmic Salvation of Lordship
The theme of sovereignty over individual salvation is good and true. We are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9), but the range is too predictable and too narrow, however noble. Eventually, someone is going to have to start asking, "Where do we go once Jesus becomes Lord of our individual lives?”
In the book of Romans, Paul answers that question by making it abundantly clear that salvation is ultimately a worldwide event—a redeeming of the created order:
“For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.”
There is a cosmic implication to salvation. Abraham Kuyper says it well:
“The curse should no longer rest upon the world itself, but upon that which is sinful in it, and instead of monastic flight from the world the duty is now emphasized of serving God in the world, in every position in life.”
Christ’s resurrection victory is undoing sin. We live by faith and not by sight.
The old hymn puts it best:
On every hand the foe we find
Drawn up in dread array;
Let tents of ease be left behind,
And onward to the fray.
Salvation’s helmet on each head,
With truth all girt about,
The earth shall tremble ’neath our tread,
And echo with our shout.
Refrain:
Faith is the victory!
Faith is the victory!
O glorious victory,
That overcomes the world.
That is, the law in and of itself does not provide the worldwide impact that Paul demands. We are heirs of the world as spiritual descendants of Abraham, and that promise comes to us through the righteousness of faith, which is to say, the righteousness that comes through faith. Our faith leaves an imprint of righteousness in the world. Faith is living and not dead. It touches wherever it goes.
The Failure of Individualism
When we act as individualists approaching the Lordship of Jesus, we will be timid to address the wrongs of any society. We will be so personally-minded that we are not corporately-good.
Individualism is the path of least resistance, and it has the additional benefit of leaving our Christian lives unchallenged. You want to sit back and relax, great! Just keep drinking the sweet tea of individualism. No offense to sweet tea and lots of offense to individualism.
But we do a disservice to the Lordship of Jesus by treating individual salvation as the end-all of human pursuits. The earth belongs to the Lord and the fullness thereof (Ps. 24:1), which means that the fullness of it goes far beyond our individual redemption. It must reach the ends of the earth. The cosmos needs the imprint of Christian men, women, and children testifying to God's comprehensive authority over all things.
What Hath Kuyper To Do With Life?
Abraham Kuyper’s famous line needs to be restated:
“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”
When individualized salvation is emphasized, the Lordship of Jesus is privatized. The Neo-Calvinist movement (spearheaded by Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck) aimed to steer the conversation in the right direction and challenge the prevailing individualistic hermeneutics of the late 19th century.
In our day, we find ourselves at this stage of Church history somewhere between cowardly Christian men and ordinary Christian men. The ordinary saint does not simply proclaim the Gospel; he lives the Gospel. He charges the gates of hell with his ordinary life, ordinary family, and ordinary church, because that's just who they are. They believe that Christ is all and in all.
It's just ordinary stuff; it's not radical. But cowardly Christian men have no boldness to fight. They claim the Lordship of Jesus as a kind of mystical mantra, but they don’t want that Lordship to extend to every sphere.
I submit that we cannot allow such ideology to pervade the Church. For instance, there is no longer room for debate over whether public schools are an option for Christian children. It isn’t. There is no more room to wonder whether we think Jesus is King now or later. That debate was settled on the third day when he rose again from the dead.
We need the Lordship of Jesus over our family, church, and state, as much as over our salvation. We must act as if everything that is not stamped with the Lordship of Jesus is in rebellion against the kingdom of heaven. If we think this is just business as usual, you will take the bait and drink contentedly, imagining it to be good, but it’s just a watered-down imitation.
"Jesus is Lord" is not a baptized Gnosticism; it is our dogma as a church. It means what it says it means, and it means nothing less. Ultimately, it means that we are in a "taking back" mode. The spoils belong to the children of men, and those who sit back and relax get to watch us feast at the Lord's table on earth as it is in heaven. After all, we are heirs of the whole world.
“Omnia et in omnibus Christus,” Christ is all and in all.
Notations
I am working on revising my little work on fatherhood, published eleven years ago. It’s a rewarding and humbling process, especially to see how my writing has evolved and how much more clearly I understand things now, having been a father for 17 years. I hope subscribers enjoy these revisions, which will eventually be re-published with additional chapters (including a chapter on the Singing Father). All paid subscribers will receive a PDF copy of the revised book once it is completed, and I hope to send out several physical copies as well.
If you want to follow the progress, here is the revised introduction, the first chapter on fatherhood as divine imitation, and the second chapter on glad fathers and glad sons. For those who are not paid subscribers, I’d be happy to offer you a 90-day complimentary access so you can follow along. Send me your email via Substack.
Thanks brother. Blessings flow far as the curse is found!
I love this theme. Nice job.