Origin of the Term⤒🔗

If there ever was a Reformed topic, it is this topic concerning our cultural mandate. The term has grown from our own heritage in The Netherlands, and is relatively unknown on English speaking soil. How did this term find itself in the Reformed vocabulary in The Netherlands? That is our first question and the answer to that question will determine in part whether we should retain the term or not. After all, we should not use terms without being aware of what they mean and without having good reason for using them.

This term became part of the Reformed vocabulary in The Netherlands with the great resurgence of Calvinism in the 19th century. It was especially popularized by Dr. A. Kuyper, who wanted to direct the attention of the Reformed contingent in his country to our calling in all areas of life: the issues and problems of politics, economics, labour relations, education and so on. The central theme in the thought of this great statesman and theologian was the absolute sovereignty of God and the kingship of the Son over the whole of life, personal life and social life. For Kuyper, Calvinism was not a world-abandoning view of life, but a culturally positive and world-directed system of beliefs that worked as a cleansing power in a sinful world. The gospel of Jesus Christ must cover the whole terrain of human life; art, religion, government, and science – all fall under His victorious leadership.¹

The reason for this strong emphasis on Kuyper's part was the presence of pietistic influences among the Dutch Reformed people of his time. These inward-directed, mystical influences led people to withdraw from the world, and separate their life in the world from their religion. They were more concerned with the salvation of their own souls than with seeking to bring all of life under the lordship of Christ. Kuyper spent his whole life vigorously attacking these influences, not just because he saw them so rampant about him, but also because he was aware of them in his own background, and in his own life.

However, Dr. Kuyper did not present us with a totally integrated Biblical view of culture. His use of the term "cultural mandate" was interwoven with an extremely brilliant but rather complicated theory of common grace, and he built his whole view of cultural endeavor and Christian cultural activity from this theory. Briefly, Kuyper's theory contained these points: Kuyper believed that God gave grace to the reprobate as well as the elect, and he called this common grace. All cultural endeavor, and every cultural 'success' or 'discovery' was a gift of God, a gift of grace shared commonly by elect and reprobate people alike. Particular, or saving grace, the grace of the gospel, was a special cleansing or purifying force in cultural activity. Yet both elect and reprobate could participate by grace in worthwhile cultural activity.

Although Kuyper's views almost became the standard teaching of the Reformed Church, there were some who were critical of various aspects of his theory. You may have heard of the old Professor Lindeboom who expressed reservations about Kuyper's approach. He was a man who encouraged and put more emphasis on evangelism, and the proclamation of the gospel. He used his extra time in inner city mission, evangelism, and local preaching. He occupies an important place in the history of evangelism in the Reformed Churches.

The Debate Today←⤒🔗

The contrast between these two 19th century figures form the background to the 'quiet debate' that since Kuyper's time has developed in The Netherlands, and still continues today. The substance of this debate forms the content of this speech. The question asked is: Where should the thrust of the Christian endeavor in the world lie? In evangelism and home mission? Or in concerted and united activity in all fields of cultural endeavor? Where must the stress lie? On preaching or on working? What should have priority in our minds: spreading the gospel by word of mouth, or seeking to develop organizations and associations that bring the gospel to bear on different areas of life?

One of the most important works with regard to this subject is Dr. K. Schilder's Christ and Culture. Schilder sought to retain Kuyper's broad, all-encompassing vision, but package the aspects he liked about this vision in a more biblically unified and integrated view of culture. Schilder rejected the theory of common grace, but maintained the term "cultural mandate," and stressed the task of believers to let the truth of the gospel be applied to every area of life. Besides Schilder the philosophers Vollenhoven and Dooyeweerd also retained the use of the term cultural mandate, and continued to stress the importance of the social task of believers.

These men, too, have passed on; yet their work is still debated here and in The Netherlands. Over the years, the periodical De Reformatie has published an on-going discussion which might well be regarded as a 'quiet debate' between Dr. J. Douma on the one hand, and various opponents on the other. Here in North America this debate has acquired proportions of its own, and we have had some exchanges on this in our own circles. What I would like to do is briefly outline certain aspects of this debate and then look at the Scriptures again with regard to its view of culture.

Mandate or Blessing?←⤒🔗

While Schilder rejected Kuyper's theory of common grace, he wanted to retain the term "cultural mandate" as an expression summarizing the Christian's task in the world. This term is derived from Genesis 1:28, where the LORD calls Adam to fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion over all creatures. Schilder linked the mandate with man's office as image of God. Being appointed as image of God, man was called to exercise dominion over the earth and its creatures. "Dress the garden" is the summary of the Christian's calling, the calling extended to Adam, which is still as much in force today as on the day it was spoken. We are called to get out of creation what is in it, including what is in ourselves. In other words, we are to apply all our talents and resources in uncovering the potential in creation and in ourselves, using it all to the glory of God.

Schilder's mandate orientation became the object of some criticism in the dissertation of Dr. J. Douma, Algemene Genade (Common Grace). Along with Dr. W.H. Velema, Douma wanted to introduce a culturally reserved stance with regard to this world and its possibilities and activities. Under Calvin's influence, Douma felt that more attention should be placed on the blessings of this present life as a means by which we are directed to seek the fullness of blessing in the life to come.² Douma argued that Genesis 1:28 is more of a blessing than a mandate, and one should be careful not to deduct an entire cultural program out of this verse. The specific concern of this verse is simply that man must rule over the animals and subdue all creatures.

Cultural Mandate or Gospel Mandate?←⤒🔗

Dr. Velema went a little farther and held Schilder's approach to be fundamentally dualistic. If we retain the cultural mandate of the beginning, says Velema, we are forced to conclude that the last day can only come through the fulfillment of two different mandates, the cultural mandate and the gospel mandate. The Kingdom can only appear by means of a two-track line, and a double-pronged thrust. For Velema this view is untenable. Did not our Lord Jesus Christ completely fulfill the cultural mandate? The original covenant of works which man could not keep has now been completely kept and fulfilled by Christ's obedience. For Velema, the redemptive work of Christ is so radical that it changes all the requirements God poses for us. We now receive a command of thankfulness to Christ, for what He has done. Man is no longer at the helm. Rather, Christ as Fulfiller of cultural activity leads history to its end. According to Velema, this means that the period of Pentecost constitutes the special time of mission work, the time for the proclamation of the gospel and the time for repentance. Consequently, the accent must not rest with our cultural mandate, but with the mandate to preach the gospel.

It may be helpful to point out here that Schilder did not deny the Church encompassing task of believers to bring the gospel to bear everywhere, in all areas of life, wherever man is placed, and in whatever social relationships he finds himself. In other words, the task of all believers is wider than the specific task of the Church and her office-bearers.

Middle of History or End of Time?←⤒🔗

Schilder belonged to a movement of the 30's and 40's that placed considerable stress on the actual presence of the Kingdom of God. In his book on culture, Schilder described Christ as the King, Who appears in the middle of history in order to reveal His Kingship and power on earth, and destroy the evil one and his kingdom. Christ came to bring reconciliation and redirect human life to the service of God.³ That victorious Kingdom is present in our hearts and lives. Notwithstanding the great and continuing power of sin, a new beginning can be made, and a transformation of life is apparent in which we are turned from dead works to visible deeds of love toward God and our neighbour. We are God's co-workers, fellow-workers for Him in the building of His kingdom. That must be manifested in all aspects of life.

At that time another group of pastors warned against unbridled optimism, and taught that the Christian stand towards culture should be very reserved. We should mistrust anything of our own making. We must not be affected by a love of this world, or by its pleasures. We easily distinguish between sin and the world, but such theoretical distinctions fall away in the hour of temptation. These pastors, to some extent influenced by the Swiss theologian Karl Barth, pleaded for more caution with regard to all kinds of Christian activity, and stressed that we are pilgrims and strangers in this world. Rev. J. Overduin took this line of reasoning, and interestingly enough had to see some of his ideas come alive in his own experience when he was sent to the concentration camp in Dachau.⁴ He survived the ordeal, but remained in the synodical church in the struggle of 1944.

While Douma certainly cannot be connected with this group he, too, has pleaded for less optimism with regard to our cultural aims, and drawn attention to the numerous passages in Scripture that suggest that the time of Christ is really the "last days," the end of history, rather than the middle of history, (1 Corinthians 10:11, Hebrews 1:2, 1 Peter 4:7). The Lord Jesus Himself said, "Behold I come quickly," Revelations 22:12. It is precisely this eschatological or end-time concern of the New Testament that leads, according to Douma, to the priority of the preaching task. We must stress the fact that we live in the last days, and that the hour of repentance is short.

What do the Scriptures Say?←⤒🔗

In trying to come to an assessment of the conflicting opinions on this point, we must turn to the Scriptures. The Word of God is our only rule in these questions. Few in the debate deny that. But it is significant that, particularly with regard to this topic two types of texts are continually appealed to. Naturally the whole Bible must be our guide, but here two groups of texts stand out, Old Testament texts and New Testament texts, which might better by typified as protological texts (dealing with the beginning of history) and eschatological texts (dealing with the end time). In my view, both protological and eschatological passages of Scripture must be balanced and combined into a unified view of culture and our cultural task. If we keep both of these perspectives in mind, then we may see that much of the debate is really needless and a matter of words rather than issues.

The Old Testament: Protological Texts←⤒🔗

Actually just about everything in the first 11 chapters of Genesis is important for a Christian view of culture. Our whole basis for looking at creation is laid down in these chapters. Therefore, we must not just appeal to Genesis 1:28, which is both a command and a blessing, but must glean material out of the remaining chapters as well. The creation story forms the general framework, but this is all expanded in the chapters that follow.

• Genesis 2 related to us the history of culture, the culture of the beginning. In Genesis 2:4ff. the general command of Genesis 1:28 is made very specific: man is put on a specific place and receives a very specific task. It is almost as if the LORD shows Adam exactly how and where to work the ground. There, too, Adam receives his wife. The general mandate to fill the earth is given a very specific rewording, so that it becomes a command that Adam can apply and work with. He knows exactly what to do, and all he may do is within his means.

• Genesis 3 relates the immense changes that came upon man and the creation with the fall into sin. The fall into sin certainly does not alter the force of the mandate. Yet it is clear that henceforth man is unable to fulfill it in his own power. The curse comes over man and over the ground. All his labour is filled with futility and fatigue. Cultural endeavor is drastically curtailed and man becomes in many ways a prisoner of the elements and a prey of the creatures, rather than their master. Also, man is destined to return to the dust; aging and decay set in, a pattern of growth and decline.

• The stark and dramatic events of Genesis 4 are also very important for a Christian view of culture. Cain murders his brother Abel, and is punished by the loss of his immediate inheritance, his place on earth. Yet he still received the opportunity to repent. His words to the LORD, his Creator make it clear that he does not repent, but only hardens his heart with the punishment the LORD gave. Therefore the LORD put a mark on his forehead, indicating his definite excommunication from the presence of the LORD. Later we read how he builds a city and how his family becomes highly gifted and artistic. They excelled in both the fine arts, and industry.

• The Cain culture, which must have been a very highly developed and complex culture, perishes with the flood in Genesis 6-8. Only believing Noah and his family survive. In the New Testament the unbelieving Cain-culture in Noah's day becomes the prototype of the culture of the last days, Matthew 24:37ff. In other words, the period from Cain to Noah foreshadows the events and conditions of the period from Noah to the coming of Christ in the last days. Just as God allowed Cain to live, and his family to develop a highly specialized culture with many gifts and talents, only to punish the entire culture at the time of the flood, so, too, He still allows unbelievers to develop their gifts and form their culture, which is just as complex and specialized and displays just as many talents as its prototype, only to prepare it all for the day of His judgment, when He returns to save His chosen ones at the last day.⁵

• Since the Old Testament Church lived within the Cain culture before the great judgment of the flood, one may safely infer that the believers made ample use of the talents, gifts and products of the Cain culture insofar that was permitted and possible. No doubt the pipe and lyre made by Jubal's children were used by the believing sons of Seth in public worship, when they began to call upon the name of the Lord, verse 26. Despite the spiritual antithesis (which must always be maintained) the LORD does not come with immediate judgment, but grants time – room for repentance and room for salvation. He wants to bring His Son into the world, and uses the Cain culture for His all-encompassing purpose. Yet since the time of the Cain culture is certainly made full, the unbelievers are without excuse and completely responsible for the wrath that comes upon them, (cf. Genesis 15:16).

• The last chapter of significance is Genesis 11. After the flood the same antithesis appears again and the LORD reaches in to confuse the tongues, in order to prevent man from incurring another flood. The separation of men into various languages and tribes and races forms another definite restriction to the cultural striving of man. His tower of Babel is left incomplete. This confusion of tongues will always form a hindrance to the growth of the anti-Christian culture of the last days. It is a divine check on man's own self-destructive cultural striving, just as the flood was a divine punishment of it.

These are the protological texts. Much more could be added, but we must be content with this. It is clear that the whole pattern of cultural activity in a mixed world, that is, in a world which still 'hosts' the Church, is laid out here. The command, the restrictions, and the punishments are made known.

The New Testament: Eschatological Texts←⤒🔗

We might well expect to find that the same sort of themes come up in the New Testament. And indeed they do. However, it seems as if the LORD'S curtailment and tempering of the power of sin and destruction has only one purpose: to have the gospel proclaimed everywhere. That is why both Douma and Velema have stressed the importance of the mission mandate, and why many on this continent stress the importance of the Great Commission.

• In Matthew 24, the Lord Jesus says that the gospel must be preached all over the world before the end will come. Rather than repeat the cultural mandate of Genesis 1:28, the Lord Jesus sends out His disciples to preach the gospel, and establish the Church, Matthew 28:19.

• The New Testament texts do not seem to put the same stress on cultural development of the earth. Labour is important, but its importance is secondary to the all-important task of letting the truth be made known. In II Thessalonians 3, the apostle Paul admonished the believers to be diligent in labour so that they are not dependant on others, but earn their own living. The Lord is coming soon, but that should not lead us to idleness; rather, we should be living and working to the day of His coming, and taking care of the poor and needy, Ephesians 4:28.

• We are definitely cautioned not to become too attached to our work, or the products of our own making, or more generally, the things of this world. A central theme of the letter to the Hebrews is that we do not have a lasting city here, but seek one which is to come, one that the Lord Jesus Christ is preparing for us, John 14:2, Hebrews 13:14. We are to be hospitable, and ready to every good work, but not let ourselves be imprisoned by the goals and aims of this world. The apostle warns us that the form, (the scheme) of this world is passing away, 1 Corinthians 7:31.

• Finally, the Revelation to John is a book which vividly describes the conditions of the end-time, and also indicates that the believers will suffer persecution and hardships in those days. The church must be prepared for this, and must be prepared to endure trial and tribulation, Revelation 2:9, 6:9ff, 11:1ff. It will not be a time of great advances, but a time of flight, Matthew 24:20ff. Christians who openly profess the name of Christ will be driven from the places of work and production, and will be banished from the centers of culture. The follower of Christ will see the destruction of the products that he himself worked on and built, with the talents the LORD gave him.

Combining the Protological and Eschatological Texts←⤒🔗

Let us now lay the two types of texts side by side and compare their messages. Basically, if we try to combine them in this way, we see they are not really all that different, and that there are many false and needless dilemmas in the debate. This has led Professor Kamphuis to speak about "a disturbance in the lines of communication," in which parties to the debate seem to a certain extent to be talking alongside of each other, rather than directly to each other.⁶

The first thing we can be sure about is that the cultural mandate remains in force, however great the changes in man's life and environment are. God does not alter His command. However, the power of sin is so great that man is unable to fulfill this command after the fall. There is only one way in which he may make a new beginning again, the way of faith. He must believe in the promise, and through faith in this promise the LORD God restores him to his place as image of God, and grants him a foretaste of the renewed dominion by directing his heart towards deeds of justice and righteousness.

One might say that Adam received the power to rule again, but actually received it only in promise and not in deed. He still had to live under the curse. However, in the way of faith, the curse became a blessing for him, because it led him to seek the fulfillment of the promise in Jesus Christ. And in order to move his sinful mind to seek that fulfillment more and more, God gave Adam a foretaste of the victory and new ruling power that Christ would bring.

We live in the New Testament dispensation, in which the promises have been fulfilled. The Spirit has been poured out and dwells in our hearts. In principle, all the restrictions and punishments of the first 11 chapters in Genesis have been overcome, including the restriction of language. Through the power of the Spirit, the disciples were able to communicate the gospel in many different languages. The gospel reaches out to all peoples.

However, today we still have only a foretaste of the restored dominion and ruling power, and the old man still lives and works within us, leading us into sin. We still have a daily struggle and we labour under the curse. Today we experience little of an actual dominion over the whole earth. The creatures and elements are certainly not subject to us. Unbelieving man may have made some progress in harnessing the earth's power, but his method and attitude indicate that he is still very much a slave. The Church may begin to experience deliverance from sin, but in many ways lives far removed from the seats of power and influence in the world.

Indeed, what we have today and what we may do must direct us to seek a heavenly Kingdom, a Kingdom which is coming. The first fruits of that Kingdom have already come in Christ, the principal elements, i.e. the spiritual renewal and the work of the Holy Spirit. But the new order and scheme of this Kingdom are still coming. This order and scheme will be much more beautiful and wonderful than the paradise order of the beginning. It will be an order in which heaven and earth are, as it were, fused together.

The basic way of sharing in Christ's Kingdom is the way of faith, faith in the living Word of God. This is why the preaching task of the Church is so important. The visible Church and its task stand central in Christian cultural activity. The gospel must be preached. However, it does not stop there. The preaching of the gospel should lead us to a life of renewal by which we do all in our power to make the victory of Jesus Christ known in every area of life. As Christ Himself said,

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Those last words stress the same cultural mandate of the beginning.

Was Schilder Wrong?←⤒🔗

Most of the points raised above can be found in Schilder's book Christ and Culture; all I have done is put things in my own words. My aim has been to adequately combine and compare Scripture with Scripture, in order to present an integrated and unified Christian view of culture. How successful the attempt has been is a matter for others to decide. Since I have borrowed so much from the Schilder text, however, it might be in place to discuss some of the critical notes to his work presented by Douma and Velema.

In the first place, as I read Schilder, I do not think Velema's charge of dualism is in place. It seems to me that the book is trying to avoid that everywhere. It is also difficult for me to see how the call of the New Testament is limited to the Great Commission, as if this is the new way Christ has introduced to lead the world to its end. The way of faith and believing acceptance of God's promises, the demand to listen and obey His word was present in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. The demand to live and share the gospel was as real for Israel as it is for us. The Lord wanted them to be a light to the nations. He demanded of them a pattern of cultural living directed to His service, in order to manifest His Name abroad. When Israel sinned and profaned God's name before the nations that in no way detracted from the command that the LORD had given.

The big change with the coming of the new dispensation is not a change of mandate, but a change of scope. Israel's rebellion was the catalyst to turn the gospel over to all nations of the earth. With the coming of Christ, the gospel is declared to be for all. Hence the fundamental change of Pentecost is not a new commandment. All is not subsumed under the preaching of the gospel. The fundamental change is that God's concern is now fully directed to the whole world. The LORD seeks and manifests that new directed cultural living among peoples of all nations.

I do not think Schilder's book tends to depreciate the preaching of the Word as the task of the Church. His point is that the full-bodied kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ must show in as many ways as we are able to do it. That involves more than just the proclamation of the gospel. It also involves a heartfelt obedience to it, and a thrive of thankfulness in which the new principle that the Lord instituted is manifest in the world in every area of life, including social relationships. The gospel initially always accepts given social relationships but over time can also transform them by the power of its newness.

The danger of dualism arises when we consider the cultural mandate to be fulfilled, and not at all operative anymore. Thus, I see more danger of dualism with Velema than with Schilder. The fact that the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled the cultural mandate does not mean that it no longer applies to us. The Lord Jesus fulfilled the whole law, but it must still be upheld as a rule of thankfulness to us. The same holds for the cultural mandate. That mandate was nothing more than the demand to be prophets, priests, and kings, to live a full-orbed life of thankfulness to the Creator.

Professor Douma has suggested that Schilder's work seems to give the impression that he thought of the cultural mandate in terms of fulfilling a fixed program, a set pattern of development and discovery that man had to uncover in the earth and present to the Father, His Creator. In other words, Douma holds that Schilder's work is oriented to the beginning mandate more than it should be, and lacks appreciation for the fact that even as believer man is unable to make a beginning anything like that of the first Adam. The immense number of changes and restrictions that have been imposed do not permit us to think in terms of a fixed program.

There may be some justification for this criticism. It really is a matter of accent and stress, and not a matter of substance as Douma has said.⁷ While an eschatological note is present in Schilder's work, it does not come out strongly. Douma has pleaded for more attention to the idea of being strangers here on this earth, and living with the awareness that we live in the last days. To a certain extent, the criticism may also reflect the different time periods of the two authors.

On the other hand, the criticism contains a bit of a caricature of Schilder as well, as far as I know. Schilder never used the term "program" in speaking about the cultural mandate. He did speak of "systematic endeavor” in his definition of culture, which may be the trouble spot. However, Schilder does not indicate that he sees such a systematic line in man's work in the new covenant.

While the book Christ and Culture may give that impression, Schilder elsewhere indicates that he sees a different sort of line in history. He certainly wants to maintain a line, a "system," particularly in opposition to the Swiss theologian Karl Barth, who maintained that there was no system at all in the Bible. That line is not especially man's work or his cultural endeavor (as Barth rightly pointed out), but it is the line of gospel or revelation. It is the line of God descending down to man in order to make His home with man. That is the revelation of the Kingdom of God, which culminates in Jesus Christ.⁸

The eschatological note that Douma missed in Christ and Culture is quite vividly present in Wat is de Hemel?, and we do well to briefly consider Schilder's reasoning here. The line of revelation and believing response is the only line that survives the onslaught of godless culture, and this line testified to a certain divine-patterned development, namely the development from garden to city. Time and time again the Bible reveals that this is God's work and not ours. We are only instruments. Yet faithful and believing acceptance of the Word of God moves God to go on with the salvation purpose He has in mind, that is, to dwell in the midst of His people again. With every offering of thankfulness the Lord is moved to act and appear again, to come closer to man. With every sweet-smelling savour offered in thankfulness to Him for His freely showered grace of salvation, the LORD goes forward and takes new steps in the realization of His goal to come and live with His people.

So we meet the line of God descending again to man: from high-place and oak tree to tabernacle, and from tabernacle to temple, only to be fulfilled in the real Immanuel, Jesus Christ, the temple made of God, made without hands, John 2:21, Hebrew 9:11. Through the Spirit of Christ we are gathered upon the foundation of the apostles to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city that God is building, and we as members and citizens of it are ordained unto good works to manifest the power of that citizenship over every and all kinds of worldly allegiances. So we look, as Abraham our father did, to a lasting city.

To my mind, this line of reasoning certainly retains the element of being strangers to this world, and of seeking life in the world to come. While Douma may have found points which he felt needed more emphasis, I doubt he would actually reject Schilder's essential argument.

Liturgical Creatures←⤒🔗

An important and perhaps to some extent overlooked element in Schilder's definition of culture is that man is described as a liturgical creature. In my view this expression points strongly to the revelational line so apparent in Schilder's other works. A point missing in the Christ and Culture text, which at the same time is only too obvious in other places, is that the full depth of the offering of thankfulness is realized only in Christ.

The liturgical offering of thankfulness that man presents after the fall is much deeper than any offering of thankfulness given before the fall, or any offering of thankfulness that would have been given had the fall not happened. The liturgical offering – a life of thankfulness to the Lord – has much more depth in this world because we not only thank God for His creation and government of our lives, but more especially for the deliverance from the power of sin and death in Christ Jesus.

All this means to say is that while the cultural mandate is still in force for us today, it has acquired new depth and richness with the completed work of Jesus Christ behind us. The small beginning of thankfulness we may show today certainly may not physically accomplish anything more than the thank offering of the first man, yet the degree of thankfulness has certainly increased. Adam's thankfulness was indeed deeper after the fall than before. And our thankfulness may be even greater because more has been revealed. That is why prayer and worship become the chief elements in our cultural mandate today, and that is also why the Church and her gathering is so important for truly liberating and meaningful cultural activity.

Church and Culture←⤒🔗

If we see man as liturgical creatures, called to respond obediently to God's Word at all times, and follow Him every step of the way, then it becomes apparent why the dynamic of Christ's church-gathering activity is so important for truly Christian cultural activity. We cannot build the Kingdom without praying and worshipping together in the gathered congregation in fellowship with the saints of all ages. We cannot pool resources to do Kingdom work while simultaneously forgetting about ecclesiastical differences. In all our Kingdom work, we are being built up as living stones of the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem. Consequently, it is important that in all our activities as Christians, we are sure to be following Christ in the building of His heavenly city.

That requires continual obedience and continual renewal. We must at all times be prepared to give up our possessions and even our relationships for the Lord and His gathering work. We should never rest with acceptance of present conditions and present situations. A divided and dividing Church does more damage than anything else to a positive witness of the gospel in the world. That is why we cannot be content to ignore the Church question in any field of cultural endeavor. Cultural activity, in order to be a cleansing power, must be tied to the living preaching of the Word.

Living in Apostate Culture←⤒🔗

In my view, the substance of our cultural mandate today is showing in word and deed that we belong to the line of revelation, and have our citizenship in heaven, as living stones of the heavenly Jerusalem. We have to show that to each other in the first place, and also to others. We must pass it on to our children in the line of the covenant and let others know about it as much as we are able.

All our goods and possessions must be placed at the service of the coming King. This should result in believing, thankful and yet reserved participation in the Cain culture of our day. Keeping ourselves unspotted from things that can pollute us, and yet making thankful use of those things that can enrich us – that is shining as lights in the middle of a wicked and perverse generation. Whenever the Lord puts us in new and different situations, He wants to use us in order to manifest His victory and reveal the extent and depth of His Kingdom. Following Him in our office and calling with the obedience that is His due, is the heart of true Christian cultural activity.

Conclusions←⤒🔗

In conclusion, I must say that I am opposed to any false dilemma between cultural mandate and gospel mandate, as if these were in any way two different mandates in Scripture. They are the same mandate. The only thing we may say is that the second mandate adds depth to the first. We can only distinguish between a world where the thank offering precluded thankfulness for deliverance, and our world today in which our thankfulness is a thankfulness to God for being delivered from the power of the devil in Christ Jesus.

That means that preaching, praise and prayer is essential to the cultural mandate today. Believing and prayerful support also in financial terms, of the ministry of the gospel is one of the most central Kingdom tasks there is. The Church is and remains the beachhead of the Kingdom. For that is where God addresses us, and that is where God speaks to us and conies down to us time and time again. Redeemed Christian living means following Abel's footsteps: offering the first fruits to the LORD. This is the greatest testimony to His victory.

Yet this does not imply that we as members of the Church are restricted to preaching or witnessing as our only way of being thankful to God and showing that thankfulness. We do not all have to be preachers. And our home mission activity should not be so zealous and avid that we become poor mothers, poor fathers or poor workers on the job. In fact, organized evangelism should only be a small part of the Kingdom task that we do. Our whole life (in all its relationships) should be a living witness to the gospel. To bring salt to all the areas in the Cain culture that are still open to us – that is our task. We are strangers here only with regard to sin and its power. The preaching of the gospel and the active support of the preaching of the gospel in the missionary task of the Church should only facilitate this broader task of living as redeemed believers in the world. Great commission or gospel mandate is really the first step to cultural mandate, that is, positive Christian living wherever we are placed.

This does not mean that we should form Christian associations in every area of life while simultaneously sweeping ecclesiastical differences under the carpet. We should do as obedient members of the Church that which our resources allow us to do. And while not every form of cooperation must be rejected out of hand, we certainly should not accept any cooperation with the ease and light-heartedness that is so prevalent in the "evangelical" world today. Being built up as living stones in Christ's Church requires ecclesiastical obedience before any other kind of obedience, and stresses God's work more than our own.

For we may one day lose everything we have built up in this country, and that one day may not even be far away. We may have to suffer persecution and poverty. Doing it for Christ's sake can, however, fill us with joy in knowing that even with our small means, He is using us as His instruments, and will have His glorious victory over sin manifested through us. That victory reveals itself in weakness as much as it reveals itself in strength. Therefore against hope, we work in hope, awaiting the day of His coming, Romans 4:18ff.