You’re sitting at the kitchen table. It’s after church. The small talk is done and the conversation has moved into something that matters. Politics. Education. What’s happening to the country.
And you feel it rising in you. You know the Bible speaks to this. You’ve got something to say. A word. A principle. A commandment that applies directly to what’s being talked about.
But you don’t say it. Something is holding you back. And it’s not the fear of man. It’s not that you can’t put it into words. It’s something quieter than that. It’s the settled belief, somewhere in the back of your mind, that the Bible doesn’t belong here. Not in this conversation. Not in this domain. Not on these questions.
Now, here’s the thing. That belief didn’t come from the newspapers. It didn’t come from your secular colleagues. It came from a theology. A serious, academically credible, historically grounded Reformed theology. A theology that looks you in the eye and says: your king rules over there. In the church. In the Word. In the sacraments.
Out here, in the real world? In politics, in law, in economics, in culture? The rule is natural law. A law that Christians and pagans share alike.
And if this theology is right, then that instinct you just felt, that rising sense that the Bible speaks to Monday morning as loudly as it speaks to Sunday morning, that instinct is wrong. A category error. You’re trying to bring the law of God into the wrong kingdom.
This theology has a name. Radical Two Kingdoms theology. R2K for short. And it’s not a fringe position. It’s being taught in Reformed seminaries. Defended in peer-reviewed journals. And it’s shaping the pastors who are forming men like you.
Today we’re going to do something most people have never done. We’re going to understand this theology. Fully. Fairly. In its strongest form. Because you don’t pull down a wall by waving at it. You pull it down by studying its foundation.
By the end of this talk, you’ll understand R2K better than most of the people who hold it. And you’ll see the cracks.
My name is Nathan F. Conkey, with Restore Christianity.co.uk. And this is Exiles No More.
What This Series Is For
This is a lecture series. Thirteen talks, built in logical sequence. We’re covering the complete case against R2K theology. Then we’re building the full, positive, biblical framework for what Christians are actually called to do in this world.
If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve felt it already. Something is wrong with a Christianity that retreats from life. Something is too small about a faith that tells you: keep your head down, do your work, pray, and wait for the King to come back. These lectures will give you the structure of the alternative.
Here’s what this first instalment gives you. First, David Van Drunen’s system, stated in full. His five core claims plus his strongest philosophical argument. I’m not going to caricature this man. You need the real case against it. Second, the first cracks. Three foundational problems sitting in plain sight in the biblical text. Third, something to do. Not vague inspiration. Concrete steps you can take this week. And fourth, a question. A question the next lecture will answer. A question Van Drunen himself would struggle with.
All right. Let’s get into it.
The Claim
David Van Drunen is a professor of systematic theology and Christian ethics at Westminster Seminary California. His two main books in this area are Natural Law and the Two Kingdoms, the academic treatment, and Living in God’s Two Kingdoms, the version written for ordinary Christians.
I want to say something before we go any further. This man is not stupid. He’s not sloppy. He’s a careful, learned, serious scholar who has thought about these questions for years. And I’m telling you that because if you dismiss him before you understand him, you’ll never be able to answer him. And you need to be able to answer him. He’s shaping seminary training. He’s shaping pastors. And through those pastors, he’s shaping you.
Here are his five core claims.
Claim 1: Two kingdoms govern all of reality at the same time
The redemptive kingdom. That’s the church. Governed by grace, governed by Scripture, where Christ rules as Mediator, where Word and Sacrament are given out.
And the common kingdom. That’s everything else. Civil life. Cultural life. Economic life. Art. Politics. Education. Family, outside the church setting. The common kingdom is governed not by Scripture but by natural law.
Different governors. Different laws. Different ends. Different destinies. Collapse them and you’ve committed a category error.
That’s Claim 1. But here’s the question that follows right away. If there’s a common kingdom, where does it come from? What’s its theological foundation?
Claim 2: The Noahic covenant establishes the common kingdom
Genesis 8 and 9. After the Flood, God makes a covenant with all of humanity, not just believers. Van Drunen says this is the formal charter of the common kingdom.
And notice what he says about it. This covenant is universal. It’s preservational, not redemptive. It’s temporary, ending at Christ’s return. And it’s governed by natural law, not by Scripture.
He’s not saying the common kingdom has no law. He’s saying it has a different kind of law. And that distinction carries everything.
Claim 3: Scripture does not govern the common kingdom
Now think about what this means for your Monday morning. When you walk out of church on Sunday and go to your work, your business, your dealings with law and politics and culture, on Van Drunen’s view, you’re now in the common kingdom. And the rule there is not the Bible.
Which means there’s no distinctively Christian politics. No distinctively Christian economics. No distinctively Christian law. There are only better or worse applications of what all human beings can access through the conscience. Reformed and atheist alike.
You hearing this? The Bible governs Sunday. Natural law governs Monday through Saturday.
Claim 4: The church’s mission is not cultural transformation
The church preaches the gospel, gives out the sacraments, and forms the community of the new creation. Full stop. Cultural transformation projects, on Van Drunen’s account, misuse the church’s authority and confuse the two kingdoms.
The church isn’t an engine of social reform. It doesn’t issue political pronouncements. It doesn’t take positions on culture wars. It preaches Christ. And it stays in its lane.
Claim 5: Christians are resident aliens and exiles
This is where it gets pastoral. Drawing on 1 Peter chapter 1, Jeremiah 29, and Hebrews 11, Van Drunen argues that the proper Christian posture in culture is that of an exile. Engaged. Productive. Neighbourly. But without the expectation of cultural transformation. We’re passing through. We’re waiting for the King to renew all things at his return.
Cultural transformation is, in Van Drunen’s phrase, “eschatologically premature.” We’re like the Israelites in Babylon. Building homes. Planting gardens. Knowing we’ll leave in seventy years.
Now, you might be sitting there thinking: well, that sounds almost reasonable. It’s modest. It’s humble. It takes the pressure off. It says: relax, Christian. You don’t have to fix everything. Just do your work, go to church, and wait.
Comfortable, isn’t it? But Van Drunen doesn’t stop there. He has one more argument. And it’s his cleverest.
The Two-Adams Argument
Van Drunen argues that Adam was given a cultural commission. A dominion mandate. Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it. But Adam failed.
And Christ, the last Adam, fulfilled Adam’s commission perfectly. He passed the test. He’s already entered the world to come through resurrection and ascension. And because Christ is the last Adam, there’s no more Adamic cultural commission for Christians to pick up.
You’re not a little Adam. Your cultural activities don’t usher in the new creation. That work is done. Christ did it.
Now think about what that claim costs you. If that’s right, then the dominion mandate is finished. Completed in Christ. You have no cultural commission. No assignment to build, to extend, to bring the nations under Christ’s law. Your work on Monday is just work. It doesn’t extend anything. It doesn’t build anything eternal. It doesn’t usher in anything.
That’s the complete system. Five claims plus the strongest philosophical argument in the building.
Are you comfortable with that? Because I’m not. And here’s why.
The First Cracks
Now, I’m not demolishing R2K here. That’s what the rest of this series is for. But I’m going to show you three things. Three cracks in the foundation. And once you see them, you won’t be able to unsee them.
Crack 1: What happened before Genesis 9?
Van Drunen says the Noahic covenant of Genesis 9 is the formal charter of the common kingdom. Fair enough. Let’s look at what happened right before that covenant.
Genesis 8, verse 20. “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.”
A burnt offering. In the Torah, the burnt offering is the primary atonement offering. The whole animal consumed. Symbolising complete dedication and the covering of sin.
And verse 21: “And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma.” That phrase. “Soothing aroma.” It appears again and again in Leviticus and Exodus. It’s the standard formula for a sacrifice that reconciles God to the offerer.
Now, here’s the question. If the Noahic covenant is the charter of a “common” kingdom, a non-redemptive arrangement based on natural law, why does it rest on an atoning sacrifice? Why does the whole thing begin with blood?
That’s not common. That’s not natural law. That’s deeply, irreducibly redemptive. Van Drunen reads Genesis 9 as if Genesis 8:20 doesn’t exist.
That’s Crack 1. But it gets worse.
Crack 2: What does Romans 1 do to natural law?
Van Drunen’s entire system depends on natural law being sufficient to govern the common kingdom. His key text is Romans 2, verses 14 to 15. The Gentiles who “do by nature the things contained in the law” and show “the work of the law written in their hearts.”
And that sounds promising. Until you read what Paul says one chapter earlier.
Romans 1, verse 18. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”
The same moral awareness that Romans 2 describes, Romans 1 says is being actively suppressed. Held down. By every unregenerate mind.
Do you see the problem? Van Drunen is building his entire common kingdom on a foundation that Paul says is being sat on by the very people who are supposed to use it. Natural law is real. The awareness is real. But it’s not sufficient. It’s suppressed. You can’t govern a kingdom on a law that the citizens are actively holding under water.
That’s Crack 2. And the third crack is the one that should keep Van Drunen up at night.
Crack 3: Exile is a curse, not a calling
Van Drunen says Christians are exiles. Resident aliens. Sojourners. And he’s right that those words appear in Scripture. But look at where exile appears in the covenant structure.
Deuteronomy 28. Verses 1 through 14. The blessings. Obedience. Headship. “The Lord will make you the head and not the tail.” Verses 15 through 68. The curses. Disobedience. Scattering. Exile among the nations.
Exile isn’t the normal state of God’s people. It’s the punishment. It’s what happens when the covenant is broken.
And Van Drunen has taken the most extreme penal passage in the entire covenant structure and made it the permanent posture of the blood-bought, justified, Spirit-filled church of Jesus Christ.
Think about that. You’re in Christ. You’ve been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. You’re seated with Christ at the right hand of God. And Van Drunen says your proper posture in culture is exile? The posture of covenant-breaking Israel under judgment?
That’s not just a reading error. That’s a prison sentence. And that’s what this series is about. Breaking out.
But here’s what I’ve learned. Knowing what’s wrong isn’t enough. You can diagnose the problem all day long and never move. So let me give you something to do.
What You Do Now
I promised you this wouldn’t end with vague inspiration. So here are five things you can do this week. Not next month. Not when you’ve finished some course. This week.
Step 1: Read the covenant structure
Open your Bible to Deuteronomy 28 this week. Read it all. Start with verses 1 through 14. Slowly. These are the blessings of obedience. Notice what they include. Headship. Prosperity. Fruitfulness. Authority over the nations. “The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall be above only, and not be beneath.”
Then read verses 15 through 68. The curses. Scattering. Poverty. Exile. Defeat. “You shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you.”
Now ask yourself: which list describes the posture Van Drunen is prescribing for the church? Headship, or exile? The head, or the tail?
Because if exile is on the curse list, and you’ve been told that exile is your calling, someone has handed you a covenant curse and dressed it up as a vocation. Sit with that. Let it settle. Read those two lists and ask the Lord: which one did you design for your church?
Step 2: Name the domain you’ve surrendered
I want you to be honest with yourself here. Where have you accepted that the Bible doesn’t belong? Is it politics? Is it business? Is it education? The law? Economics? Name it. Write it down.
Because that domain, the one where you’ve been told your faith has no jurisdiction, that’s where the lie has taken root.
Exile theology doesn’t announce itself. It doesn’t walk up to you and say, “I’m R2K and I’m here to shrink your Christianity.” It just quietly removes the Bible from one domain after another until you’re left with a faith that governs nothing except your quiet time and your Sunday morning.
Name the domain. That’s where the work starts.
Step 3: Read Van Drunen
This one might surprise you. I’m asking you to read the man I’ve been critiquing. Get a copy of Living in God’s Two Kingdoms. The version for ordinary Christians, not the academic one. Read it cover to cover.
Here’s why. If you’re going to oppose something, you owe it to yourself and to the truth to understand it in its strongest form. Most critics of R2K have never read Van Drunen. They’ve read summaries. They’ve read tweets. They’ve absorbed the vibe. That’s not good enough.
Read the man’s own words. See if I’m representing him fairly. And if I am, see if you can answer him. Because by the time this series is done, you’ll be able to answer him. But the answer will mean more if you’ve heard the question from his own pen.
Step 4: Memorise one verse
Matthew 28, verse 18. “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
All authority. Not some authority. Not spiritual authority only. Not authority within the church but not outside it. All authority. In heaven and on earth.
Put it somewhere you see it every day. Your mirror. Your desk. Your phone. Let it sit. Let it do its work in you.
Because if that verse means what it says, then Van Drunen’s common kingdom, this supposedly independent realm governed by natural law, has a very serious problem. If Christ has all authority, what authority does the common kingdom run on? That’s the question the next lecture will answer.
Step 5: Ask yourself the hard question
Here it is. If exile isn’t your calling but your condition, and conditions can change, what would have to change first?
Don’t start with the government. Don’t start with the WEF. Don’t start with the former generation or the state of the culture. Start with you. Where have you been passive? Where have you retreated? Where have you accepted a smaller Christianity because it was more comfortable?
This is what the Bible calls metanoia. Not just feeling sorry. A total revolution in how you think about yourself, your faith, and your place in God’s world.
Sit with that question this week. Write your answer down. Don’t rush it. Let the Lord search you.
And one more thing. Find one other man and share this with him. Not the internet. Not a comment section. One man you know. Someone you’d sit with at that kitchen table. Because the prison cell works by isolation. It works by making you think you’re the only one who sees it. You’re not.
And here’s the thing about prisons. Sometimes the door is already open. You’ve just been told so many times that the cell is your home that you stopped checking.
One Last Thought
The whole argument of Radical Two Kingdoms theology rests on the idea that exile is the proper, permanent Christian posture. That you’re a sojourner. A stranger. Passing through.
But we’ve just read Deuteronomy 28. And exile isn’t on the blessings list. Exile is not a calling. It’s a curse.
And curses were made to be broken.
I’m Nathan Conkey. This is Exiles No More.