Let’s start with the concerning statement last week at CPAC by a far right speaker that the intent is to replace democracy with the cross. The conservatives are saying the quiet parts out loud now.
Like the popes of old, they want to claim divine right and earthly might all wrapped up in one package.
The Lutheran Reformers had a thing or two to say about this. In particular, there’s a long essay in the Lutheran confessions on the Power and Primacy of the Pope. Essentially, the document compellingly argues the pope’s claim to authority over all other ministers and churches, as well as the pope (of that time’s) claim as head of the empire, were heretical.
For the Reformers, all apostles/pastors should be sent forth as equals to the common ministry of the gospel. It’s a radical claim, one that even our own denomination doesn’t fully follow, inasmuch as we allow bishops to claim the right to ordain in place of local clergy, etc.1
There’s a great quote mid-way through the document:
I. Luke 22:25. Christ expressly prohibits lordship among the apostles [that no apostle should have any supremacy over the rest]. For this was the very question, namely, that when Christ spake of His passion, they were disputing who should be at the head, and as it were the vicar of the absent Christ. There Christ reproves this error of the apostles and teaches that there shall not be lordship or superiority among them, but that the apostles should be sent forth as equals to the common ministry of the Gospel. Accordingly, He says: The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors, but ye shall not be so; but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. The antithesis here shows [By holding these matters against one another, one sees] that lordship [among the apostles] is disapproved.
This is why much of Lutheran polity is thoroughly congregational—it is one of the best antidotes against superiority.
However, what’s happening among far right Christian nationalists today is less a church polity issue and more a conflation of religion and government. But the Power and Primacy addresses this issue also.
Basically, the gospel is against any notions of “Lordship” in the secular realm as well.
Jesus repeatedly teaches against such Lordship. So does Paul. John 18:36: My kingdom is not of this world. And Paul says, 2 Cor. 1:24: Not for that we have dominion over your faith; and 2 Cor. 10:4: The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, etc
This is to say, when a Christian nationalist wishes to establish their brand of faith as the national faith and enshrine it with power and might, this runs counter to the Lutheran confessions and it runs counter to the clear teaching of Scripture. Full stop.
Christ came not to be served but to serve, the gospels proclaim. Christians are called to take up this posture also. It’s that simple. And that challenging.
Sometimes I’ve thought to myself that the Power and Primacy of the Pope in our confessional documents was one of the more dated pieces included there. But these days, I have changed my mind: it may be the most relevant Lutheran confession there is for our present moment.
And a bit more furtively, the piety around the office of bishop gives over other senses of “holiness” to the office of bishop that make little sense if all are “equals.”