To the first class belong all
true believers in Christ and under Christ, for Christ is King and Lord
in the kingdom of God (Ps. 2, 6, and throughout the Scriptures). These
people need no worldly sword or law, for they have the Holy Ghost in
their hearts who suffer wrong gladly and themselves do wrong to no one.
There is no need of quarrel or contention, of court or punishment. St.
Paul says: 'The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless
and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners' (1 Tim. 1, 9), for the
righteous man of himself does everything that the law demands, and more;
but the unrighteous do nothing right, and they therefore need the law to
teach, constrain, and compel them to do right. A good tree requires no
instruction or law that it may bring forth good fruit, but its nature
causes it to bear fruit after its kind. Thus are all Christians so
fashioned through the Spirit and faith that they do right naturally,
more than man could teach them with all laws. All those who are not
Christians in this particular sense belong to the kingdom of the world.
Inasmuch as there are few who are true Christians in faith and life, God
established, in addition to the kingdom of God, another rule-that of
temporal power and civil government, and gave it the sword to compel the
wicked to be orderly. It is for this worldly estate that law is given.
Christ rules without law, alone through the Spirit, but worldly
government protects the peace with the sword. Likewise, true Christians,
although not in need of it for themselves, nevertheless render cheerful
obedience to this government, through love for the others who need it. A
Christian himself may wield the sword when called upon to maintain peace
among men and to punish wrong. This authority, which is God's handmaid,
as St. Paul says, is as necessary and good as other worldly callings.
God therefore instituted two regimens, or governments-the spiritual,
which, through the Holy Ghost under Christ, makes Christians and pious
people, and the worldly or temporal, which warns the non-Christians and
the wicked that they must maintain external peace. We must clearly
distinguish between these two powers and let them remain-the one that
makes pious, the other that makes for external peace and protects
against wickedness. Neither one is sufficient in the world without the
other; for without the spiritual estate of Christ no one can be good
before God through the worldly est