There are those who in recent days have not only declared the biblical doctrine that Christ reigns over heaven and earth upon the transcendent seat of the Father but also as the mediatorial King over the entire earth. The biblical doctrine is that Christ reigns sovereignly as the Emperor of the Universe, but is only the mediatorial King of Israel, which is the Church.
We've gone over verses before that clearly teach He does not reign as the mediatorial regent over the entire world. The Bible clearly teaches that the devil rules the world and that spiritual powers in the heavenly places rule the individual nations other than Christ's nation, Israel/the Church.
But the question I want to ask today is whether the universal mediatorial regency of Christ view is heresy according to the creeds, specifically the creed upon which all orthodox creeds assume, the Apostle's Creed.
I would argue that it is. The text says that Christ is seated at the right hand of God. That's His sovereign rule as emperor. However, it also says that He will return to judge the living and the dead. This phrase means that He is not judging the world now, and yet, a king must judge his domain and not delay in doing it if he is a righteous king. A righteous king judges His domain quickly. But if Christ will return to judge the entire world then He is not judging it now.
Instead, the biblical teaching of Christ is that He is not judging the world now but that God has appointed a day upon which He will judge the world. However, we do see Him judge His domain now because He is a righteous judge. That domain is Israel/the Church. Hence, Revelation 2-3 show Christ as judging His people as a righteous king because that is the domain of His kingship. James 5:9 echoes Revelation 3:21 by saying that Christ as judge of the church is right at the door/gates and ready to judge those within His covenant community who mistreat others in His kingdom. Hence, judgment for the church, according to Peter, is now; but the judgment of the world is later when Christ makes the whole world His kingdom when He returns to judge the living and the dead, i.e., the entire world.
The domain of His judgment now reveals the extent of His domain upon the earth now. Hence, Paul, as an emissary of Christ, states that he has nothing to do with judging the world but his apostolic office that represents the authority of Christ is to be used to judge the church (1 Cor 5:12-13).
What this all means is that the creed assumes the biblical teaching that Jesus sits on God's throne, which is the sovereign throne over all the universe as the emperor, but only mediatorially now as the King of Israel/the Church. Israel/the Church does not rule over the world now, so Jesus does not rule over the world now as the mediatorial king, since the only nation that belongs to Him mediatorially is Israel/the Church, as He is the Davidic King, not the King of Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome, etc. When He returns He will cause Israel/the Church to rule over the world and He will be the emperor over the entire world, having given up the Father's sovereign rule over the universe to the Father (1 Cor 15:24-25).
Christ isn't the ruler of each nation. He is the ruler of one nation, a holy nation, a priestly nation, and that is the Church. The devil is called the god of this world, the ruler of this age, the prince of the power of the invisible world, the authority at work among the sons of disobedience.
So the idea that Christ rules over the world now is a denial of the statement that Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father and will judge the living and the dead at His return, not now, a phrase which summarizes the theology above; and in that regard, is a denial of orthodoxy.
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