Sphere Sovereignty

/ EJ Hause

What Is Sphere Sovereignty? A Biblical Introduction to Family, Church, and State

Sphere Sovereignty was the work of multiple Christian thinkers over centuries. Important ideas that led to it were the Liberty of Conscience and the works of John Calvin. There are those who came after who took the concept of Sphere Sovereignty much further as well. If curious, you can find their names listed in the “People to look at” section near the end of this article.

Liberty of Conscience

This is an important principle of Protestantism. It arguably goes all the way back to the Apostles and even before them as followers of God chose to stand against even the rulers of their day for the sake of standing right before God.

Martin Luther, the German monk, championed this principle when he stood against the Roman Catholic church, kicking off the Protestant Reformation.

Liberty of Conscience is important as it makes implications for the individual, but it also has major implications for the state. You are not “obligated” to believe something simply because church leadership says so nor if a government says so. God and God’s Word is the first and foremost authority above all else.

My conscience can be free and unburdened from whatever authority claims I did wrong knowing that I am following God’s commands rather than man’s. There are logically natural limits and one’s liberty does not allow you to do whatever or claim whatever either.

God’s Word identifies those to whom He has delegated authority, thereby placing natural boundaries on human liberty. This brings us to the boundaries of the spheres we see in Scripture and the writing of theologians like John Calvin and Abraham Kuyper.

The Spheres

There are three primary spheres or realms of largely separate authority in society in Sphere Sovereignty and they are as follows:

  • Family/Individual
  • Church
  • Magistrate/State

Family or Household

This is the family unit that orders its activities together for the good of that unit before God. A family could be an individual or could be two parents and seven kids. There’s truly no size constraint here.

It is here that children are first and foremost taught–parents/guardians bearing the responsibility of ensuring their education. This is also the sphere in which children receive all discipline and family members find their primary source of support. The Church should come along and support the family; however, it is not its responsibility to lead the family. The government, led by the magistrate, may act similarly but it would be out-of-bounds for it to show up and direct all of that family’s activities. The family is to be led by both parents with the head being the father, leading in love and decency.

Note: Kuyper would later expand the children’s education concept to include educational institutions as their own sphere of authority. Even so, he would still agree with the statement regarding education.

Church

This is the sphere of the Church, or ecclesiastical authority, to order its activities and exercise its responsibilities over its congregation.

Examples of activities in this sphere include church meetings, exercising discipline of its disciples, training and teaching, counseling, caring for widows, etc. It is the Church’s responsibility to prepare for these things, and it would include the regular preaching of the Word of God and the administration of sacraments.

Magistrate/State

This sphere is of the government. Its job is to “bear the sword” well for the good of the people–all its people.

This includes restraining evil wherever it is found. That being said, it would be out of bounds for the government to tell the Church whether it can meet or not. That is an authority for the Church to exercise. It is within the government’s responsibility to prosecute any individual, whether part of a given church body or family, who transgresses the law or abuses their fellow man. It should be fixated on ordering a well-mannered society–the regulator if you will.

Conclusion

I am sure these descriptions have inspired your thoughts and there are questions forming in your mind. The resources listed below should help you dig further into this subject. In addition, it may be helpful to think of these spheres like a three-circle Venn diagram. There can be some minor overlap between these three basic spheres–and that is not a bad thing! We should expect abuse within a family to incite the response of both the Church and the government, for example. Education of children is the primary responsibility of the family but that does not mean the local church or government cannot provide support or options toward this end. I tend to think of the spheres in light of who is primarily responsible for what. This does not rule out the possibility of another sphere having a secondary, tertiary, or merely supporting role to the one that is primary.

This article is a primer. I recommend you look at the resources below for further information and understanding of this topic. I will point out that it was this line of thought that contributed significantly to the idea of separation of Church and State–an idea that has become altered to the level of isolated separation by some today in the USA.

People to look at:

  • Abraham Kuyper – went beyond simply 3 spheres and truly formalized Sphere Sovereignty.
  • Dooyeweerd – considered Kuyper’s heir in this.
  • Friedrich Julius Stahl – formulated points that influenced Kuyper.
  • John Calvin – made the distinction of family, church, and civil government in his writings.
  • Johannes Althusius – federal and pluralistic social order.
  • William Perkins – the sanctification of ordinary life and vocation.

Order of Influence:

John Calvin >> William Perkins >> Johannes Althusius >> Friedrich Julius Stahl >> Abraham Kuyper >> Herman Dooyeweerd

Resources/Topics

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