or....Towards A Revolution Within- Understanding Our OPPORTUNITY FOR SERVICE In The Three Regencies and The Four Authorities
William R Collier Jr
"There are moments in history when a door for massive change opens. Great revolutions for good or for evil occur in the vacuum created by these openings. It is in these times that key men and women, and even entire generations, risk everything to become the hinge of history-the pivotal point that determines which way the door will swing. We believe that America is in such a moment of history." - Lou Engle
I believe that part of the radical and fundamental change many are propesying will come from a more complete understanding of our full God-given authority to act as salt and light, and witnesses, in this fallen world. For too long the individual Christian and the Body of Christ have allowed the "church" as God's sovereign governing body on this earth to be pigeon holed into a narrow and confined definition, to be chased out of the life of the nations until we have little real influence!
We need a healthy and complete picture of the whole spectrum of God's possibilities for us. Too often people are limited by the narrow scope of their own limited experiences. Instead, we need to be liberated by the unlimited horizon of God's possibilities for us.
Part of that process of liberation, a sort of "revolution within" is understanding our roles and opportunities in EVERY area of human action and interaction. We can see, in fact it is virtually self-evident, that our authority as free individuals can be categorized in four primary "authorities" which we all possess and SHOULD exercise for the Glory of God- the Sacred, the Civic, the Social, and the Market.
Within this domain there may be offices and functions we can describe as the spiritual ministry (the Sacred Authority), the commons and the family (the Social Authority), the courts of justice and the town hall (the Civic Authority) and the marketplace along with public spaces (the Market Authority)
So we see that there are four primary authorities- Our SACRED authority to worship God together, our SOCIAL authority to care for social needs and set social norms together, our CIVIC authority to promote the general welfare and safety of the public together, and our MARKET authority to pursue happiness in a free and open marketplace free of exploitation and artificial limitations.
Understanding these authorities from the perspective of being a fulfilled human being who is serving God's purpose (self-actualization of our inner man), enables us to take concrete and comprehensive steps towards being truly free as God intended.
The opportunity for self-actualization is possible, so that self-actualization is not the object of being free so much as the opportunity to acheive self-actualization; because perfect self-actualization by everyone, or even anyone, is never going to happen!
The opportunity for self-actualization is the best definition of being free because it requires justice and equity, it creates happiness, it is the best way for people to at least meet their own needs, and it always benefits both the individual and society in general.
Self-actualization is the maximum possible use and development of our full potential, including ourselves and our resources, for the maximum quality of life for people and for their natural surroundings, which they depend on for long life. Happiness, health, long life, achieving our dreams, getting to use our talents and abilities, and being respected, loved, and appreciated are the fruits of self-actualization.
Self-actualization is manifested in four key arenas, (as noted already): in the arena of the sacred (our spiritual self-actualization), in the arena of the social (our socio-cultural self-actualization), in the arena of the civic (our self-actualization in common union with others for the common good common security or safety), and in the arena of the market (our individual and shared self-actualization in the realms of trade, commerce, and the profitable exchange of good and services).
Any revolution, even a spiritual revolution such as I am speaking about, that fails to address that which provides for the unhindered opportunity to pursue self-actualization in these four arenas (sacred, social, civic, market) is not sufficient to promote a freedom or a "free dominion" among people and should be rejected, regardless of what it promises or claims.
Dominion is basically being a steward over what God provides and owns: it can be defined as an area under the stewardship of some person, body of people, or authority. Because this "dominion" is indirect and representative of the true King, who makes us "regents" to exercise His Dominion among men until He is physically present, we call this our "regency"- we are the regents of Christ who act in His name and not on our own authority.
This can be an individual regency over one's life, a shared regency between husband and wife or with groups of people, and a corporate regency in the form of associations, communities, and even states or "the body politic."
Regency is delegated rulership. To have a shared regency one must have both a stake in and standing within that regency that is proportional to one's participation, character, and merit. Some regencies are different in nature than others because their objects are different.
Generally speaking the goal of a regency, the functions of a type of regency (in other words sacred, civic, social, market), and the type of participation needed in a regency define the standards for having a stake and having standing.
A sacred regency of God's Elect might be much more egalitarian while an economic regency is much more focused on participation and merit as a condition of having a stake and standing. All regencies require that their participants have a stake and standing that are proportional to their participation, character, and merit.
We use the term authority for types of regency (sacred, civic, social, market) because the overall regency includes a harmonizing of these four types within a sovereignty. A sovereignty is a cohesive body that is self-reliant, self-contained, and self-governing within its sphere. We basically have three sovereignties or comprehensive regencies- the regency of men and nature, the regency of ALL of God's Elect, and the regency of distinct intentional communities or "connected communities". We call these the natural, the Kingdom, and the connected regencies. As Believers we have authority within each of these regencies, so we have sacred, civic, social, and market authority within the natural, Kingdom, and connected regencies of which we are a part.
We are under God because He is the Creator and to please Him is life to us. He, however, has made us joint heirs, if we come under His dominion, to rule over His earth and to govern our lives act as if God has dominion, then we can expect grace, protection and provision.
Which dominion we choose, ourselves and in association with others, is entirely our choice, but so also the consequences of that choice are ours alone to bear.
To define a regency of any kind (natural, Kingdom, connected) in a manner that does not promote the opportunity for self-actualization is to make it an unfree regency rather than a free regency.
Being under God's dominion gives us a free dominion (regency), we freely choose His dominion and, by delegation and inheritance, we practice dominion among ourselves as regents of Christ.
A free domain is an area, whether physical or relational) ruled by the free (who are willfully under God's dominion) that provides the maximum opportunity for both individual and common self-actualization, a self-actualization that applies to both the individual and the community of individuals which is ruled over by free people who are themselves under God.
It should be added that this free domain must balance all four authorities internally while being in respectful harmony with the other domains around it. It should not tend to undermine the free dominion of free people who are under God (their regency as individuals and as communities of individuals) in any of these authorities or it must be a limited free domain which only applies to one of these authorities.
We can say that the limited free dominion of government should be restricted to the civic authority within the natural regency of the People, but to say that the other regencies (Kingdom and Connected) cannot impact the civic in the Natural Regency of the People is to deny that the civic within the Natural Regency, because it is territorially defined, does not impact all the other regencies and authorities.
To be truly self-actualized and to see and then pursue all of God's possibilities we need to consider our impact in our own natural, Kingdom, and connected regencies and we need to consider how we are using our sacred, civic, social, and market authority within those regencies- whether we are using it or not using it in a manner that does not serve God on one hand or whether we are faithfully using it for the Glory of God and the praise of His Name on the other hand.
Simply KNOWING there are three distinct regencies each with its own distinct four authorities in which we can serve God and act as witnesses, as salt and light, is a liberating experience- it shows us that, yes, God's unlimited horizon of possibilities is beyond anything we could imagine or hope for!
Replies
Good article with some good thinking behind it. I think it's summed up with this paragraph from above:
A free domain is an area, whether physical or relational) ruled by the free (who are willfully under God's dominion) that provides the maximum opportunity for both individual and common self-actualization, a self-actualization that applies to both the individual and the community of individuals which is ruled over by free people who are themselves under God.
May we remain a Free Domain under the mighty hand of God Almighty!