Definition · Webster 1828 · Scriptures · Corruption · Roots · Usage · Related
📖 Biblical Definition
The spirituality of the church is the doctrine that the church’s power and mission are spiritual and ministerial in nature, not civil or coercive, so that her proper work is the ministry of the Word, the administration of the sacraments, and the exercise of discipline—not the wielding of the magistrate’s sword nor the management of the commonwealth. Christ declared that His kingdom is not of this world, and that therefore His servants do not fight as the kingdoms of men fight; the weapons of the church’s warfare are not carnal but mighty through God. The doctrine, articulated with special force by the old Southern Presbyterians such as Thornwell, distinguishes the two kingdoms or jurisdictions God has ordained: the civil magistrate bears the sword to punish evildoers and reward the good, while the church bears the keys to bind and loose by the Word. The church therefore must not usurp the state’s office, nor bind the conscience where Scripture is silent, nor descend into the partisan management of policy as though that were her commission. Yet—and this guards the doctrine from abuse—the spirituality of the church does not silence her prophetic voice against sin. She must preach the whole counsel of God, declare His law to magistrate and citizen alike, and call all men to repentance. The doctrine limits her means to the spiritual, not her message to the private.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Webster 1828 defines SPIRITUALITY as the state of being spiritual, and as that which belongs to the church or to ecclesiastical persons as distinct from temporal or civil concerns.
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SPIRITUALITY, n. — 1. Essence distinct from matter; immateriality. 2. Intellectual nature. 3. Spiritual nature; the quality of being spiritual; the state of the soul as devoted to spiritual objects. 4. That which belongs to the church, or to a person as an ecclesiastic, or to religion, as distinct from temporalities.
Applied to the church, it denotes her spiritual, as opposed to civil, character, jurisdiction, and mission.
📖 Key Scripture
John 18:36 — "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence."
2 Corinthians 10:4 — "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds."
Luke 12:14 — "And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?"
Romans 13:4 — "For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
No major postmodern redefinition, but the doctrine is abused in two directions: some weaponize it to silence the pulpit on every public sin, while others ignore it entirely and turn the church into a partisan political machine.
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The spirituality of the church is a precious doctrine that has suffered grievous abuse from both flanks. The first abuse weaponizes it into a gag: appealing to the church’s spiritual character, men demand that the pulpit fall silent on every controversy that touches public life—abortion, marriage, the murder of the unborn, the perversion of justice—as though preaching God’s law against named sins were a trespass on the civil sphere. This is a corruption, for the doctrine limits the church’s means to the spiritual; it never muzzles her prophetic message. The same Southern church that prized the doctrine tragically misused it to avoid confronting the sins of its own society. The lesson is that the spirituality of the church must never become an excuse for cowardice.
The opposite abuse forgets the doctrine entirely and turns the church into a partisan apparatus—a voter-mobilization machine, a clearinghouse for policy positions, an arm of a political coalition. Here the church takes up the magistrate’s sword and the lobbyist’s tools, binds the conscience where Scripture is silent, and confuses the kingdom of Christ with the kingdoms of men. The doctrine rightly held steers between: the church preaches the whole counsel of God boldly, declares His law to rulers and ruled alike, and calls all to repentance—yet she does this by Word, sacrament, and discipline, not by the sword, the ballot machine, or the partisan platform.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
The doctrine rests on Christ’s “my kingdom is not of this world” and on the contrast between the magistrate’s sword (Rom 13) and the church’s keys—two God-ordained jurisdictions.
Usage
"The spirituality of the church limits her means to the spiritual—Word, sacrament, discipline—not her message to the private."
"They twisted the spirituality of the church into a gag order, silencing the pulpit on the very sins God commanded it to name."
"By the spirituality of the church the assembly bears the keys, not the sword; the magistrate bears the sword, not the keys."