244 Dimensions of Baptism
dering to western liberal egalitarianism. This lordship arises from such
experiences as those of the Confessing Church and 'conquers' not through
powerful coercion but through weakness and suffering.^23 Moltmann claims
to find the sixteenth-century reformers in the same mould with their search
for a separation of Church and state. According to the reformed view, 'the
Christian does not live simultaneously in two different worlds; he or she
lives in the one encompassing lordship of Christ in the various relation-
ships of this world'.^24 However, Moltmann rejects Luther's 'two king-
doms' doctrine which only engenders Christian love within the persisting
political status quo. Rather a congregation should seek to correspond to
Christ in political and social acts and so anticipate the kingdom of God.^25
Furthermore, 'Though this world is not yet the kingdom of God itself, it is
the battleground and the construction site for the kingdom, which comes
on earth from God himself.'^26
The point for our enquiry here is that Moltmann regards all this as a
faithful reflection of the Pauline ethic, which 'like the ethics of the whole
of early Christianity, is baptismal and eucharistic paranesis. It is thus a
sacramental ethics.'^27
So human freedom in Moltmann's thought does not exclude the discipline
of an ethic—and an ethic pointed up by the sacraments. Being a disciple
means work, participation in the servant-lordship of Jesus.^28 It is a following
of the self-renouncing Christ. It is true that we cannot find Tertullian's form
of asceticism here. But instead we find a discipleship of rigour that in some
ways outstrips Tertullian's! An example of it is as follows:
Through pain, work, and self-renunciation God accomplishes the deliver-
ance of imprisoned humanity. Work and servanthood become the embodi-
ment of God's liberating and delivering action. Through servanthood God
comes to his lordship in the world. The reapplication of this theological
meaning of work to human beings induces them, through work and self-
giving, to participate in the lordship of Christ in the world and thereby to
become co-workers in God's kingdom, which completes creation and
renews heaven and earth.^29- J. Moltmann, On Human Dignity: Political Theology and Ethics (London:
SCM Press, 1985), pp. 95-97. - Moltmann, On Human Dignity, p. 81.
- Moltmann, On Human Dignity, p. 109.
- Moltmann, On Human Dignity, p. 109.
- Moltmann, On Human Dignity, p. 109.
- Moltmann, On Human Dignity, p. 45.
- Moltmann, On Human Dignity, pp. 44-45.