There is a duality of salvation and existence. Salvation comes to existence from the outside, as the reconciling presence of God. There is a synthesis of salvation and existence, but this salvation is concealed and although it is total it is not yet revealed and we experience salvation in the present in its modality of promise. Therefore there is never a complete synthesis of salvation and creation in the dispensation of the Spirit. Our salvation will only be revealed in the consummation and then there will be a complete synthesis of salvation and creation. In the present, however, there is a distinct duality of salvation and creation. This duality finds its most concrete expression in the duality of church and state.
Salvation does not belong to the essence of this world. We are saved because of what God says about us. This salvation is concealed and needs to be mediated to us. The regnum Christi has a kerygmatic character. Our salvation needs to be revealed to us. This is the task of the church. The church is the bearer of the special revelation of God's saving presence in the world. The church does not exist for its own sake. It partakes in the officialness of the Messiah. Christ is the head of the church and the church is the body of Christ. The essence of the church is the apostolate. The church stands in the world with the gospel of the kingdom and goes out kerygmatically to the nations of the earth in order to baptize them in the name of the triune God and teach them to observe the law of God (Matt. 28:19).3.47
The church appears in the world with the special revelation that it has received from God. The church comes into being because of this revelation and is the vehicle of this revelation. The church proclaims this revelation and through this all demonic powers are subjected to Christ and we learn, with joy, that we do not have our lives in ourselves but in the Messiah. We do not know this without the special revelation. The church proclaims this salvation and is therefore necessary in all its particularity - there is no true religion without the church. Extra ecclesiam nulla salus.3.48
We have seen that the Gospel must not be understood in a gnostic sense as salvation from the world. Salvation is not to be thought of as the salvation of individual souls to another `spiritual' realm. This is not what Van Ruler understands by the duality of salvation and creation.3.49Salvation is directed at this world and is exclusively concerned with this world. Salvation is to be understood as the reconciling presence of God. Through the work of Christ the guilt of all existence has been reconciled and in the work of the Holy Spirit this salvation is (fragmentarily and ambiguously) mediated to, and appropriated by, all reality. Salvation is directed at the whole world. In other words the church directs its message of salvation to the state.
In order to appreciate the concept `state' we must consider two elements that are contained within this concept. The first is the idea of the state as an institution, established by God. The second is the idea of a political, cultural and social community of man. These two elements cannot be isolated from one another. In society there are not only people, but also things, institutions, which are just as essential and important in society as people are 3.50 ``These two: institute and community are so intertwined that no separation is possible.''3.51 Thus the state must be seen as a unity of community and institute. ``Die staat is die samevatting van alle `ding' - elemente, d.i. van alle institusionele elemente wat die menslike gemeenskap werklik tot `n gemeenskap maak. In die politieke samelewing van die mense, is die woord `staat' die `harde kern'.''3.52 But the state is not only concerned with the political shaping of society, it is concerned with society as such. The state is also concerned with the social and cultural problems of man. The political power of the state and the order that this imposes on society is certainly the center around which everything revolves. Thus all questions regarding culture and community inevitably end up in the question of the state as the political ordering of the state determines, or at least influences, culture and community. Anyway it is clear that the state has a final and central position in the society of man as such. The life of man is influenced by the organization of the state. ``Man cannot be understood unless he is understood as: citizen of the state, or better: as subject of the government.''3.53 Therefore it is not possible to isolate state and society from each other. The nation groups itself around the government and the nation is to be found where the government exercises its authority. The nation is life organized around this kernel of authority.3.54 This authority must not be limited to the figure that traditionally appears in the constitutional law. All of national life is to be understood as a totality of `circles' of authority. There is not only the relation of government and subject but also the relation of employer and employee. ``Dit organisch gelede, corporatief gevormde, als gezagskring om de overheid gesmede volksleven is de vervulling van de existentie op aarde. De mensch is mensch-in gemeenschap.''3.55
From the above we can say that the term `state' refers to both the hard kernel and the encompassing totality of everything that is meant by the term `world'.3.56 Thus we are in a position to understand why the duality of salvation and creation finds its most concrete expression in the duality of church and state and why the church directs its message of salvation to the state.
The whole of Van Ruler's theology finds its utmost concentration in this relation of church and state and it is the basic problem around which all his theocratic thought revolves. We need only look at the titles of some of his major works to see this, eg. De Vervulling van de Wet - Een Dogmatische Studie over de Verhouding van Openbaring en Existentie and Religie en Politiek.
Unfortunately we cannot go into more detail concerning Van Ruler's ideas of the duality of church and state. However it must be noted that the duality of church and state corresponds to the duality of salvation and existence. Therefore this duality is determined soteriologically and not metaphysically. In other words this duality is not an original duality in an eternal sense, but a duality that is posited by God's acts with this world.3.57 ``God is bezig met de wereld - dat is de staat. En daarvan heeft hij teekenen gegeven - dat is de kerk.''3.58
It must also be noted that although we have only given a brief outline of the duality of church and state, this dissertation, as a whole, is directed precisely at Van Ruler's understanding of the relationship of salvation and creation. Salvation in Christ is an emergency measure that came in because of sin. This salvation wants to be appropriated and expressed in the world. In the eschaton there will be a complete synthesis of creation and salvation. Then the particular form of salvation in Christ will fall away and God will be all in all. Mediation in Christ will no longer be necessary and there will only be creation as naked (redeemed) existence before the countenance of God.