The Matrix
Relation key: P principal, C constitutive, R regulative, N none.
Genus: domains
| 0. Missions | 1. Worship | 2. Education | 3. Economy | 4. Mercy | 5. Scholarship | 6. Public order | 7. Public culture | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self | P Witness to all; ready to give an answer | P Secret worship and Lord’s Day keeping | P+C Diligent learner | P+C Productive Labor in a vocation | P+C Give from abundance | P+C Think God’s thoughts after Him; seek out what is concelaed; dominate creation | P+C Self-government, citizenship, office | P+C Make the true good and beautiful to glorify God |
| Family | P+C Household witness; support those sent | P Household worship led by the head | P+C Parents hold the authority to educate | P+C Household dominion and inheritance | P+C Care for your own first; hospitality | C Raise, fund and send scholars | C Households are the base of the polity | P+C Household song, story and feast |
| Church | P Send, preach, baptize, plant | P Public worship in the means of grace | P+R Catechize covenant children; equip fathers | R Teach the ethics of labor; discipline fraud | P The diaconate | P+R Guard doctrine; train ministers; refute error | R Prophetic witness; pray for rulers; discipline members | R Teach truth and beauty and goodness |
| Civil | R Protect the liberty of the Gospel; no sword for conversion | R Protect and nourish the church; promote the true religion | R Protect parental liberty; promote true education | R Enforce just weights and measures, contracts, restitution | N Promote mercy through the family and Church | R Protect inquiry; punish blasphemy | P Justice as defined by God’s law | R Punish libel, fraud and obscenity and blasphemy |
Species: fields
Each field inherits its domain’s four cells. Only the differentiation is shown: a government whose relation changes from the genus (in bold), or a note that sharpens the genus.
0. Missions
Divided by: Act in the gathering (Rom 10:14-15). Scope (inward or outward) is an attribute of each field.
| Field | Summary | Differentiation |
|---|---|---|
| Sending | Training, commissioning and supporting those sent (Rom 10:15, Acts 13:1-3) | Self: C (genus P). Supports and goes when sent. Family: C (genus P+C). Households fund and receive missionaries (3 Jn 5-8). |
| Proclamation | The Gospel preached to unbelievers, open-air and personal (Acts 8:4, Acts 17:17) | Self: Witness and open-air preaching under self-government, unless commissioned by the session. Church: Ordained preaching to the unconverted. |
| Apologetics | Defending the faith before unbelievers (1 Pet 3:15, Acts 17:22-31) | Church: Equips the saints to answer. Scholarly defense belongs to Scholarship. |
| Baptizing and receiving | Converts baptized and received into the church (Mt 28:19, Acts 2:41) | Self: Receives baptism on profession. Family: N (genus P+C). Brings and presents; does not administer. Civil: N (genus R). No authority over admission. |
| Church planting | New congregations established with elders (Acts 14:23, Titus 1:5) | Self: C (genus P). Joins the core of a new work. Family: C (genus P+C). Households form the core. |
1. Worship
Divided by: Element of worship (WCF 21).
| Field | Summary | Differentiation |
|---|---|---|
| Lord’s Day | One day in seven kept holy; first day of the week under the new Covenant | Civil: Ought to protect a public day of rest; (WCF 21.8, 23.3). |
| Oaths, vows, fasts, thanksgivings | Occasional elements of worship | Family: Household vows and fasts under the head (Num 30). Civil: P (genus R). Administers lawful oaths in courts and offices (WCF 22.3); proclaims fasts and thanksgivings. |
| Prayer and thanksgiving | Required of all | Civil: Ought to proclaim or promote public days of prayer and thanksgiving. |
| Preaching and hearing | Ministers preach; all hear | Self: Hears with diligence and receives the Word (WLC 160); does not preach unless called and ordained or training or under supervision. Family: The head brings the household to hear and reviews the sermon at home. Civil: N (genus R). No authority over the content of the pulpit, unless heresy or grevious error. |
| Singing of psalms | God’s praise sung in all facets of worship | Family: Household singing in family worship. |
| Sacraments | Administered by the church alone | Self: Receives worthily after self-examination (1 Cor 11:28). Family: N (genus P). Presents children for baptism or trains in the faith and baptises on profession. Civil: N (genus R). No authority over admission or administration. |
| Reading of Scripture | The Word read in closet, home and assembly | None |
2. Education
Divided by: Stage and kind of transmission.
| Field | Summary | Differentiation |
|---|---|---|
| Adult instruction | Lifelong discipleship of men and women | Family: C (genus P+C). Adult children leave parental direction (Gen 2:24); families still sponsor and encourage.Church: Discipleship and training of men and women. Refutes blasphemy and heresy |
| Apprenticeship and vocational training | A trade handed down from master to apprentice | Family: Fathers train sons in the household trade or place them with masters. Civil: Enforces contracts; no licensing beyond what justice requires. |
| Catechesis | The faith taught by question and answer | Church: works alongside fathers; ministers and elders examine. |
| Early nurture | The first years, in the home | Family: The mother’s primary work in the earliest years, under the father’s headship.Church: R (genus P+R). Supports and equips parents; no normative instructional role. |
| Elementary schooling | The grammar stage | None yet |
| Secondary schooling | The logic and rhetoric stages | None yet |
3. Economy
Divided by: Kind of productive work.
| Field | Summary | Differentiation |
|---|---|---|
| Agriculture and land | Tilling and keeping the ground | Family: Household farms; land held as inheritance across generations.Civil: Protects boundaries and enforces just weights; no subsidies or production planning. |
| Building trades | Houses and structures built soundly | Civil: Liability for negligent building (Deut 22:8, Ex 21:33-34); no open-ended code bureaucracy. |
| Commerce | Buying and selling justly | Civil: Just weights and measures: the core civil duty in this field. |
| Crafts and manufacturing | Making goods with skill | None |
| Finance and capital | Lending, saving and investing | Church: Teaches the ethics of lending, debt and surety (Ex 22:25, Prov 22:7, Prov 6:1-5). Civil: Honest money (Lev 19:35-36 applied to currency) and contract enforcement. Securities and insurance law apply to capital and risk pools. |
| Professions | Law, medicine, accounting, engineering | Church: Disciplines members for professional fraud and malpractice. Civil: Licensing: Distinguish punishing fraud from gatekeeping. |
| Technology | Tools and systems; information processing | None yet |
4. Mercy
Divided by: Object of need (Mt 25:35-36, Jas 1:27).
| Field | Summary | Differentiation |
|---|---|---|
| Disaster relief | Aid across congregations in calamity | Church: Inter-church collections, as for Jerusalem. Civil: R (genus N). Keeps public order during disaster; no general r>elief mandate, but promotes mercy in prudence, not coercion. |
| Orphans and adoption | Placing the fatherless in families | Family: Adoption and fostering are household work. Civil: R (genus N). Courts recognize guardianship and adoption and protect children from harm. |
| The poor and hungry | Restore to productive work | Church: The diaconate distinguishes need from idleness (1 Tim 5, 2 Thess 3:10). |
| Prisoners | Remember those in bonds | Church: Visitation and preaching in prisons. Civil: P (genus N). Holds custody. Biblical penology favors restitution and vengence over long imprisonment. |
| The sick and disabled | Prayer, provision and care | Family: Household care first. Church: Elders pray and anoint (Jas 5:14); deacons provide. Supported also by vocational medical professionals and risk pools |
| Strangers and hospitality | Welcome to the sojourner, reject invaders and heretics (Isa 10, 2 John) | Civil: R (genus N). Equal justice for the sojourner (Ex 12:49, Deut 1:16). |
| The unborn and mothers | Care for mothers; protection for children | Family: Kin support the mother. Civil: P (genus N). Protecting the unborn from murder is a duty of justice, not mercy; enforce retribution for sexual crimes in accordance with Biblical Law. |
| Widows and the elderly | Family first, then the church | Family: Children and grandchildren bear the first duty (1 Tim 5:4, 8). Church: Enrolled widows: those truly alone and of godly character (1 Tim 5:5, 9). |
5. Scholarship
Divided by: Subject of inquiry.
| Field | Summary | Differentiation |
|---|---|---|
| Economics and social science | How households and nations prosper | None yet |
| History | Remembering the works of God | Family: Household memory: genealogies and family history. |
| Jurisprudence | The study of God’s law and its application | Church: Teaches the law’s abiding use (WCF 19). Civil: Magistrates should be students of God’s law (Deut 17:18-20). |
| Languages and letters | Biblical languages, Latin, rhetoric | None yet |
| Natural science | Searching out God’s works | None yet |
| Philosophy | Reasoning from the fear of the Lord | None yet |
| Theology | Queen of the sciences; guides other fields | Church: Doctrine is the church’s own; confessional standards govern. |
6. Public order
Divided by: Function of justice (level of government is an attribute, as opposed to a species).
| Field | Summary | Differentiation |
|---|---|---|
| Arbitration | Private courts among believers | Self: C (genus P+C). Submits disputes to arbitration by compact. Family: Heads of households enter arbitration compacts. Church: P+R (genus R). Hears disputes between members. Civil: R (genus P). Enforces arbitration agreements. |
| Courts | Judging justly | Self: Jury service; honest witness. Church: Judges disputes between believers (1 Cor 6). |
| Defense | Protecting the people from attack | Self: Defense of household and neighbor. Family: Training sons; defending the home. |
| Legislation | Declaring and applying God’s law and it’s general equity | Self: Citizens petition and elect legislators. Church: Preaches the standard; does not legislate. Civil: Declares and applies God’s law. |
| Policing | Restraining evildoers | Self: Defense of household and neighbor. Family: Defense of the home (Ex 22:2). |
| Political participation | Household voting, office and civic action | Self: Votes*, seeks office, petitions. Family: Heads of households as the base of the electorate; training sons. Church: Prays, preaches and disciplines and disciples officeholders. Civil: R (genus P). Conducts elections honestly. |
| Restitution and punishment | Just sanctions for crime | Church: Discipline for sin; not civil penalty. Civil: Restitution and vengence. |
7. Public culture
Divided by: Medium of expression.
| Field | Summary | Differentiation |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Ordering space for households, churches and cities | Church: Builds and orders its place of worship. Civil: Builds public buildings. |
| Digital media | Platforms, publishing and online communities | Family: Guards the home’s devices. |
| Festivals and custom | Feasts, holidays and traditions | Family: Household feasts: birthdays, harvests, anniversaries. Church: May not bind conscience with holy days beyond the Lord’s Day (Col 2:16, WCF 21.7). Civil: Sets civil holidays. |
| Film and screen | Story on screen | None yet |
| Journalism | Telling the truth about current events | Civil: Punishes libel and false witness; free press. |
| Literature | Fiction and nonfiction | None yet |
| Music | Song and instrument outside worship | Church: Worship music is governed by the regulative principle; music outside worship is not. |
| Sport and recreation | Play and bodily training | Family: Household recreation and play. |
| Visual arts | Painting, sculpture, design | Church: The second commandment forbids images of God and images for worship. |
Relation flips
Fields where a government’s relation differs from its domain.
| Domain | Field | Government | Genus | Species |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0. Missions | Sending | Self | P | C |
| 0. Missions | Sending | Family | P+C | C |
| 0. Missions | Baptizing and receiving | Family | P+C | N |
| 0. Missions | Baptizing and receiving | Civil | R | N |
| 0. Missions | Church planting | Self | P | C |
| 0. Missions | Church planting | Family | P+C | C |
| 1. Worship | Oaths, vows, fasts, thanksgivings | Civil | R | P |
| 1. Worship | Preaching and hearing | Civil | R | N |
| 1. Worship | Sacraments | Family | P | N |
| 1. Worship | Sacraments | Civil | R | N |
| 2. Education | Adult instruction | Family | P+C | C |
| 2. Education | Catechesis | Church | P+R | P |
| 2. Education | Early nurture | Church | P+R | R |
| 4. Mercy | Disaster relief | Civil | N | R |
| 4. Mercy | Orphans and adoption | Civil | N | R |
| 4. Mercy | Prisoners | Civil | N | P |
| 4. Mercy | Strangers and hospitality | Civil | N | R |
| 4. Mercy | The unborn and mothers | Civil | N | P |
| 6. Public order | Arbitration | Self | P+C | C |
| 6. Public order | Arbitration | Church | R | P+R |
| 6. Public order | Arbitration | Civil | P | R |
| 6. Public order | Political participation | Civil | P | R |