Abraham Kuyper’s best-known words came near the end of the public address he delivered at the inauguration of the Free University of Amsterdam on October 20, 1880:
“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”
Kuyper was speaking about Christian higher education and the place of faith in intellectual life. His larger point was that Christ could not be confined to theology while the rest of human thought proceeded as though Christ had nothing to say. Near the end of the address, after discussing medicine, law, science, literature, philosophy, and history, he drove the point home with that declaration.
Kuyper’s words were memorable, but the truth behind them did not begin with him:
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”
—Colossians 1:15–18, ESV
Jesus owns it all. All things were created through Him and for Him. He existed before all things, and all things continue to hold together in Him.
Then the Apostle Paul gives us the point: Christ must be preeminent in everything.
A Christ We Can Manage
Most Christians would gladly affirm that Jesus is Lord. The difficulty comes when His lordship touches something we would rather keep for ourselves.
May are comfortable confessing Christ as Lord on Sunday. The test comes Monday morning, when His authority reaches our work, our money, our politics, what we watch, and what we do when nobody else knows.
Many prefer a manageable Christ whose authority remains inside clearly marked boundaries.
But the Christ described in Colossians will not remain there.
There is no part of creation that exists independently of Him. Our work belongs to Him because the world in which we work was created through Him and for Him. Our minds belong to Him because He created them. Our families belong to Him. So do our schools, businesses, governments, universities, newsrooms, and culture.
Christ’s sovereignty does not mean the church governs everything. It means everything remains under Christ.
No Sacred-Secular Divide
The sacred-secular divide allows us to say that Christ rules our worship while assuming the rest of life operates according to different terms.
Faith becomes personal and private. Public life is treated as neutral.
But there is no neutral territory in God’s creation. There are no square inches about which Christ is indifferent.
That changes how Christians should approach public life. Christ’s claim on politics, education, business, journalism, or the arts is not a license for Christians to grab power and stamp His name on our political preferences. It is a demand that we obey Him there too.
And that demand cuts closer to home.
It is easy to defend Christ’s authority over society while resisting His authority over ourselves. We can spend plenty of time condemning the surrounding rebellion while making peace with our own.
I know that from experience. It was easier to affirm Christ’s sovereignty in principle than it was to submit to it in my marriage, which, sadly, failed and ended a year ago after 32 years. It was easier to affirm Christ’s sovereignty in principle than it was to submit to it in my finances. It was easier to affirm Christ’s sovereignty than it was to submit to it with my internet browsing at various times in my adult life. I could go on and on and on about different areas of my life at different times of my life.
Perhaps some of you can relate, perhaps not, we all have something in our lives where we need to surrender, and I need the reminder, daily.
This is where Kuyper’s quote stops being a slogan and starts becoming uncomfortable.
Kuyper’s declaration does not first give Christians a line to use against the world. It confronts us.
If Christ says “Mine” over every square inch, then there is no private corner where we get to answer, “Except this.” No part of life can be fenced off as though His authority stops at the boundary we have drawn.
Everything was created through Him and for Him.
Kuyper’s words are easy to quote. They are harder to live.
Christ does not ask us whether He may have that last square inch.
It already belongs to Him.