Gerhard and Walther

He who created me without sin, can now remove from me all the sin which has entered into me and has permeated my whole being, either through the temptation of the devil, through Adam’s fault, or through my own actual transgression.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation VIII

Thus we see that according to God’s Word, Church and state are indeed separated by a great distance. Therefore, no Bible believer can yield the point that, according to Christ’s intent, Church and state should be intermingled. The Church exists in the state, for it is still the kingdom of heaven on earth. But the state is not in the Church, for it is certainly on earth but not in the kingdom of heaven, which is the exclusive territory of the Church.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 763.