From this discernment there springs forth a basically different way of dealing with creaturely reality. The Holy Spirit "shrinks”the Powers before the eye of faith. They may well have inflated themselves into omnipotent total value systems, but the believer sees them in their true proportions, as nothing more than one segment of creation, existing because of the Creator, and limited by other creatures. The Nazis spoke of "nationhood,” where the confessing church said "the nation” or preferably "the nations.” In our Christian circles we would rather say "the authorities” than "the state.” This is not so much because the two terms are not quite logically equivalent, as because of a wholesome intuition, seeing in "state” an autonomous power, whereas with "authorities” we think of ordinary men in higher positions. Where the Spirit of Christ rules, Mammon shrivels down to "finances,” conventional morality to a set of rules of thumb, subject to criticism and limited in scope and authority. Changing customs, slogans, and isms of the moment are seen as ideas which are merely "in the air,” worth no more and no less than the older slogans they replaced. Where the victorious kingship of Christ is confessed, there prevails a consistent unbelief in the utility of military power, and national or international armament is at the most grudgingly accepted as a bitter duty of responsible citizenship. Anxiety before the fearsome future gives way to a simple carefulness, since we know that the future as well is in God’s hands.
p. 48-49, Christ and the Powers, Henkrik Berkhof