Christians Should Care About Politics

In the course of our common pilgrimage of faith, one of the many things we discover is that the Scriptures can be difficult to reconcile. At times, different verses and injunctions seem to make different claims and to demand different and sometimes even contradictory responses.

For example, Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” And yet, five chapters later in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

In the book of Romans we learn that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” even as we are called to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. The Hebrew Scriptures tell us to honor our fathers and mothers, and St. Paul instructs husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church—yet Jesus declares, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, . . . he cannot be my disciple.”

Are these and other verses truly irreconcilable? No; but reconciling them requires careful study and reflection. It can be dangerous, or even heretical, to build whole doctrines on a single verse without taking into account other verses and, especially, the historical context.

The focal point of Christ’s ministry—the objects of most of His energies and affections— were the downtrodden, the social outcasts, the powerless.

What is true about the Bible’s prescriptions in general is true in particular for its teachings on Christian involvement in politics and governance. On one side we are told that Jesus is Lord of everything. According to the Christian account of things, God has never been detached from the affairs of this world; to the contrary, He has played an intimate role in its unfolding drama—from the creation, to the exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt, to the incarnational presence of Jesus. God, the Bible teaches, is the author of history, and is not indifferent to the realm of politics and history.

So it would be foolish to exclude politics from the things over which God has authority, especially since civil government was itself established by God. Of the hundreds of prohibitions in the sixty-six books of the Bible, none is against people of faith serving in government.

We can put the point much more positively than that. In the Hebrew Bible, certain kings win the outright approval of God. In the New Testament, St. Paul argues that Christians should be good citizens and faithfully discharge their obligations to the state. Jesus Himself says we should render unto God the things that are God’s and to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.

Still more positively, Christians should care about politics. The reason is that political acts have profound human consequences. It makes a very great difference whether people live in freedom or servitude; whether government promotes a culture of life or a culture of death; whether the state is a guardian or an enemy of human dignity. And whatever form of government we live under, we as individuals are enjoined to be mindful of our own civic duties. The prophet Micah tells us to do justice and to love mercy. We are called to oppose evil, to see to the needs of “the least of these,” to comfort the afflicted, to feed the hungry, to help free the captives.

But doesn’t the Bible also clearly teach that some things are far more important than politics? It does. Before the time of Jesus, it was expected that the Messiah would come as a political leader. Instead, He came as a lowly servant, born not to noble privilege but in a manger in Bethlehem. The disciples recruited by Jesus did not enjoy worldly status or influence. On a high mountain in the wilderness, Satan tempted Jesus by offering Him the kingdoms of the world and their glory. He declined, emphatically.

Jesus and His disciples also demonstrated a profound mistrust of power—especially political power. The focal point of Christ’s ministry—the objects of most of His energies and affections— were the downtrodden, the social outcasts, the powerless. Regarding a Christian’s place in the world, Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” None of the disciples led anything approaching what we would consider a political movement, and all of us are urged to be “strangers and pilgrims” in the City of Man. Finally, there is Christianity’s most sacred symbol, the cross—an emblem of agony and humiliation that is the antithesis of worldly power and victory.

History, especially the history of the church, may seem to offer its own reasons for demarcating Christianity from the sphere of politics. According to the social philosopher Jacques Ellul, every time the church has gotten into the political game, it has been drawn into self-betrayal or apostasy. “Politics is the Church’s worst problem,” Ellul wrote. “It is her constant temptation, the occasion of her greatest disasters, the trap continually set for her by the Prince of this World.”[1]

Given these cross currents, it is little wonder that throughout history Christians have adopted fundamentally different, and even diametrically opposed, approaches to politics and governing.

[1] Jacques Ellul, False Presence of the Kingdom (New York: Seabury Press, 1972), 126.