This post is part 2 of a 5 part blog series called ‘Shaped By The Gospel’ on the subjects of race, politics, individualism, sexuality, and materialism. What does it look like to be shaped by the gospel on relevant issues shaping our culture?
Politics is one of the subjects you’re not supposed to talk about at the dinner table…or in the pulpit. Yet, 1. The Bible talks about it, and 2. It is one of the most polarizing issues of our moment. So how can followers of Jesus think Christianly about politics? And how can we see engaging the political structures of our city, province, and country as opportunities to love our neighbours?
We get the word politics from the root word polis, meaning a bound city surrounded by a wall. Politicos was the word for the terms by which those in the bound city committed to live together. In that sense, what Jesus started was a political movement. What is the church? A covenant people bound by their allegiance to Jesus and His love for them & that live by a radically different value system as the people of God. The politicos of the Church is a multi-ethnic, global people in the midst of various local political structures living by a higher politicos right in the midst of Babylon. The Book of Revelation refers to Babylon as the kingdom of this world and Christians are to
embody the priorities of the Kingdom of God.
Now, we shouldn’t expect heaven on earth and Christian values to permeate secular culture but we should understand that we’re sent by God into the culture as ministers of reconciliation to make it more like the age to come.
THE POLITICS OF THE EARLY CHURCH
I find the way that the early church in Rome put their Christian faith into practice in the public square instructive for us today. It is important to note that Rome viewed the early church as a political threat and that’s why they were persecuted. In 'Destroyer of the gods’ Larry Hurtado unpacks the Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World and argues that they were a unique kind of human community that defied categories and still do to this day. He reveals five distinct elements that constitute the early church’s social vision.
1. Distinctively Multi-Ethnic
When a person of any race or culture put their faith in Christ, it gave them a new perspective on their inherited culture and a new multi-ethnic community, the first one formed by any religion. Previously, you were born into your religion. Each race, country, and location had its own gods, and therefore no one ever chose their gods or their religion. Rather, you simply inherited the religion that was essentially an extension of your culture. That meant that all the people who shared your religion were culturally homogeneous. Your race determined your faith. Enter Christianity and it transcended ethnic lines and brought people together as family who otherwise never would have interacted. This made the Christian Church distinctively multi-ethnic and they valued their unity through diversity.
2. Highly committed to Caring for the Poor & Marginalized
Based on Jesus’ Good Samaritan parable (Luke 10:25-37), the early church shockingly embraced all who were in need. The Roman emperor Julian famously remarked that the radical Christian practice of “caring not only for their own poor, but for ours as well” was both offensive and attractive. Christians were distinct in that they valued caring for all who were in need, not simply their own people. When a plague broke out in Rome in the third century, the wealthy fled to the country (including physicians) and when people’s loved ones got sick their families would put them out in the street to die. Christians went and gathered up the sick and cared for them, sometimes at their own peril. Christianity thrived in light of this selflessness, vividly displaying the Christian vision of care for the poor and marginalized.
3. Non-retaliatory, marked by a Commitment to Forgiveness
The early Christians were notable in that, if you attacked or killed them, they did not organize retaliation or get revenge. They were famous for experiencing death in arenas or by execution as they prayed for their persecutors, following the examples of Stephen and Jesus Himself. The Christian teaching on forgiveness and “turning the other cheek” created a community of peace-making, reconciliation, and bridge-building.
4. Strongly & practically Against Abortion & Infanticide
Christians were dead-set against both abortion and infanticide, but not merely in principle. They found and took in infants who were thrown out to die or be harvested by slavers. The early church was “pro-life,” especially in the sense that they recognized no gradations of human value. In a tribalized, socially-stratified shame-and honour culture, that was shocking. Just as the early church was distinctively multiethnic—seeing all as having dignity and worth because they are made in the image of God—so Christianity sees the youngest and most helpless as sacred image-bearers also and therefore valuable.
5. Revolutionary Sexual Ethics
In the Roman world, sex was merely an “appetite”. Its purpose was to serve the social order. Married women could not have sex with anyone but their husbands. But men—even married ones—could have sex with any male or female they wanted, so long as it was with someone of less honour and social class. Christianity’s revolutionary teaching detached sex and marriage from the social order and connected it to the cosmic—to God’s saving love and redemption. God gave Himself to us by going to the cross, and we must respond by giving ourselves utterly and exclusively to him and no other god. This saving love brought about an astonishing union between two radically different beings—God and humanity.
Therefore, sex was for giving one’s whole life in a consensual marriage covenant that fostered deep unity across the difference of male and female and combined their non-reproducible excellencies. This was a high, attractive vision of the character of sex, and it took enormous power away from men and the upper classes. Christianity was immensely attractive to women, who saw it as an equalizing and empowering religion.
CHRISTIANITY’S ATTRACTIVE & OFFENSIVE CATEGORY-DEFYING SOCIAL VISION
Like the early church, the church continues to affirm all five of these. This always was and continues to be the church’s social vision and is so as we submit to the authority of the Bible.
Ethnic diversity & caring for the poor sound ‘Liberal’. Being pro-life and sexual ethics sound ‘Conservative’. As for a commitment to forgiveness, that’s an attribute found nowhere in politics today. We can’t let ourselves be pressured to care about two in the absence of two or three others because Christians care about all of these. And that’s where we will continue to be category-defying, and both attractive and offensive.
In the politics of our day we are pressured into false dilemmas such as, “Do you care about women or the unborn?” The Christian social vision is responsible for bringing dignity and equality to women in human history. We care about the unborn and women. We can agree that we are morally obligated to care for the poor. And we can even agree that meaningful political engagement could go a long way in alleviating the poverty in our community. But there are many possible ways to help the poor. Should we shrink government and let the markets allocate resources, or should we expand the government and give them more of the power to redistribute wealth? Or is the right approach one of many possibilities in between? The Bible doesn’t give exact answers to these questions for every time, place, and culture. The Bible commands us to lift up the poor and to defend the rights of the oppressed. But we should be careful not to enforce our personal convictions on the outworking of these biblical imperatives on fellow believers. As Timothy Keller rightly asserted in a New York Times article, most political positions are not matters of biblical command but of practical wisdom.
Just as Christianity was both attractive and offensive in ancient Rome it continues to be today. As Christians advocate for a conservative sexual ethic and against abortion we will be accused of being bigoted conservatives. As we advocate for meaningful racial reconciliation and radical care for the poor and marginalized we will be accused of being woke liberals. To that I say: So be it, Christian. Your highest allegiance is to the God of the Bible, which calls you to all five.
This is really complicated stuff. For example, as Christians we are morally obligated to live for Jesus, love our neighbour, make disciples, and seek the welfare of the city. We can pick a political party to vote for and even be involved with but we can’t choose between love & truth. We follow after Jesus who was full of grace and truth. No political party perfectly represents the ways of the Kingdom of God. We should not expect or pretend they do.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
- Exercise your right to vote
Canada is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy. And it is a privilege to vote in representatives at local and federal levels of government. Be an informed voter and citizen and engage in the process. - There is no single Christian policy or political plan
Two distinct mistakes are made here. The first is to suggest that Christians should always come to the same political conclusions. Christians will often disagree about how to apply a biblical principle in the public square, and do so from a place of faith and biblical conviction. To conclude that there is a single political plan leads to a second mistake which is to conclude that the kingdom of God is like human kingdoms. In other words, make all the right moves and you will get heaven on earth. But that simply isn’t the case.
However, all Christians should make those decisions from a biblical framework. The goal isn’t to have all Christians share the same exact politics but to have all Christians think Christianly about politics. - Recognize that Jesus is your King and heaven is your home
This is an issue of perspective: We should care about the welfare of our city, province and country but we should not put ultimate hope in politics and country. For the Christian, the sky is never falling and things are never hopeless no matter what’s happening politically. Daniel 2:21 tells us that God removes kings and sets up kings. And no matter who wins or loses an election, Jesus is still on His throne. - Engagement at a local level is the greatest opportunity to affect change
Think big and small.
By “think big” I mean take the 10,000 foot view of all things, recognizing Jesus is Lord, I am of a Kingdom that will never pass away, and no matter what happens here I’m safe in Jesus. My salvation is found not in a political leader, party, or nation, but in the Lord.
By "think small” I mean that while my influence is small on a national scale, the smaller the context, the more influence and opportunity to affect change. So engage and be informed on federal politics but recognize that your involvement in your own community is the greatest opportunity for maximum impact. - Pray for government leaders
Jeremiah 29:7 says, “…seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf…” and 1 Timothy 2:1-2 says, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” In other words, don’t slander our political leaders, pray for them and recognize that they’ve been placed there by God. - Our public witness is more important than winning a political battle
It’s entirely possible to win the battle but lose the war when it comes to political engagement for Christians. I actually believe the church has done a lot of that in our day and age: Won some political victories but sullied the name of Jesus in the process as His church. That’s not a win. That’s a loss.
Politics matter. They’re a way in which we can engage in civic life for the common good. But winning political battles by using sinful tactics or harming our witness (our witness is our primary calling), is to lose. Better to “lose ground" politically than bring dishonour to Christ and His Church through sinful attitudes, words, and actions. - Understand that God has placed you here to live for His glory, love your neighbour, and make disciples of Jesus
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. What’s the main thing? We’re called to live for Jesus in the midst of Babylon and draw people to the gospel and let transformed lives permeate the culture. Where political engagement helps us do that, praise God.
PRAYER
Lord, may I remember that political movements and personalities are here one day and gone the next.
May I resist the temptation to place ultimate trust in any person, party or nation. As all of these are passing away.
May I trust that Providence is working behind the scenes of history to draw all things to a fitting and proper end.
May I remember my citizenship is in heaven, and from it I await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
FURTHER STUDY
+ Deep Thoughts Episode 45 “Winsome Conviction” (with Tim Muehlhoff & Rick Langer)
+ “Compassion & Conviction” by Justin Giboney, Michael Wear, and Chris Butler
+ “How Do Christians Fit Into A Two-Party System? They Don’t”, New York Times, Timothy Keller