The midterm left me with a question: Why do Christians lose elections? Is it because there aren't enough Christians left? Because the other side has more money? Because Christians aren't politically organized? Was this merely an anti-Trump rage vote on Iran, ICE, tarrifs, or gas prices?
These explanations may account for some electoral defeats. But I want to suggest three deeper problems. And all three are theological.
Not every moral obligation belongs to government to enforce.
Do Christians understand what government is for?
Ask the average Christian what government is supposed to do, and you're likely to hear answers drawn from contemporary political ideologies. Government should ensure equality, provide economic security, protect individual liberty, or maximize happiness.
These answers have their origins in competing philosophical traditions. Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hegel, and Marx offered different accounts of government and its purpose. Christians frequently adopt these theories without recognizing their underlying assumptions.
But why start with human philosophers when God has already told us what government is for?
Romans 13 tells us that civil rulers are God's servants. They are appointed to punish evil and commend good. Government does not create good and evil. It is accountable to a moral standard that precedes it.
This immediately raises the questions Christians should be asking: What is good, and what is evil? And how does God's moral law apply to civil government? Instead, many Christians approach elections as consumers. Which candidate will give me the most benefits? Who will make my life easier? Who promises more money, services, and security? How can I improve my cost of living?
Christians misuse the Bible
When Christians do turn to the Bible, they will sometimes twist its meaning. It is remarkable to hear the left say that the nation is not Christian and then pick and choose a Bible verse to apply to the leftist ideology.
Consider Proverbs 31:8-9, which commands us to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves and defend the rights of the poor and needy. This is a clear biblical obligation. Christians must care about the poor, the vulnerable, and those suffering injustice. But what follows from this obligation?
Some Christians reason that because the Bible commands us to care for the poor, we must support socialism or even Marxism. They think these commands are for the nation-state rather than for the church and the individual Christian.
But this reasoning makes a fundamental mistake. The Bible commands us to help the poor, but it also commands those poor to obey the law of God. Under the law of Moses, a person who moved to Israel and set up shop for his idol would not be treated as an oppressed victim who must be given government assistance.
We must distinguish between the obligations of individuals, families, churches, and civil government. Not every moral obligation belongs to government to enforce.
Helping the poor is a Christian duty. The government helps the poor by following Romans 13. Whether a specific government policy also redistributes wealth, and whether that is what the Bible requires, is another question.
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Christians have lost their biblical vision for the nations
Proverbs 29:18 famously says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." This is the vision of the Great Commission. It is stated in Isaiah this way, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9) and in Matthew 28:19-20 this way “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
Many Christians today operate with one of two inadequate visions.
The first is materialistic. The purpose of politics is to secure physical comfort. Government should provide more benefits, more services, and more economic security. Political success is measured by how much people receive.
The second is escapist. Christianity becomes little more than getting people saved so they can die and go to heaven. What happens to our laws, institutions, and national life is treated as secondary or irrelevant.
Neither vision captures the full scope of Christ's command.
In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus declares that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. On that basis, he commands his disciples to make disciples of all nations. Notice that Christ does not merely tell us to prepare individuals to leave this world. He commands us to disciple the nations and teach them to obey what God has commanded.
That does not mean government can force people to convert or that winning elections fulfills the Great Commission. But Christ's authority is not confined to the interior lives of believers. Every institution (government, family, education, business) is transformed by the gospel.
The nations, including their rulers, are accountable to Him. Psalm 2 explicitly calls kings and rulers to serve the Lord. When Christians lose this vision, they may elect leaders whose principles undermine justice, attack religious liberty, or obstruct the church's mission, and even work against the gospel, without recognizing the consequences.
Christians need to recover a biblical understanding of government, a faithful interpretation of Scripture, and a Great Commission vision for the nations. Until we do, even winning elections will not solve our deeper problem. We won't know what to do with the victory.
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[H/T Blaze Media]
