God and Government

The Bible rarely speaks directly to our political issues, so believers are free to work out their own political views. Obviously we really should let the scriptures shape our political views, but that's a lot of work and much harder than simply mining the Bible for proof texts to support our preexisting views. Many even dispense with the prooftexts, instead using vague, loosely Christian sentiments to ground their political views. OK, that's their right. If you're going to do that, though, be careful that you don't make an all-too-common mistake.

I bring this up because an old tweet from a popular progressive pastor is making the rounds again. I'm not going to share his name, because I want to talk about the ideas, not the author. In the tweet, he make two statements:

"Beware of any Christian movement that acts as though the world is full of enemies to be destroyed rather than full of neighbors to be loved."
I actually agree with that statement. I also can't think of any Christian movement that does this. Unless you get very creative with the meaning of "destroyed" or use an unbiblical definition of "loved". Then I suppose ... no, really, not even then. When it came out that this line is from a 2020 sermon, it becomes even more perplexing. It's fairly obvious who he's talking about, but it seems to me to be just slandering people who disagree with him politically. Let's continue ...

"Beware of any Christian movement that demands the government be an instrument of God's wrath but never a source of God's mercy, generosity, or compassion."
It's a good line. Is it talking about welfare, immigration, or prisons? No matter what he was talking about in that original sermon, it's a line that could easily be applied to many contexts, a guaranteed "amen" from certain parties (assuming they "amen" in progressive churches). I also don't know any "Christian movement" that does this. But I know many Christians who do.

It's interesting that this doesn't even bother with a prooftext. It's a vague, loosely Christian sentiment that sounds spiritual. Does it actually square with what the scriptures teach? Not really.

What does the Bible say about the role of government? "They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer" (Rom 13:4). Progressives often don't like Paul, so we can also quote Peter: "Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: ... who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right" (1Pet 2:13-14). So it seems the role of government is actually to be an instrument of God's wrath.

What about being "a source of God's mercy, generosity, or compassion"? Nothing in the New Testament tells the government to do that. I'm not sure a progressive pastor would like the idea, but we can turn to the Old Testament, to God's instructions for theocratic Israel, and see what he told them. In the Hebrew scriptures, God had lots of things to say about taking care of the poor. But what did he say to the government? Those commands can all be summed up in this: "Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly" (Lev 19:15).

All I can find of God's commands to the state about the poor are regarding equal treatment under the law. All those other commands that spring to mind about the poor? They're given to individuals, not the state. Now, one can decide to enact those kinds of "good deeds" through the government, but it's not a command from God. It's simply their political philosophy. And that's OK, but when you do that and say the above, what you're really saying is:

"Beware of any Christian movement that views the role of government differently than I do."

What our progressive pastor has done is attack Christians who hold different political beliefs as being bad Christians while holding views that are not explicitly taught by the scriptures.

Again, we're free to form our political views however we please. We're free to base them on vague sentiments like "generosity good" and "I like mercy". But if you're going to do that, don't then attack those who disagree with you as being insufficiently Christian. In a democratic system we can and should debate our ideas, and sometimes that gets rough. But slandering your opponent is actually un-Christian. Be careful not to do that.


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