QUESTION:

Should Christians engage in politics?

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Summary

The discussion on whether Christians should engage in politics emphasized that while there’s no biblical mandate, there’s no prohibition either. Christians, as citizens, have the right to participate in political activities, such as protesting or writing to their representatives. The conversation highlighted the importance of separating church and state functions, with the church focusing on preaching the gospel and the state on maintaining justice and order. The Bible’s teachings on justice, ethics, and societal functions were discussed, suggesting that Christians can and should engage in politics to uphold these principles. The role of the law in guiding ethical behavior and the importance of voting for just candidates were also emphasized.

Outline

1. Participation is allowed, not mandated
2. Preaching on societal issues can be perceived as political
3. Scriptural guidelines allow for Christian involvement in government
4. Separation of church and state – state should not interfere with worship
5. Bible provides principles for just and ethical societal function
6. Preaching the law, including on issues like abortion, is part of the church’s role
7. Encouraging Christians to engage by nominating and campaigning for candidates

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Transcript

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

politics, preach, church, christians, civil, law, god, engage, state, engagement, abortion, justice, vote, scripture, function, sodom, body politic, christian, gospel, genesis

SPEAKERS

Pastor Jim Butler, Pastor Mike Kirkpatrick, Wim Kerkhoff

Wim Kerkhoff  00:07

Okay, let’s move in a different direction. Next question, Should Christians engage in politics?

Pastor Jim Butler  00:20

Yeah, I think they should. Well, I mean, if they want to, there’s no law in scripture that says that a Christian must engage in politics, but there’s no word in scripture that says that a Christian can’t engage in politics either. And I think that as Christians, we wear several hats, right? I’m a father, I’m a grandfather, I’m a husband, I’m a pastor, and I’m also a citizen of this body politic. As a citizen of this body politic, I have the rights guaranteed to me in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to, you know, protest, to write letters to my members of parliament, to my MLAs, I’m free to participate in that activity. There’s nothing in Scripture that would forbid me or prohibit me from doing that, but it’s not a must. If somebody in our church doesn’t write letters to their MLA they’re not going to come under any ecclesiastical sanction. And I think too, you know the engagement in politics. I’m sure you’ve probably been aware. I’ve been accused of stepping over the boundary and preaching things that were very political. And yeah, you know, my argument is, it’s hard not to comment on Sodom when you’re standing in Sodom, but I do, at least in my own head, I have a framework by which I try to address this so that I don’t fall prey in one side or the other. If I came to the church our pulpit with a MAGA hat on, and, you know, a rah rah session for the Republican Party in America or the Conservative Party in anada, I think that’s, you know, an engagement in politics that’s not altogether healthy, but to show that Scripture speaks to the body politic, to show that the scriptures do have things to say for persons who live in or near Sodom, I think that’s helpful, and I think that it does hopefully promote or produce in the hearts of God’s people a recognition that, yeah, the Scriptures speak to our Lord’s Day conduct. They speak to our Monday through Saturday conduct as well. And again, if you’re not inclined to engage in politics, that’s fine, but if you are, I don’t think you should be necessarily condemned. You know, our confession, least, the First London Confession was written specifically to distance the particular Baptist wanted to distance themselves from the Anabaptists. And of course, Anabaptists, it’s hard to nail that down. It wasn’t a monolithic sort of a thing, but one thing that tended to be symptomatic of Anabaptism was pacifism, and, you know, no engagement in politics. So in our Confession, the Second London, probably the First London, too. I’m gonna assume here has a good chapter on the civil magistrate, and it says that, you know, Christians can serve in that particular capacity. So yeah, it is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of the magistrate when called there unto in the management whereof as they ought especially to maintain justice and peace according to the wholesome laws of each Kingdom and Commonwealth. So for that end, they may, lawfully, now under the New Testament, wage war upon just and necessary occasions. So, you know, there’s a lot of politics right there. There’s a lot of engagement in politics. And I would just say, lastly, it’s not the church as church that is to govern the nations. It is the civil government ordained by Christ, under Christ over men that’s supposed to maintain that justice and order and those sorts of things. So the church has never been given the sword to go out and clean up the streets of Chilliwack. The church preaches the gospel. She has the keys to the kingdom of Jesus Christ, but she doesn’t have the civil you know, the sword that the civil state wields in the coercive power of the state to enforce, you know, justice and maintain those sorts of things. So there is an overlap, state and church function both under Christ, but the state isn’t the church and the church isn’t the state. And I think we need to keep those things clearly separated, not separated. You know, they they use that separation of church and state today means that the church can, can’t say abortion is sin or abortion is wrong. That’s not what I mean by separation of church and state. I mean that the state does state functions. Church does church functions. And we are not to take the sword from them, and they’re not to take the gospel from us or the supper and start to engage in those activities. I mean, the covid thing that we went through over the last couple of years, I think, was a perfect illustration of overreach on the part of the civil state, wherein she thought she had the right to suspend religious worship. That’s not a right given to the civil state. So, you know, in that instance, we must obey God rather than men.

Pastor Mike Kirkpatrick  05:30

Yeah, and even as we consider where politics comes from, the word polis is city. How do we live and function in society? And the Bible does speak to that. I know a pastor’s main task is to preach Christ and Him crucified. But if we preach the whole council of God, we pretty quickly, when we get to Genesis 4, have to deal with some city building. And then, you know, there is Romans 13, and then there is the whole book of Deuteronomy, which deals with some justice and ethics. But especially, I think, the covenant charter is found in Genesis 9, where we have that Noaic covenant that is a covenant that God made with all of creation, really for three purposes for mankind, namely, for family, for enterprise and for justice. And so it really does kind of give us the principles by which a good, functioning society, just society, should be built upon, is the government punishing the guilty and protecting the innocent. Are families being protected by the government punishing the guilty and protecting the innocent? Are they allowing for enterprise? And so those are the principles, at least, that I use when it comes to how I think through what I look for and someone I’m voting for, and if I’m just going to be honest with you, they don’t have to be Christian, in my mind, and I’ve used the illustration when I was preaching through Genesis, you get to Genesis 19, Lot is at the gate, and Lot doesn’t always make the best decisions, but we would no doubt recognize that he is a believer. But you get to Abimelech, and in Genesis 20, he does recognize that one should not have another man’s wife. So, you know, I joked with the people I would vote for Abimelech more than I would Lot. But the point I’m trying to make is that, you know, the Bible does speak to how we function as individual Christians in society, and how we should, how we should function as individual Christians. And there’s really nothing distinctly Christian about that. It’s how God made the world and how we should operate in this world.

Pastor Jim Butler  07:25

Yeah, and I would add that preaching the gospel, and that’s the primary emphasis for the church, but we do preach the law as well. So if I preach a sermon against abortion, I think the typical response is, well, that’s political. No, it’s ethics. It’s God’s law. You are not supposed to murder people. So the same Bible that tells us believe on the Lord Jesus Christ tells us You shall not murder and so there is a place where, as ministers of the gospel, we preach the law, understanding the threefold use of the law, one is civil, it restrains the lawlessness and wickedness of man. Second, is pedagogical. It is to show sinners their need for Jesus. And then, thirdly, normative, the people of God need to think how the law functions and how it’s supposed to function in their lives as the people of God. So, you know, I just disagree if somebody says, Oh, that’s preaching politics, if you preach, you know the civil state should not steal. No, that’s not politics. That’s the 10 Commandments. So, you know, I think our theology in the reformed world has a place for proclamation of the law. And you know the reasons we would do that. So it’s not, you know, I know those are political issues, but abortion isn’t a political issue, it’s the unlawful taking of an innocent life, and the Bible speaks to that very clearly.

Wim Kerkhoff  08:51

Yeah, like we pray for the end of abortion and we want godly prime ministers and leaders. And just when it comes to engagement, I’m thinking of nominating good candidates in the parties, whichever party it is locally, right? And so the people who do those, that’s a good thing. It’s God works to the means and doing the door knocking and getting the word out this candidate is there. Let’s vote for him and get him on the docket and get him voted in and up to ranks, right?

Pastor Jim Butler  09:18

Sure, I mean, engagement is not condemned if you’re engaging to the point where you’re neglecting other known duties, then you got problems. But yeah, if, if you’re able to manage, and you’re able to function, and you’re able to do that without any compromise, yeah, there’s nothing wrong with it.

Pastor Mike Kirkpatrick  09:33

Can I just clarify to what I said about, you know, voting? I would vote for someone who’s perhaps not a Christian and and, yeah, I would based upon whether or not they would be just or not with their policies and what they would do. But I think, as you said, Wim, I think you know, should Christians engage in politics? I do think we do need some solid, level-headed Christians in politics who understand that they’re not bringing in the kingdom by the politics they’re engaging in. But they’re trying to protect and preserve justice in the land, in this land in which we live. So, yeah, I think it’d be wonderful. I would love to vote for Christians, you know, if they can demonstrate that they’ll do their job and protect the city.

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