Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare (Jer. 29:7).
It is certainly understandable why many genuine Christians, in centuries past, have felt that holding political office was incompatible with following Christ. If a government, for example, prohibits Christians from holding public office, thus requiring them to renounce their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to serve, it is obvious that God would not want any of His children to make that compromise.
That, however, is the only instance where it would be biblically wrong for Christians to hold public office. If a Christian is not required to compromise his faith in, and obedience to, the Lord Jesus Christ, he can serve in any government, regardless of how corrupt that government is. He may have to stand alone on issues, but as long as he is not required to compromise his faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, he cannot be faulted. In fact, he should be commended as a brave warrior for righteousness.
“But,” some may claim, “if he is part of an evil government, he shares the guilt for everything that government does.”
No, if he vocally stands against all governmental evil, he is no way partnered with, or guilty of, what that government actually does. He is light in darkness. Recall that born-again British Parliamentarian William Wilberforce stood alone against the slave trade for nearly two decades until it was finally abolished in 1807. Wilberforce held a position of authority in a government that protected the slave trade, but he used his opportunity for God and good. Eventually, he prevailed.
Also recall that both Joseph and Daniel were exalted by God Himself to hold very high positions in pagan governments. Neither ever sinned in the process. Daniel, in particular, is a shining example of a government servant who would not compromise. His allegiance to His Lord, regardless of the cost.
The same “guilt by association” argument is often used to persuade Christians that it is wrong to vote. “If you help elect a candidate to public office who does evil,” they say, “you are culpable for any evil perpetrated by your elected candidate.”
If that were true, however, it would also be wrong to pay taxes to any government that does any evil, because taxes pay for everything governments do. I’m sure you know that Jesus told His followers to pay their taxes (see Luke 20:25), even to a government that sometimes slaughtered innocent citizens (Luke 13:1), including babies (Matt. 2:16). Paul also instructed Christians to pay their taxes to governments that were morally imperfect (see Rom. 13:6-7). Knowing that human governments are essential, God ordained them to exist (Rom. 13:1-8). He also knows that they must be financed, generally speaking, through taxation of citizens.
And, because God expects His children to pay their taxes, He obviously does not hold them accountable for how their governments use those taxes. When our tax money leaves our hands, we hope it will be used 100% for good, but it is out of our control and no longer our money. As I am writing these words, it is being uncovered that hundreds of billions of U.S. tax dollars have been used for wasteful and evil purposes by rogue government agencies. As a taxpayer, I’m glad God is not holding me responsible for any of that. And I’m also glad steps are now being taken to prevent more of the same.
Similarly, when we cast our informed vote to help elect a candidate, that elected official is out of our control. (We can, of course, communicate our complaints to him after he is elected. And we can vote him out at the next election.)
All that being said (now read slowly), God may indeed hold us accountable for misinformed voting or for not voting.
Since God is the source of all authority, anyone who possesses any authority has been granted it by God. As Paul wrote: “For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” (Rom. 13:1). He was, of course, writing about the authority granted by God to government rulers, and he was writing to Christians of his day who had no opportunity or right to elect anyone.
When we, however—who live within the narrow sliver of human history of democratic governments—apply Paul’s inspired words to our time, they not only have application to those who govern us, but to those who elect them. Stated more simply, your authority to cast your vote is given by God. With authority from God comes responsibility before God and accountability to God. Yet too many professing Christians abdicate their God-given authority, effectively “burying their talent.” If every Christian had done that in the most recent U.S. election, we would have a different president right now, a puppet who would have overseen the continued squandering and evil use of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars.
“Oh, but God is sovereign, and He will always install whoever He wants to rule, regardless of peoples’ votes” is a common excuse for abdicating one’s God-granted authority to vote.
Let us assume, just for the sake of argument, that claim is 100% correct. That means God sovereignly selected our Founding Fathers who gave us a constitutional republic, which requires voting citizens to function. We will not have a government “for the people, by the people, of the people” unless “we the people” engage politically—at bare minimum by casting our vote.
And if “God is sovereign, and He will always install whoever He wants to rule,” that also means God selected all of our current government leaders, and it sure seems as if they want us all to vote! Should we listen to them? The Bible that we all claim to believe has an answer: “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right” (1Pet. 2:13). That same Bible teaches that “whoever resists [governmental] authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves” (Rom. 13:2). Seems like all Christians should vote!
For whom should we vote? In the most recent election, the platforms and candidates of the two dominant political parties were vastly different. I voted for the one whose set of values was closest to mine, as mine are informed by the Word of God. I did my best to consider all the issues and all the people whom those issues affect. I’m quite happy with the outcome of the election, especially in light of the alternative. If the choice, however, had been between “Horrible” and “Less Horrible,” I would have voted for “Less Horrible.” Had I not voted, it would have one less vote for “Less Horrible,” which would have given “Horrible” a better chance to win.
Beyond exercising our God-given authority to vote, we can steward our other God-given rights, such as the freedom of speech, to discuss and debate moral/political issues that affect our welfare and the welfare of our neighbors—whom we are commanded to love. That is another reason Christians are obligated to be politically engaged. Nothing determines the welfare of a nation or city more than governance. So political engagement is an act of loving our neighbors as ourselves.
God once said through His prophet Jeremiah: “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare” (Jer. 29:7). That instruction certainly has application to Christians who say, “As citizens of heaven, we are just strangers and exiles on this earth, so we have no interest in voting.” God told the Israelite exiles to “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile.” And by the way, God didn’t say through Jeremiah, “only pray,” but “and pray.”
How blessed we are for everyone who is serving in any way in the political battle to preserve our freedoms, especially those who work fulltime in government service. I thank God for everyone who contributed anything in the last election to reverse the downward spiral of our nation. If you didn’t vote, no credit goes to you! But we still love you, and you will get another chance to redeem yourself in two years! (And hopefully, it will be an election that requires U.S. citizenship and voter I.D., and is administrated via paper ballots that are counted in local precincts and tabulated in one day!)
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
