Political Speech

You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.

~ Acts 23:5

So many Christians and so many churches love to ignore this very straightforward commandment. I’m not sure I have ever heard a sermon about it. Yet, it appears without any qualification in both the Old and New Testaments, and it could not be any clearer. God has commanded us not to say insulting things about the leadership of the country in which we happen to find ourselves.

This is a bitter pill for anyone who, while professing faith in Christ, seeks salvation in human politics. A person of strong political opinions will, roughly half the time, be heatedly opposed to the President, Prime Minister, King, Emperor, High Priest, or whatever other title is given to the paramount leader of his or her nation. Moreover, we have lesser officials to whom this stricture also seems to apply.

The broader principle is better known: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.” (Romans 13:1) The most powerful demonstration of this principle in the Bible, and perhaps all of history, was given to us by Christ. There are many dimensions, and more important ones, to the passion of Christ. But part of His story involves subjecting Himself to the authority of both Rome and the Sanhedrin, to the point of allowing them to execute Him, unfairly and contrary to their own laws.

To subject oneself to the secular state means simply this: They have no power over us. They can take our property, take our physical freedom, punish us and even kill us, but they cannot hurt us. If we “hate” the things of this world and love God, if we serve God and not Mammon, we demonstrate that our soul is more important than our body. (Matthew 6:24.) We show ourselves, and the world, that our treasure lies in heaven and that we have absolute confidence in our resurrection and redemption.

If we were not so thick-headed, these specific admonitions would be unnecessary, for the Bible tells us repeatedly to imitate Christ in our lives. E.g., 1 John 2:6: “Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” Most Christians know the great irony of Palm Sunday. The Jews expected a King on a great white horse who would take up the sword, sit on the throne of government, and impose the morality of the Law of Moses on his subjects. Instead, it got a King on a donkey, who hung on a cross and wore a crown of thorns, and who pointedly refused to participate in political rebellion against either Rome or the Jewish power structure. He subjected Himself to them, “even unto death.” When Jesus thought a crowd wanted to make Him a political king, he fled. (John 6:15)

With the resurrection and ascension of Christ, the temple of God became the body of Christ; and the body of Christ includes all people who confess His name. “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” (Acts 17:24) “Do you not know that you (plural) are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16)

Our citizenship is in Heaven, not a nation of earth. (Phil. 3:20) You cannot serve two Masters. (Luke 16:13) Politics is a means by which we seek to compel others to do what we want. It bespeaks a love of the world and, thus, service to Mammon, no matter how praiseworthy we believe that the law we seek to compel others to follow might be.

There is no surer way to drive others away from Christ, than to mix Him together with a political party. “[W]hat fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)

And so, the Bible commands us simply to live within the laws of whatever city and nation we live in, to pay whatever taxes they demand, and not to curse the government. Entangling ourselves in political controversy undermines our Great Commission, to bring Christ to all people and all nations.

If you are involved in politics, and especially if you think you or your church are doing a “Christian” act by supporting one political figure and opposing another, you are rationalizing an entirely anti-Biblical activity. And this goes double for all the anti-Trump and then anti-Biden invective we have heard come out of Christian churches. “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.” (Psalm 146:3)

One final word on this, from Richard Baxter: “Is it not enough that all the world is against us, but we must also be against one another? O happy days of persecution, which drove us together in love, whom the sunshine of liberty and prosperity crumbles into dust by our contentions!”

Lord, give me the wisdom to be at peace with an evil world, that I may serve you better. Amen.