What the Bible has to say about Citizenship

As Christians live out our lives in this world, we are often challenged to understand how to live as disciples of Jesus in our various vocations. This question is particularly important for Christians in the United States this year as we live out our vocations as citizens of a democratic society. What can we hope for from politics? How should we talk to- and about- fellow citizens with whom we disagree? Where will society go if “we lose,” so to speak- if people are elected who do not honor God or policies are enacted that run counter to His Word?

We can find great confidence by remembering that we are disciples of Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Mary. The Son of God took on our human flesh and blood to reconcile us to the Father and to make all things new. He did so because God loves us, even though we sinful human beings keep making major messes we cannot clean up on our own. we turned away from God, and as a result we are at odds with one another. What was the first thing Adam and Eve did after eating the fruit God had forbidden them to eat? They hid themselves from one another- and then they blamed the serpent, one another, and even God for what they had done. Matters have only gotten worse since then.

We are caught in a cycle of blame, confusion, and violence. Politics done well mitigates the worst effects of this cycle, permitting us to live in relative peace with one another. This is good, and it is a gift from God. We ought to pray for good government and peace every day. Unfortunately, this peace never lasts, because we sinful human beings cannot escape our cycle of blame, confusion, and violence. Politics is not the solution to our deepest problem, because our deepest problem is that, left to ourselves, we are alienated from God. It would take a miracle to solve this problem.

A miracle is what we get. Jesus reconciled us to the Father through his life, death, and resurrection. We are disciples of this Jesus, who saw our deepest need and gave himself to meet it, because He loves us. To be a Christian citizen is to be a citizen who has been redeemed by Jesus, not because of anything you have done or ever could do, and not because you have voted for the right person or supported the right policies, but simply and solely because God loves you. In other words, to be a Christian citizen is to be a citizen who is Gospel-centered. Politics is important. If it is done well, people flourish, and God’s Word has free course. If it is done poorly, people suffer, and God’s Word is restricted. Yet human politics is not the ultimate reality. It cannot cure what truly ails us.

As Christians, we set our eyes on the one who came to restore perfect righteousness and justice, not through power and politics, but through the gift of his own life conveyed to us by God’s Word and Spirit. Our confidence is not in princes or politicians (Psalm 146:3–5). Our confidence is in Christ.

With our confidence rooted in Christ, Christians relate to politics, politicians, and our fellow citizens in a new way. “We love, because [Christ] first loved us” (1 John 4:19 ESV). Politics is not merely about how we want society to work. Politics is about the people who live in it, all of whom were redeemed by Christ. Having been loved by Christ, the Christian seeks the best for all his or her fellow citizens.

The best, of course, is defined by God’s Word, but God’s Word is not merely a set of laws which give us a blueprint for building a God-pleasing society. God’s Word is primarily a witness to God’s love in Christ for all sinful human beings. Thus, when we evaluate policies, our aim is not merely to get people to behave well, but to maintain an attitude of love toward our fellow citizens. And as we talk to our fellow citizens —and as we talk about our fellow citizens — we should always be driven by the same love that God showed us in Christ.

Our political opponents are fellow sinners for whom Christ shed his blood. The people with whom we disagree, the people whose viewpoints we find utterly repugnant, are no more sinners than we are, and Christ died for them no less than for us. The way we talk to them and about them reflects on the one whom we follow. Because our confidence is centered in the Gospel, we strive to be courageously loving to everyone, even those who oppose the Gospel itself. With confidence in Christ, and wanting the best for our fellow citizens, we approach political issues with humility and curiosity. The Scriptures give us an idea of what is best for us human beings, but they do not offer a blueprint for policy. We come at political issues from the standpoint of human reason, a gift given to us by God but now hobbled by our sinfulness. Each of us has our own limited perspective on the world. We are not particularly good at identifying all the consequences of a given policy in advance (which is why so many policies have unintended consequences).

Our pet solutions to a problem may be misguided or outright mistaken. We therefore ought to approach these issues with humility, admitting that we need dialogue with others to gain a broader perspective, greater foresight, and constructive critique. But to think through political issues most effectively, we need more than humility. We need the curiosity to seek out the perspectives of others, to ask what consequences we may not be foreseeing, and to pursue information we may still need to make informed decisions. A person who is loved by God in Christ, who has the courage to love even those whose opinions are repugnant, also has the courage to approach political issues with humility and curiosity. A person loved by God in Christ has the courage to engage in caring, civil dialogue in order to reach out to others, learn from them, and hopefully persuade them of a better way.

Yet we may not always persuade others of a better way. Despite our best attempts at loving courageously, engaging in civil dialogue, and offering winsome arguments, we may find ourselves on the losing side of policy votes and political elections. What then? Our confidence, even then, is in Christ. At its best, politics is the human attempt to make our way together in this world, to bring about better social and economic conditions, to exercise power for “the common welfare of us all” (Service of Prayer and Preaching, LSB 265). Even at its best, it will never cure what truly ails humanity.

For that, we look to Jesus. His death on the cross wins forgiveness for our sins and reconciles us to the Father. His resurrection from the dead foretells the resurrection of all God’s people on that day when He makes all things new. Come what may, we remain relentlessly hopeful, because Jesus himself will cure the otherwise incurable illness from which each of us, and all of us, suffer. “According to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13 ESV).