A Christian Approach to Voting

This year’s election season has been no less volatile than previous years—both sides claiming that the other side represents an existential threat to democracy itself. So it is time for Christians to renew their commitment to prioritizing God’s kingdom and the church’s unity by thinking carefully about how we participate in voting and what message our participation or lack thereof sends to the watching world.

Toward than end I submit a few pages on this topic from my recent book, The Fourfold Office of Christ: A New Typology for Relating Church and World (122-126).

CASE STUDY: PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

Every four years, presidential elections spread partisan rancor throughout the United States. Political camps double down on their platforms. Competing visions for a better America pervade all forms of public discourse from Twitter to Instagram, employee lounges to dinner tables, university lecture halls to fence post chats with neighbors. Sincere truth-seeking conversations certainly take place, but an equal number of bitter spats ensue. As the wider citizenry chooses sides, what ought the church of Christ do? What posture should we assume as the battle rages on? Below I briefly present the kingly, servant, prophetic, and priestly approaches to election seasons, as if from the perspective of their various representatives. I then wrap up by discussing in greater detail the important difference that a revised priestly approach makes.

Welcome back to the Kingly Church! For us, national elections evoke a profound sense of responsibility. God has commissioned his people to lead the way in making this world better, so we pore over the candidates and issues with great care. When enough of us back the right persons and policies, we make a significant impact. We change lives for the better. The whole planet is better off. Governing authorities steward a treasure trove of resources, and they invite us to influence their distribution. Since God’s people understand godly dominion more than everyone else, we hold a unique responsibility to do everything in our power to get godly officials elected.

Welcome back to the Servant Church! For us, participation in elec­tions is a matter of utility. Elections serve as useful tools for allocating public funds to the people and causes that need them most. We are less concerned with exercising power from on high, as we are with using what little influence the world gives us to benefit the needy people God has called us to serve. Elections provide us an ideal occasion to protect the least of these and to empower those most likely to prioritize them. We best serve the vulnerable by electing public servants who promote their well-being.

Welcome back to the Prophetic Church! Election season affords us an excellent opportunity for greater visibility. For better and worse, elections get people talking and listening in public about important social issues. What an opportune time to speak out about the godly causes we care for! More often than not, the most pressing social needs make their way onto the ballot. Rallies, town halls, and protests offer convenient public forums for spreading our message, and every savvy candidate tunes in to what the masses have to say. We can speak out against injustice and gain an actual hearing. And should a particular candidate share our ideals, we’ll speak up for them as well.

Welcome back to the Priestly Church! We care more about maintain­ing our purity than appointing politicians. God calls us to prepare people for the next world, not hire those who manage this one. Since politics can distract us from our God-given mission, we try not to get too involved. Should a particular party or candidate obstruct our ability to preach the gospel and evangelize the lost, we would certainly vote to protect our mis­sion. Yet, for the most part, we keep our distance. We’re free to vote our conscience privately, but we invest little energy in the public affairs of the White House and courthouse.

 A Revised Priestly Approach to Voting

The revised Priestly Church sympathizes with much that the above four views strive to accomplish. With the Kingly Church, it values responsibility. But it rejects claims that God holds believers responsible for looking after the management of worldly kingdoms. With the Servant Church, it values utility. But it is skeptical that elections can fulfill the specific way God has called his people to serve the world. With the Prophetic Church, it values visibility. But it deliberately avoids the appearance of allying with one po­litical party against all others. With the Priestly Church, it values purity. But it emphasizes the social dimensions of salvation and their implications for the church’s present-day life and witness.

I began this chapter by exploring five dimensions of a revised Priestly Church. These dimensions helpfully illuminate how God’s people might relate to the world during contentious election seasons.

Our priestly residence reminds us to strive for neutrality. We do not participate in elections as ordinary citizens of any country, but as ambassa­dors for God’s kingdom. As such we recognize that the political Left, Right, independents, and others must champion the values of their particular faction. Their constituents require them to prioritize some people over others. Yet, as those who’ve been called to bear witness to all people of all nations, we refuse to pit ourselves against at least half of our neighbors by strategically allying with their political opponents. It is one thing for them to recognize that we do not champion their particular party; it is another thing for them to perceive that we are actively working against it. When it comes to witness, exilic neutrality is far superior to hostility.

Our priestly hospitality calls us to a posture of charity. God causes the sun to shine on all people and he calls us to seek the good of all. Political partisanship fosters enmity between ideological foes. The church should be the one place where all people feel welcome and safe. People become demoralized when their side loses and their cause inevitably suffers. They become disenchanted when their side wins and then fails to deliver on the promises that secured their victory. They become frustrated when they realize that their party never really had a chance or that no party seems capable of making the kind of change this world really needs. All such dis­appointment stirs up a deep longing for a different kind of kingdom led by a different kind of king whose love never fails and whose reign never ends. It is therefore imperative for those who confess Christ as that king to stand apart from the political fray—in and out of election season—and to extend God’s kingdom invitation to all people on every side of the lame duck political spectrum.

As priestly stewards we uphold the centrality of Christ in all things. No election will truly change the course of world history, for Christ already changed it. The kingdoms of this world rise and fall, but the sacrifice of Christ has demolished all walls that separate people, sanctified the lives of all people, and incorporated all people into a new humanity that tran­scends political parties. No one can serve two masters, nor can they serve two polities. The politics of our cosmopolitan Christ leave no room for the politics of provincial partisanship. And so it is oxymoronic to call someone a Republican Christian or a Christian Democrat. The apostle Paul devoted his life to abolishing the dichotomy between Jewish Christians and gentile Christians because any designation that modifies our Christian identity amounts to a structural denial of the cross of Christ.

As priestly witnesses we strive for fidelity in all things. No part of our life stands apart from our witness to Christ’s kingdom. That kingdom pro­motes a holistic way of life that encompasses all things. Political partisan­ship must elevate some causes at the expense of others. Failure to do so erodes a party’s unique identity. If Republicans advocate strong borders, Democrats must oppose them. When Democrats champion gun control, Republicans double down on gun rights. Contested issues get bundled to­gether as an all-or-nothing package such that strong border advocates must champion maximal gun rights. We then end up with oddities like abortion detractors endorsing the death penalty while abortion defenders strive to abolish capital punishment. A comprehensive pro-life stance becomes dif­ficult to maintain. Yet a church that remains true to its priestly calling must not bifurcate its witness in such ways. It will consistently champion the reconciliation of all people and the restoration of all things in Christ until God’s will is done on earth as in heaven. It rejects every hint of factionalism that drives a wedge between values that belong together in God’s kingdom.

As people of priestly praise we pursue honesty in our speech. We boldly confess that Jesus is Lord over all creation, all continents, and all na­tions. We pledge allegiance to him alone. America’s future will be found in neither a red wave nor a blue wave, but in the tsunami of God’s reign, which levels all kingdoms of this world. From an eternal perspective we regard every election as the reshuffling of rankings among fellow crewmates on a sinking ship. I say this not to be crude or dismissive, but to be honest. The kingdoms of this world must all bow before the kingdom of Christ (1 Cor 15:24–25). As ambassadors of his kingdom, we praise him alone. We expect little from powers and principalities that Christ has disarmed, exposed, and triumphed over (Col 2:15). While citizens of this world jockey for positions of power during the next round of reshuffling, we will continue proclaim­ing Jesus as Lord and ourselves as his priestly servants.

To Vote or Not to Vote

All of this begs the question of whether a Christian should vote at all in a national election. I’ve seen two approaches that attempt to take the church’s priestly vocation seriously. Some find abstaining from voting to be an im­portant reminder and witness to their priestly neutrality on behalf of the world. It frees them to engage all persons equally from a kingdom perspec­tive. Others elect to vote as an expression of solidarity with their unbeliev­ing neighbors, while refusing to ally with any particular political party and striving to remain free of worldly partisanship.

Those who abstain will meet resistance and suffer ridicule. They must find intentional ways to demonstrate that they are neither apathetic nor lazy. Their daily life should testify otherwise, and they must be ready to give an answer for their priestly posture—one that conveys genuine neighborly concern and that extols God’s kingdom and righteousness as good news for all people. Those who participate at the polls must be equally thoughtful and careful, lest they get drawn into worldly schisms that compromise the church’s unity and inhibit our ability to show equal concern for all people. As Christian ethicist Stanley Hauerwas often quips, and I paraphrase, “Christians wishing to participate in worldly statecraft must do so the way porcupines make love: very carefully.”

In my experience, Christians are ill-equipped to navigate election season in either of these ways because their churches have yet to grasp the significance of their priestly witness and the habits necessary to sustain it.

Moving Forward

It remains to be seen whether renewed commitment to the church’s priestly calling might begin healing the deep rifts that divide twenty-first-century Christians. We need a shared sense of purpose and unity for the sake of our own salvation and that of the watching world. It’s time to confess the inad­equacies and failures of prevailing models that have only deepened these rifts. It’s time to repent from passionately participating in partisan battles and willfully exchanging friendly fire in an effort to win a culture war that is not ours to fight.

My most fervent hope and prayer for this book is that the example of Israel’s priests will inspire churches today with a spirit of hope for engaging the world in fresh and creative ways that prioritize Christian unity while arousing the world’s curiosity.