How A Christian Should Vote

Politics. The word alone can produce a bitter aftertaste. The word and its derivations are almost always used in a pejorative sense. For example, the observation “That’s just politics” implies that a particular issue is of secondary rather than primary importance. The charge hurled at pastors and churches who are “getting too involved in politics” suggests they are forfeiting their primary calling for activities that have no relationship with the kingdom of God. And woe to the person who chooses to make politics his life calling! Used car salesmen, televangelists, and drug dealers enjoy more respect than someone who carries the label of “politician.”

It is easy to see why so many treat politics with disdain. The mudslinging that accompanies every election, the pandering to special interest groups, and the tendency to allow policy to be shaped by poll numbers rather than deeply held convictions make politics and politicians suspect. Such realities also cause Christians to question whether they should individually and corporately allow themselves to be tainted by such a tawdry business.

However, in its purest form, politics is “the art or science of government.” And the people who serve in government, along with the policies they enact, affect all of us. 

Right now, Christians are concerned about seeing our culture unraveling much more quickly than we ever expected, but they’re also concerned about what their response should be to that unraveling.

Unfortunately, many Christians today have become passive toward evil in our culture. They don’t want to get involved in politics or government. The argument is that since our “citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20) and we are “aliens and strangers” in this world (1 Peter 2:11), Christians should leave the business of governing to unbelievers. After all, since everything in this world will one day be destroyed by fire and the kingdoms of this world will eventually be replaced with the kingdom of God, why invest any time and effort in trying to influence that which is transitory at best?

The simple answer is that Jesus commanded us to be “salt” and “light” in the world. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave direction on how Christians should relate to politics and culture. He told us to be His salt and light (Matthew 5:13–14). 

As “salt” in the world, Christ calls us to influence our culture rather than isolate ourselves from it. Remember, in Jesus’s day, salt was used as a preservative for meat. But salt can’t preserve meat unless it first gets out of the saltshaker and penetrates the meat. God has given Christians in democratic countries a unique way to “salt” the culture that Christians in other times and places did not have. 

Jesus is encouraging us to influence our culture rather than isolate ourselves from our culture. Granted, just as salt can’t prevent the decay of meat, but it can delay the decay, we will not be able to reverse the decay and prevent the destruction of the world as we know it, but through our efforts, we can stall the rotting process. Christians should preserve the spiritual and moral fabric wherever God has placed us. However, influencing our culture requires contact with every aspect of our culture:  the arenas of entertainment, business, schools, and, yes, of government. 

Many believers have embraced a compartmentalized view of Christianity that demands they keep their faith in a spiritual silo. You may embrace whatever faith you choose. You might even want to (gently) persuade someone else to adopt your religious convictions. However, you must never use your spiritual beliefs to affect the behavior of society. And Christians certainly have no right to try to influence government: there should be an unscalable wall separating government from faith—especially the Christian faith we are told. 

Francis Schaeffer highlighted the fallacy of such reasoning: “A platonic concept of spirituality which does not include all of life is not true biblical spirituality. True spirituality touches all of life, including things of government and law, and not just “religious things.”

Our faith shouldn’t just impact what we do for one hour on Sunday morning. It impacts every area of our lives, including the people we select for political office.

1. Three Institutions Created By God

It’s important to remember that God created three institutions to carry out His purpose for the world: the family, government, and the church. Each of these God-made institutions has a different purpose to fulfill. Occasionally, those purposes intersect, but most of the time, they are distinctive.

• The Family

In Genesis 1–2, God created the family. He established the family to be the building block, the foundation of society. 

• The Government

In Genesis 9, God created government. The purpose of government is to keep order in society by protecting citizens and punishing evildoers. 

• The Church

Finally, in Acts 2, God created the church. The purpose of the church is to be the representative of Christ on the earth. We’re to point people to Jesus Christ by what we say and behave. 

2. Once Upon A Time . . . In Judah

Travel back with me twenty-six hundred years to Judah, the Southern Kingdom of Israel. The king of your country has just died. He was an evil ruler who, like his father, led the nation into idolatry, witchcraft, and child sacrifices to pagan deities. Now that the king is dead, you receive word that you have been chosen as the new monarch of the nation.

Do you think God would care whether you followed in the footsteps of your father and grandfather? Suppose a reporter from the Jerusalem Post asked you how your faith would impact your policies as king, and you responded, “Well, I personally believe in Jehovah God, but I don’t have the right to impose my personal beliefs on the nation. If people want to worship other gods and sacrifice innocent children, that is their right.” Do you imagine God would be pleased by your determination to separate your personal beliefs from your public responsibility?

The scenario I just described actually occurred in the seventh century BC. King Ammon and his father, Manasseh, had been the most evil kings to date in Judah’s history. After Ammon’s death, Josiah became king at the ripe old age of eight! But instead of following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps, Josiah charted a new direction for the nation. He destroyed the places of pagan worship, repaired the temple, forbade the practices of witchcraft and child sacrifice, and led the nation in a great national revival. The result? God granted Josiah His divine seal of approval (2 Kings 23:25-26).  

King Josiah was not able to reverse the spiritual decay of Judah and spare the nation from God’s inevitable judgment. However, he was able to buy a little more time for his country by enacting policies based on God’s righteousness rather than popular consensus.

In our country, we are the ones who have been given the privilege of selecting our leaders who, in turn, will determine the direction of our nation. Given what Scripture reveals about the character of God, do you think He cares whether our leaders promote the killing of the unborn, embrace sexual immorality, or encourage the worship of other gods? Has God’s nature changed during the last three thousand years, making Him more “inclusive” and “tolerant” of other viewpoints?

Just as Josiah determined the spiritual and moral direction of his nation by the policies he enacted, you and I cast our vote for righteousness or unrighteousness by the leaders we elect. To suggest that Christians should not be involved in politics is to imply that God really does not care about the spiritual direction of our country. Given God’s past dealings with other nations, can anyone seriously believe that?

3. How To Select A Candidate

When we talk about elections, it’s important for Christians to focus on the issues, not political parties or specific candidates. Remember, we have not only the right but the responsibility to vote, and we want to vote according to biblical principles. In a representative government like that of the United States, our leaders serve as our proxy. Hopefully, if elected, our candidates will make the decisions we would make if we were in their place. 

While the Bible does not specifically address how Christians should vote, Christians should apply faith and reason in deciding how they vote this election season as it isn’t a simple decision. If the Bible gave us a checklist for how to vote, it would be a simple matter, but the Bible provides no such checklist because voting didn’t exist when the Bible was written. You didn’t get to vote for kings or for emperors. 

For Christians who are selecting a candidate, let me suggest four criteria that may not eliminate but can lessen the possibility of voters’ remorse. The answers to these four questions will help you determine whether a candidate is likely to vote for righteousness or unrighteousness once elected. Remember, government is one of the three institutions created by God to carry out His purposes in the world. The qualifications for and duties of a president aren’t the same as the ones for a pastor or a mate.

• Is the Candidate a Christian?

Being a Christian does not automatically qualify someone for office. In my opinion, some of the weakest presidents we’ve had claimed to be born-again believers, including two who were Southern Baptists. However, all things being equal (and they rarely are equal), a case can be made for choosing a competent Christian over a competent non-Christian.

The value of electing Christian leaders is not limited to the policies he enacts. Christian politicians also have the advantage of experiencing God’s leadership in making crucial decisions. For example, one of the most difficult decisions any president confronts is the decision to go to war against another nation. Such a decision not only affects the military personnel directly involved in the conflict, but it can impact the survival of the entire nation.

Suppose a hostile nation is threatening the security of our country. Would you prefer a president who only looked within himself and to his advisers for guidance? Or would you feel more secure with a president who sought the best counsel of others but also looked to God for direction? Only Christians can claim the leading of God in making important decisions. “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:14).

Christian leaders (with some very notable exceptions) are also more likely to demonstrate the integrity of character that voters generally desire. Their core beliefs serve as a restraint against immorality, corruption, and dereliction of duty. 

Finally, Christian leaders who uphold godly principles enjoy the unique favor of God upon their lives. The Old Testament vividly contrasts those rulers with whom God was pleased and those kings who “did evil in the sight of the Lord.” God’s favor or disfavor of leaders spills over to the citizens as well. As the writer of Proverbs observes, “When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, people groan” (Proverbs 29:2).  

• Do the Candidate’s Policies Align with the Bible?

A candidate’s faith is certainly one consideration when choosing the candidate for whom they are going to vote. It is not the only consideration.

If we accept that the preferred candidate for office is one who shapes his policies according to Scripture, then it is important to measure his views by the standard of God’s Word. Obviously, the Bible does not address the majority of issues that politicians must confront. To try to extrapolate from Scripture a “biblical view” on climate change, cap and trade, or immigration is to trivialize both the Bible and the issues. The truth is that with many of these secondary issues, the Bible can be used to support either side of an argument. For example, some proponents of universal health care point to the fact that Jesus healed people from diseases as a reason for mandating that insurance companies not exclude preexisting conditions from coverage. Using that reasoning, opponents of universal health care could argue that the Bible is against insurance since Jesus is capable of healing all diseases!

However, there are some issues to which the Bible speaks clearly. Values-based issues such as abortion, marriage and sexuality, gender identity, and religious freedom are of paramount importance to the spiritual health and future survival of our nation.

• What Is the Candidate’s View of Israel?

I think America has a moral and spiritual responsibility to support Israel. When I had the honor of leading the opening prayer at the dedication of the US Embassy in Jerusalem in 2018, I reminded the audience of what God said to Abraham in Genesis 12 and that to be on the wrong side of Israel is not only to be on the wrong side of history; it’s more importantly to be on the wrong side of God Himself.

I believe one reason God has blessed America in the past is that America has been a friend to Israel. God has blessed America because of our friendship with the Jewish people and the state of Israel. We were the first nation to recognize the modern state of Israel in 1948, and we have been a close ally and staunch supporter of Israel, even moving our embassy to Jerusalem in 2018 despite a chorus of protests from Arab nations.

In America, support for Israel used to be bipartisan. But today, there are those in the United States government and among our citizens who think Israel should trade land for peace with the Palestinians. Some have even questioned our nation’s continued support for Israel. But we cannot give an uncertain blast of the trumpet when it comes to Israel. We see how tenuous under this president administration the support for Israel is, and we’re going to suffer the consequences of that. When we have an administration that is creating daylight between the US and Israel, their enemies see what we’re doing and feel the freedom to attack.

• Will the Candidate Get Things Done?

There are some voters who say things like, “I like so-and-so’s policies, but I can’t vote for that candidate because of his or her personality.” The reality is, sometimes it takes a certain personality to get biblical policies enacted. Yes, candidates  can be brash, outspoken, and combative. And those are not qualities you may not want in your pastor. But they’re perfect qualities for a president who wants to get things done.

We see this perspective in both the Democratic and Republican parties. Democrats in our country supported Martin Luther King Jr, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson—all known adulterers who did horrible things to women. And yet they supported them. Why? Because they believed in the abuse of women? No, they supported them for their policies.

4. How To Make A Difference In The Next Election

It seems that we are in a perpetual election cycle in our country. No sooner have the ballots been counted in one election than pundits begin their endless speculation and candidates begin their accumulation of cash for the next contest. So regardless of when you pick up this booklet there will be another election just around the corner. As you approach an upcoming election, allow me to offer three practical exhortations.

• Participate in the Process
• Vote on the Basis of Facts, Not Rumors
• Trust in God’s Sovereignty

As citizens of the kingdom of God, Christians are to bring God’s standards of righteousness and justice to bear on the kingdoms of this world—what is sometimes called the cultural commission. Among other things, this means bringing transcendent moral values into public debate.

The popular notion that “you can’t legislate morality” is a myth. Morality is legislated every day from the vantage point of one value system being chosen over another. The question is not whether we will legislate morality, but whose morality gets legislated.

Those who argue that Christians do not need to become individually or corporately involved in politics need to ask themselves:

• Does God care whether unborn children are allowed to be murdered?
• Does God care whether sexual immorality is sanctioned by the state?
• Does God care whether any mention of His name is outlawed in the public square?
• Does God care whether righteous or unrighteous people govern our nation?

The answers to those questions reveal both why and how a Christian should vote.