The Christian’s Role in the Ballot Box

If you haven’t noticed, election season is upon us here in the US and our mailboxes, TV shows, and social media sites are being inundated with advertising telling us why we should vote for this candidate and why we should not vote for the other candidate. We will have a few more weeks of this then on the first Tuesday of November, Americans will go to the polls and cast their ballots.

For political junkies, this is all like Christmas. But for many Christians, it can be a bit overwhelming and depressing. Living as we do in a godless society, where candidates running for office have grave moral issues, both in terms of their policies and their personal lives, who do we vote for? Maybe we should abstain from voting altogether? After all, we don’t want our vote to be seen as an endorsement of either candidate’s lifestyle or their platforms, even if there are elements in those platforms we like, or at least find tolerable. Our non-vote could stand as a protest against the system, telling the political parties they need to do better.

In this post, I’d like to share with you my thoughts on this subject, whether you are in the US and thinking about voting in November, or you’re living somewhere else in the world where you have the opportunity to vote for your leaders.

This World Matters

While we are called to set our minds on things above, and not to be consumed by the things of this world (Romans 12:2-3; Colossians 3:2), that doesn’t mean this world is not important. Christian engagement in the world is a given. There are two parts to the phrase “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar, and to God the things that are God’s.” Our focus is normally on the latter part, but let’s not ignore the former part. Jesus doesn’t tell us to disregard the things that are Caesar’s, but to pay our dues as citizens (see also Romans 13:7).

We are to participate in the society into which God has placed us, recognizing that we are to be salt and light in the world. We might be tempted to think of the earliest Christians as living an almost hermit-like existence, meeting in houses, praying, attending to the apostles’ teaching. However, the historical record testifies to the fact that early Christians lived and worked out their faith in the midst of the culture as best they could. They raised families, had jobs, and interacted with people outside of the church. Scripture gives us some insight into this. Paul’s letter to the Philippians was likely written while he was imprisoned in Rome toward the end of his life. At the end of that letter, he sends greetings to the believers in Philippi from the Christians in Rome, “especially those in Caesar’s household” (4:22). If this letter was written around AD 60, the Caesar to whom Paul refers would have been Nero. Consider that: there were Christians working within Nero’s own household. Were they slaves? Guards? Whatever, they didn’t consider working for the ruling authorities–even hostile ruling authorities–as inconsistent with being a Christian and working out their faith wherever the Lord placed them.

But What About Voting?

We may not have much dispute over Christians engaging with the non-Christian world, and having jobs, even government jobs, while maintaining their faith and testimony. But what about voting? We think of the vote as a declaration of approval that one option is better than another, that we support this but not that. And we often consider that approval as being total: if we vote for something or someone, we are giving our full, uncritical, unwavering support to that person, policy, or action. We are totally “in the boat” for them, and whatever they do. But the truth is, that’s not how many people vote. Often we’re voting for our preference, not our heartfelt desire. We’ll come back to this in a moment, but I want us to consider what it means to vote.

By the grace of God, Christianity can flourish within any political system, whether a tyranny, a monarchy, whether socialist, Communist, or representative democracy. The New Testament church operated within a system where they didn’t have much say in who was in charge. There are issues we might have thought the early church would have protested against, such as slavery or abortion, both of which were part of the Greco-Roman culture, that appear to meet no resistance from believers. The lack of calls for the abolition of slavery or for judicial action against abortionists in Scripture may make us feel a little uncomfortable. But we must understand that there were no mechanisms within the Roman governmental structure for the church to effectively protest. Instead, they advocated for the freeing of slaves among their own people (see Philemon), and would adopt unwanted babies left out to die. They did what they could with what they had.

Today in many countries, Christians have the opportunity to vote for their leadership. We have a voice in the way government is run. We have the freedom to call for an end to slavery (as many countries have done with the full support, and often at the instigation of, the church), or protest against abortion. And we also have the opportunity to elect people into authority who support our values. This is a gift to us, and an opportunity to encourage godliness and justice by voting for those who promote righteousness and seek to honor God in their legislation.

What Would Paul Do?

Unfortunately, we also live in a day where it’s hard to find politicians whose heart’s desire is to see God exalted and honored throughout government. Indeed, it’s hard to find a politician characterized by personal integrity and a scandal-free lifestyle, who doesn’t leave you with a bad taste in your mouth when you think about giving them your vote.

So having established that Christians should participate in their culture, should care about who’s in charge, and take every God-given opportunity to add their voice to the ballot box, how can a Christian in good conscience vote for a bad candidate? How can we vote a preference when the choice is between Herod or Jezabel, Baal or Molech?

I think the answer to the conundrum is to remember first and foremost what it is we as Christians are supposed to be doing here. Ask any Reformed believer, “What is the chief end of man?” and they will undoubtedly answer straight from the Westminster Catechism: “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” This statement is an encapsulation of biblical teaching, such as when Jesus exhorts us to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33), or Paul says, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). The primary focus of our lives, wherever God has placed us, whatever God has us doing, is to do all things for His glory. In every decision we make, we need to first consider the glory of God and how we live out the gospel in our day-to-day lives.

With this in mind, I offer you the following thought experiment. Imagine the Roman government of AD 60 opened up the office of Caesar to the vote. Every Roman citizen would have the opportunity to cast a ballot for the next Caesar. Running for office we have two candidates: Scipio Manlius, a gods-fearing pagan who gives his offerings at the appropriate altars, takes care of his wife and concubines, and was implicated in the murder of a political rival, but it was never proved. He’s running on a platform of better living standards for slaves, and religious tolerance. On the other hand, you have Nero. Yes, that Nero. The one who used Christians to light his gardens.

If you were the Apostle Paul, a Roman citizen with the opportunity to vote, who would you vote for? Which of these two would be the least hindrance to you glorifying God and enjoying Him forever? Of the two candidates, which is least likely to get in the way of the work of God’s people as they proclaim the gospel and live that gospel out? Under which ruler would the church have the most freedom to argue for Christian values and answer the call to baptize and disciple the nations?

Of course, the Christians could abstain from voting. And they might end up with Nero.