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Christians must view politics theologically, Moore says
October 25, 2004
By Jeff Robinson
If Christians confuse their citizenship in the Kingdom of God with their citizenship in the United States, they are in danger of twisting and perverting the Gospel, -Russell D. Moore recently told an audience at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Moore, dean of the seminary's School of Theology and senior vice president for academic administration, said that Christians in America must think theologically when deciding how to vote and where to stand on important issues in the upcoming presidential election.
American Christians are in the unique position that is the equivalent of "Caesar" in the Bible, Moore said. Pointing to Jesus' and Paul's discussion of Caesar, Moore said that in a constitutional republic, Caesar is the people. Moore's comments were made at the seminary during a September address on political engagement.
"You and I are not in the same position as the first-century Christians, gathering together in catacombs, wondering what Caesar is going to do," Moore said. "Instead, you and I are in both situations. We're the church trying to live out the mandate of the Gospel and we are at the same time those Romans 13 authorities.
"The authority in the United States of America is constitutionally invested, not in the White House, not in the Congress, not in the Supreme Court, but ultimately in the people through their elected representatives. So responsibility for using the sword wisely, for fair taxation, for all of these things, ultimately rests with us. When we are reading passages [that refer to Caesar], we read it through two lenses: It is addressed to us as the church, and it is also addressed to us as Caesar."
Believers confuse their citizenship in the two kingdoms when they mistakenly view America as the fulfillment of Old Testament Israel and desire for the government to function accordingly, Moore said. Instead, Moore said that Old Testament Israel is fulfilled in the church.
Because of this, spiritual disobedience must be dealt with through church discipline and not through the coercive activity of the state, he said.
As citizens of the kingdom of man, believers must think theologically, not only about specific issues such as same-sex "marriage" and abortion, but also about political engagement in general, he said.
"Political decisions are important for the sake of the church, for the sake of the Gospel, and for our accountability to God as the ultimate governing authorities in a constitutional republic," Moore said.
Believers must also bring a biblical worldview to other issues such as foreign policy and terrorism, Moore said.
"What I'm concerned about in terms of foreign policy is that some of the arguments that are being used completely erode any foundation of justice at all," Moore said. "Should a nation that has been attacked feel a sense of justice toward the capture of Osama bin Laden? Is that simply vengeful human beings who want blood or is that something that resonates with the way God has made the world?
"If we establish a society that no longer understands justice, we can no longer understand the Gospel. The Gospel is not just asking Jesus into your heart so that you will be happy all the day. The Gospel is 'while we were sinners, yet Christ died for us.' There is a just condemnation against us — a sense in which God, in order to be just, the apostle Paul says, must punish evil and He has done so in Jesus Christ. If you don't understand justice, you can't understand justification."
So, must an evangelical Christian vote Republican or Democrat? Moore said that ideally both parties would have conservative evangelicals working within them.
"What is best for America would not necessarily be to have a Republican Party full of evangelicals and a secular Democratic Party," Moore said. "Ideally, it would be wonderful if we had two parties that had evangelicals working and active within them."
However, most evangelicals gravitate toward the GOP because of a profound shift that has occurred within the Democratic Party over the past three decades, Moore said.
"The problem is that you have interest groups within the contemporary Democratic Party that simply will not tolerate evangelicals who hold to some essentials of an evangelical worldview. "
The Democratic Party, once home to many Southern Baptists and other evangelicals, now prefers the influence of groups such as abortion rights groups and homosexual activists — lobbies with a worldview not consonant with evangelical convictions, Moore said. The loss of orthodox believers in the party has meant the loss of a unity based on transcendent causes of justice, such as the civil rights movement, Moore said. Now, party activists are more likely to be energized by conspiracy theories such as those found in Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11," he said.
Still, Christians must not identify themselves first and foremost by affiliation with a particular political party, Moore said. A party is merely a mechanism one uses to advance objectives informed by a Christian worldview, he said.
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