The following is a transcript of the video above, edited for readability.
I think Christians should absolutely be involved in politics, both from the standpoint of serving in political offices, just the general principle of the Lordship of Christ over all things. Christ is supreme worthy of glory and honor, and in His mercy, He's chosen to have representatives in every walk of life. So there are other politicians who actually need to be reached with the gospel, and the most natural person to do that would be a Christian politician. And then also it's just a good thing just from a common grace perspective, that God shines His son on the righteous and on the unrighteous, right? So it's just good. It's a good thing. Human government, it's in Romans 13, it's an institution that has been established by God for good. So it's a good thing for Christians to be involved in serving in political office.
Now, as far as the average Christian citizen in their involvement in politics, again, I think it's a good thing. I think it becomes a dangerous thing whenever politics becomes ultimate, so whenever the Christian sees the agenda of politics as being the same exact thing as the agenda of God, it's not necessarily the same thing. In fact, Augustine talks about this idea of the city of God versus the city of man and the city of God being his building up of His kingdom, culminating in the first and second comings of Christ, where Christ ultimately establishes his rule and reign in the world. And then you have the city of man, which is more of a fruitful cultivation of the earth in basically living out of vocational callings and contributing to the earth in that way. That's good, but that's not ultimate. Ultimately, that's going to perish. That's going to fade away. And it's the kingdom of God, which is going to remain standing.
So we shouldn't assume that we're going to necessarily further God's agenda by holding to particular political positions in furthering that.
For more information about Shai Linne, visit: lyricaltheology.blogspot.com
For more information about Christianity, visit: www.christianity.com
(Article first published September 19, 2012)
For another perspective on this topic, here is Mark Dever's view:
Here is Eric C. Redmond's perspective on the topic:
Further Reading:
God's Vision for His Church: A New Year's Plea to Leadership
Don't Just Vote, Be a Good Citizen
Christians and American Politics
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