Politics 101 from a Christian perspective part 2: The substance of the political sphere

Politics 101 from a Christian perspective part 2: The substance of the political sphere

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:8–10, ESV)

In my last paper, I focused on my Facebook question, briefly interacting with the replies I received, and set forth to demonstrate the connection between politics and the Bible. In that writing, I defined politics using a modern, secular source, the Merriam-Webster dictionary, as a means of tying it to a Christian worldview. However, in this paper, focus is being shifted from politics as a human endeavor to politics as a divine creation, from the distortion of the political sphere to the design of the political sphere.

Giving further definition to the meaning of “politics,” the word comes out of a Greek word, used numerous times throughout the New Testament (NT). The Greek word, meaning a town, city, or a city-state is “polis,” and is used 163 times in the NT in 154 verses.  The same word meaning “city” in Latin, is “civitas.” While the Hebrew word for city is “’ir,” which sounds like the English word “ear,” and it appears 1,091 times in 932 Old Testament (OT) verses.

The term “city” indicates a concentration of human beings, a population, within a place, which is a defined set of boundaries, under a particular jurisdiction or rule. So, it is a people, in a place, under a common law. Politics, then, refers to how this concentration of people, in a particular place, under a common jurisdiction is organized, structured, and how they cooperate. In other words, politics is about the stuff of the city. It is a study and a science and an art form, involving the minds of men and the life of the city.

The City of God is a concentration of human beings, who have been justified and set apart, within Christ, under His Lordship. This is the design. We are a political body by our very nature. And this eternal Kingdom draws men unto itself, out of the corruption, by the Father’s will, as God is designing it and building it, even as you read this. About Christ Jesus we read:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” (Isaiah 9:6–7)

Jesus Christ is the zeal of the LORD of host, and His body is the foundation of our city (cf., John 2:13-22).

It is undeniable that God fully intends to design and build a city, which is precisely what politics is about. A politician is one who is involved in the designing and organization of a city—the people—he is a leader of the people, in one sense or another. It might bother you to hear it, but Jesus is the ultimate politician. And if that word is just packed too full of jaded meanings for you, substitute it for “the One who makes and designs the city of God, and organizes the affairs of His people.” He does so for the protection of its inhabitants—those who live in Christ—for cooperation between the King and his subjects as well as the between the citizens themselves, and for the division of labor by gifting His citizens through His graciousness.

What this is not, however, is mass-manipulation. God’s design of the political sphere is not the degeneration of public discourse or the manipulation of its members, but the protection against those very things. Politics, then, is good by its design. It reflects His glory and was, as all things, created for His glory.  The city was and is created and organized by God for the specific purpose of glorify God.

But the church is a spiritual city and God is the ruler, not the physical city made by sin-filled men here on earth. What has Hitler’s Socialism or Stalin’s Marxist Communism got to do with that?

They are distortions of God’s design, not the design of the political sphere itself, which has roots in the creation of mankind, and begins with God’s covenant to Noah and to all his descendants. The way in which a people, or its leaders, design the state begins with their worldview assumptions. The very fact that Hitler or Stalin would be used as examples of corruption, fully communicates that something good exists in regards to the political sphere to corrupt.

If we truly believe what Scripture reveals, then by resistless logic my conclusion follows:

Premise 1: God designed all things to speak of Him specifically, for His own glory.
Premise 2: The political sphere is a thing.
Conclusion: Therefore, God designed the political sphere to say something specific about Himself, for His own glory.


In other words, what we say about God—our doctrine of God, including His attributes, characteristics, and who He is—immediately causes us to deduce things about the political sphere. Likewise, the inverse is true as well: What we say about the political sphere says something about God. Either it lies about Him or tells the truth about Him.  Now, as to why this is will be the matter under discussion going forward.  Nonetheless, the Hitlers and Stalins of the world are not challenges to my claim.

As I mentioned earlier, the ordination of the state goes back to the days of Noah, after the flood, when God made a universal covenant of peace with Noah and all his descendents. Within the terms and conditions of that covenant, God sets forth the following requirement:

“And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” (Genesis 9:5–6)

The verses that follow establish this covenant as universal, and not just belonging to the church, but to every living thing. The promise was made to every living thing. From mankind in particular, God requires that murderers be put to death by his fellow man. Why?

Does it say that it is for vengeance? No. Is it because man is just? No.  Rather, this covenant has a mandate to defend life, where the punishment fits the crime. If I take five dollars, then I should forfeit five dollars. If I take a life, then I forfeit my life. To not do so, communicates the idea that the life of the assailant is more than the victim. However, the reason that the Bible gives for God requiring this reckoning is BECAUSE we are made in His image. God requires the justice; man is to execute that justice for God.  The purpose is because to attack an image of God is to attack the God of that image. It is a personal offense to Him to murder the very vessels that He created for His glory.

This covenant refers back to the creation event found in the first and second chapters of Genesis, where God made man in His image, both male and female were made in His image (Gen 1:27). Furthermore, the creation commands found in Genesis 1:28-30 to be fruitful and multiply, to have dominion over the earth, and to subdue it are reinstated in God’s covenant to Noah and all his descendants (Gen 9:1-4). What is interesting about comparing and contrasting these two sections is that they are almost the same covenant. They even use the same words, sentence structures, and correspond in their respective order. However, where they differ is that one is prior to sin and death entering the world, while the other was after. In other words, the covenant made between God and Noah takes into account the presence of sin and of death within creation, while the one before it does not. Thus, God institutes within His covenant of peace to Noah and all his descendants a just use of force against those who would use unjust force, murdering God’s image-bearers out of their own iniquity. To murder the image-bearer is to profane the very image of God Himself, who made man in His own image for His own glory.

Nonetheless, one objection to raise is that this does not talk about government. So why would anyone use these verses to demonstrate the ordination of the state?

It is true that God does not refer directly to the creation of the state in these verses, but these are the seeds of an entire political system, nonetheless. God is giving the rationale—the substance—prior to the form.  Consider what His commands are:

1)      Be fruitful and multiply: The institution of reproduction, family, and growth. This multiplies God’s image. The family is the seed and beginning of the city.
2)      Subdue the earth and have dominion over it: We are to subdue the planet under God’s image for His glory, tilling fields, sharing food in fellowship, extracting natural resources for the good of our fellow men. We are also to have dominion, or rule, over it. This creates borders for the city-state, property, and so forth.
3)      Do justice on those who violate God’s image, execute the murderer: Requires the investigation of cases, people to protect God’s image, using just force to uphold the law.

All of these are collective imperatives and necessitate cooperation among groups of people—God’s images—in order to administer and execute. Beyond God’s covenant with Noah in Genesis 9, God does institute the forms, which we will discuss in more detail later. However, what is important here is that the rationale—the substance—of the city-state exists prior to its form. The reason is given BEFORE the structure.

Adam was a man BEFORE the state ever existed. Therefore, mankind is not defined by the state, but the state is defined by mankind. The law gave rise to governing bodies and those exist because of divine law; the state did not arbitrarily give rise to laws out of thin air, and laws do not exist because of the state. The image of God existed prior to the protection of it, not the other way around.

And that, my friends, is the point.

Once again, I hope and pray that these will be read and thoroughly considered. What we see here is God’s eternal kingdom, His city-state, penetrating the darkness of this world. It is for His city that we are all created. It was God who designed the political sphere, and it is after the fashion of His design that all nations build their own, either by following it or by corrupting it through what they perceive as an improvement. The substance of the polis exists PRIOR TO the form of the polis. The importance of this will become more apparent as I move forward and further define its meaning and significance.

Blessings.