We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

In a democracy, don’t Christians have a responsibility to participate in politics?
Question: You’ve argued that Christians shouldn’t try to gain power in government on the grounds that Jesus didn’t try to gain power in the political system of his day. But his government didn’t allow for such power. Caesar and Pilate weren’t elected by anyone. Our government allows for this. So don’t we have a responsibility to participate in politics to try to change society?
Answer: It’s true that the political system under which Jesus lived was very different from any democracy. But as Christ’s ambassadors from a different “country” (for “our citizenship is in heaven” [Phil. 3:20]), and as “foreigners” and “exiles” in our own country (2 Cor 5:20; I Pet 2:11), I don’t see that our basic stance toward government should be affected by the kind of government we happen to be under. We’re never to get too involved in the affairs of this foreign land but are always to keep our focus on pleasing our commanding officer (1 Tim. 2:4). All of our trust is to be placed in the power we have to change the world by imitating Christ’s self-sacrificial lifestyle, not in the power of laws that control behavior.
As followers of Jesus, therefore, it shouldn’t make any substantial difference whether the country we live in is democratic, socialistic, totalitarian, or communistic. We are missionaries in a foreign land wherever we are. We are guerilla warriors stationed behind enemy lines, called to topple the existing regime which is controlled by our captain’s arch enemy (1 John 5:19).
It may be easier to do our ministry in a democratic country and we thank God for this. But there are drawbacks as well, such as succumbing to the apathy that too often comes as we live with relative comfort and ease in a wealthy economy, being co-opted by non-Christian values, mistakenly placing our hope for redemption in political systems rather than the gospel, and so on.
The Kingdom we represent, and the Kingdom that will ultimately take over the world, is different from any of the other kingdoms of this world. We are called to change the world, but not by the means the world uses. Our power to change the world is rooted is prayer and sacrificial love. Our hope should be placed in nothing other than our Lord using us as we follow Jesus’ example to transform the world in a way the political systems of this present world cannot. Whatever distracts us from this one task must be avoided.
This doesn’t mean it’s wrong to participate in politics. It just means we have to be careful to keep this participation distinct from the Kingdom of God and careful not to place our ultimate trust in it.
Category: Q&A
Tags: Politics, Q&A, Social Issues
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Related Reading

Watch Greg on CNN’s “God’s Warriors”
This video is a CNN.com video of Greg’s segment on God’s Warriors. Greg’s interview starts at 2:07. The following was taken from a post on Greg’s blog (August 24, 2007): Thoughts on “God’s Warriors” from “The Heretic” Hi folks, I and a bunch of friends just finished watching Christiane Amanpour’s CNN documentary entitled “God’s Christian…

Can Christians serve in the military?
Question: Jesus ministered to military people (e.g. a centurion) and didn’t tell them to leave their military post. So do you think Christians can serve in the military? I believe it’s a Christians duty is to serve their country, aid the wounded, defend the oppressed, protect our families, stand for truth and justice, and kill…

What is the significance of 1 Chronicles 21:7–13?
The Lord gives David three options of how Israel may be judged. “Three things I offer you; choose one of them, and I will do it to you.” Paralleling 2 Samuel 24:12–16, this passage reveals that the Lord gives people genuine alternatives and then responds to their choices. If the future is unalterably settled in…

Is it okay to masturbate?
When I as a new struggling Christian raised this topic with my pastor, I was told in no uncertain terms that God struck Onan dead for masturbating. At some point I read the passage for myself (Gen. 38:1-10) and discovered my pastor had mislead me. It’s true that Onan was punished by God because he…

Video Q&A: Do you think Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons are saved?
Does Greg believe that everyone goes to Heaven regardless of their beliefs? Find out here.

What’s the signficance of Judges 10:6-17
The Israelites rebelled against Yahweh and worshipped other gods. As a result, Yahweh withdrew his protection of them and “sold them into the hands of te Philistines and the Ammonites” (Judg. 10:6-7). The Israelites eventually acknowledged their sin and cried out to God (vs. 10) but Yahweh, perhaps perceiving that their repentance wasn’t genuine, told…