Reed Mueller

I’m so glad that someone asked that we talk about politics in our Neglected series! It has resulted in robust discussion for many in the church, and for the most part I’ve heard the dialogue has been respectful! This is one of the things I believe we are to be able to do as a church family (Philippians 2:14-15, NIV).

As I studied our for the message, Romans 13:1-7 became quite important in my thinking about politics and the government. And yet, I still don’t quite believe it! How could Paul call for the Christians in Rome (and beyond) to respect and honor the authorities over them (namely, Nero). To be honest, some down through the centuries have tried to soften this call by suggesting that Paul is talking about respecting not individual leaders but rather one’s given state, rather than its specific leaders, or even the abstract idea of the state. However, I don’t believe this does justice to the intent of the passage. Nevertheless, it is debatable.

More important to my thinking – and a challenge to my typical voting patterns – was the idea embedded in the passage that the purpose of government (from Paul’s perspective) is to bring about justice. Paul describes this in three ways:

• Justice in the sense of reinforcing/promoting pro-social personal behaviors (”do what is good and you will receive his approval” – Romans 13:3)
• Justice in the sense of punishing/suppressing anti-social personal behaviors (”if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain” – Romans 13:4)
• Justice in the sense of bringing (not just reinforcing) good into the social commons (”he is God’s servant to bring you good.” – Romans 13:4)

In a sense, what I see here is a mix of conservative and liberal understandings of the government’s role in society. While I had not seen these resources prior to my message, I’d recommend both this article on subsidiarity and the limits of government and this article on the good a government is to bring into society. Interesting tension here in these articles and here in this passage.

In the end, I believe that my study has made my vote more difficult while simultaneously simplifying it. It has been simplified because I am now a one issue voter: I’ll use my vote to promote a just government – a government that approximates the outcomes Paul discusses above. But it is now, in this single issue, a much more complex process for me because issues of justice include not only concerns for how we care for the unfed, unnoticed, unborn and unhealthy, they also include the issue like economic and educational equity, global violence and injustice in other lands, and on and on and on.

My hope is that your vote has become more difficult, too, and because of that you will study the scriptures deeply about government and and the call for justice … and that you will study the candidates and measures deeply as a result … and that you will most of all pray deeply both before and after your vote.