Poltical Space (6) - Hard Questions

Christians need to do some hard thinking about the role and nature of the political space. Here are some of the questions we need to answer. If God’s word relates to the whole of faith and life, we should be able to get Christian answers to these questions.

1. What should be the shape and nature of the political space? How does the intrusion of the Kingdom of God change this space? Should not the Kingdom of God bring a dramatic shrinking of the political space.


2. What does biblical theology tell us about the role, size and shape of the political space? If we do not answer these questions before entering the political space, we are likely to be beaten up by politicians who are familiar with their terrain.


3. What is the relationship between morality and law? Law is enforced morality, but legislation against every sin is impractical and not appropriate.


4. What can law achieve? The modern approach is to passing a new law as the solution to every problem that emerges. The Bible is quite realistic about the limitations of the law. Moses allowed divorce, despite the seventh commandment forbidding adultery. He knew that when people’s hearts of hard, enforcing a law with a high standard is a waste of time.


5. Paul spoke of “what the law was powerless to do” (Rom 8:3). Christians must understand the limitations of law and have a clear view of what law should be used to achieve. So we understand what the law is powerless to do.

Political Space (5) - Radical Thinking Required

The politicians and parties are comfortable with political power and are very experienced in using it. Politics is about power:

• power to tax
• power to decide who will pay taxes
• power to spend vast amounts of money
• power to make laws
• power to force people to obey laws
• power to force people to do what they do not want to do.
• power to decide how other people should live.

Politics is about power and coercion. Politicians are comfortable with this power.

Christians do not do power very well. We should not do power very well.

If we naively think that entering the political space is just a matter of voting or joining a political party, we are treading on dangerous ground. If we just join the struggle for control of political power, we will find ourselves being transformed by the political space.

Instead of being transformed by the political space, we should bring a radical perspective on the shape and role of the political space so God can transform it.

Before rushing into the political space, Christians should do some hard thinking about the purposes of political power and what they want to achieve. Otherwise we will just become “cannon fodder” in the left/right battle. We will get sucked into the struggle for political power, and lose our distinctiveness.

If we just take sides in the existing struggle as defined by the political space, the gospel of Jesus is likely to be swamped. This has already happened. Listening to many Christians arguing about political issues sounds just like the debates of secular politicians. The categories are the same and the arguments are similar.

Political Space (4) - No Retreat

We have a real dilemma, but retreat is not possible. If we believe that God is sovereign over the whole of life, we cannot stay out of the political space. We cannot ignore the political space, because it affects so much of life.

Balmer says that that “religion flourishes best at the margins and not at the centers of power”. That might be true in a culture where Christians are a minority, but as the gospel advances and Christians cease being a minority, Christianity cannot remain on the fringes of life. The influence of the gospel must move towards the centre of life, including the political space.

One pastor said that he never preaches about politics, but this creates a problem for Christians trying to understand the political space. They must learn from those already in it, so they find the truth hard to find. We cannot ignore the political space. Pretending that it is not there does not help, as it leaves a major area of life outside God's scope.

The Poltical Space (1)

We have this political space and we are not sure what to do with it. The politicians and political parties have been comfortable in this space for years. They are comfortable with political power and they know how to use it.

The politicians have aligned on two sides: left and right, red and blue, democrat and republican. Their struggle with each other seems to be eternal, but the real differences are not that great. The major disagreement is about who should control political power.

The two sides have a few disagreements about what political power should be used to achieve. One side is more committed to using political power to establish democracy throughout the world. The other side is more committed to caring for the poor, but differences are not great. The real battle is over the control of political power.

Christians have tended to stay out of this political space, partly because Jesus kingdom is not of this world and partly due to the separation of church and state.