When Judas approached Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, accompanied by Roman soldiers and a crowd ready for a skirmish, Peter’s first instinct was to draw his sword and take a swipe at the high priest’s slave cutting off his right ear. Jesus immediately told Peter to put his sword away. (John 18:10-11)
After Jesus was examined by the high priest and then turned over to Pontius Pilate, the governor, Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews? … Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me; what have you done?”
Jesus answered, “My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but my kingship is not of this world.” (John 18:36)
Jesus’ words stand in opposition to any attempt to institute a theocracy or to set up the Kingdom of God on earth within our present historical process. The Kingdom will only be fully realized at the end of history when Christ returns. An often quoted quip goes something like, “Efforts to bring heaven down from above, end up bringing hell up from below.”
We all live in a sinful and broken world, but Christians should strive to live in a way that demonstrates or points to the Kingdom of God. Christ stated that his followers were to be “salt and light” in the midst of the societies and cultures where they live. He used the metaphors of salt and light to indicate that his people were to act as a sort of preservative or stabilizing influence in society and to bear witness to the truth. Salt also enhances the flavor of food suggesting that Christians can make society better, can lift the moral tone of a society and its civic culture.
However, I must admit that Christianity has produced only mixed results so far in its 2,000 year history. Here in America, a large percentage of American evangelical Christians have compromised their faith and their witness by allying themselves with the Republican Party and the Trump administration. By supporting an immoral person for the Presidency, they have sacrificed their integrity by allowing the ends (for example, reversing Roe vs. Wade and achieving their version of “religious freedom”) to justify the means.
The way of Christ cannot be legislated in this age of moral relativism; it can only be proclaimed and demonstrated. It was during the era of Christendom when the church was ascendant and church membership was required to be a member of society, that Christianity lost some of its power and was corrupted. Christianity cannot be combined with political or temporal power. A recent movement that blurs the distinction between church and state here in America is “Christian Nationalism”, which seeks to make Christianity the “preferred” religion of the state. However, this movement has also rightly been opposed by other Christians, who see it leading to discrimination and even oppression.
Christianity is essentially non-coercive. It cannot be imposed on those who disagree. Unlike Islam, which was spread by force1, the early Christian church grew rapidly simply through the message of love and divine grace. Christian interactions with the secular world should be characterized by the rejection of coercion and worldly power as a means to advance the cause of Christ. This attitude is based on faith in the transforming power of the Gospel of Christ and the sovereign will and purpose of God, which should guide our lives as Christians in the midst of a sometimes hostile society.
However, I am not advocating pacifism. Christians can be police officers or serve in the military. However, nationalism and militarism are to be avoided and violence and warfare should not be glorified. As citizens we are, in the words of the Apostle Paul, “. . . to be subject to the governing authorities.” Of course, the allegiance we give the state must be bounded by Christian moral conscience. For example, we cannot condone racism, slavery, religious persecution, economic exploitation, ethnic cleansing, late-term abortions of healthy fetuses2, willful pollution of our air and water that harm community health, or other forms of cruelty or oppression enacted or tolerated by the state. If any of these situations arise, we are to resist and demonstrate Kingdom values using spiritual weapons and moral persuasion. In extreme cases, civil disobedience may be necessary.
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1Christians and other religious minorities who did not want to convert to Islam were often allowed to maintain their religions, but had to live as second class citizens and pay a "protection tax".
2Obviously, abortion is an extremely divisive issue that is incapable of being resolved, because it involves a clash of worldviews and values. Many Christians view abortions performed to end an unwanted or inconvenient pregnancy of an otherwise healthy fetus as an immoral act. However, life is messy and complicated and there are exceptional circumstances such as those rare and tragic situations where the life of the mother is threatened or in cases where the infant will not survive and will be in severe pain. Exceptions can also be made in the case of abuse including rape and incest.