Partisan Politics: Where Does the Gospel Fit?

The presidential election just past established it beyond all doubt: evangelical Christians are now solidly back in the public arena. In this year’s campaign they were represented from one end of the political spectrum to the other, from Christian Voice to Sojourners. As Newsweek declared, “Not since 1960 have so many local churches delved into—and been divided by—politics.”

It is a hopeful sign that evangelicals and fundamentalists are remembering their responsibility to society and the world. Apathy about political and social change betrays a failure to appreciate the radical depth and power of Christ’s passion. The gospel is adequately honored only when we insist that it renews all aspects of life, individual and corporate. Church historian Richard Lovelace asserts that “authentic spiritual renewal inevitably results in social and cultural transformation.” On the practical level, such transformation necessarily involves legislation, regulation, and taxation—all political matters.

It is good, then, that many boats are launched and on the political waters. At the same time, with the evangelical involvement becoming more intense and, as Newsweek notes, divisive, it may now be wise to consider some course corrections. To abandon political passivism is good; now we must be sure that political activism is well charted by sober biblical reflection. A captain whose ship has sailed into the shoals is ill advised to do nothing, but he is equally foolish to make an instant turn starboard or port without checking for sandbars. Likewise, only an activism based on adequate reflection has the bracing, clarifying effect evangelical political involvement ought to have. The alternative can produce bitter confusion and futile commotion, as two examples from the past illustrate.