The midterm results left me wondering why Christians keep losing elections. Is their share of the electorate shrinking? Are they outspent or poorly organized? Or did voters simply react to anger over issues such as Iran, immigration enforcement, tariffs, and fuel prices?
Those factors may explain some losses. But I think there are deeper problems, and they have to do with theology.
Do Christians know what government is meant to do?
Ask Christians what government should be for, and you may hear familiar political answers: promoting equality, providing financial security, protecting liberty, or making people happier.
Those ideas come from different philosophical traditions. Thinkers such as Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hegel, and Marx offered competing accounts of government, and Christians sometimes adopt those assumptions without noticing. But if Christians believe Scripture speaks to the question, why begin with political philosophy?
Romans 13 describes civil authorities as servants of God, tasked with restraining evil and recognizing what is good. Government, in this account, does not decide for itself what good and evil mean. It answers to a moral standard beyond its own power.
That should lead Christians to ask what counts as good or evil, and how God’s moral law applies to government. Yet elections can become a kind of shopping exercise: Which candidate will offer more security, services, or financial relief? Who will make life easier and help with the cost of living?
Christians can misuse the Bible
Sometimes Christians do turn to Scripture but use it selectively. It can be jarring to hear someone reject the idea that the nation is Christian, then cite a Bible verse to support a political position they already hold.
Proverbs 31:8-9, for example, calls people to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves and to defend the poor and vulnerable. That is a real Christian responsibility. The harder question is what follows from it.
Some conclude that because the Bible commands care for the poor, Christians must support socialism or Marxism. That conclusion often treats biblical commands to individuals and churches as if they were instructions specifically for the state.
There is a basic distinction to keep in view: Scripture calls people to help those in need, while also calling everyone to obey God’s law. In ancient Israel, for instance, a person who established a place to worship an idol would not simply have been treated as an oppressed person entitled to state assistance.
Individuals, families, churches, and governments do not all have the same responsibilities. Caring for the poor is a Christian duty, but that does not automatically mean every such duty belongs to government to enforce.
Government has its own responsibility under Romans 13. Whether a particular policy should redistribute wealth, and whether Scripture requires that policy, are separate questions.
Christians have lost a biblical vision for the nations
Proverbs 29:18 is often quoted as a warning about what happens when people lack vision. For Christians, that vision should include the Great Commission: the hope that knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth, and Jesus’ command to make disciples among all nations and teach them to follow his teachings.
Many Christians, though, seem to settle for one of two limited views.
One is materialistic: politics is mainly about comfort, benefits, services, and financial security. Success is measured by how much people receive.
The other is escapist. Christianity becomes mostly about saving individuals so they can go to heaven, while the direction of laws, institutions, and public life is treated as unimportant.
Neither view captures the full reach of Christ’s command. In Matthew 28, Jesus says that all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to him, then sends his disciples to make disciples of the nations. The point is not simply to prepare individuals to leave the world, but to teach obedience to what God has commanded.
That does not mean the government should force people to convert, or that winning an election is the same as fulfilling the Great Commission. But Christ’s authority is not limited to the private beliefs of Christians. The gospel has implications for public institutions, including government, education, business, and family life.
The nations and their rulers, too, are accountable to God. Psalm 2 calls kings and rulers to serve the Lord. If Christians lose sight of that, they may support leaders whose principles weaken justice or religious liberty, or hinder the church’s work, without fully considering what those choices could mean.
Christians need a clearer biblical understanding of government, a more careful reading of Scripture, and a renewed vision for the nations. Even an election victory would not resolve the deeper problem on its own. Without that foundation, Christians may not know what to do with the victory once they have it.
