I have not said much publicly in the run-up to this year’s presidential election. It has not been because I do not care about it, nor because I am some closeted political liberal, nor because I do not think the results matter. None of those are true. Politicians represent policies, and policies impact people’s daily lives—so, yes, I do care. The broad disregard for the pre-born and strong advocacy for the enshrinement of abortion access defies the sanctity of human life at its most vulnerable state and ignores the image of God that each human soul bears. And the craze surrounding the encouragement of life- and body-altering surgeries and interventions that would seek to mask one’s God-given gender destroys what God in his wisdom has created—so, no, I’m no liberal. Elections have consequences and policy decisions will affect millions of lives and one of the world’s largest and most diverse economies—so, yes, I do think the results matter.

     The reason I haven’t said much about the election this year is mostly because I have very little new to say. One of the two major candidates has remained the same for the last three election cycles. The other party’s face and name have changed, but their platform has not at all. And the rhetoric in ads continues to be just as hyperbolic, vitriolic, and divisive as ever. Nevertheless, in less than seven days, America will cast its vote for president—and you, if you are registered, will be among them.

     I, as one of your pastors, have an obligation from God to shepherd souls—souls who will vote. And as this election cycle stirs a host of varied emotions and convictions, I hope here to offer a few words, not to tell you for whom to cast your vote, but prayerfully to put your soul at ease as you do.

Our Republic and Christ’s Other-Worldly Kingdom

At the close of the constitutional convention held on September 18, 1787, Benjamin Franklin was reported to have been asked, “Well, doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” To which Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” The genius of America’s democratic republic has ensured popularly chosen representation in government for nearly 250 years. It has had to grow to extend the promise of representation to groups who were once held out by ethnicity, skin color, or nationality—but it has endured as perhaps the greatest example of representative democracy in the modern world. This republic constitutes a great nation, with great liberties, and great responsibilities.

In this election cycle, I have heard from both major parties that a vote for their opposition would either be, “the end of democracy,” or “the end of our great nation.” Statements like these are effective at riling up a voting base, but rarely are they as true as those making them would like. More often, these are attempts at using fear to drive action—and fear is an effective motivator.

Benjamin Franklin’s recognition that this republic, genius as it was, had also an inherent fragility to it. It is not guaranteed to be perfect, nor even to endure for many centuries. It can be lost, and so the care of the republic is a duty of every citizen. And the election of wise leaders who will likewise protect it is an important step in safeguarding it. But our republic is not where our ultimate citizenship, nor allegiance as Christians, lies.

In John 18:36, Jesus was asked by Pilate if he was indeed King of the Jews, and if so, why all his people had turned against him. Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Our American republic is of this world. Yes, we do see it as a gift of God’s providence, and we do see much of God’s common grace in it, but this republic is not Christ’s kingdom. In fact, Christ’s kingdom is not bound to geo-political boundaries or ethnic groups or even to a particular arrangement of government. His kingdom is his own and it transcends all human barriers and boundaries—it is other-worldly. If you are a citizen of Christ’s kingdom by faith in Jesus Christ, your home is with him, your fellow kingdom citizens are Christians of every stripe and ethnicity and nationality. Your King is Jesus. And in Christ’s kingdom, there are no votes! Only praise and worship of the one true King.

As Christians, we are citizens of two worlds at the same time. We are citizens of the nations that God has providentially placed us in with all their rights and responsibilities. And we are citizens of Christ’s kingdom. In the former, we exercise godly character and proclaim the gospel of Jesus, even as we work toward the betterment of our respective nations. In the latter, we strive for obedience to Christ first and most and only. Of the former, we know that it is temporary and so we do not bind all our hopes to the success of our republic or a particular candidate. Of the latter, we know that it is an everlasting kingdom with an everlasting king who will reign forever and ever to the glory of God. And we rest in the confidence that comes with knowing our great king.

Voting Booth Wisdom

As I noted earlier, politicians reflect policies, and policies affect people. This is perhaps the most important thing to remember when entering the voting booth this week. Christians know that there are some policies that directly impact people’s lives in better and worse ways than others. More than voting for a particular party, my encouragement is to vote for persons who will enact policies that best reflect Christ’s character and God’s revealed intentions for human flourishing. Doing this requires wisdom because there are no perfect candidates, and, thus, no perfect policies.

I have been helped by some Christian thinkers lately to try to think about policies and voting in strait-line versus jagged-line issues. Straight-line issues are issues like abortion or transgender so-called “care.” Scripture is clear that the intentional destruction of human life is murder. Scripture is clear that our created gender is good and God’s design. To advocate for abortion, or to deceive persons about their created gender is clearly contrary to God’s Word. These are contemporary straight-line issues that Christians ought to decide with obedience to scripture as they vote, and when they vote to cast their ballot in favor of biblical ethics.

Jagged-line issues, though, are more prevalent. Take for instance differing approaches to health care. Suppose there are two candidates who are both pro-life, but one, on the basis of his pro-life conviction advocates for single-payer, government run healthcare. The other, on the basis of her pro-life convictions, advocates for private health insurance. But the Bible has no clear prescription for which kind of healthcare system is most godly. The Christian who goes to cast her vote between two politicians like this will have to find her way through the path of wisdom to a candidate that she feels will lead to the most human flourishing on a specific policy issue the Bible is relatively vague about.

Because politics are not a spaghetti western where all the good guys where white hats and all the bad guys wear black hats, it is crucial for us to practice wisdom in the ballot box along those jagged-line issues. Such issues tend to be more tangibly felt at the local level as state senators and representatives, city counsellors, and municipal judges shape and enact policies that directly impact our daily living. That being the case, voting on down ballot issues can often have a greater impact than even candidates at the top of the ticket. Be wise, Christian, when you vote, and slow down to understand issues, candidates, and policies so that you may exercise godly wisdom as you cast your preference for the world we will live in.

Your Vote and Your Conscience

Baptists have long held the human conscience as something sacred. The doctrine of “soul competency” which Baptists advocate states that God gives human beings the ability to make meaningful decisions. Specifically, it relates that God gives human beings the capacity to make meaningful spiritual decisions, like whether or not to worship God and follow Christ or to reject him. This doctrine holds that God alone is Lord of the conscience and that conversion to Christianity cannot be effected by mere religious affiliation nor by coercion, but that true Christians are those who have personally and willfully repented of sin and trusted Christ as Lord. This being the case, those who hold to soul competency also believe that God alone is the final judge of the conscience, and all will stand before him to give an account for what they have done in life and with the knowledge they had of him (Lev. 5:17; Jer. 17:9-10; Matt. 15:18-19; John 3:18; Rom. 1:20; Acts 17:30).

Soul competency, and the sacredness of the human conscience, also matters for elections. It is not uncommon to hear today people, even pastors, commanding Christians that they must vote for this or that candidate, lest they deny their Christian faith. Most of the time when I hear this it is in favor of voting for a republican candidate. Presently, it is in favor of voting for a republican candidate with a checkered moral record and a character of less than admirable quality. For Christians who believed that character mattered when a democratic president was engaged in an affair with a staff intern, it can be difficult to say that character now does not matter as much when it comes to presidents. Likewise, those same Christians would likely agree that it is equally impossible to vote for a party whose top-line issue is the enshrinement of freedom to murder pre-born children. Christians vote with choices like this before them knowing they will have to make decisions that will not perfectly please others, nor satisfy their conscientious ideals.

Some political pundits would have Christians believe that to preserve their Christianity they must vote for a morally dubious candidate, or that they must vote for an ethically deficient candidate. Others will argue that a vote for a third-party or write-in candidate is wasted in what is effectively a two-party race. Some will argue that not to vote at all is a dereliction of civic duty.

This is where soul competency is key. The Lord knows your heart and your decisions and the motives behind them better than any human can. No vote can cause you to lose your salvation if you have received it by faith in Christ alone. And no vote should cause you such spiritual consternation that in casting it you would feel compelled to disobey God. We each will stand before God and answer for why we voted how we voted this year—from president to bond issues—and we ought to allow God to shape our conscience as we enter the voting booth this week.

What you must remember is that your vote is not your statement of faith, or a test of your orthodoxy (at least not yet). And that should give you some comfort. But do remember that your faith, rightly placed in Christ, ought to control your conscience and that you are obligated to do all things to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31).

Just One King

So here, I end with where I began. Many presidents will come and go. Senators and legislators are a dime a dozen. Nations will rise and fall. In all this the Lord, our God, is sovereign. Even our republic, so long as we can keep it, cannot hold a candle to the glory of the kingdom of God and of his Christ. Neither can any president, governor, mayor, or judge contend for power against the Lord. Remember Psalm 2.

Psalm 2:1-6:
¹Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
² The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
³ “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
⁴ He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
⁵ Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
⁶ “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”

The Lord laughs at the schemes of men to set up rival kingdoms to his own, and promises to topple them all in the end and establish his Son as King Forever over all things (Rev. 11:15). We who are in Christ are citizens of greater kingdom, and subjects of a good and just king. In his providence he has placed us in this nation at this juncture in history to make much of his name and to be as salt and light in a world decaying and darkened by sin (Matt. 5:13-16). But this world, stained by sin as it is, with all its earthly kingdoms (and republics) will come to an end one day, and these systems of worldly governance will all be replaced by the perfect kingdom of God. Your vote at the polling place will not change this reality. And whether your preferred candidate wins or loses, all will bend the knee and proclaim that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father on the last day (Phil. 2:10-11).

If the Lord tarries, we will see many presidents. We have but one king. His name is Jesus. Let your heart rejoice in him as you vote with confidence in his kingdom. Let your soul rest in him as you cast a ballot in concert with your Christian convictions. Let your life be in total submission to him as you pray for those who will be elected to lead this republic. Let your life, witnessed by the unbelieving, be honorable, so that even if we are spoken against and reviled our good deeds and holy conduct would result in God’s praise on the last day (1 Pet. 2:12).

Some Resources to Read/Listen to ahead of election day:

• Crossway Podcast: "A Few Things to Remember Before You Vote (Jonathan Leeman)"

• Article: Kevin DeYoung, "What Am I Doing When I Vote?"

• Christ Over All Podcast: "Trent Hunter: 'Make Civics Great Again: A Pastoral Guide to Casting Ballots Wisely'"

• Article: Jonathan Leeman, "What Makes a Vote Moral or Immoral?"