To Vote or Not to Vote? (Part 2)

My dear friends and fellow readers, I must apologize for negligently leading you astray in my last post about whether or not it is lawful for a Christian to vote for a non-believer who does not recognize the Kingship of Christ. In my negligence, I passed over a crucial section of the Testimony of Faith, which would have persuaded me against the prior position that I took concerning scriptural principles of government. In section 15 of the Testimony, we read that:

The Christian, when such action involves no disloyalty to Christ, ought to be involved in the selection of and to vote for civil rulers who fear God, love truth and justice, hate evil, and are publicly committed to scriptural principles of government. Ex. 18:21; Deut. 16:18; 2 Sam. 23:3; Rom. 13:3

Herein, the Testimony defines its own terms of what it means when it states that we should only vote for men who are committed to scriptural principles of government. As I admitted in my previous post, I was uncertain whether the qualifications for a leader provided in Exodus 18 and Deuteronomy 1 were descriptive of the leaders placed over the holy nation of Israel or whether they were prescriptive qualifications that every civil ruler should meet. The RPCNA clearly demonstrates a prescriptive understanding of these two passages by referencing them  as proof-texts for Section 15, and therefore, remaining loyal to Christ and Scriptural principles of government requires Christians to vote for men who fear God and possess godly wisdom. I hope that this understanding of Scripture will persuade you as it has persuaded me. (To be further persuaded, please read Sean McDonald's two comments to my first post.)

Section 17 of the Testimony states:

The Christian must profess publicly and the Church must witness, that Christ is the Ruler of every nation. Whatever the official action of the civil government of a nation may be, the Christian in his civil actions must always exhibit his loyalty to Christ. The Christian must relinquish every right or privilege of citizenship which involves him in silence about, or denial of the supreme authority of Jesus Christ.

How could I have missed these two crucial sections of the Testimony in my last post? My negligence is my foolishness. I strongly encourage all of you to read through the texts provided to support section 17: Matt. 5:13-14; Prov. 3:5-6; Ps. 37:7; Matt. 22:21; John 17:14-15; Mark 13:9. If none of the candidates for president are publicly committed to scriptural principles of government, then we must relinquish our vote, publicly profess, and witness to the nation (and the world) that we will not just settle for anyone so that our political views will be upheld (although very marginally) but that we will demand a man who recognizes the supreme authority of Jesus Christ even if it means relinquishing our votes and submitting to being governed by the ungodly.

Why the huge change of heart and mind? Since my last post, I could not stop thinking about the biblical language of the Kingdom of God. I kept thinking of government dualistically. That is to say, I was thinking of civil government as of "this world" and church government as of "that world." However, they are one and the same, but not yet consummated under one Head, Christ Jesus. Yes, government is not a natural institution. By that, I mean that government is necessary because of the Fall, and that man must be governed now because of sin. Although government is a result of Adam's sin in the Garden, God has redeemed this institution in the work and person of Jesus Christ. Before the Fall, there was no need for a king, but Christ now rules as King of kings. Government is not a worldly institution that will be removed at Christ's return, but rather, government will be fully redeemed and consummated when the King returns to judge the nations. That is why the Testimony rejects, "the teaching that Christians should not seek the establishment of Christian civil government" (Sec. 8). To reject Christian civil government is to reject Christ's consummation of the office of King. Although government will not be fully Christian until Christ returns, we as Christians, nevertheless, must recognize the need for Christian government. Much like we must not cease to put sin to death although we know we will never be perfectly sanctified until Christ returns, we must not cease to recognize Christ as King although we know He will not be perfectly recognized and submitted to as King until He returns to judge the nations.

Pray, search the Scriptures, and be willing to submit yourself to God's will. It is not easy to go from arguing that we should vote this election to arguing that we should not. Perhaps I should not have made my previous position so public, but then again, if I had not then I would not have received the persuasion I needed to reach the position I now take. Every way of man is right in his own eyes, and that is why I often make my positions public so that my thoughts can be reviewed and critiqued by others.

If nothing else, you have two arguments presented: one for and one against voting. Weigh them both heavily against the teaching of the Whole Counsel of God. Rom. 14 is still very applicable, and no matter what stance we take, we need to be careful how we respond to others.