I remember back in the 1990s the then Archbishop of Canterbury, his grace, George Carey, being interviewed by someone (I don’t remember who) in which he was asked about the whether faith was a private matter – and should be influencing a persons politics. The then Archbishop – accurately, articulated the fact, that being a Christian was a complete way of life; and could not but affect our politics. The last time, anyone challenged the idea in my hearing that our faith should be political – was at university when a well to do German, (I think a Christian) argued that faith was a private matter and should not impact politics; we had a long debate on that matter. These days the questions seems very much settled amongst Christians; nearly everyone accepts the logic; if Christ is Lord of your life – he has to be the Lord of your politics as well.
I want to take a a few lines to just explain why that works out like that. You see politics is simply a type of relationship – where authority, influence and power are conspicuously at play; it is a way of relating to one another; and a few moments of reflection will make you realise we are political beings from top to bottom; now of its self, this way of relating does not in anyway give us a direction, an agenda; our ideology – gives us the guiding light of our politics. I think whilst most Christians are agreed on the question of whether – our faith should affect our politics – they are not agreed on how and in what direction? This shows to us – we have not settled the question: what does a Christian political agenda look like? I want to offer a biblical case; that our faith gives us a clear biblical agenda; and that it works out as a new Christendom. I think I should be clear; by Christendom; I mean a this worldly organisation of all facets of human civilisation; in accordance to the Christian faith. I also want to be clear; that I do not believe in a one to one equivalence between Christendom and the Kingdom of GOD; in the same way as the Kingdom of GOD is bigger than the Church; the Kingdom of GOD is also bigger than any Christendom.
The first image of the Kingdom of GOD in scripture – is that of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before the fall. Adam and Eve are portrayed, as GOD’s image on earth, to rule over land and beast, and to cultivate the garden given to them by GOD. A position from which they fall. Two points here are important; Adam – mankind; is ruler of this world, as part of the divine order; and He did so in this world in relationship with GOD; as The Logos walked with him in the cool of the day. Israel also – is meant to be a vision of GOD’s Kingdom here on earth; in which GOD would have a people – and that He would be their King, directly; something that He Himself was to be – directly – through His judges. Israel, could not however, cope with the pressure of not having a human King, and so GOD granted to them the desires of their stubborn heart.
However, and this is where I want to focus my work; there are the shadows of a greater Kingdom than Israel that is to come; and that casts the shadow of Eden in the fallen world as an emerging reality in our world. The idea that the rule of GOD would be established; and grow and be in this world; and it is on that we will focus. I have two passages in mind, the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 2; and Psalm 110. We begin with the passage of Daniel after Daniel has described the dream to the king; we pick up the story with Daniel’s interpretation of the dream.
In the book of the holy prophet Daniel chapter two reads:
37 “You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has granted you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor. [note well – here that the prophet frames the vision within the worldly power of the King] 38 Wherever human beings, wild animals, and birds of the sky live—he has given them into your power. He has given you authority over them all. [This is a direct Echo of Adam and Eve; a sign of the fall, as the King is not in relationship to GOD] You are the head of gold. [The first kingdom is clearly identified – the Babylonian kingdom] 39 Now after you another kingdom will arise, one inferior to yours[Notice we are talking about worldly kingdoms here – in this world, and of this world]. Then a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule in all the earth. [All the earth is not meant literally here – but if you insist on literal interpretation; what are you going to do with this?] 40 Then there will be a fourth kingdom, one strong like iron. Just like iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything, and as iron breaks in pieces all these metals, so it will break in pieces and crush the others. 41 In that you were seeing feet and toes partly of wet clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom. Some of the strength of iron will be in it, for you saw iron mixed with wet clay. 42 In that the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, the latter stages of this kingdom will be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 And in that you saw iron mixed with wet clay, so people will be mixed with one another without adhering to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 In the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. [This is the foreshadowing of the Kingdom of GOD discussed earlier; it arises in the last Kingdom; and that means the last Kingdom has to be the Roman Empire] It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms [This Kingdom of GOD will bring about the end of the Kingdoms prior to it; that is a this world act]. But it will stand forever [here we see a nuance; that prevents a one to one understanding of any political project; and the Kingdom of GOD]. 45 You saw that a stone was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands; it smashed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold into pieces [Since these empires destroyed one another, how then, does Kingdom of GOD destroy them all; by replacing how their remnant influences; one another – with a thoroughly discipled world view in Christ]. The great God has made known to the king what will occur in the future. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is reliable.”
The vision described by Daniel – was this:
Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were broken in pieces without distinction and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors that the wind carries away. Not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a large mountain that filled the entire earth.
The Prophet is unequivocal the rock – is on the earth and will fill the earth – this is Christ; through His body. Most scholars understand the four kingdoms as follows: the Babylonian Kingdom, the Persian Kingdom; The Hellenic Kingdom; and finally the Roman Kingdom (there is debate and this opinion is not universal); each of these Kingdoms influenced the culture of the one that overtook it. The miraculous fulfilment of this prophesy; even in its description of the Roman Empires fall; as mixed with the Barbarians, that destroyed it; (in the west) is beyond the scope of this article; but; it is an inspiring insight for you to investigate yourself. My main point here is that the kingdom is operating in the world – impacting and shattering the kingdoms of the world – is in the world, operating in the world. This may strike you as obvious, until we begin to explore some of the cognitive dissonance of some – who deny, the legitimacy of Christendom, in scripture.
St Jerome (a Roman himself) said this:
‘Now the fourth empire, which clearly refers to the Romans, is the iron empire which breaks in pieces and overcomes all others. But its feet and toes (interestingly the Septuagint does not have the ‘toes’ showing St Jerome was reading from the Hebrew) are partly of iron and partly of earthenware, a fact most clearly demonstrated at the present time. For just as there was at the first nothing stronger or hardier than the Roman realm, so also in these last days there is nothing more feeble (D), since we require the assistance of barbarian tribes both in our civil wars and against foreign nations. However, at the final period of all these empires of gold and silver and bronze and iron, a rock (namely, the Lord and Saviour) was cut off without hands, that is, without copulation or human seed and by birth from a virgin’s womb; and after all the empires had been crushed, He became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This last the Jews and the impious Porphyry apply to the people of Israel, who they insist will be the strongest power at the end of the ages, and will crush all realms and will rule forever.’
I will side step the question of the east / west Roman empires; and of the successors to the Alexandrian Empire; not because I am not aware of exegetical problems to the thesis thus proposed; but because no matter how it is resolved, the point of a ‘this world’ impact of the Kingdom of GOD survives any issues with our choice of empires. I put it to you dear reader, their is no way on earth, that the Kingdom of GOD could cause the fall of the other empires without the interaction of socio – economic & political interfaces; between the Church (the militia of the Kingdom) and the Empires of the world. The Church has now survived; all other empires that have arisen and fallen; since its foundation two thousand years ago; and not a few of them, purposefully have gone out of their way to try and destroy the Church; most recently being the Soviet Empire and the short lived Islamic Caliphate run by Isis.
The Rock represents Christ; and who is the party of Christ on earth; the Church; it is the Church; the body of Christ that will grow to be a mountain to cover the earth because we are His body and He must fill the earth; see: Pslm 47:8; 103: 19; 145: 13; Rev 17:9 as we are the ones that love GOD and keep His commandments. This will result and should result in Christians – using their power, influence and authority; for the cause of the Church and the Kingdom. Christ in two of His parables, that of the Mustard Seed and that of Leaven echoes this theme of the Kingdom starting as something small; but then growing large to transform the world around it; from an inside out working out of that transformation. We will see how this is relevant later as speak of the first Christendoms.
This brings us to Psalm 110 in which the Spirit said:
The Lord says to my Lord:
Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.
2 The Lord sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!
3 Your people will offer themselves freely
on the day of your power,
in holy garments;
from the womb of the morning,
the dew of your youth will be yours.
4 The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.
5 The Lord is at your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will execute judgment among the nations,
filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefs
over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the brook by the way;
therefore he will lift up his head.
Here by the Spirit; the King of Israel, addresses the Logos; as his Lord, and if He is his Lord, is he not also through him; the Lord of his realm? The sitting at the right hand, was an ancient sign of equality amongst royal houses; see 1 Kings 2: 19; and so this Lord of David, is equal, with YHWH himself; a point not missed by Christ in His debates about the Messiah; see: Matt 22:43-45; Mark 12:36-37; Luke 20:42-44; who could be above GOD’s king – but someone who was divine himself? This verse speaks of the subjugation of the worldly kingdoms and rulers to Christ; it speaks of an expanding Kingdom rule, from Jerusalem around the world; even amidst the enemies of the Lord; this is an almost perfect description of the global Church, both in times present and certainly now, where we seek to obey Christ surrounded and ruled by the enemies of Christ. This can be referencing the heavenly Jerusalem, because GOD has no enemies in heaven; therefore this is talking about a kingdom – here – on earth. The language of the Hebrew is of a free will offering; like those of the temple system; which mirrors, the ‘living sacrifice’ we Christians offer willingly to the Lord of ‘soul and body’ to His Kingdom purposes. This Psalm is speaking of the Messiahs role as Priest and King; see 2 Sam 7: 1 and Zac 6: 12 – 13; where as the worldly equivalents need a sanctioning authority; the messiah has the authority within himself to be both (see Hebrews 7). He was of the house of David as required by prophecy 2 Sam 7: 12; the world will be subject to Him; see Jos 10: 24 and Dan: 7: 14. The messiah is portrayed as a conqueror who pursues His enemies; and whom will have them ‘underfoot’ like a ‘footstool’ – see Ps 8: 6 – 7; 47: 3; Is 66: 1; to and is submerged both in the torrents of opposition and in the blessings of GOD to overcome them; kingdoms falling to his rulership. How is this not fulfilled each time a ruling authority commits itself to Him and His kingdom? Augustine saw in verse seven a shadow of the incarnation; as Christ drinks of our humanity and its course of life from birth to death.
‘And what followeth? “The Lord shall send the rod of Thy power out of Sion” (ver. 2). It appeareth, brethren, it most clearly appeareth, that the Prophet is not speaking of that kingdom of Christ, in which He reigneth for ever with His Father, Ruler of the things which are made through Him: for when doth not God the Word reign, who is in the beginning with God? For it is said,” Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.” To what eternal King? To one invisible, incorruptible. For in this, that Christ is with the Father, invisible and incorruptible, because He is His Word, and His Power, and His Wisdom, and God with God, through whom all things were made; He is “King eternal;” but, nevertheless, that reign of temporal government, by which, through the mediation of His flesh, He called us into eternity, beginneth with Christians; but of His reign there shall be no end. His enemies therefore are made His footstool, while He is sitting on the right hand of His Father, as it is written; this is now going on, this will go on unto the end. … 6. When therefore He hath sent the rod of His power out of Sion: what shall happen? “Be Thou ruler, even in the midst among Thine enemies.” First, “Be Thou ruler in the midst of Thine enemies:” in the midst of the raging heathen. For shall He rule “in the midst of His enemies” at a later season, when the Saints have received their reward, and the ungodly their condemnation? And what wonder if He shall then rule, when the righteous reign with Him for ever, and the ungodly burn with eternal punishments? What wonder, if He shall then? Now “in the midst of Thine enemies,” now in this transition of ages, in this propagation and succession of human mortality, now while the torrent of time is gliding by, unto this is the rod of Thy power sent out of Sion, “that Thou mayest be Ruler in the midst of Thine enemies.” Rule Thou, rule among Pagans, Jews, heretics, false brethren. Rule Thou, rule, O Son of David, Lord of David, rule in the midst of Pagans, Jews, heretics, false brethren. “Be Thou Ruler in the midst of Thine enemies.” We understand not this verse aright, if we do not see that it is already going on.’
Now from this consider that the Apostle Paul sort the conversion of King Agrippa in Acts 26: 29 we read: Paul answered him, ‘It is not important if it takes a long time or a short time. I pray to God for you and for everyone who is listening to me today. I pray that you may all become like me. But I would not want you to become a prisoner like me!’
Therefore – how could it be – that if Agrippa had become king; that he should stop being king; no one who reads this passage could think so when one considers Pauls pastoral advice in his epistles, was always concerned, with preventing wild and revolutionary changes from impulsive urges and desires brought on by the new faith for the new convert; he encouraged people to remain as they were; married, single, slave (unless the opportunity arose to be free); he was concerned that new converts would act in haste; how then might he have counselled the King; but to remain King of course; and what kind of king, a king worthy of the promises of Christ; and a true and faithful servant of him. How might such a king be a faithful servant o Christ but by passing laws in keeping with his understanding of Christ’s teachings; embodying his values in laws and political agenda; and thus changing the realities on the ground; that his successors, who if they were also Christian; would yet refine further in the light of those same teachings! By GOD’s providence, this never happened in the time of Christ; but later in history, first in Armenia, then Rome, then Ethiopia – we see that indeed rulers and leaders, did indeed adopt Christ as their Lord; and ruled as Christian rulers – some better than others. Their laws, were pagan laws were reformed; and formed a new in the light of Christ; and then reformed again by successive generations; as they understood the faith applied to their politics and circumstances; such as Emperor Justinian the 1st who ruled from 526 – 565AD; whose laws introduced new protections for women and children, promoted monogamy, discouraged divorce, and concubinage, inheritance laws were reformed to reinforce family connections and care for widows and orphans; forced prostitution was outlawed, he banned pagan worship and created penalties for heretics, he introduced laws to protect slaves, and made it easier for them to gain their freedom, he built hospitals and orphanages (themselves both novel Christian inventions). Would we as Christians object to these ideas, or say somehow they were not Christian. The teachings of Christ play out differently at the macro level – when a ruler, tries to rule by them, than when an individual plays them out in his life without such power;; but he does the same in his little kingdom as he tries to rule his own life by them; Christianising his own life. In short – what we see in history with Justinian onwards – and those that built the first Christendoms (and there was more than one) is exactly what we should expect to see – as one ‘works out his salvation with fear and trembling’.
One may attempt to quell the objectors to this biblical mandate for a new Christendom; by pointing out the cognitive dissonance of those that object to it. When I encounter such objectors to this belief; Christians, I ask them at some point some of the following questions: do you want abortion to be legal or illegal? Do you want marriage to be defined in law as between one man and one women or any imaginable combination? Do want Euthanasia to be legal or illegal? Do you want it to be legal to pray in your heads outside abortion clinics or not? I then follow up there answers with a simple why? I then proceed to explore their reasons; and invariably – the Christians (not the Liberals) – will appeal to his/her faith as justification for their answers. The result therefore is to show that objector is actually working to my own logic; even if they do not realise it; even if they are doing so in an inconsistent way; by applying it to their own life, but not seeing rulers should apply the same principles to their office! This often cuts through! Some I do this exercise with; display an alarming cognitive dissonance; saying things like – they would not do it themselves – but they would not want their decision hard baked into the legal framework of the land; they imagine a Christian ruler – dethroning Christ whilst in public office – to be governed by what guiding light (at which point they try to smuggle Christianity in through the back door without acknowledging it); with these I usually ask – who would they vote for, and do the exercise again; a pro life or a pro abortion candidate and so on; each time they make a Christian choice in the discussion – they surrender ground in the debate.
One verse that is often thrown at me at this point is the passage from John 18: 36:
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not [a]of this realm.”
The argument being that the Kingdom of heaven is not a worldly kingdom, but something merely ‘within you’ (from Luke) and not of ‘flesh and blood’ (from Ephesians). That it is simply about personal repentance – which of course is not entirely wrong; in so far as it goes and is why this poor formation persists – but it simply does not go far enough; not nearly far enough. Repentance to what end – how is repentance lived out in your lives; is their no way at all this repentance impacts your politics? Think of Wilberforce and slavery! However, the verse above is also misunderstood; Tertulian certainly saw in it – an example to eschew the trappings and bloated prestige of power; a lesson in humility; that should come with the wielding of power. Christians believe Christ is king – whether this translates into temporal rule or not! Christ is still King; and His kingship does not require earthly dominion imposed by soldiers for Him to be King; it comes from no earthly ‘force’ – it is – regardless of circumstances; which is why the Lord’s servants did not need to fight to make Him king – and he did not need to call them to fight for His kingship; as it existed of itself – an authority from heaven. However, this does not change the fact; that our faith does work itself out to earthly rule as we have shown earlier; if Christ is King – He must be king of our political lives and public lives as well; our political ambitions; and so when rulers are Christians; their armies – should be used for Christian purposes also; (see Romans); as this passage is a question of what is the grounding of the kingship of Christ not what is the consequences of Him being our King and we his servant in this world collectively – which is the subject of the article; and if our faith is political – then how does that work out in reality? We are not asking how is the kingship of Christ established or upon what it depends? We are asking since He is king – what does that mean for our political lives; our teacher Chrysostom said this:
He leads upwards Pilate who was not a very wicked man, nor after their fashion, and desires to show that He is not a mere man, but God and the Son of God. And what says He? If My Kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews. He undoes that which Pilate for a while had feared, namely, the suspicion of seizing kingly power, Is then His kingdom not of this world also? Certainly it is. How then says He it ‘is not’? Not because He does not rule here, but because He has his empire from above, and because it is not human, but far greater than this and more splendid. If then it be greater, how was He made captive by the other? By consenting, and giving Himself up. But He does not at present reveal this, but what says He? If I had been of this world, ‘My servants would fight, that I should not be delivered.’ Here He shows the weakness of kingship among us, that its strength lies in servants; but that which is above is sufficient for itself, needing nothing.
Since Christ is King, we must up hold the values that flow out of that paradigm – which means that He must be honoured the state; as no one is more worthy of honour; we must bend our custom to Him – for He is due all our customs; and no one is more worthy of custom, fear is to shown to Him as no one is more worthy of fear; (Romans); and as such – HIs teachings – become the basis of a political narrative an aspiration; and the moment we try to translate this aspiration into a real and living society; basing our laws, on the values of His, arising from His teachings – as expressed in our Churches doctrines; we are at that moment in the job of building a Christendom. Each state in which this is accomplished acts like a ‘school of Christian law’ they can come to different conclusions; as their ends and intentions maybe different, based on different circumstance; so long as those ends and intentions are always Christian in character and direction. Those that reject this idea; must by necessity build their values on some other doctrine; and the values that emerge from these alternative doctrines – and that is exactly what gave rise to Liberalism; and attempt to build new doctrines and new values (with natural theology as its foundations which is why it still feels a little Christians to us); that is exactly what Liberalism is a distortion of Christianity; any Christian who – does not want a Christendom; or can not see the connection; between doctrine giving rise to values, and values impacting politics and politics building Christendoms; has been discipled more by Liberalism than they have by the Apostolic teaching. Christians we must decide – how Christian do we want to be.
