...for he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer (Romans 13:4).
As
the 2022 national election approaches, we become more concerned about whom to
vote for. Without necessarily campaigning for or pointing you to specific
candidates, I would like to give you a guideline in choosing whom you must vote
for the different political offices, not only this coming May 9 but also every
election day.
In
Romans 13:4, Paul speaks of the office, position, and function of the governing
authorities, who were the civil government officials in the context of Paul’s
statement. He argues that it is right to fear the one who is in authority
(13:3), for he is God’s servant to do Christians good and carries on them God’s
punishment for their wrongdoing. From the way Paul describes the office,
position, and function of the governing authorities, we can discern that civil
government officials exist to carry out God’s civil law or national law.
God
instituted His civil law or national law in the Old Testament, where His
covenant people (the Israelites) were at the same time the citizens of the nation Israel. In essence, the church was, at the same time, the nation. Thus, in the
earlier part of the Old Testament, God implemented both the moral law (for the
Israelites as God’s covenant people) and the civil law (for the Israelites as
citizens of the nation of Israel) through the same leaders (Moses, Joshua, the
Judges, and Samuel). In the later part of the Old Testament, God implemented
His moral law through prophets and His civil law through kings. In this system,
God required the civil law administrators to be both God-fearing and nation
builders. The Old Testament civil law can be summarized into at least four
categories: (1) protection of human life; (2) administration of civil justice;
(3) promotion of social harmony; (4) security of civil requirements.
It is
important to note that God handpicked men to administer the civil law. God did
not handpick Deborah, the only woman judge, to administer the civil law in
Israel. However, God allowed her to do it to post a living testimony of the
failure of men to stand for their God-given office as administrators of civil
law. Deborah herself had a sense of this which is why she was not zealous about
the position but instead wanted Barak for the position (Judges 4-5).
By
the New Testament time, God gave the moral law to the church and the civil law
to the civil government authorities. In this system, God no longer required the
civil government authorities to be God-fearing before they were allowed to
administer the civil law. This is probably because not every citizen of the
nation of Israel was a member of local churches. God only expected the civil
government authorities to be faithful in implementing the civil law. We can
discern this trend from Paul’s exhortation in Romans 13:1-7 and Peter’s in his first epistle (1 Peter 2:13-17). For everyone’s information, the governing
authority Paul tells the Christians to submit to, and the emperor whom Peter
tells the Christians to honor were ungodly civil government leaders who were
actually persecuting and killing the Christians.
In
the Old Testament time, God spoke directly and audibly to the citizens of
Israel, so the Israelites took instructions directly from Him. However, after
He sent Jesus Christ to earth, He no longer spoke audibly and directly from
heaven but spoke to the nation of Israel and is now speaking to us through the
Scripture. Thus, we must consult the Scriptures if we want to know God's
directions concerning whom He wants to become our civil government leaders. In
light of this, I think the Scripture shows us that the people who must become
our governing authorities are those who will uphold the four categories of civil
law.
In
light of what we have discussed, I suggest that you vote for the candidate who
has the capacity and willingness to protect human life, administer civil
justice, promote social harmony, and secure civil requirements. A Christian
candidate who passes these requirements is a better option because he is
expected to uphold the civil law and the moral law (the ten commandments).
Nevertheless, a candidate does not have to be a Christian to be the right
person for a political post. The minimum requirement is that he will protect
human life, administer civil justice, promote social harmony, ad secure civil
requirements. If he passes these requirements and upholds the moral law, he is the
right candidate, even if he is not a Christian. I also suggest that you vote
for men who pass these requirements for the top posts in all levels of our
civil government's executive, legislative and judicial branches.
The
one who should win a post among all right candidates is in the hands of God.
Our job is to vote for the candidate we think is the right person to occupy the
post.
-Rev. Marlon P. Launio (Minister, Northern Luzon Presbytery, Presbyterian Church of the Philippines)
(this was posted for the FB group "Treasure in Jars of Clay in Northern Luzon")
