Jesus and The Powers

As a former lead minister who served in full-time church ministry from 2008-2021, I am empathetic toward the ministers and church leaders who find themselves ministering in churches during this election season. Chances are that you did not enter ministry with the stated calling of helping divided churches navigate the political and public divide we are currently experiencing, but it is where you find yourselves. Our world needs you more than ever to help us pursue the way of Jesus in a time when the powers and principalities have recruited so many of us for their death-dealing purposes. 

If my empathy lands well with you in this season, I cannot recommend strongly enough N. T. Wright and Michael Bird’s recent book, Jesus and the Powers. Their timely book directly names the dangerous reality of our current moment while offering a theologically grounded response centered in the kingdom of God that I believe you will find helpful in your local context. 

Wright and Bird ground their response in Jesus’ primary message about the kingdom of God. They argue that in a time of fear and fragmentation, amid carnage and crises of various kinds, Jesus is King and Jesus’ kingdom remains the central object of the Church’s witness and work. In other words, rather than diverting our attention to the partisan concerns of our political parties, Jesus’ kingdom must remain the primary object of the church’s witness and work. 

However, their focus on the kingdom of God does not provide an excuse for church leaders to ignore political matters that affect our neighbors. Rather than falling into the common extremes of becoming a servant of the State or ignoring politics to prepare people for the afterlife, they chart another path that encourages churches to engage the powers and principalities without becoming enmeshed in or disengaged from the democratic political process. 

In their theological treatment, there is a God-ordained place for governments. God intended the world to be run by human authorities. Throughout the Scriptures, those human authorities are held to account when they fail to uphold their governmental purposes. Anarchy is hopeless because bullies will always prey on the weak without proper oversight. And authority is problematic because authorities will always be tempted to abuse power. 

Thus, the church has a prophetic role in the midst of that tension. Since the time of the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures, God has called on his people to live into our prophetic calling in our relationship to the State. Rather than becoming endorsers and supporters of political candidates and parties, church leaders should hold political rulers to account for their God-ordained role of ruling in righteousness and justice. We are not partisan endorsers of a political party. Instead, we are partisans of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

When we proclaim Jesus as Lord and commit our lives to build for his kingdom, we have chosen to remain committed to Jesus and his way. And a commitment to Jesus’ kingdom means a refusal to wield carnal weapons to establish his way in the world. The goal is not Christian hegemony, but Christian witness. We refuse the coercion of Christian nationalism and choose instead to persuade people to choose the way of Jesus through the winsome beauty of authentic Christian public witness.

So, how should Christians posture themselves in light of these commitments and values? Wright and Bird reveal an inherent tension in how the Church relates to political authority. On the one hand, there is a positive relationship between the Church and the civic powers in Acts 2 when the apostles are “standing in favor with all the people.” On the other hand, there are examples of negative relationships with state authorities in the Scriptures. Jesus was put to death on a cross by a Roman governor at the behest of the high priests in Jerusalem. Considering this tension, we are left with the task of discerning when we should appeal to Caesar and submit to the governing authorities and when we should tell Caesar, “We must obey God rather than men” (see Acts 5:29) and pray for the government to fall into divine judgment. We must also ensure our discernment is not merely a revelation of the political party we feel more of a connection to.

These are the tensions that Wright and Bird wade into and provide theological and historical insight for our ongoing discernment. It would be easy to ignore these matters in the pursuit of church unity and church growth. But increasingly, the role of ministers in this divided time is to help our members develop a theology of public witness and civic discipleship. 

I commend to you N. T. Wright and Michael T. Bird’s thoughtful work, Jesus and the Powers, as you delve into these important matters.

You may not have entered ministry to pursue these questions, but every generation of ministers and church leaders finds itself called to answer important questions relevant to the moment God calls you to lead in. May God continue to walk with you as we, together, seek to answer these questions and live faithfully as followers of Jesus who are committed to his beautiful way.