God & Government 1: Jesus is Lord

There is no aspect of human life or activity that lies outside the scope of the Christian faith, and certainly not so vital an activity as the conduct of civil government. This becomes apparent when the central truth of the Christian faith is properly understood. That truth is this: Jesus is Lord. Many treat this statement, written by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans,[1] as little more than a religious platitude. Others see it as simply an expression of one’s own personal religious commitment, still others as a kind of magical salvation formula: “Just say these words, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and you will be saved.” But in fact, the statement is the single most important datum of all reality, namely that all things are subject to the governance of Jesus Christ, the One who created all things in the beginning,[2] maintains all things in existence now and forever,[3] and has reconciled all things in heaven and on earth to God by the blood of his cross.[4] When he completed the work he had been given to perform on earth, he ascended to heaven and “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”[5] This honor was given to him as a reward for his suffering, as Paul explains in his letter to the Philippians.

“Though he was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore [as a reward for his suffering] God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:6-11)

He is Lord, not only in a religious sense, but in every conceivable sense. He has been elevated “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”[6] It is noteworthy that Paul found it necessary to emphasize Jesus’ future reign (“not only in this age,” he says, “but also in the one to come”). It seems he assumed his readers took his present reign for granted. Today, the situation is reversed. Christians take his future reign for granted but need to be reminded of his present reign. When our Lord appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, he said, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.”[7] Not will be given (future tense) but has been given (past tense). He was formally invested with this authority when he ascended into heaven to take his seat at the right hand of the Father, as depicted in the prophetic vision given to Daniel.

“I saw in the night visions, 
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7:13-14)

The worldly nature of his dominion should be noted. His authority is not limited to the heavenly or spiritual realm, i.e., to the rule of angels. He was given “dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.” In other words, he rules on earth in time just as surely as he does in heaven for all eternity. When Jesus took his throne above, “There were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.’”[8] Hence he is called “King of kings and Lord of lords” and the “ruler of the kings on earth.”[9] The Father had promised him this beforehand, saying, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession” (Ps. 2:8).

It is incumbent, then, upon all kings, princes, presidents, prime ministers, legislators, governors, and judges to submit to “the ruler of the kings of the earth.” Things will not go well for those who rebel against his authority.

“You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Ps. 2:9-12)

The assertion that “Jesus is Lord,” again, is not simply a comforting religious sentiment, nor an expression of one’s own religious conviction, nor yet simply a formula to be repeated in order to be saved. It is the foundational truth of all reality.

This means that it is also inherently a political statement. It is more than a political statement, to be sure, but it has very far-reaching political implications, a fact that is often overlooked by much of the modern church. The Christian faith today is largely thought to be a private, internal matter—a matter of personal conviction only—and not also a public matter to be reflected in the institutions of society. The absence of the word “Christendom” from our vocabulary is a testimony to this. Historically, “Christendom” refers to Christian nations collectively, i.e., nations largely composed of Christian people (whether genuinely Christian or only nominally) and whose laws and institutions embodied (more or less consistently) the laws of the Bible. This is what has characterized the nations of the western world since the time of Constantine in the fourth century, until relatively recent times, the progressive advance of the influence of the gospel. Western culture is largely distinguished from other cultures around the world by the formative influence of the Christian faith. There were other formative influences as well, of course, Greco-Roman and Enlightenment ideas being the two most influential. But the pervasive influence of the Christian faith is undeniable and it more than anything else is what distinguishes the Western world from the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, the idea of a Christian culture or of a Christian nation is rejected today not only by those who reject Christianity itself, but also by many who otherwise enthusiastically embrace it. Ironically, the latter often do this in the name of the gospel. They say that Christians should not be entangled in the culture (or fighting what’s called the culture war) or speak to political issues; they should rather stick to preaching the gospel, by which they mean the gospel very narrowly considered: the message of Jesus crucified, buried, and raised again for our salvation. But it is a worthwhile question to ask whether this a sufficient explanation of the scope of the gospel?

This will be the subject of my next post…



[1] “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9).
[2] Col. 1:15-16; Jn. 1:1-3
[3] Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3
[4] Col. 1:20
[5] Heb. 1:3 and 1 Pet. 3:22; cf. Ps. 110:1; Lk. 22:69
[6] Eph. 1:21
[7] Matt. 28:18
[8] Rev. 11:15
[9] Rev. 19:6; 1:5