Allegiance to King Jesus Over President, Party, or Pundit

Article   -   11min read

The political discourse in the twenty-first century is filled with emotion, outrage, and passion. This is true regardless of which political party one most aligns with. Consuming just a few hours of video, audio, or written content from your favorite political pundit is likely to make you feel a certain disbelief, perhaps even anger, towards those ‘on the other side.’ Of course, all media outlets are designed to make us addictively feel a tribalistic sense of belonging1 and a collected indignation towards those with whom we disagree with.

Since this is the situation we find ourselves in, it is crucial to contemplate what being a follower of King Jesus and an image-bearer of God looks like within this setting. How—if at all—should a Christian engage in the political realm as one who is allegiant to the risen and ascended Jesus? Does the good news of God’s kingdom and a biblical worldview have anything to say about contemporary politics?

I. The Way of Jesus Is Demonstrably & Intrinsically Political
There is an unfortunate tendency among the religious and secular to view Christianity and politics as diametrically opposed—or at least as unrelated. People think religion is personal and internal while politics is social and external. One attends church on Sunday, perhaps Bible study during the week, but looks for political advice, news, and opinions through various media platforms. However, this assumption that Christianity is unrelated to politics should be challenged, starting with a definition.

When talking of ‘politics’ in the historical sense of the word, we are speaking of the “public life, the ordering of society, enacting justice, and the arranging of common goods.” To be “‘Political’ simply means the activities associated with the organization and governance of people. It has to do with rulership and who has the right to order our lives. It is what happens in the public domain. . . . .Politics comes from the Greek word polis which means city, or politikia meaning the affairs of the cities.”2 Politics is “how we partner together for the flourishing of humanity and the world”3 and seeks to answer questions like: How do we as a society deal with money? How do we treat enemies? What is authority, and who should have it? What does a healthy community look like? What is justice? What does racial reconciliation look like? What is the nature and purpose of marriage? How do we protect the marginalized and innocent?

Politics is ‘how we partner together for the flourishing of humanity and the world’

If these are the questions that politics seeks to answer, then one can quickly see how Christianity, the Way of Jesus,4 is demonstrably and intrinsically political. In fact, it is a politic, in that it advocates for an all-encompassing way of living as a flourishing society.5 Jesus claimed to be “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), and his disciples were said to be followers of his ‘Way’ of life.6 The Way of Jesus—his lifestyle, rhythms, and practices—involved specific views and actions towards economics and money, dealing with enemies, the nature of justice, serving the marginalized, the purpose of governing authorities, what a thriving life and society look like, how we care for the physical creation, and more.7

For example, Jesus and his apostles exhort believers to:

  • Love and pray for not only their neighbors but also for their enemies, and to do good to those who hate them8
  • Strive for justice and practice gracious hospitality9
  • Submit to, honor, and pay taxes to governing authorities10 while recognizing the supreme sovereignty of God11
  • Live peacefully and to pray for those in authority12
  • Care for the oppressed, including orphans and widows13
  • Live as peacemakers14 and to seek for racial reconciliation and unity15
  • View marriage as a permanent, exclusive, one-flesh union between one man and one woman16
  • Avoid the unhealthy love and hoarding of wealth17
  • Aare for and steward the physical creation18

All of these ideas seek to answer the profoundly political questions surrounding what it looks like to partner together for the flourishing of humanity and the world.

As Jesus inaugurated God’s kingdom, and individuals joined Jesus’ Way, embodying his perspective, there began to be outposts and communities of this new and unique kingdom politic. As Christian scholar Patrick Schreiner says, “The gospel message is a world-forming, public, and political reality. Jesus calls people to a new way of life, a new society, a new community. In this way, Jesus and Paul contrasted the current order of society.”19 These groups of individuals lived out this turning-the-world-upside-down20 politic where the last become first and sacrificial enemy-love and radical forgiveness are practiced, where the marginalized are cared for, where there is a hunger for virtue and justice, and where Jesus is the supreme monarch.

As Jesus inaugurated God’s kingdom, and individuals joined Jesus’ Way, embodying his perspective, there began to be outposts and communities of this new and unique kingdom politic

If Christ-followers are to take seriously the calling to imitate Jesus and follow in his footsteps,21 this means embracing the rich politic he lived out and set in motion. How these directives play out in the twenty-first century will depend, in part, on the unique socio-political situation one inhabits. However, for followers of Jesus, his foundational teachings are crucial for a Christian politic. It is never a question of whether Jesus’ (and his apostles’) teachings are relevant for today’s politics, but how they are relevant.

II. The Subversive Good News of King Jesus
Not only is the Way of Jesus thoroughly political, but the very gospel of the kingdom of God is political. Central to the gospel claim is that the kingdom of God has been inaugurated22 and there is now a reigning King.23 Jesus is the saving King of kings who has come,24 which is a profoundly political claim. Jesus, as the ultimate authority and bedrock of our politic, has the final say in how we live as individuals and in communities. The resurrected Jesus has vindicated his claim that he has received all cosmic authority25 who deserves our unqualified allegiance.26 These are audacious political claims as they drastically alter how we (re)structure our societal beliefs and interactions under King Jesus.

These bold claims are, in part, what caused Jesus’ death! Early detractors of Christianity claimed “they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus” (Acts 17:7), showing quite clearly how the gospel was perceived as being a political threat to the Roman Empire—a kingdom which already had a king. As the Jewish leaders said, “Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar” (John 19:12, NIV). Theologians Michael Bird and N.T. Wright explain: “To declare that Jesus is Lord was to imply that Caesar was not.”27 To confess Jesus as Lord is also to say that whatever political leader, president, movement, or camp we support is therefore not lord.

Jesus is the saving King of kings who has come, which is a profoundly political claim

This claim led to Jesus’ death and put later Christians on a collision course with several political authorities. We should recall that “Nero did not throw Christians to the lions because they confessed that ‘Jesus is Lord of my heart.’ It was rather because they confessed that ‘Jesus is Lord of all,’ meaning that Jesus was Lord even over the realm Casesar claimed as his domain of absolute authority.”28 Christians claimed that at the center of their kingdom politic, there is a supreme authority to which all owe allegiance—a subversive claim which often led to their death.

None of this suggests that the gospel is irrelevant to your personal life and your salvation—it absolutely is! Rather, to view the good news as a foundational part of the kingdom politic is to say there are personal and political implications to Jesus’ gospel.

III. Giving Our Allegiance to King Jesus over President, Party, or Pundit
Given this gospel reality at the center of the kingdom politic—that Jesus is the saving King in authority—the only proper response is to confess and give allegiance to him.29 As Theologian Preston Sprinkle explains, “the first-century gospel was designed to wrench people’s allegiance away from worldly kings and kingdoms and throw it on the one true King—Jesus.”30 This means loyalty to King Jesus, and also to “the body of Christ”31 which is the global family of believers. As such, any allegiance—let alone our ultimate hope and salvation—to a country, flag, political party, presidential candidate, or partisan movement will be secondary at most. As Matthew Bates explains, “Jesus as the King of kings receives our unconditional allegiance. Mere earthly kings and governmental leaders receive our qualified allegiance, as long as it is not in conflict with our allegiance to the true king.”32 We cannot ultimately serve two masters33 as one will always take precedence.

Any allegiance—let alone our ultimate hope and salvation—to a country, flag, political party, presidential candidate, or partisan movement will be secondary at most

We can certainly show support for any given country’s virtues, equal opportunities, and just laws. Insofar as a nation positions itself to foster good for individuals and groups, that should be celebrated and supported. Properly understood, Christians can absolutely be dual citizens of both God’s heavenly kingdom and of a particular country.34 But it still must be a correctly ordered allegiance, as Jesus’ reign will outlive all other leader or nation.

V. Living out the Way of Jesus as Ambassadors of Reconciliation
It is one thing to understand in principle this kingdom politic, this Way of Jesus, but it is far more complex today to live it out. Below are a few general guiding principles to help
as we seek to imitate and follow King Jesus’ politic faithfully.

  1. We must place our ultimate allegiance to King Jesus over any fallible, finite, fallen president, party, or pundit. We can support individuals and movements who work for the good in a qualified, secondary sense. But our supreme loyalty is to the King of kings, as we know that every nation will eventually fall, while God’s kingdom is everlasting. As Lee Camp writes, “There is no compartmentalization of the faith, no realm, no sphere, no business, no politic in which the lordship of Christ will be excluded.”35
  2. We must find our political answers, vision, and motivations primarily from Jesus and his Apostles. Other secular political outlets can sometimes be helpful, but they are often emotionally charged and must be carefully (and likely minimally) engaged with. As Schreiner notes, “The fire-hydrant of partisan news is winning hearts. A thirty-minute sermon floats like a speck on the ocean surface of cable news. We are what we eat.”36 What if, instead of forming our opinions about cultural events and views from our favorite pundits or websites, we turn first to see what Jesus has to say on the topic?
  3. We must communicate with—even disagree with—others about politics in a Christ-like manner. Our responses should always be gracious,37 as we know that “a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1). We are to be people who are honest and not deceptive, who speak the truth and do so in love.38 People often care little about what you say until they know how much you care.
  4. We must live out the flourishing kingdom politic modeled by Jesus. This means embodying a lifestyle of sacrificial enemy-love, radical forgiveness, care for the marginalized, counter-cultural sexual purity, and a striving for virtue. Living out the transformative politic of God’s kingdom can be a compelling way to show the world what a thriving (albeit fallible) group of Spirit-empowered Jesus-followers looks like. This will only strengthen our credibility as we invite people into God’s kingdom.

Succinctly put, this kingdom politic means: Placing our ultimate political allegiance in King Jesus; finding our political answers primarily from Jesus; communicating with others about politics like Jesus; and living out the kingdom politic as Jesus commands. The goal is for all Christians to have the mindset of Christ39 as we embody God’s kingdom politic regarding money, economics, punishment, enemies, abortion, immigration, marriage and family, laws, the marginalized, elections, leaders, creation care, and anything else related to public life, the ordering of society, enacting justice, and the arranging of common goods.40

Living out the Way of Jesus and its turning-the-world-upside-down politic will often be costly, but this is part of what it means to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow him.41 We must not be those who carry the name of Christ yet ignore the Way of Christ.42 God’s people are to be an outpost of his reign, his kingdom, which is infused with political principles and prescriptions. We are to embody Christ’s politic as we live as new creations and a new humanity,43 as people who have the favor and goodwill of those around us,44 to be peacemakers who let our good works shine like lights to others,45 as we overcome evil with good.46

  • Possible Discussion Questions
  • Recommended Resources
  • Footnotes
  • How would you define your Christian political identity if somewhere were to ask you?
  • What practical ways can you showcase your ultimate allegiance to King Jesus and his political vision this year?
  • What does it look like to live out Jesus’ kingdom politic in your unique situation? What are some tangible ways Jesus’ Way (of sacrificial enemy-love, radical forgiveness, striving for virtue and justice, etc.) this could be seen?

1. Christian scholar, Preston Sprinkle, in Exiles: The Church In The Shadow Of Empire (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2024) writes, “Make no mistake: political tribes aren’t just after your vote; they’re after your heart. And they are very good at making disciples” (175).
2. Patrick Schreiner, Political Gospel: Public Witness in a Politically Crazy World (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2022), 5. Emphasis in original.
3. Schreiner, 6.
4. A ‘Christian’ is one who follows, believes in, and imitates Jesus (and God) and follows his Way. Greg Boyd writes, “the word Christian originally suggested one who follows and looks like Christ. By definition, therefore, the distinctive mark of a Christian is that one aspires to think, feel, and act like Christ” (The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005], 51).
5. As Lee Camp writes, “I am not suggesting the more palatable notion merely that Christianity has political implications. I am suggesting that it is itself a politic, which has an all-encompassing vision of human history. . .by politic, I mean an all-encompassing manner of communal life that grapples with all the questions the classical art of politics has always asked” Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manifesto for Christians (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2020), 4. This includes questions about how we live together, how we address money, our enemies, violence, marriages, families, social structures, what it means to be human, and what a rightly ordered, flourishing, human community is. Kaitlyn Schiess, in The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2020) writes, “Jesus’ ministry is not apolitical; it reorients the perspective of his people and refuses to acquiesce to the narrow political categories of his world” (67).
6. Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22.
7. Camp writes, “To understand that Jesus is the Messiah entails a particular lifestyle or a particular way, namely the way of the Messiah.” Mere Discipleship: Radical Christianity in a Rebellious World (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press. 2003), 36.
8. Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27.
9. Matthew 5:6. The Greek word here is dikaiosynēn, which can be translated as righteousness: what is right; justice. On hospitality see Matthew 25:42-45 and 1 Peter 4:9.
10. Luke 20:19—26; Romans 13:1—7; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:17. Governing authorities are instituted by God through his common grace to help create ordered societies. On an individual basis, this is similar to how he created image-bearers to co-rule with him over creation as his stewards and ambassadors. Unfortunately, both governments and image-bearers do not always fulfill their roles rightly. N.T. Wright and Michael Bird explain, “God gives government as a gift to humanity to bring welfare, safety, order and justice to human communities” Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2024), 152.
In virtue of the God-instituted office of government (Romans 13:1), respect and honor is required by Christians towards their governing rulers, insofar as they are protecting the weak, upholding the good, and (generally) acting as “God’s servant for your good” (Romans 13:4). If they are, Christians are commanded to be “submissive to rulers and authorities” (Titus 3:1).
11. Acts 5:29.
12. 1 Timothy 2:1-4.
13. Luke 4:18; James 1:27.
14. Matthew 5:9.
15. Galatians 3:28.
16. Matthew 19.
17. Matthew 19:24; 1 Timothy 6:10.
18. Genesis 1:28.
19. Schreiner, 12.
20. Acts 17:6.
21. 1 Corinthians 11:1; 1 Peter 2:21.
22. Matthew 12:28; Luke 4:43; 17:20-21.
23. John 12:15; Acts 2:36, 10:36, 17:7. As N.T. Wright says, “The story Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell is the story of how God became king—in and through Jesus both in his public career and in his death.” How God Became King: The Forgotten Story Of The Gospels (New York: Harper Collins Publishing, 2016), 175. Emphasis in original.
24. Revelation 17:14. He is the saving King in that he died for and took away our sins (John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 15:3).
25. Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 28:18.
26. Luke 9:23.
27. Wright & Bird, 21. Sprinkle explains, “To question whether Caesar was the true emperor—or, more offensively, to suggest that a Jew who was crucified by the power of Rome was actually the Lord, the Savior, the Son of God—was to question the very foundation of Roman exceptionalism” (100).
28. Bird, Introducing Paul: The Man, His Mission and His Message (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 88. As Camp explains, “Jesus and other early Christians were not executed because they were spiritual. They were executed because their politic was a threat to the powers that be” (18). Sprinkle writes, “Paul proclaimed that Jesus is Lord, and this was a politically disruptive thing to say” (11). He continues, “Rome never crucified religious leaders for preaching religious messages. They crucified political insurrectionists for treason….Jesus wasn’t crucified for preaching a spiritual gospel about the forgiveness of sins and eternal life….Rome was actually very tolerant of other religions, as long as people maintained their patriotism toward the empire. The only religions that raised concerns were those that destabilized society or posed a threat to Roman rule. What Rome wouldn’t tolerate was insubordination. Jesus was crucified because he was perceived to be subverting the empire, and, as we’ll see, Rome’s perception was largely accurate” (67-68). And finally, Sprinkle says, “Rome didn’t crucify people for telling others to accept some Jewihs god into their hearts. They crucified people suspected to be a threat to their empire” (74-75). Jesus’ gospel claim to be Lord of all was a message which turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6-7).
29. Romans 10:9.
30. Sprinkle, 102.
31. 1 Corinthians 12:27.
32. Gospel Allegiance: What Faith in Jesus Misses for Salvation in Christ (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2019), 115. Schiess writes, “loyalties are only rightly placed when they find their context and meaning in light of the ultimate loyalty we have to the body of Christ” (30).
33. Luke 16:13. Schiess writes that we cannot artificially bifurcate our lives: “One story will reign supreme, one kingdom will win our allegiance, one Lord will direct our lives” (73).
34. For example, the apostle Paul had no issue claiming both his citizenship to Rome (Acts 16:38–39) and his primary citizenship to God’s kingdom of Heaven (Philippians 3:20).
35. Camp, 23.
36. Schreiner, 8. Sprinkle notes that there is a “steady drip of partisan propaganda steering our allegiance away from Christ and toward a political party” (179). Schiess writes, “Much like the devotion believers have to their local chuches, we repeatedly return to the same news sources to find the answers to life’s complicated questions, comfort in the fact of an uncertain world, and a community that promises us a sense of belonging if we stick with them” (29).
37. Colossians 4:6.
38. Ephesians 4:15.
39. 1 Corinthians 2:16. This foundational posture is crucial, as not every contemporary issue (e.g., artificial intelligence) was around in the first century. We need the mind of Jesus to wisely engage in various complex issues.
40. Much of this kingdom politic message should be a reminder for believers. As Schreiner notes, “our political message should be directed primarily at our people. . . The meat of our message should press our people to stay loyal to King Jesus. We encourage them to remember their true King and their duties to him. . . Before going to transform the world, we must ask if our communities are transformed. Before presenting a political message, we must ask if we are enacting Jesus’s political program” (191).
41. Matthew 16:24.
42. Camp, 140. Schiess explains that the ultimate political reality is the kingdom of God. “Jesus’ life was the embodied, holistic representation of that kingdom for us, constantly pointing his followers toward the healing, justice, and wholeness that characterizes it—shalom” (188). Emphasis in original.
43. 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:15.
44. Acts 2:47.
45. Matthew 5:16.
46. Romans 12:21.