\u201cThe church is spiritual, it shouldn\u2019t be concerned with things like politics, public policy, and government!\u201d I\u2019ve heard variations of this argument from congregants, unbelievers, and even fellow pastors. Many Christians believe the church should be solely concerned with \u2018spiritual’ things (i.e., immaterial things). According to such thinking, crossing the line into politics is considered \u201cunclean,\u201d and even a betrayal of the gospel. Sadly, some believe the church\u2019s sweet spot is for her to be so heavenly-minded that she\u2019s of no earthly good. Thus, whenever a pastor, theologian, or Christian addresses this area of life, they inevitably are accused of making it an idol. Ironically, it is when politics and government are severed from God\u2019s authority that they become autonomous and untouchable. Politics becomes a god unto itself\u2014an idol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others grant that Christians can have at least a passing interest in the public square, but such matters are not really \u201cgospel issues,\u201d whatever that means. For such people, politics and public life are regrettable but necessary diversions from gospel ministry. If these objections are true, should churches support organizations like the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC)? And if such organizations must exist, how should their work relate to the gospel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I believe the gospel contains within it an inherently public and political message. Consequently, if the church refuses to speak into this area of life, our gospel message remains incomplete. In what follows, I will examine the inherent political message of the gospel by considering three issues. First, how the secular\/sacred divide undermines the Christian faith. Second, by turning to Christ\u2019s commission of the Apostle Paul to a gospel ministry that included preaching the gospel to political rulers. Finally, I introduce a basic philosophy for faithful engagement within the political sphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many Christians have swallowed a fundamentally secularist view of life.[1]<\/a> Secularism is marked by a secular\/sacred divide, or what Francis Schaeffer calls the upper<\/em> versus lower<\/em> story view of life.[2]<\/a> This divide separates life into two conflicting areas. On the lower story, there are the secular and public spaces of life. In this area, facts, reason, and science reign\u2014no religion is allowed. In the upper story, we find the private and religious, or sacred, area of life. Individuals reach this upper story through a leap of faith. In the upper story, reason, science, and facts don\u2019t matter. Thus, what reigns supreme in the upper story are feelings, experience, and ultimately relativism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n How do these two spheres relate? In a secular world, the lower story of reason, science, and facts is considered more important than the upper story. Religion is allowed to exist, as long as it doesn\u2019t make any claims upon the secular parts of life. Sadly, many Christians have unwittingly embraced this secular\/sacred worldview. Such Christians are happy to live most of their life in the sacred sphere while only reluctantly visiting the secular area of life. After occasionally dipping their toes in the secular water, they quickly retreat to the safety of the upper story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ironically, these evangelicals and their secular neighbors share the same basic worldview, for both accept the secular\/sacred split. The only real difference between the two camps is which sphere they view as most important. Secularists believe the lower story is supreme, while many evangelicals favor the upper story. Thus, secularism and evangelicalism have coexisted under a fake peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This embrace of secularism runs contrary to the plain testimony of Scripture. Christ possesses a universal authority that covers both heaven and earth, everything visible and invisible, in this age and the next (Col. 1:15\u201320; Eph. 1:20\u201323). Moreover, it is Christ\u2019s universal authority that is the very foundation of the Great Commission<\/em> (Matt. 28:18\u201320). Without such a unified authority, the gospel cannot go forward. To embrace the secular\/sacred divide is to neuter Christianity and short-circuit the good news. All of life is spiritual, and all of life is under Christ\u2019s authority. Schaeffer elaborates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n True spirituality covers all of reality . . . the Lordship of Christ covers all of life and all of life equally. It is not only that true spirituality covers all of life, but it covers all parts of the spectrum of life equally. In this sense there is nothing concerning reality that is not spiritual.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Christ is every bit as much the head of the public square as he is of the private sphere. He is head of the church and<\/em> of the state because he is the head of all things unto the church (Eph. 1:20\u201323). Therefore, Christians must reject the secular\/sacred divide and see the world as a unified whole under the lordship of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rejecting secularism is one thing, but does the gospel address the political sphere of life? Yes, the gospel has an inherent political message\u2014Christ is the King of kings. [4]<\/a> In Acts 9:15, Christ explains to Ananias why he must go to Paul, despite Paul\u2019s persecution of the church. Christ says to Ananias, \u201cGo, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.\u201d Paul is Christ\u2019s chosen instrument to carry Christ\u2019s name<\/em> to the world. Notice how the message is not just Christ\u2019s work, but his identity, or name. The gospel message includes Jesus as the Christ, Savior, Lord, King, etc. We must remember that the title of Christ<\/em> has royal overtones. To call Jesus the Christ<\/em> is to identify him as the long-awaited Davidic king who is ultimately the King of kings (Psalm 2). It is this name<\/em> that Paul is to bring to the world\u2014the King of kings has come. Christ\u2019s identity is the good news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, Christ instructs Paul not just to go to Jews and Gentiles, but to kings<\/em>. By singling out kings, Christ targets them in their role as rulers. To conduct faithful gospel ministry, Paul must testify to the name of Christ before political rulers. The term Christ uses, \u201ckings,\u201d includes political rulers of varying ranks.[5]<\/a> By listing these three groups together (Jews, Gentiles, and kings), Christ tightly binds them as the aim of Paul\u2019s mission.[6]<\/a> The gospel message must go out to the Jews, Gentiles, and their rulers as rulers<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ\u2019s words in Acts 9:15 echo a similar statement he gave to his disciples in Matthew 10:18, \u201cAnd you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.\u201d Christ\u2019s followers are to be witnesses of him, even to rulers. This message includes an offer of salvation if the rulers submit to Christ.[7]<\/a> Moreover, as Christ said these words, Galilee had no governor or king and the disciples had not yet attracted persecution from the state.[8]<\/a> This means Christ was looking forward to a future reality. Christ\u2019s words here describe the broader mission of the church, not the present reality of the apostles. The mission of the church includes testifying about Christ to political rulers in their role as political rulers. This becomes a persistent theme throughout the rest of Paul\u2019s ministry (Acts 13:6\u201312; 17:16\u201334, 18:12\u201318, 24:1\u201316, 25:13\u201314, 26:1\u201329). <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul\u2019s ministry to the nations and their kings \u201creflect[s] the ultimate intent of Jesus\u2019s work.\u201d[9]<\/a> The message of the gospel necessarily includes preaching to political rulers in their respective roles. Thus, Christ\u2019s mission irreducibly includes preaching his identity and work to Jews, Gentiles, and political rulers<\/em>. This type of preaching is<\/em> gospel ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, how many churches actively seek to preach the gospel to our rulers? Or, do we view such a ministry as beneath the gospel? If we do, we are out of step with Christ as he envisioned preaching to rulers as essential<\/em> to the declaration of the gospel. While this may sound strange to us, it fits into a larger biblical theology around Christ\u2019s kingship and the inclusion of earthly rulers in his kingdom (Ps. 2; Isa. 60:3; Rev. 21:24\u201326). In short, to testify before kings is not an obscure biblical doctrine, but a repeated theme found throughout the Bible. It is something we are charged with doing till Christ returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How, then, should Christians declare the gospel\u2019s political message? Consider three basic principles that should guide our political engagement. First, we need to think of a total worldview instead of bits and pieces. Again, Schaeffer hits the target:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The basic problem of the Christians in this country in the last eighty years or so, in regard to society and in regard to government, is that they have seen things in bits and pieces instead of totals.[10]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n We must not think of individual issues in bits and pieces<\/em> but as a part of totalizing systems of thought. For example, modern progressivism may, on the surface, appear to align with the Bible\u2019s concerns for the poor, immigrants, and downtrodden. But progressivism is a holistic worldview that also redefines these terms through the revolutionary spirit of Rousseau, Hegel, Marx, Marcuse<\/a>, and others. Accepting the progressive framework of the oppressed vs. oppressor<\/em> does not fit God\u2019s definition of justice as identity does not equal being oppressed and justice requires impartiality toward both great and small alike (Lev. 19:15; Deut. 16:19\u201320). Leftist political philosophy is wholly anti-Christian and seeks to destroy the remnants of Christendom.[11]<\/a> It is another gospel with a fundamentally different view of morality, God, justice, and the state. When we think of issues in bits and pieces instead of totals, we are easily deceived and steered into supporting a system that in total is anti-Christian. Leftism as a whole is a wicked system that neither cares for the poor and the immigrant nor supports the gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By aligning with the total anti-Christian worldview of the left (in the name of the \u2018bits and pieces\u2019 progressives toss at na\u00efve Christians), organizations like the ERLC can become “useful idiots” for the leftist revolution. We cannot, for example, use bits of a totalistic worldview merely as an \u201canalytic tool,\u201d and expect it not to affect the whole worldview, as many Southern Baptists did with the infamous Resolution 9 on Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality<\/a>. What is a worldview but a way to analyze<\/em>, categorize, and understand life? Christian cannot use the analytic tools of a hostile worldview without imbibing other parts of that system. By imbibing critical theory, evangelicals have welcomed in a corrosive acid into its ranks. Christians must think in totals, not in bits and pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, our political witness must be shaped by Scripture. As Doug Wilson notes, “If you don\u2019t learn how to look at the entire world with a biblical eye, you will soon find yourself looking at the entire Bible with a worldly eye.”[12]<\/a> If we use the world as the lens to understand Scripture, then we\u2019ve supplanted God and replaced him with culture. Instead, we must train ourselves, and our people, to use the Bible as both the highest authority and the filter to understand all of life. Scripture, not culture, must be our standard. Otherwise, we will use cultural whims to distort Scripture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Third, Christian ministries in the public sphere must ultimately fear God and not man. They must preach Christ\u2019s name to the rulers of this age. We do not serve Republicans or Democrats, but Christ as the King of kings. We are to declare that he is the head of all things, including the state (Ps. 2:8\u201312). Therefore, rulers are commanded to serve God by submitting to Christ\u2019s kingship. Christians are to go to kings, presidents, senators, governors, etc., and call them to repentance. Such repentance is marked by submitting to God through Christ as his anointed king (Ps. 2:12). Such repentance will necessarily include enacting laws and policies that align with God\u2019s standards. Ultimately, ministry to those in the political sphere calls our leaders to bend the knee publicly to Christ as king, and for them to serve him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Christians must reject the so-called “secular\/sacred” divide, embracing Christ’s\u2014the King of kings\u2014authority over all of life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3822,"featured_media":18941,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Christians must reject the so-called "secular\/sacred" divide, embracing Christ's\u2014the King of kings\u2014authority over all of life.","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[32,12,1969,38],"tags":[102,82,84,1492,371,1413,1587,1422,2043,1437],"scripture-reference":[],"post_folder":[],"ppma_author":[2457],"class_list":["post-18940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-concise","category-march-2025","category-theme","tag-gospel","tag-political-theology","tag-politics","tag-progressive","tag-public-policy","tag-public-religion","tag-public-theology","tag-religious-liberty","tag-secular-sacred","tag-secularism"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Secord-Political-Article-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-01-13 11:41:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"authors":[{"term_id":2457,"user_id":3822,"is_guest":0,"slug":"levi-secord-1","display_name":"Levi Secord","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/levisecord.webp","url2x":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/levisecord.webp"},"author_category":"1","job_title":"","church_city_state":"","last_name":"Secord","first_name":"Levi","church_site":"","user_url":"","description":"Levi Secord<\/strong> is the founding pastor of\u00a0Christ Bible Church<\/a>\u00a0in St. Paul, MN. He earned a Masters of Divinity (2013) and a Doctorate of Educational Ministry (2022) from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Levi hosts a podcast on the\u00a0Christian Worldview<\/a>\u00a0and has numerous publications including his book,\u00a0Servant Not Savior: An Introduction to the Bible\u2019s Teaching About Civil Government<\/i><\/a>. Levi and his family live in the St. Paul area."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3822"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18940"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18944,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18940\/revisions\/18944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18940"},{"taxonomy":"scripture-reference","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/scripture-reference?post=18940"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=18940"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=18940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. This section is adapted from Levi Secord \u201cThe Failures of Secularism and the Biblical Alternative,\u201d Southern Baptist Journal of Theology <\/em>28, no. 2 (Summer 2024): 20\u201339.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
2. Nancy Pearcey, in summarizing Schaeffer\u2019s work, demonstrates how secularism is built on this upper vs. lower story view of reality. Nancy R. Pearcey, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity<\/em>, Study Guide ed. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2005), 17\u2013121.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
3. Francis Schaeffer, \u201cA Christian Manifesto,\u201d in The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: A Christian Worldview, Volume Five, A Christian View of the West<\/em> (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1982), 424.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
The Gospel\u2019s Politics (Acts 9:15)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
4. This section is adapted from chapter in my forthcoming book, Levi Secord, \u201cThe Gospel\u2019s Politics Proclaiming Christ\u2019s Authority to Kings and Nations,\u201d in Servant Not Savior: An Introduction to the Bible\u2019s Teaching about the Government<\/em>.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
5. Steve Walton, Acts 1\u20139:42<\/em>, World Biblical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2024), 587.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
6. Darrell L. Bock, Acts<\/em>, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007), 361.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
7. D. A. Carson, Matthew: Chapters 1\u201312,<\/em> The Expositor\u2019s Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995), 246.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
8. France, Matthew<\/em>, 392.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
9. Bock, Acts<\/em>, 361.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Toward A Biblical Public Witness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
10. Schaeffer, \u201cA Christian Manifesto,\u201d 423.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
11. In classic fashion, there is an overcorrection against the Leftist drift in evangelicalism that also imbibes sub-biblical worldviews, just as in the other direction. This has led to evil distortions of ideas like natural law\/theology being used in defense of things like racist partiality, antisemitism, and Kinism. While that is not the main focus of this article, the principles addressed here should prevent errors in either direction.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
12. Douglas Wilson, \u201cIn Defense of Worldview Thinking<\/a>,\u201d Blog and Mablog<\/em>, February 10, 2025.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n