Covenantal Government

As the season of the quadrennial festival of pandering to the American public, commonly known as the American Presidential Elections, begins, it seems fitting to reassess the theory on which we cast our votes. The common theory we Americans unthinkingly adopt as we enter the voting booth is that we are expressing our preference for who should be our next leader. The candidate who each of us prefers more than the other is the one we vote for. Almost eight years ago this was the media hype for recasting our presidential elections into a popular vote rather than the historic Electoral College that has been used for more than 200 years. That debate, fortunately or unfortunately, was lost in an overwhelming cloud of political issues.

But how should a Christian think about his vote? What is he doing when he walks into the voting booth? The answer to this question has several far reaching ramifications. Is he expressing his personal preference or is he doing something else? In this essay I propose that he is doing something different. I propose that the Christian, when he casts his vote for a candidate, is giving his personal endorsement to that candidate. At first blush, this distinction may seem rather trivial, but it is not. He is doing more that expressing a preference. He is committing himself to an endorsement that he finds this candidate worthy to stand in his stead and represent him before God in governing his nation.

In order to present this thesis, it is important to start with the foundational concept of covenant. All of creation, by God’s design, is covenantal and works in a covenantal fashion. Covenant is not simply a concept that relates to religious institutions. God makes covenant with all nations. This is a fact that not even individualistic Americans can deny. It can be attested to by seven thousand years of history, including American history, as well as present political realities.

God made a covenant with Noah, but not only Noah but all living creatures on earth.

8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9"Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." 17God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth." Genesis 9:8-17.

In this covenantal expression God declares that he will place his rain ”bow” in the sky and look upon it and “remember” his covenant not to destroy all life on earth again. God ordained this covenant to protect man from himself. For previously, man’s wickedness had become so great that it caused God to destroy all life with the sole exception of Noah and his family (even here, Noah’s family was saved due to the covenantal righteousness of Noah).

Thousand of years later, the Apostle Paul applied covenant to governmental leaders, “the king.”

1Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4for he is God’s servant for your 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. 5Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Romans 13:1-7.

The king is God’s “servant.” This word servant is the same Greek word from which we get “deacon.” The king is God’s deacon. Paul makes it clear hear that the king is established by God. This was true of king Nebuchadnezzar; it is true of our U.S. President. See Daniel 4

This covenantal view of government has been the foundational view of government for western civilization since the time of Constantine. The “divine right of kings” is a phrase we should all recognize from western history. To be sure, the “divine right of kings” was abused in history, and to the extent the king corrupted his god given authority, it was right that that authority should be taken away. However, it is equally clear that Western civilization understood where governmental authority came from; it came from God.

This covenantal view of all creation and of government in particular was maintained by the first founders of the U.S. colonies. The Pilgrims did not write the Mayflower Compact in a vacuum. They wrote it in the context of centuries of the “divine right of kings.”
"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."
In this oath, those signing did “covenant and combine” themselves in the name and in the presence of God as a civil body corporate and politic. It is also useful to note that they based their authority to undertake such a commitment as the “Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God.”

Therefore, it is no accident that when each colony was established, it was established by a “constitution.” These covenantal documents set forth the parameters under which the state was to exercise its authority under God. Likewise, our U.S. Constitution is a covenantal document. Unfortunately, by the mid-1700s, due primarily to the enlightenment, constitutional theory made a subtle shift from a compact made before God to a compact expressing the consent of the governed from whom the authority to govern came. Most of the state constitutions make declarations similar to the U.S. Constitution. “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

The covenantal concept of government has continued to be eroded over the past two centuries. However, it has not been lost completely. Justice Joseph Story said in 1829: “I verily believe Christianity necessary to the support of civil society. One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the Common Law. . . There never has been a period in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as lying its foundations.”

For the Christian, the erosion caused by the enlightenment should not hinder us from recovering a covenantal view of government. A Christian must return to Romans 13 and to the statement of Justice Joseph Story. We must return to a covenantal view of government.

So returning to my first point, when we go to the voting booth, if we go to the voting booth, let us think covenantally. When we cast our vote, we are making a statement to God that we recognize the candidate we vote for as meeting God’s standard.. The subtle shift this introduces in our thinking is that we now no longer hold our candidate up against the standard of the other candidate and determine who is better in our view. We hold all candidates up to the standard of Scripture. This may mean we don’t vote at all.