📖 A Biblical Vision for Politics

[This post is a full English adaptation of a book review written by Missionary Kim Young-hwan, summarizing David A. Noebel’s The Battle for Truth.]*

What Does “Biblical Politics” Even Mean?

David A. Noebel’s The Battle for Truth is a remarkable, deeply argued defense of the Biblical Christian worldview against Neo-Marxism, Secular Humanism, and Cosmic Humanism. One of its most urgent contributions is the case it makes for what genuine biblical political engagement actually looks like.

Noebel argues that “the state, by practicing justice, reveals truth—the source of justice itself.” That framing matters enormously, because the most common Christian response to politics is to misread “separation of church and state” entirely. Most Christians hear that phrase and conclude: the church should stay out of politics. But the original intent is the exact opposite: the state must not interfere with the church. The church’s proper role is to bring the truth of Scripture to bear on government—to teach and call leaders toward justice and righteousness.

As long as Christians retreat into what Noebel calls Platonic Pietism—a kind of spiritual withdrawalism that confines faith to Sunday mornings—they are, whether they know it or not, leaving the doors wide open for Neo-Cultural Marxism, Secular Humanism, and New Age Cosmic Humanism to infiltrate every institution: schools, workplaces, governments, and yes, churches themselves.

Salt and light don’t work from the inside of a sealed container. The church is called to go out—into every sphere of life—and actively expand God’s kingdom (Matthew 6:11; 28:19–20; Acts 1:8).

What follows is my translation and summary of Noebel’s argument.

1. What Is Biblical Politics?

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.”

Romans 13:1 (NKJV)

Humanity has always lived under government. We accept it the way we accept death and taxes—unavoidable. But the Biblical Christian goes further: government exists because God established it.

Genesis 9:6 grounds this in a specific structure. When God says, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed,” He is simultaneously establishing four realities:

God himself
God’s law
The state, established by God’s law
Human beings, who worship and obey God under that state

Government, as an institution, is sacred—and its rulers are described as “God’s minister” (Romans 13:4). Peter is equally direct:

“Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.”

1 Peter 2:13–14 (NKJV)

Christian citizens have a real obligation to participate in government—not to rubber-stamp whatever the state does, but to bring biblical influence to bear on it. Two other passages reinforce this:

“Let all things be done decently and in order.”

1 Corinthians 14:40 (NKJV)

“By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.”

Proverbs 11:11 (NKJV)

The biblical Christian does not endorse a single mandatory form of government. But we do recognize that power must be distributed, checked, and balanced—because we understand that power corrupts. A government that separates legislative, judicial, and executive functions and keeps them in mutual accountability is more likely to conform to biblical principles than one that concentrates power in a few hands.

2. Creation and Original Sin

Perhaps the most important Christian insight that shaped America’s founding was the Christian view of human nature. The United States was born in an environment that took both sides of the biblical anthropology seriously: yes, man is fallen—and yes, man is made in the image of God.

These two convictions have profound political implications. Human government became necessary precisely because of the Fall. Every person is a sinner by nature, which means our destructive tendencies must be checked by law and by a government capable of enforcing that law. Government exists to protect us from each other—and from ourselves.

But who protects society from the sinful tendencies of the very people who make up government? This was exactly the problem America’s founders tried to solve. Their answer was the system of checks and balances—a deliberate distribution of power so that no single branch could become an unchecked tyrant. As James Madison put it: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.”

This Christian understanding of human nature produces more realistic government than any system built on a false view of humanity. It also grounds the concept of individual rights—because if every person is made in the image of God, then every person carries inherent dignity and worth. (This becomes doubly clear when we remember that Christ himself took on human flesh and died for every human being.) Those rights are God-given, grounded in an absolute moral standard that doesn’t shift with the mood of the age.

The Declaration of Independence captures this exactly: “All men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” Two foundational assumptions underlie that sentence:

Human beings are created by a transcendent Being.
That transcendent Being is the source of all human rights.

If rights are not anchored in God’s unchanging character, they become whatever the current generation decides they are—arbitrary, revocable, and ultimately meaningless. Rights are “unalienable” precisely because they are grounded in the One who does not change. And God established government specifically to protect those rights.

3. The Purpose of Government

According to the Biblical Christian worldview, human government was established by God to protect the God-given, unalienable rights of human beings from the sinful tendencies of other human beings (Genesis 9:6; Romans 13:1–7). Left to ourselves, we will try to advance our own lives at the expense of others’. Government exists to prevent that—and in doing so, to promote justice.

What is justice? E. Calvin Beisner argues that “justice and truth are interrelated,” because justice is “the practice of truth in human relationships.” He concludes: “Justice gives to each his due according to the right standard.” Most people agree that promoting justice is the state’s central purpose. Biblical Christians simply insist that justice requires an absolute foundation—and that foundation is God himself.

This perspective has a crucial implication: government has a defined scope of responsibility. Rousas Rushdoony makes the point well—whether someone can vote or not is not as fundamental a question as whether the law, in its proper domain, protects individuals, families, churches, schools, and businesses from each other’s encroachment.

Government is the institution of justice—not grace, not community, not reproduction. Those belong to other God-ordained institutions. The church’s responsibility is to manifest God’s grace on earth. The family’s responsibility is to manifest God’s community and creativity (which includes bearing children). Each institution has its own definition and its own limits.

Government therefore must not:

Interfere with religious freedom
Attempt to redistribute wealth as a vehicle of grace
Control family size or obstruct the bearing of children
Attempt to control the economy as a whole

Government must protect the space in which these other God-ordained institutions can operate freely. That is its role. When government overreaches beyond justice, it inevitably begins to devour the very institutions it was meant to protect.

4. Sovereignty Apart from God

The trouble is that government almost always overreaches. Today’s leaders—in politics and across many other spheres—have lost sight of humanity’s actual place in the universe. This disorientation flows from one source: the attempt to seize God’s sovereignty for themselves.

“The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.”

Psalm 103:19 (NKJV)

Every entity that refuses to submit to God’s authority ends up wielding an authority it was never given. And without God, the only two remaining principles are the individual and the state. Charles Colson observed: “Without a transcendent faith in God, you are left with only two entities: the individual and the state. But in this situation, there is no mediating structure to generate moral values—and therefore no counterweight to the state’s inevitable ambition.”

William Penn said it more plainly: “If we are not governed by God, we will be governed by tyrants.”

Today, Secular Humanists, Marxists, and a wide coalition of internationalists are calling for a One World Government—a single global authority to serve humanity on its evolutionary journey. If the Marxists and Humanists get their way (and there are many movements pushing in this direction), the result will be not merely the kingdom of man but the kingdom of Antichrist.

5. Utopianism

Utopianism is humanity’s most elaborate attempt to reject God while placing absolute sovereignty in the hands of the state. The error flows either from a deliberate refusal of God’s ultimate authority or from a fundamentally false view of human nature.

As Noebel argues throughout the book, Marxists and Humanists share a belief in human perfectibility. They believe that if the right environment is created and the human mind is properly programmed, everyone will live rightly. The state becomes the manufacturer of that “right environment”—and in doing so, the state takes on the role of God.

Colson called this belief in human perfectibility “the most subtle and dangerous delusion of our time.” It is visible in contemporary society’s relentless refusal to hold individuals responsible for their actions. But denying individual responsibility does something devastating: it severs people from their only real hope—the knowledge and acceptance of Christ’s atoning sacrifice for personal sin—and condemns them to an endless, futile pursuit of the “perfect utopian environment.”

Utopianism offers no salvation except the hope that the state will one day produce perfect conditions and therefore perfect people. Colson again: “While Christian teaching emphasizes that each person is precious and responsible before God, utopianism insists that salvation is achieved only collectively. This dependence on the state results in the individual being trampled underfoot.” History has provided enough horrifying examples—most notably, Joseph Stalin’s slaughter of the so-called bourgeoisie.

The sheer absence of legitimate authority that flows from rejecting God reinforces the Christian conviction: God must be acknowledged as sovereign in every sphere of life, including politics. The record of human rights abuses built on nothing but state sovereignty or the whims of rulers speaks eloquently for the necessity of transcendent law.

6. A Question of Obedience

Christians expect much from government. The state must recognize humanity’s place in the universe and understand God as the ultimate source of authority and human rights. In return, God expects His people to respect, obey, and actively participate in governments that serve His will (Romans 13:1–2). The reason is simple: government was established to promote justice.

Obedience to good government is necessary for the bare minimum of ordered civil life. Christians are called to participate, to honor justice, and to maintain civic order. But this is not a call to blind obedience. Political leaders are accountable to God, and Christians must keep that accountability in view. When a leader or government deviates from its God-given mandate, Christians are obligated to correct that deviation—so that they are not eventually forced into flat-out disobedience.

Correction includes things like voter registration, voting itself, and petitioning the government. Some Christians will be called to run for office. Others will serve in non-elected roles. These forms of participation are more effective than civil disobedience as a first resort for peacefully persuading government toward obedience to God.

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.”

Proverbs 29:2 (NKJV)

Righteous people should govern. But what if a Christian engages politically to the fullest extent possible—and the government still acts unjustly, still displeases God? Scripture is clear: even when God’s commands conflict with the state’s commands, the Christian obeys God.

“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.”

Acts 4:19 (NKJV)

Peter and John said this to the Sanhedrin when ordered to stop teaching in Jesus’ name. This kind of obedience to God is required even after Christians have exhausted every available political channel in pursuit of reform. If injustice persists within the system, Christians may find it necessary to engage in civil disobedience.

Francis Schaeffer summarizes it well: “The key is that at a certain point there is not only the right but the duty to disobey the state.”

Such disobedience can lead to death at the state’s hands. In some cases, that is the better outcome. Daniel understood this—and chose death over bowing to Nebuchadnezzar’s idol (Daniel 6:1–10). God honors that kind of faithfulness.

7. Conclusion

The state was established to enforce God’s justice. When government operates within the boundaries God has set, Christians should obey it—because God has granted it that authority.

But when the state abuses its authority or claims a sovereignty that belongs only to God, Christians must recognize God’s transcendent law above the state’s. This loyalty to God is precisely what motivates Christians to engage politically—to work hard toward building and sustaining governments that are genuinely good and just. The participation of righteous people can meaningfully influence government for the better.

This ongoing battle for a just state—which Paul describes as warfare in Ephesians 6:12—may or may not produce immediate policy results. That is not the ultimate issue. What matters is that Christians maintain continuous obedience to God in every circumstance.

Colson writes that Christians must fulfill their calling as faithfully as possible. But even when they seem to be making no difference, even when they fail to bring Christian values into the public square, success is not the standard. Faithfulness is.

“The righteous shall live by faith.”

Freedom is not free (Galatians 5:1). Amen.