Ft. Interview with Justin Giboney
People of faith are free participate in either political party and advocate their convictions, but Christians often don’t speak out when their party is wrong. That’s what Justin Giboney, attorney, political strategist, and president of the AND Campaign argues in this episode of the Know Why podcast.
The United States has seen dozens of political parties and multiple party systems throughout history. Today, American politics are largely dominated by two major parties, the Democratic and Republican parties.
Unchanging Values
So which party does God belong to? None of them.
According to the Bible, God and his values are eternal and unchanging. By contrast, earthly politics change constantly. Even the platforms of today’s two major parties evolve year by year.
Rather than being bound to earthly politics, the Bible teaches that God is in control of them. “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings,” the Bible states.
Another way we can know that God doesn’t belong to one political party? The Bible teaches believers to submit to their governmental authorities — regardless of who they are. “For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”
So, people of faith shouldn’t worry when a political party they don’t like prevails, thinking that it interferes with God’s will. The Bible teaches that no purpose of God’s can be thwarted.
‘Be About Righteousness and Justice’
“You got to read the prophets,” Justin told Know Why. “What we know about the government from Genesis on is that it’s God-ordained. However, you got to remember that God is absolutely sovereign, but he also does a lot of his work through us. And so you see Amos, and you see Isaiah, and you see these people [in the Bible] going to government and going to people in power and saying, ‘You’re not doing the right thing.’ So although it’s God-ordained and God is sovereign, he works through us. … He has an expectation that we’ll be about righteousness and justice. In fact, he’s appalled when we’re not doing that work.”
For instance, in the Bible, God repeatedly commands his followers to pursue justice, care for the oppressed and love others.
Many Christians will argue that their favorite political party does these things better than the rest. Who is right? The truth is that different parties, politicians, or policies may reflect different parts of God’s value system at different times.
“We live in a broken world and as part of that the parties that we’re in are broken,” Justin said. “And so I would say that both parties fall well short of where the gospel would have us to be.” He mentions both abortion and racial justice as examples of where Democrats and Republicans have fallen short of biblical values.
That’s why Christians’ main allegiance should be to God, and not one party or person. Earthly political parties are sure to change, but God’s values never will.
Find other resources mentioned in this episode below:
- Compassion & Conviction: The AND Campaign’s Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement by Justin Giboney, Michael Wear, and Chris Butler
- ANDCampaign.org
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