Christmas and Liberty
The gospel does not secure individual tyranny from sin while leaving political tyranny untouched. The liberating power of the gospel is holistic.
“He [Jesus] will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
Luke 1:32–33
Dear friends and supporters:
The Son of God came into the world to be its Savior and King, and Savior precisely because its King. He accomplishes his redemption because no one and nothing can thwart his sovereign, kingly rule. He’s not a Savior with good intentions whose power cannot effect those intentions. He accomplishes what he intends, because he’s the cosmic King.
Part of his rule is to liberate the oppressed (Luke 4:18–19). This is not a form of today’s Leftist “liberation theology” or “social justice,” empowering a coercive state to create the economically egalitarian utopia. It’s more nearly the opposite: destroying the power of the politically mighty (Luke 1:52) so that his people (and others) can live free of human tyranny.
Jesus is God’s final dynastic King on David’s throne, consolidating all power in heaven and earth in his person (Matthew 28:18–20), and therefore deconsolidating competing human power. In John’s Revelation, the Roman Empire is compared to a great beast and dragon that tries to murder Jesus Christ (ch. 12) but which our Lord demolishes (ch. 17). A rapacious state persecutes and enslaves the saints and the world, but it is no match for the Bethlehem-born King.
Jesus was incarnated to save his people from their sins and liberate the world from human tyranny. “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). Jesus it the world’s rightful King, its Savior-King.
No Political Revolutionary
This doesn’t mean Jesus was a political revolutionary. Far from it, as some of his fickle, politically minded followers learned to their bitter disappointment. Jesus was born into a world dominated by the Roman Empire. Judea was a small, insignificant outpost within the massive Roman jurisdiction. Many Jews resented Roman rule, and there was a small, revolting cadre devoted to the violent liberation from Rome (in the end, they were crushed without mercy in Rome’s A. D. 70 destruction of Jerusalem). When they heard Jesus’ claims to messianic kingship, they assumed he was their God-given political liberator who would coercively break the back of their oppressive overlords.
When it became clear in the last week of his life that Jesus was a different kind of King than they anticipated, they turned on him and endorsed his lawless crucifixion. Jesus’ Kingship was more comprehensive (and certainly different) than any mere human politics. His redemption turns self-centered rebels into obedient children. These new, blood-bought citizens of the King, as his subordinate ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20) gradually impact their world and, over time, press the claims of that King and bring the world under his authority, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
This cosmic Christic Kingship liberates first from the tyranny of sin in the human heart (Romans 6) and subsequently from all tyranny, including political tyranny (1 Corinthians 7:23). Christ the King overthrows political tyranny not by revolution but by sanctification.
Leftist Statism
All forms of statism are contra-Christian. Statism is the idea that the state is the best means for solving social problems. For Christians, our Lord is the best means for solving social problems. The state is a valid institution in our fallen world (Romans 13), but its role is severely limited. The state is not authorized to instill internal virtue but to suppress external evil. In the words of the U. S. Founders, influenced by Christianity, this means protecting life, liberty, and property. In simple terms — securing individual liberty.
Leftists are all-in on statism, and have been since they emerged in the French Revolution. When citizens are granted liberty, many of them won’t support massive political interference, even if it means distributing largesse to the population, obtained by vandalistic taxes. Therefore, citizens must be politically coerced into accepting utopia. There are no utopias without coercive politics.
“Conservative, Christian” Statism?
A troubling and unanticipated development has been the recent embrace of statism by purported conservatives. Although their form is not yet entirely clear, new movements like “National Conservatism” (NatCon) and “Christian Nationalism” advocate a more robust role for the state. John Daniel Davidson writes in The Federalist,[1] prominent conservative organ:
The left will only stop when conservatives stop them, which means conservatives will have to discard outdated and irrelevant notions about “small government.” The government will have to become, in the hands of conservatives, an instrument of renewal in American life — and in some cases, a blunt instrument indeed.
If this isn’t tyranny, it’ll do until the tyranny gets here. We’ve come to expect this kind of statism from Leftists, but to observe its increasing advocacy from supposed conservatives exhibits the deep statist impulse that has overtaken our society from Right to Left to secularist to Christian. Ours is a time of lust for coercive political power to combat the evils of The Other Side.
Almost always this grim appeal has been qualified with the assurance, “This statism is only temporary until we get society back in order. Then we’ll relinquish our power politics. Our enemies are statists, and statism is the only way to smash them.” Karl Marx predicted that only when the statist-secured communistic society is achieved will the state “wither away.”
Similarly, the 19th century Spanish arch-conservative Donoso Cortés claimed that “Civil law was the rule in extraordinary times and Exceptional law the rule in exceptional circumstances.”[2] Every revolutionary tyrant from Robespierre to Pol Pot would agree.
No doubt the new statist conservatives, who in other times have championed individual liberty and know its great truth and value, never intend to wield political coercion in perpetuity. But to my knowledge, there are zero examples historically of statists who voluntarily surrendered their power. Statism is an addictive drug that afflicts not only the user but the entire culture. We dare not oppose Leftist statism while remaining silent in the face of “conservative, Christian” statism.
Conclusion
Jesus Christ came to redeem and liberate a sin-enslaved humanity. That sin first enslaves our hearts but it eventually shackles all of our life and society. When he breaks the chains of sin, he also breaks the chains of its tyranny in our individual lives, family, church, business, and politics. The gospel does not secure individual tyranny from sin while leaving political tyranny untouched. The liberating power of the gospel is holistic.
For 23 years CCL has fought for the free society propounded by our Protestant forefathers. We will fight for it against self-professed Leftists and alleged conservatives. Liberty is at the root of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We will, by God’s grace, never surrender it.
I pray right this moment that each of you has a blessed Advent, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.
Yours for the liberty-securing Lord,
Founder & President, Center for Cultural Leadership
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[1] John Daniel Davidson, “We Need To Stop Calling Ourselves Conservatives,” https://thefederalist.com/2022/10/20/we-need-to-stop-calling-ourselves-conservatives/, accessed November 5, 2022.
[2] Jaime Nogueira Pinto, “The Counter-Revolutionary Right,” The European Conservative, Issue 23 [Summer 2022], 42.