Goodness and good governance

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When a senior director of the United Nation’s Millennium Campaign received a copy of Open for Service he was visibly elated as he flicked through the document. “It’s just what we need here,” he said, “but where is the theology?”  To be sure Open for Service is littered with biblical references as the basis for our involvement but it was a fair response. But our work does highlight the need for a more robust theology of good governance.

Modern theology has a long history of social and community involvement from which it can reflect on its involvement -or reservations- about political engagement.  But one area of biblical reflection is as yet quite elusive. It’s the relationship between Good News and good governance.   In launching Open for Service we are committed to developing and reflecting the growing body of biblical reflection on governance, God’s attitude to extreme poverty and our Christian response. And this will be an important part of our journey together in advocating a more active response to good governance.

But this is not particularly surprising.  Although a lot of attention has been given to poverty alleviation, transparency and corruption have been more recent pre-occupations in the struggle against poverty.  Roberto Laver’s study on “Good News” in the fight against corruption sees “more partnership opportunities for evangelical Christian faith leaders, organisations and communities in the struggle against corruption.”  (The Review of Faith & International Affairs, Volume 8, Number 4 (Winter 2010),

In May 2010 Bread for the World, Wheaton College and Micah Challenge jointly hosted a conference of global leaders to consider a biblical view of American foreign assistance which has resulted in the publication of Government, Global Poverty and God’s Mission in the World, An evangelical Declaration.

There are a number of reasons why reflections on good governance are such a theological wasteland.  In the first instance biblical reflection is often just that! It responds to cultural, social and political realities rather than anticipates them.  Theology has a habit of catching up with reality.

And good governance is a complicated reality which academics and practitioners are still trying to unravel.  The relationship between corrupt governments, shady business deals, bad administration, opaque practices and off-shore investments means that governance is not a one-size-fits-all.  As a result complexity has inhibited effective response and postponed the biblical reflection which motivates people of faith to act.

The fact that corruption and poor governance have often been identified exclusively as something bad governments do in places like Africa has made many Christians reluctant to get involved.  We assume that the issue is simple enough: stop giving our money to bad governments and let them sort out themselves while we look after the poor. Effectively this leads to poor advocacy on systemic issues which affects the poor and undermines our philanthropy and social action.  Worse still, it is an abdication of our prophetic task, an abdication of our global citizenship and poor theology.

An emerging theology of good governance is one of the most recent expressions of our prophetic task in understanding our world in the light of the Scriptures in order that we may become better disciples and more effective citizens.

As we develop our focus on this critical issue over the next 5 years we will open up the biblical dialogue and examples of good practice informed by faith.   But as a biblical foundation we want to present a biblical rationale based on three biblical themes.  God as Creator, God of Justice, and God and Government.

God as Creator

God’s mega control over global powers and dynasties is rooted in his personal care for each person made in his image and likeness (Gen 1:26,27) who he made stewards over his created order (Gen 1:28).  Openness, transparency and responsibility were the central features of God’s ideal for us (Gen 2:15-17) and the Fall was a breach of trust and responsibility which resulted in a loss of transparency and the first great cover up! (Gen 3:8,9).

Judeo-Christian tradition is illegitimate without the idea that God has created and therefore has ultimate sovereignty over everyone and everything (Ps 24:1; Isa 40:12-24; Dan 4:34-37). Even Cyrus the powerful Persian monarch influenced by Jeremiah’s ministry recognised that, ‘the LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth...’ (2 Chronicles 36: 23)

Biblical tradition has no borders on God’s reign or on human accountability.  God’s Covenant relationship with Israel does not limit his sovereignty over the whole earth and so gentiles are not exempt from respecting people created in his image and likeness. As a result, Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon and Esther in Persia were all representatives of Israel’s global God within foreign political systems.  Jonah, the reluctant prophet was sent by God to offer the people of Nineveh a second chance (Jonah 3:10).

God was always the God of Israel but it was Israel who belonged to God - not God who belonged to Israel.  The principles of justice and good government which were obligatory for Israel are also expected of all governments who act as stewards for the people made in his image and likeness. This is why he has “set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed” (Acts 17:31).

God of Justice

After idolatry, justice is the most frequent theme in the Old Testament. In view of that it remains a mystery that theological institutions and preaching ministries have so little to say about justice.  It is even more disturbing that the theme of justice has become a matter of theological partisanship across some Christian communities.   This is particularly true for evangelical Christians across Europe and America.  Consequently a study of good governance is likely to have an up-hill climb in such theological environments.

Biblical justice is profoundly concerned about good governance as it relates to interpersonal relationships as much as it is concerned about government to people relationships.

It’s worth noting that of the Ten Commandments, six of them relate directly to human interpersonal relationships (Exod 20) and that the following laws cater for personal and industrial relationships (Exodus 21-23:9)  Indeed the law is quite clear:

“Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous. Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens because you were aliens in Egypt.” (Exodus 23:8,9).

The Bible has always been diametrically opposed to bribes (Deut 10:17;16:19;27:25; 1 Sam 8:3;12:3; 2 Chron 19:7; Ezra 4:5; Job 36:18; Ps 15:5;26:10; Prov 17:8; 29:4; Isa 1:23;5:23; Ezek 22:12; Amos 5:12).

The anti-bribe ethics of the Old Testament are carried over to the New Testament in less pronounced but equally important incidences.  Jesus was betrayed by a bribe (Matt 27:3) Ananias and Sapphira attempted to defraud the communal project by withholding part of the sale price of their property from the communal purse and lying about it (Acts 5:1-10) and Simon the sorcerer attempted to bribe Peter for the gift of the Spirit (Acts 8:9-24).  In two of these cases financial dishonesty and bribe became a matter of life and death.

A theology of governance leans heavily on such passages for very good reason. The popular conception is that poor governance is entirely a political matter which takes place behind closed doors with handshakes between dishonest politicians.  But that is not borne out by the facts.  Of the US$ 1-1.6 trillion which goes missing each year between 3-5% (US$30-50 billion per year) of this is directly attributed to corruption.  The vast majority is directly attributable to illicit cash flows between corporations and businesses (Illicit Financial Flows and the Millennium Development Goals: Hidden Resources for Development, Tom Cardamone September 2010).

The Bible is overwhelming in its concern for improper trading. God’s concern for ‘dishonest scales’ comes again and again in the Bible. The point is made quite powerfully in Proverbs 16:11 “Honest scales and balances belong to the LORD; all the weights in the bag are of his making.”  But it also comes with alarming frequency throughout the Bible (Lev 19:36; Prov 11:1; 20:23; Ezek 45:10; Hosea 12:7; Amos 8:5; Micah 6:6-11)

In a trading community where productivity was invariable bartering or bond promise, the biblical concern for neighbour was of keen importance. (Exod 22:14; Lev 19:13,15). It was this interpersonal and non-governmental injustice which Nehemiah fought so hard as he struggled to reform the exiles who had returned to rebuild Jerusalem (Neh 5:1-13; Ezra 4:5)

Three things are of importance here. First these passages make it abundantly clear that these injustices are firmly linked to financial dishonesty for self interest.  And this is essentially why God has a universal hatred for bribery because it puts personal gain and greed above the common good. Secondly bribery and corruption invariably oppress those who are already poor. And thirdly these financial transactions have little to do with government behaviour. These multiple texts are aimed at people who mistreat and abuse their neighbours, their employees or the vulnerable. And they do it not just by verbal insults or physical abuse but by manipulating financial systems to their own advantage and the destruction of others.

God hates it and expects us to do something to change it because although he is everybody’s God, he is supremely the God of the oppressed. (Deut 26:7; Isa 59:13) and has a bias to the poor.

God of Government

From its earliest beginnings Christian faith has grappled with its relationship with its authorities. Consequently the New Testament is written against the context of a Kingdom people awaiting ‘the redemption of our bodies’        (Roms 8:23) in a Kingdom which has already come but which has not yet arrived.  All that the New Testament has to say about governments and authorities (Roms 13; 1 Peter 2:7-13) was heard against the backdrop of terrible persecution and marginalisation from the Jewish authorities from which they were emerging as well as the Republic of Rome who viewed them as political dissenters. At a time when Caesar was both god and the cohesive head of the state, denying his lordship was not only religious disagreement, it was also an act of political defiance and community vandalism.

The emerging church found itself cut adrift from the theocratic arrangements of Judaism whilst trying to live out a new political and theological egalitarianism.  In the heart of Imperial Rome this New Humanity where gender and ethnicity met in their Messiah’s death and resurrection (Eph 2:11-22), everyone was equal.  How they related to their political masters became an added dimension.  How were these new followers of the Way to behave when asked about their hope? Should they be praying for their governments who persecuted them?  And should they obey and pay taxes to tyrants who killed them for their faith in Jesus?

After two thousand years how the church relates to government still remains a point of dispute and discovery!

In its first 300 years of persecution before Christian faith became the official religion the Church made a constant appeal for safety and a place as equal citizens committed to the common good.  When privilege and patronage arrived with Emperor Constantine in the 4^th century a new challenge emerged: how to exercise power and influence in this world whilst anticipating the next world.  And it has been a tenuous balance to sustain. From Augustine’s City of God to Luther’s Two Kingdoms, Calvin’s Geneva and Cromwell’s Britain to the founding of the American State by the Puritan Pilgrim Fathers the church has struggled to maintain its balance in political engagement.

Our current tensions about political engagement are not new.  And they should never go away.  But neither do we have the option of disengagement for although God has never made himself a party political mascot there has never been a time when he has neglected the political sphere. It is inconceivable that a Creator God who is also a God of justice would exclude himself from the sphere of political engagement.

From the earliest point in Israel’s theocracy good governance was enshrined in the process. It is more fashionable to suggest that Israel wanted a king to rule them merely because they wanted to copy the surrounding nations.  But their request (1 Sam 8:6) was directly triggered by the bribery by which Samuel’s sons were oppressing the people (1 Sam 8:1-3).  This redress to a monarchy was not mere anarchy; it was a response to bad governance. And God was not indifferent. Not only did he allow their request, he himself identified and appointed their first king. Samuel then initiated a participatory process for the people’s involvement (1 Sam 10:20-22) wrote down the new regulations and placed them “before the Lord” - presumably in the Ark of the Covenant (1Sam 10:25). What Samuel was doing, in effect, was instituting a process of governance which had already been instated under Moses’ Law many years before the people even asked for a king (Deut 17:14-20).

It would have been educational to know precisely what Moses had mandated and what Samuel wrote down to put before the Lord.  But there seems little doubt that all the subsequent kings of Israel had guiding principles by which they were expected to govern the people. This is well expressed in Psalms 72:1-4

Endow the king with your justice, O God,
the royal son with your righteousness.
May he judge your people in righteousness,
your afflicted ones with justice.

May the mountains bring prosperity to the people,
the hills the fruit of righteousness.
May he defend the afflicted among the people
and save the children of the needy;
may he crush the oppressor.

These principles were expected from a king in relation to each of his subjects. So when Ahab cheated Naboth from the vineyard which was his family’s inheritance God became incensed (1 Kings 21:17-19). But equally this sense of good governance which protected the poor was also expected of foreign rulers.  More than anything else this was the political malaise which lay at the heart of Nebuchadnezzar’s pride and corruption.  It was his failure to protect and show kindness to the poor which made him an outcast in his own kingdom (Dan 4:27).  Eventually the king’s restoration was a spiritual one but it was also recognition of the God who is ‘just in all his ways’ (Dan 4:37b).

It is true to say that the New Testament is less critical of reigning monarchs in respect of good governance and that some evidence can be found for a biblical indifference to systemic issues such as slavery and imperial oppression. Clearly the preponderance of Jesus’ ministry was in working directly with the poor and marginalised and to that extent the thrust of his messianic Manifesto (Luke 4:18) was carried out in ministry to the people rather than taking on the might of Rome.  The clear hints at honesty and transparent lifestyles are there:  We should be a city on a hill (Matt 5:14) and say what we mean (Matt 5:37).  True enough John the Baptist’s exhortation against extortion (Luke 3:12-14) and Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus remain seminal lessons and opportunity for change to all extortionists (Luke 19:1-9) but by and large the New Testament is not overflowing with crystal clear statements which add up to a powerful message about good governance.  And whilst the letters to the early church include clear references to government responsibilities as servants for the common good ( Roms 13: 1-7; Titus 3:1; 1 Pet 2:13-15) these have raised more questions about acquiescence to power than provided an argument for advocacy or even civil disobedience.

But in the light of the overwhelming prophetic teaching of God’s timeless sovereignty in the world an argument from relative silence is no theological basis for abdicating our responsibilities for good governance in political systems which crush the poor and distort God’s image in human beings.

The global Christian community which has excelled in caring for the poor and grown in its appetite for social engagement must take another important step in speaking for the poor and neglected (Prov 31: 8,9). We do this not just because it is morally right to do so but because such advocacy is a part of the essence of knowing God and making him known (Jer 22:16). The mission to declare God’s goodness is integral to our mission in the world and integrated in our light-shining task. From a biblical perspective the agitation for good governance is not political action; it is written into God’s moral code. This is the only way in which a just God can really be understood to be good in his own world. And it’s the only thing which makes sense of the proverb: “Honest scales and balances belong to the LORD; all the weights in the bag are of his making.” (Proverbs 16:11)

A scarcity of New Testament texts on governance must not detract us from this mission any more than practising necromancy should be encouraged because it is not overwhelming condemned in the New Testament.

And neither should we be politically selective in using theology to decide when we speak up. Christians have made good use of the Bible in become politically engaged on pro-life and moral issues. We have lobbied and protested about the education and health of our children and families.

A Creator God committed to justice and government which reflects his now-not-yet rule in our time has left us with little room to avoid his searing passion for government which reflects the justice which is inherent in himself. This is why good governance must be a part of that large equation.

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this. (Isa 9:6,7)

Joel Edwards