Jesus the Great Philosopher by Jonathan T. PenningtonSample

Day Four: The Christian Philosophy of Politics

If being a Christian means entering into a new society, what does this society look like? Jesus and the New Testament regularly paint a picture of what the true politeia (way of structuring society and relationships from which we get the word politics) modeled on God’s kingdom should be. 

Within only a few decades this new way of seeing and being in the world had spread throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. This was not just a message of doctrinal truth but a philosophy that taught people to relate to each other in particular ways. As Jesus said, the world will know that people are His disciples by their love for one another (John 13:35), not their adopting of a set of doctrines. Christian discipleship changed people’s values, sensibilities, hopes, imaginations, habits, and virtues. 

We see this new politeia explicitly in many texts, such as the following:

• Matthew 18—A picture of life together that focuses on living in relationships of superabundant forgiveness, with the “little ones” being protected and valued. Those who are unwilling to forgive others are excluded from this society of Jesus.

• Acts 4:32—Christians sharing their goods with one another in an alternative subcommunity of care. This financial service to each other crosses ethnic and class lines, creating a new community around Jesus.

• 1 Corinthians 11:17–34—The great symbol of Christian practice is a shared table, a communion table where Christians of all races, social classes, genders, educational levels, and incomes gather together without divisions between them, as one people united as a new family through Jesus Christ.

• Galatians 6:1–10—A society where people bear each other’s burdens, helping those who have failed and providing for those who lead and teach well, doing good to everyone, especially those in the household of faith.

• Ephesians 5:21–6:9—The household codes that instruct individuals in relating to each other in mutual love and honoring submission. In the Christian community, children, wives, and servants/slaves are valued as equal citizens who should be honored as brothers and sisters.

These are but a few examples. Every book of the New Testament contains instructions for the new Christian politeia, life together. It is entirely natural that the following centuries of early Christianity continue to use politeia to describe Jesus’s teachings. These Christians understood something we have forgotten—Christianity is a deeply intentional and practical philosophy of relationships.

From our New Testament examples given today, in what ways is forming a loving politeia essential to your Christian life?