Author and theologian John Piper recently stressed that “political flag waving” has no place in “Christian worship” amid a contentious election season.
In a recent episode of the “Ask Pastor John” podcast, Piper, who currently serves as chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, responded to a question from a listener named Matthew regarding the distinction between speaking truth into political flag-waving.
According to The Christian Post, he outlined six characteristics of what he termed “bad political flag-waving”, including party allegiance over moral principles, merging moral stances with political affiliations, placing undue hope in political solutions for societal issues and taking biblical teachings out of context to justify partisan agendas.
“Bad political flag-waving means foregrounding partisan politics in settings where they do not belong — for example, in Christian worship. Making the case for a party’s political platform belongs, for example, at the national convention of the party. That’s where you can wave your flag properly, but not in Christian worship,” Piper, who pastored Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis for almost 33 years, wrote.
He also shared how Christians can take a biblical approach when it comes to “speaking truth to power.”
“Speaking truth to power in a truly Christian way is always a call to repent and trust the forgiving grace of Jesus,” Piper asserted.
The Desiring God founder also addressed the topic “separation of church and state,” explaining that although Christians should partake in societal discourse, they must avoid utilizing governmental power to impose religious beliefs.
“[No] human government should ever use its biblical right to wield the sword to enforce a religion or to oppose a religion as such. And the reason I used the phrase as such is to distinguish that bad action of forceful establishment or forceful maintenance of religion from the good action of creating laws that might fit the morality of a religion but not at all be part of prescribing or proscribing a religion as such,” he said.
Piper stressed the importance of the Gospel meeting the spiritual needs of all people through the Gospel as well as the necessity of faith and repentance.
“By all means be willing to lose your life to speak the truth to power and weakness. But always keep in mind the vast difference between this and political flag-waving,” he said.
Piper previously spoke on political matters during past election seasons, including in 2020 when he explained why he could not support either candidate, Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Although he did not mention them by name, he compared both Biden’s support of “baby-killing” policies, “sex-switching” and “socialistic overreach,” and Trump’s “unrepentant sexual immorality” and “unrepentant boastfulness.”
“I will not develop some calculus to determine which path of destruction I will support,” he wrote at the time. “That is not my duty. My calling is to lead people to see Jesus Christ, trust His forgiveness for sins, treasure Him above everything in this world, live in a way that shows His all-satisfying value, and help them make it to Heaven with love and holiness. That calling is contradicted by supporting either pathway to cultural corruption and eternal ruin.”
In 2017, Piper called Trump “morally unfit” due to “immoral behavior in the past, and his ongoing unwillingness to renounce it as evil.”
In a 2020 op-ed for The Christian Post, former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson argued that Piper’s comments are “ridiculous.”
“Pride doesn’t kill babies. Boastfulness doesn’t tear them apart in their mothers’ wombs. Arrogance doesn’t cause a baby to flee for their lives as sharp instruments seek to rip them limb from limb while they are still alive. No. Abortion does that and abortion alone,” she wrote at the time.
“We can’t legislate pride or boastfulness or arrogance. But we can legislate abortion,” Johnson continued. “In fact, we can make it illegal. And that is what is on the line. Life is on the line. The innocent lives of precious babies are on the line. Not pride. Not arrogance.”
Evangelist Franklin Graham also contended that Piper “is wrong on this issue.”
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Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.