Tolu Kolawole 
“Unrestrained state power is the number‑one enemy of liberty—individual, familial, and civic
Lately I’ve been wondering whether Christians who want to remain godly and biblically faithful can play any role in today’s radically ungodly political system. Most politicians, many citizens, and even some believers care little about what God’s word says about civil government. We still try to decide for ourselves what is good and evil (Genesis 3:5).
Yet the more I ponder this, the more I realise that faithful Christians are needed in politics now more than ever if we hope to live “peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity” (1 Timothy 2:2).
Guarding the state’s God‑given limits
So how can a Christian make a God‑honouring difference in politics? First, by keeping the state within its God‑ordained limits, protecting the God‑given freedoms of individuals, families, and other civil institutions. When a state casts off restraint, it develops a voracious appetite for more power. A Christian politician must therefore understand the state’s boundaries and act as a watchman, resisting every form of overreach. State officials are ministers under God; Scripture—not personal ambition—sets the scope of their authority.
Making laws that align with Scripture
Second, especially for legislators, the task is to craft laws that reflect the principles and spirit of the Bible. Such laws establish righteousness and justice and restrain evildoers, lest society be overrun with wickedness (Proverbs 25:5; Romans 13:3‑4; Proverbs 16:12; 21:15; 29:2). Romans 13 teaches that the state’s primary, negative duty is to wield the sword against those who do evil. God Himself authorised capital punishment after the flood (Genesis 9:6), delegating that authority to civil rulers.
Scripture never assigns the state the positive task of remaking society. Whenever the state tries to reshape culture with its coercive power, it usurps God’s authority and drifts toward tyranny. Those who support such statism, actively or passively, turn the state into a god.
Dominion (Genesis 1:26) was given to individuals and families, who are to govern themselves under God. The Christian politician’s chief interest, then, is to promote righteous laws and impartial justice—not to engineer a grand plan of societal transformation, no matter how noble‑sounding.
Just weights and measures
What positive program should a Christian politician pursue? Scripture highlights one: ensuring “just weights and measures” (Leviticus 19:35‑36). This touches every sphere—economic standards, contracts, business practices, and the rule of law. As society grows more complex, wise and creative regulations are needed to keep this principle intact and to prevent injustice in judgment.
The limits of government
But does the state’s mandate extend to guaranteeing equal access to education, healthcare, or wealth? Scripture’s emphatic answer is no. The state’s role is to secure a just moral order so that rational people can carry out productive, community‑building work. It must restrain those who intend harm and punish those who commit it. Redefining justice, fairness, or equity beyond biblical norms—and compelling citizens to finance or provide every perceived “good”—lies outside its remit.
Who decides?
Who, then, decides what must be restrained and what lies beyond the state’s reach? God’s word does. When a nation blatantly rejects that standard, it casts off its allegiance to the King of glory (Psalm 2:3) and heads toward idolatry and, ultimately, destruction.
A warning to believers
Most pernicious today are Christians who, knowingly or not, serve such a state and make it their provider. Like Israel before the golden calf, they cry, “These are your gods who brought you out of Egypt” (Exodus 32:8). The state becomes a messiah, promising deliverance from every ill. True Christian statesmanship resists that idol, calls the state back to its God‑given limits, and insists on justice rooted in Scripture alone.
