The 4 Chapters
Thank You For Voting?

By Contributing Author, Robert Shashy

I originally wrote this article, intending it to be released prior to the election. The Holy Spirit had other, better intentions. As I sit down to rework what I’ve written, it is the afternoon of election day in the USA. Taking national media outlets for what they’re worth, the presidential election is a virtual tie hours before the votes will be tallied. As I write these words, I have no certainty as to who will be the next president of the United States; but, unless special circumstances have occurred, you should have the election results available to you as you read this article.  Beyond selecting a president, Americans across the nation are making decisions about governors, senators, amendments and so on that will shape local, federal and potentially global policy for the foreseeable future. It should not be lost on anyone how much weight this election cycle has.

But let’s be clear about a few things. First, Christians should be good stewards of their country. Both Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 speak that Christians should be good citizens, always acting peaceable in the public square to bear witness to Christ. Next, as important as our country is to us, Christians are first and foremost citizens of heaven (1 Peter 2:9-12).  Finally, the Bible does speak of three roles of Government. In addition to protecting citizens, and punishing the wicked (roles which Romans 13 and 1 Peter speak into), the government is also a platform for good. If the government is maintaining peace through civic order, then Christians are free to live a quiet life which bears witness to the Gospel. With this in mind Christians should engage in their civic duty to vote, and the Church should present a united front to make sure the state does its job in a right manner. Then, having played our role, we should submit to our leaders, and submit ultimately to Christ’s sovereign reign (Matt. 28: 18, Rom. 13:1-7).

Therefore, on Wednesday October 23 I participated in early voting. After submitting my ballot, I was given an “I voted” sticker, and I placed it on my shirt. As I ran my errands, the lady who took my lunch order thanked me for voting. A little later, as I was checking out at the grocery store, the man bagging my groceries also thanked me for voting. On my drive home, I started thinking if they were really thankful that I partook in the election process, or if their comments were a part of the push for people to vote this year (a campaign stemming from the controversies surrounding the 2020 election, and the relatively low voter turnout during that election cycle). If I’m being honest, I cannot say I necessarily would be happy if they voted.

One thing the unpredictability of the polls does tell us is that no single candidate represents the majority of Americans right now, and that is because America is a very divided nation at present. There were a number of weighty issues on the ballot this year, both nationally and at the state level. The likelihood that the people who thanked me for voting also cast the same ballot as me is relatively slim. Part of being human is that we simply don’t know how others will act. We don’t if they define the terms of justice or love like we do. Part of being human—particularly in a world covered in sin—is that the tension of the unknown leads us to quarrels. Below, I would like to share an edited portion of a paper I recently submitted for course credit in seminary. It is based on the writings of Saint Augustine of Hippo, and equation of unknowing, power, justice and love.

What is Love?

It is fair to wonder if human society can grasp real love and justice, and the writings of St. Augustine of Hippo can help us come up with an answer. In his work On The Trinity , Augustine expresses how the Trinity of God reveals both God’s love, and expresses God’s justice to humanity. In The Confessions , he ponders many aspects of his own life, but further reveals how God has made His love and justice known. He further discusses these ethical concerns in The City of God .

Augustinian scholar Martin Westerholm  argues that love is a precondition of justice. Much of the modern discourse around love and justice is misguided however, pitting the certainty of justice against the fleeting nature of love. Yet, for Augustine, this understanding is misguided, as God’s saints are bound together in community by His love. In book 13 of On The Trinity, Augustine ponders what it means to be “justified in [Christ’s] blood”, and considers how God’s saints are made just in Christ. In chapter 11, Augustine notes that a person is justified by the blood of Christ alone, being reconciled to God by His Son. Though the work of God is accomplished for humanity equally between the Father, Son and Spirit, the love of God flows to humanity through Christ. Yet, in chapter 13, Augustine notes that it is by God’s righteousness, His justness, and not His power, that He overcame the devil. This is not because power is inherently wrong, Augustine asserts, but because “the devil, by fault of his own perversity, was made a lover of power, and a forsaker and assailant of righteousness.” Augustine continues by explaining that the righteousness of God is greater than the power of men, and it is by the right love of Christ that men overcome the evil of Satan. He attests that when power and righteousness are joined together, they form judicial authority. Therefore, Augustine posits this equation: justice (the love of God) + power (the love of Christ)= happiness.

Baby Don’t Hurt Me.

Happiness requires power, because humans grow ill-suited when they do not get the things they want. While the equation of power + justice = happiness seems to be neatly written out, In On The Trinity 13.17 Augustine sees the devil’s mistake in playing a game for power, instead of for justice. Jesus did the opposite, using His power to purify humanity from Satan’s control. As Augustine argues, it is the particular righteous justice of Christ that is necessary for happiness because humans, like Satan, often pervert the power they receive. Therefore, two things are necessary if a person is to be happy: to act in accordance with Christ’s just will, and to will what one justly wants. In The City of God, Augustine notes that the only society that can be described as “just” is the one in which Jesus Christ is revered as King. Thus, there is one more pitfall that eludes finishing this equation. Even if humans rightly desire the just power of Christ, those desires often elude the reach of the power God allots to humanity.

“13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”

Colossians 1:13-20, NASB1995

In The City of God Book 19 Chapter 4, Augustine compares what Christianity and ancient Roman philosophy consider supreme good and evil. No objection of man can keep the pain and misfortune of sin from entering his life. Even if the Roman philosophers act virtuously in their academics, they cannot keep themselves or their loved ones from suffering in life. When the philosophers of Antiquity saw the body as evil, Augustine appeals to God as the one that can keep sin from overrunning life. For all things are subjected to God (Col. 1:13-20). Thus, Augustine closes the gap between human power and desire by encouraging man to desire the eternal life found in Christ. Even the desires man is able to obtain in this life are ultimately fleeting, yet through the gift of eternal life, the powers gifted to man by God are unmeasurable. As the scholar Kirsten Dedee Johnson notes , because Augustine’s definition of justice is so closely intertwined with right order, true justice is not possible outside of Jesus Christ. For it is Jesus who reordered that which ails man in the disordered sinfulness of this world. Even when the philosophers desired seemingly good things, like life for their children, those wants were fundamentally disordered. It is through Christ alone that a fundamental reordering of this world occurred.

Augustine’s whole argument in The City of God rests on the evaluation of how power is obtained, specifically by those who are in Christ (the Church) and those who are not (with many references made to pagan Rome). In The City of God Book 14.13 reflects on Adam and his sin. Augustine exerts that Adam’s disobedience was a matter of pride, and that pride is the want of undue adoration. He asserts that pride occurs when one’s soul abandons God to seek satisfaction in itself. Later in this section, he notes how those who seek to lift themselves up eventually find themselves equivalent with nothing due to their distance from God, while those who humble themselves are exalted by God into His glories. Adam, through his selfish disobedience in the Garden, exemplifies the human soul’s interest in personal power over justice. Humanity is marked by a contrast between a social love for justice (and the One who ultimately delivers it), and an anti-social love of personal power and one’s own private character. It is only through submission to Christ that this tension is relieved.

And, as Augustine also states in Book 19 of The City of God, this submission is found in the social life of the City of God. Those whom belong to this city, and not to the pagan City of Man, ultimately find their belonging with God. Thus, even in life on earth, they are united by their faith in God, and the blood of His Son. However, this life is full of many difficult things, such as a man’s uncertainty that his wife is faithful to him, the concerns of parents for the health and wellbeing of their children, the truthfulness of a friend, and how upright a leader will be in ruling over his or her land. And if these concerns impact those who belong to God, then it is worth considering how much greater the challenge is for those who puff themselves up. Augustine sees that if the people in a society cannot know the innerworkings of their fellow man, then there is a lack of power, and this lack of power creates fear. Fear is a form of weakness, of vulnerability, and an inability to achieve the end of controlling another person. Thus, fear constricts the impact justice can have in this world. Augustine recognizes that fear can suppress desire in such a way to mimic unity. Ultimately though, without the full reign of Christ, love and justice are limited in this world. Therefore, Augustine leaves us in a posture of looking forward to Christ’s return.

The Flesh Cannot Inherit the Kingdom

I know this article has been denser than my last article, and most articles here on The Two Books. Hopefully you found this brief dive into Augustine’s ethics helpful as you process the results of this election cycle, and where it crosses paths with Christianity. But it isn’t lost on me that Augustine gives little hope for America, or any country in the world, to find real love, justice or happiness. As I before, I don’t know the results of the election as I write this article, but you likely do. What I do know, and you should know if you are in Christ, is that the hope for justice and love that America is looking for is ultimately realized eschatologically.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul touches on a number of topics which are dividing God’s people in the city of Corinth: in chapter 6, he discourages lawsuits between believers, Paul shines a light on similar power struggles involving the roles of marriage in 1 Corinthians 7, of the use of liberty in chapters 8-9, of the abuse of social status before taking the Lord’s Supper in chapter 11, and of the value of various spiritual gifts in chapter 12. Then in chapter 13, Paul writes about the supremacy of love, stating that “love never fails,” in verse 8, and then concluding that the greatest gift of God is love. (1 Cor. 13). Going back to Augustine’s equation, love is the love of God in the form of Christ, and indeed Christ has not, is not, and will not fail us.

I’ve spent some time recently contemplating how the language of election is used civically and within Reformed theology. Now is not the time to define or defend the Reformed position. I simply want to point out that while, as Americans, we cast a vote to select the candidates and policies we approve of most, if you are in Christ, God cast a vote of approval for you when you were still His enemy. Jesus has not failed you, and as you read this He is still on the throne in heaven, poised to return for you as soon as the Father sends Him. Therefore, if your candidate was victorious, celebrate with humility; and if your candidate lost, do not be afraid, God is sovereign over all things—even the American election process.

“50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 15:50-58, NASB1995

In all things witness to Christ’s victory. because ultimately the flesh, and all the things of this world cannot inherit the kingdom. Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians reaches its zenith in chapter 15 as he outlines the glory that all Christians will receive in the day of Christ’s return (1 Cor. 15:50-58). That is where Augustine’s philosophy should posture us. Yes, bear witness to Christ in your conduct as an American, as an employee, and as a citizen. But know that this country is not your true home. As the Apostle Peter reminds us, we are a royal priesthood and a holy nation, but we are also sojourners and strangers in this world (1 Peter 2: 9-11).  Whatever the results of the election, Christians can rest assured that the just love of God and the powerful love of Christ have secured our eternal happiness in heaven.

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About the Author

Robert Shashy was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. He attended Catholic school from kindergarten through the 12th grade, and was devoted to weekly church attendance. While at the University of Florida, he began attending Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) meetings, and deepened his relationship with Christ. He remains compassionate towards practicing Roman Catholics, and believes Reformed Catholicity is key to both the American and global Church. He currently is attending Reformed Theological Seminary (RTSO) as a hybrid student, and is an aspiring church leader. Robert feels called by Christ to contextualize American culture to help the Church in sharing the Gospel in the 21st Century, and to inform modern Christians of who the Bible says they are, what society says about them, and how to follow Christ’s lead in those crosswinds. In his free time, Robert is a hobby board game enthusiast, and he looks forward to the day when the Church again embraces her roles of being a safehouse and a hospital.