"Vote Biblically"...?

Reference: John Calvin, Institutes, 4.20.9

It’s election season.  Many of the homes in my neighborhood have campaign signs on their lawns.  This week I saw a new one.  It said, simply, “Vote biblically”. 

What does that mean?  How do you vote biblically?  How do you distill the commands and wisdom of the Bible down to a political platform that you can vote for?    

Jesus summarizes all the imperatives in the Bible in Matthew 22:

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

John Calvin argues that the duty of any government is to uphold these two functions of God’s order for human life:

“The duty of magistrates, its nature, as described by the word of God…extends to both tables of the law [i.e., love for 1. God and 2. Other people]…” (4.20.9) 

In other words, governments that honor God do the following:

First, ensure the right of its citizens to worship God.

“…no polity can be successfully established unless piety be its first care, and that those laws are absurd which disregard the rights of God, and consult only for men…We have already shown that this office is specially assigned them by God, and indeed it is right that they exert themselves in asserting and defending the honour of him whose viceregents they are, and by whose favour they rule. Hence in Scripture holy kings are especially praised for restoring the worship of God when corrupted or overthrown, or for taking care that religion flourished under them in purity and safety.”

Second, protect the vulnerable and uphold the cause of justice.

“ In regard to the second table of the law, Jeremiah addresses rulers, ‘Thus saith the Lord, Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood’ (Jeremiah 22:3). To the same effect is the exhortation in the Psalm, ‘Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; rid them out of the hand of the wicked’ (Psalm 82:3,4).” 

God represents himself repeatedly as the ultimate restorer of justice – both civil justice and economic justice.  God’s objective is to restore the cosmos to their original, good state.  God imposes rules upon his people that ensure that everyone in their society – regardless of race, gender, physical ability or even merit – gets enough. 

So what does it mean to "vote biblically"?  Go to the Bible and see what God tells his people: Love me; love others.  Is there a party or politician whose policies and practices ensure the greatest good for the greatest number of people?  Not just people like you?  Vote not for self-interest, but the interests of a more just, equitable, safe world in which more people equate the name of Jesus with grace, peace, and provision.  That’s what a “biblical” people are all about.