Please, Lord, a Christian Prince!

On the eve of election day, even though it is not a presidential or midterm election, I want to say again that Christians who are being guided by the Word will always care deeply and rightly about the character, morality, and confession of their leaders. It seems to me one of the more disastrous confusions laid at the feet of Lutherans, and sometimes weirdly embraced by Lutherans because Luther’s name is attached to it, is the idea that these things doesn’t matter to Christians or shouldn’t matter for Christians in the West because of the “separation of church and state.” So here again: Luther never said that he would prefer a wise Turk as his prince to an incompetent Christian prince. This isn’t to say that incompetence doesn’t matter. Even as incompetence is grounds for removal for a pastor, it ought to be grounds for removal of a political leader as well. So also should immorality. The point here, though, is that the character, morality, and confession of all our leaders, whether they be in the sphere of family, church, or state matters deeply to their subordinates. We mostly certainly want and desire godly leaders everywhere. Look here for a thorough commentary on Luther’s view from Ed Veith of this and a repudiation of the slander that claims he preferred a wise Turk to a foolish Christian.