Character in Leadership (#2) - Jonathan Voos

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Character in Leadership (#2)

Must Politicians be Saints?

Must Politicians be Saints?

Dear reader,

I’m writing this introduction from a hospital lobby while my wife attends a breastfeeding class.1 It’s almost baby time!

As we prepare for our little one, my wife and I have been reflecting on our current habits. We want her to eat well, so we need to eat well. We want her to read, so we need to read to her and spend time reading ourselves. We want her to know and love God, so we need to prioritize God in our daily activities.2

This brings me back to my series theme: We want our baby to have good character, so we need to have good character. Kids—especially teenagers—are adept at recognizing hypocrisy, and parents generally struggle to hold children to standards they don’t meet themselves. Thus, my character matters in forming her character.

We Live in a Society

But my character isn’t all that matters. We all live in societies and are formed, at least in part, by our culture and surroundings.

Carl Trueman’s “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self” audiobook illuminated this point for me today in his discussion of French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s beliefs on society’s corrupting influences.3 Without delving into the weeds, Rousseau basically argues that man’s nature is good and empathetic but becomes corrupted by society. When men get entangled in society, they learn to lie, steal, take advantage of others, and otherwise practice vices.

While I disagree with Rousseau’s conclusions about sin and individual fault, there is some truth to his theory on how society corrupts us. One friend’s story about his 4-year-old daughter immediately comes to mind. After sending his daughter to Pre-K class, he noticed that she was becoming ruder, less respectful, and more volatile. He quickly pulled her from the program, and she returned to her normal self.

Likewise, my daughter will be influenced by her family, friends, classmates, teachers, books, shows, social media (when she turns 18), and even AI. All of these influences are themselves shaped by broader cultural forces, often aiming to direct our attention and choices.

Politicians are no different. Through legislation, news, and media platforms, they seek to influence our opinions and sway our votes and actions on a daily basis. On a national scale, their words and actions influence how people think about political and social issues. Thus, when we elect politicians with subpar character, we are giving a corrupting influence the power to infect our society, laws, and worldviews.

Our politicians aren’t perfect and never will be, so moral perfection can’t be the bar for electing politicians. What then should we look for in choosing our leaders?

Must Politicians be Saints?

To become a country of people with good character, we need our leaders to influence our character well. This will most likely happen if our leaders have good character themselves. Because this series’s premise is “the qualities of good leaders in the Bible are still the qualities that make leaders good today,” let’s turn to the good book.

In 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, Paul gives Christians a clear list of character qualities for elders in the church. The 1 Timothy version says this:

An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not an excessive drinker, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy. He must manage his own household competently and have his children under control with all dignity. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a new convert, or he might become conceited and incur the same condemnation as the devil. Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the devil’s trap.

While these eldership qualifications4 are not qualifications for being a politician or king, they are still desirable traits for leaders. I want leaders who are self-controlled, respectable, sensible, hospitable, able to teach, and of good reputation among outsiders, and I don’t want leaders who practice drunkenness, quarrelsomeness, conceit, bullying, and cannot manage their own household. It’s a good list.

Accordingly, when electing leaders, Christians should think about how that person’s character will impact our nation in relation to these qualities. Will we become more cruel? More prideful? Less attentive to God? More greedy? Less self-controlled? More quarrelsome? Will vocally supporting this leader affect our witness to those who don’t know Jesus? Will this leader legalize or actively promote harmful vices?

If the answer to most of these questions is yes, Christians should probably look for a different leader.

Ultimately, we can’t ask for or expect perfection from politicians. But we can recognize that our nation’s character is affected by our politicians’ character.

Using 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, David, Nehemiah, Proverbs, and other biblical teachings on leadership as guideposts, Christians should strive to elect politicians who have good character and will avoid leading our people into sin.

1

I happily drove her to the hospital so that she wouldn’t have to battle rush hour traffic, but I didn’t feel the need to see two hours’ worth of breastfeeding pictures and videos, hence how I ended up waiting in the lobby.

2

If you’re interested in specifics, we plan on praying and reading our Bibles with her to instill knowledge and in front of her to set an example. We also plan on attending church habitually, talking about what we’ve read and how God has worked in our lives, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs together, memorizing Bible verses, and seeking to represent Christ well in how we talk and act.

3

Shoutout to Haley Baumeister for the book recommendation.

4

Some Bible versions call people in this position “overseers” or “bishops”.