Reframing Politics Through the Cross: Paul’s Radical Conversion and a New Vision for the Church

Voxology

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 October 2020

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does it look like to engage politically in a way rooted in the cross and not coercion? In this special bonus episode from the archives, Mike Erre continues the “Faith & Politics” series by diving deep into the transformative implications of Paul’s conversion—for both the early church and our modern political landscape.

Drawing from Paul’s radical encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Mike explores how the Apostle’s understanding of politics, salvation, nationalism, and power underwent a complete overhaul. Listeners are invited to reimagine civic engagement not through partisanship but through the cruciform vision of the Kingdom of God, where allegiance to Jesus as Lord reshapes all identities, systems, and priorities.

Key Takeaways:
• Paul’s Political Awakening – How meeting the crucified and risen Jesus reoriented Paul’s theology from zealotry to sacrificial love and non-coercive kingdom living.
• Resurrection as Political Symbol – Seeing resurrection not as escapism but as God’s holistic plan for the world: economic, social, and political renewal.
• The Cross as a Political Statement – Understanding the Roman cross as the ultimate political symbol, and how Jesus’s death subverts and reclaims power structures through loving victory.
• The Birth of a New Humanity – How the church, drawn from every tribe and nation, is called to be a new polis—a holy, justice-oriented political community shaped by the Spirit and mission of Jesus.
• Jesus Is Lord (Not Caesar) – Why the early Christian proclamation directly challenged the empire and what it means for modern believers navigating political identity.

Resources Mentioned:
• Ephesians 1 – Paul’s sweeping vision of Jesus’s cosmic lordship (Read Ephesians 1)
• Michael Gorman – Insights on “cruciform” theology and non-coercive power
• Books and themes of Jonah and Exodus 19 – For understanding election, vocation, and God’s heart for the nations
• Tim Gombis – Writings on empire and Pauline theology

Join us as we wrestle with what it means to live as a politically faithful church in an era of division, nationalism, and misplaced allegiance. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with anyone questioning how faith truly intersects with politics.

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to [email protected], and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV

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Learn more about the Voxology Podcast

Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify

Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio

Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to [email protected], and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.

Our Merch Store! ETSY

Learn more about the Voxology Podcast

Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify

Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio

Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

Transcript

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0:00.0	All right. Hey, welcome to the Vox podcast. I'm just popping in here real quick to say, hey,
0:08.6	this is a bonus episode. This is not part of our current series that comes out on Mondays
0:14.4	on the Sermin on the Mount. This is actually from a series Mike did a few years ago on reconciling faith and politics, which we
0:23.6	thought could be helpful for folks in this current season that we're in right now.
0:30.1	So we hope you enjoy it.
0:32.5	We hope that it's helpful.
0:35.6	Without any further ado, reconciling faith in politics, part two.
0:54.1	What we want to do is we want to continue to talk politics.
0:58.0	And we want to talk politics through the lens of Paul's conversion.
1:02.7	In other words, Paul tells us a bit about himself autobiographically.
1:07.5	And from what we know of Pharisees of Paul's day, we have some confidence in making some
1:16.3	assumptions about what Paul would have expected and believed and been passionate about as a
1:22.0	Pharisee prior to his meeting the Lord Jesus. And then what he was like after, he certainly, we certainly
1:29.5	have much more insight on that as he's writing to these kingdom communities. He's developing
1:33.6	and planting all throughout Asia Minor. But there's, I think there are the lessons to be learned
1:41.0	from Paul's change of perspective for us. If you remember, we've talked about how for
1:48.0	Paul, the gospel, you know, and the hope of Israel and the messianic expectation, all of that was
1:53.2	political. It wasn't just a spiritual thing. It was economic. It was social. It was political
2:00.4	in the deepest, truest sense of the word. And so Paul had certain
2:04.1	assumptions about what that was like. And we talked last time, we ended the last time we had this
2:08.9	conversation on just noting some of the ways that Paul Zeal had corrupted his understanding
2:16.4	of Israel's vocation.
	...

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