BiAS 7 – The Bible and Politics in Africa
whole of the canon, and then ask how such truth applies to themselves and
to the church and society of which they are a part.^57There are two other Biblical themes which would contribute towards
engendering pluralism, that is, the Trinity and the image of the church
as a body. In Genesis 1:26, we read God speaking in plural as He con-
siders the creation of human beings. Without falling into the temptation
of economic trinity, we find that the persons of the Godhead working
together leading us to modalism or the idea that there really is only one
divine nature which appears in three ‘modes of being’. That is, the vari-
ous works of salvation are distributed to the three persons, so creation
becomes solely the work of the Father; redemption is the work of the
Son alone and sanctification the specific work of the Spirit.^58 It would be
too much reading into the text if we said that there was a discussion in
the Godhead as to how human beings would look like. Extrapolating on
this biblical motif the bible offers a model for democracy and plurality in
the sense that Christians as citizens of a country can contribute signifi-
cantly to the development of their respective countries by harnessing
their different and unique gifting and talents. The voices and opinions of
the citizenry, though diverse, can be considered and brought to bear the
challenge of developing their respective countries in their own individual
and collective capacities. Perhaps this is why Edgar suggests that ‘the
Trinity is also the christian’s paradigm for social and political life.’^59 St.
Paul in 1Corinthians chapter 12 informs the church that each member
has received a different spiritual gift from the same spirit but for the
welfare of the whole body. He describes the church as a body with many
different organs but working for welfare of the whole body. This image
could well be used in the discussion about unity in diversity in a nation.
The church also has people from different ethnic and racial groups and
different social backgrounds and cultures. This multiculturism should
be used as a challenge for the country to have political pluralism. The
only problem is that the church fails sometimes to be the role model of
this unity and diversity thus losing its moral authority to challenge the
politicians. The Church is depicted in the Acts of Apostles as a commu-
nity of believers. People from different communities started a new life
(^57) D.A.Carson, Approaching the Bible, in New Bible Commentary, 21st Century Edition,
Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester, 2002, p 18.
(^58) Edgar, B. The Message of the Trinity; Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester: 2004, p 27.
(^59) Edgar, The Message of the Trinity. p 29.