Several years ago, I stopped saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I haven’t always objected to saying the Pledge. For years, I never questioned it. The Pledge was never preached against or discussed in Bible classes. Most Christians I knew joined in without hesitation. I was right there with them.
I never viewed the Pledge as a declaration of ultimate allegiance to government institutions. I knew governments often did ungodly things. Instead, I thought of myself as pledging allegiance to the good things the flag was supposed to represent: “liberty and justice for all” and “one nation under God.” As long as America stood for godly values, I could support her, while maintaining my ultimate allegiance to God alone.
Refusing to say the Pledge even felt disrespectful. Scripture commands Christians to honor governing authorities. As Paul writes:
Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
Romans 13:7
Even now, though I no longer recite the Pledge, I still believe we must remain respectful. I am not suggesting that Christians should become anti-American activists or stage disruptive protests at sporting events. You can respectfully stand, remove your hat, and yet remain silent without placing your hand over your heart.
If you currently say the Pledge, I think I understand your perspective. But I do want to encourage you to think about what you’re saying. The more I did, the more convinced I became that the Pledge of Allegiance is fundamentally out of step with the gospel.
A Pledge is a Big Deal
Consider those first two words: “I pledge.”
A pledge is a promise, an oath, and a commitment of loyalty. That should immediately capture a Christian’s attention, especially in light of Jesus’ words during the Sermon on the Mount:
Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all… Let what you say simply be ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
Matthew 5:33-37
While Christians have long debated whether Jesus was forbidding every formal oath or simply emphasizing the importance of absolute truthfulness, it is clear that promises and vows are serious spiritual matters. We should never make oaths casually, simply because tradition expects it or because everyone else is reciting them. If we’re going to pledge something, we ought to first pause and examine whether the oath is one we can truly keep.
What Does Biblical Faith Actually Mean?
Consider the biblical concept of faith. The Greek word translated as “faith” is pistis.
In modern culture, faith is often reduced to mere intellectual agreement. The confession, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” is frequently treated as simply giving mental assent to the truth of that statement. Sometimes, faith is even treated as the blind opposite of evidence.
That is not how the Bible uses the term. James reminds us that “even the demons believe – and shudder!” (James 2:19). Throughout Scripture, true faith is inseparable from faithfulness, loyalty, or even, allegiance.
We see this clearly in Hebrews 11:
- By faith, Noah built an ark.
- By faith, Abraham left his homeland.
- By faith, Moses rejected Pharaoh’s court.
- By faith, Israel marched around Jericho.
Faith is never presented as mere belief. It is demonstrated through loyalty, and loyalty includes acts of loyalty. Paul frames the entire book of Romans around “the obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5; 16:26). This phrase has proved quite tricky for those who think of faith as the opposite of works, but it makes perfect sense when we understand pistis as loyalty or allegiance.
This definition matches how the word was used at that time. For instance, in the historical book of 1 Maccabees, King Demetrius praises the Jewish people for maintaining their pistis:
Since you have kept your agreement with us and have continued your friendship with us, and have not sided with our enemies, we have heard of it and rejoiced. And now continue still to keep faith with us, and we will repay you with good for what you do for us.
1 Maccabees 10:25-27
King Demetrius was not thanking the Jews for believing he existed. He was thanking them for remaining politically loyal. In the ancient world, pistis meant allegiance.
The Gospel Calls for Allegiance to a King
Paul opens Romans by summarizing the gospel as a message “concerning [God’s] Son, who was descended from David” (Romans 1:3). This detail matters. David was Israel’s king and Jesus is presented as the One who has inherited his promised throne.
Therefore, Paul’s mission was to bring about “the obedience of faith among all the nations” (Romans 1:5). If faith means allegiance, then the gospel is a summons to people of all nations to give their loyalty to King Jesus.
The central Christian confession is that “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9). In the Roman world, “Lord” (Kyrios) was not merely a theological title. It was primarily a political term. To publicly confess Jesus as Lord was to implicitly declare that Caesar was not. That is why the early Christians were routinely accused of political treason:
They dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also… and they are acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king, Jesus.”
Acts 17:6-7
The early Christians were not revolutionaries, but they boldly announced that Jesus held all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). When this message was proclaimed throughout all nations, it was understood as a transfer of allegiance away from the competing authorities of those nations, to a life of loyalty to the commands of Jesus.
In fact, one of the reasons why baptism was so important is because it served as a pledge of allegiance. Peter describes baptism as:
…not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal [or pledge, NIV] to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 3:21
The word translated as “appeal” or “pledge” (eperotema) was used to refer to one’s formal answer, agreement, or vow to the terms of a legal contract. Baptism is a binding pledge of total loyalty made to God. If you are a Christian, you have already pledged your allegiance to a King.
Can Christians Have Dual Allegiance?
This brings us to the core issue: Can a Christian pledge allegiance to Christ and simultaneously pledge allegiance to the flag of an earthly kingdom?
Scripture has much to say about how Christians should relate to the governments. We are to submit to them (Romans 13:1-7), obey their laws (Titus 3:1), and pray for them (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Jeremiah even encouraged the Jewish exiles to “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile” (Jeremiah 29:7). Christians are to be good and peaceful citizens.
However, Jesus also taught that no one can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). He demanded loyalty greater than even our loyalty to our family (Luke 14:26). When the apostles were ordered to stop preaching Christ, they replied, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). When forced to choose, their loyalty was undivided.
Revelation’s Warning About Political Powers
The book of Revelation drives this point home with vivid imagery. John depicts the monstrous powers of political entities as “beasts” who were demanding absolute devotion. This image is drawn directly from Daniel 7.
John warned that those who “followed the beast” were, in reality, worshiping the dragon who empowered it with authority (Revelation 13:3-4). The beast promised safety, economic prosperity, and national peace. Yet, John does not advise Christians to pledge their allegiance to the good things these kingdoms stand for. Instead, he offers a sharp warning:
Come out of her, my people,
Revelation 18:4
lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues.
According to the book of Revelation, you cannot give your loyalty both to the Lamb and the Beast. One loyalty wholly excludes the other.
The Witness of the Early Martyrs
The final piece that reinforced this conviction for me came from reading about the early Christian martyrs. For the first three centuries, one of the primary reasons Christians were persecuted is because they refused to swear oaths of loyalty to Caesar.
When Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle John, was arrested, Roman officials offered him freedom if he would simply “swear by the fortune of Caesar.” Polycarp refused. Instead he answered:
“Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?”
The Martyrdom of Polycarp 9
For Polycarp, pledging loyalty to Caesar was equivalent to blaspheming Christ. You can read the entire account here.
Similarly, during the trial of the Scillitan Martyrs in AD 180, a Christian named Speratus was pressured to swear allegiance to the emperor. He answered:
The Acts of the Scillitan MartyrsI do not acknowledge the authority of this world, but rather I serve that God whom no one has seen or can see with these eyes. I have never been guilty of theft, but whenever I buy, I pay the tax, because I acknowledge my Lord, the King of Kings, and ruler of all peoples.
Speratus recognized Caesar’s legal authority, but he was executed because he refused to vow his allegiance to him. An additional Scillitan martry named Donata likewise refused to pledge to Caesar with the following words:
Honor to Caesar in his capacity as Caesar, but fear to God.
You can read the entire first hand account of these martrys here.
Is reciting the Pledge of Allegiance a perfect parallel to what these Christians were being asked to do? Probably not. Romans often demanded sacrifices to pagan gods along with those pledges. Nobody is asking Americans to worship false gods along with the Pledge.
Even so, when you read about these early Christian martyrs, their objections focused not on Rome’s worship of other gods, but in the vow of allegiance to any king other than King Jesus. The ancient Christians viewed themselves as citizens of a heavenly kingdom. They honored earthly rulers, but because of their devotion to Jesus, they absolutely refused to swear vows of allegiance to them, even at the expense of their lives.
A Different Kingdom
Christians should respect their leaders, pray for them, and obey them whenever doing so does not require disobedience to God. But pledging allegiance is something different. It is a declaration of loyalty. As Christians, we have already made that declaration. Jesus is our King. The church’s mission is not to point people to America as the source of liberty and justice, but to point them to Jesus Christ as the true Savior of the world.
For that reason, I can no longer say the Pledge of Allegiance. If you are a Christian, I invite you to consider doing the same.
The Christian Exile 