 The Christian State
The label “Christian Nationalism” is popular these days both among Christians and unbelievers. One of the challenges in commenting on this issue is that there are almost as many different definitions of this term as there are people. The term can mean anything from a God and country flavored Christian patriotism to a call for a Christian political state. The spectrum between these views allows for much misunderstanding, confusion, and miscommunication. For the purpose of this series of articles, I am going to be responding to “Christian Nationalism” as a perspective believing that the theonomic application of God’s law should be the rule for the state as well as the church. By using the term theonomic, I am meaning the equitable application of those principles contained in the Old Testament law to our modern practices. Many would call this general equity theonomy. While I agree with the general application of wisdom from God’s law to our practices today, we must not forget that we live as New Covenant believers from the standpoint of the fulfillment of all the law of God in the covenant keeper, our Lord Jesus Christ. It is my view that church history is clear that the mingling of church and state is fraught with danger not only for heretics but for true Christian brothers with dissenting opinions. However, the issue is what is consistent with Scripture. If the Bible teaches that we should be implementing the general equity of God’s law and the Lordship of Christ through the laws of the state then we should do that. However, I am going to argue in this series that this is not what the Scriptures teach about the role of the government or the church. Biblical Baptist From the outset I want to be clear that I am not writing from a neutral position. I am a biblical Baptist and therefore I am going to make my argument from this perspective. In the Scripture God has laid out for us certain necessary realms of governmental authority. We often think of government only in terms of the political sphere such as local municipalities, state governments and the federal government. But the church is also a realm of governmental authority under the headship of Christ (Colossian 1:18). Also, the family is a realm of governing authority under the headship of the husband/father. Even each individual must learn to govern his/her own actions. Of course, each person should submit to Christ in their self governance. My intention in this series is not to exhaustively critique the Christian Nationalist movement but to instead make a positive argument for what I am calling “Christian Localism”. I believe that this is the most consistent way to understand the Lordship of Christ over all realms of authority while maintaining the biblical distinctions and discontinuity between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Simple Thesis Jesus has all authority on earth and in heaven and He is plundering the enemy’s house (Luke 11:14-23) through the proclamation of the gospel and the regeneration of individuals, which cannot and will not be accomplished through the implementation of governmental mandates or edicts. My simple thesis is that the kingdom of God and Christ does not come as a top down imposition on the nations but rather a bottom up transformation of individual hearts through regeneration (Titus 3:4-7). The text at the root of contention is the Great Commission from Matthew 28:18-20 so we will deal with that text specifically in next week’s post.
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