Christian nationalism in the Bible

Jul 2

A consensus definition of “Christian nationalism” is hard to pin down. It’s the kind of thing where you know it when you see it.

I find my definition right in the term itself: The belief that America is, was, and/or should be a “Christian nation” is Christian nation-alism. But that’s just me.

As with all topics, what better place to look than the Bible? Even though it has no definition, example, or mandate of a Christian nation — the way that phrase is popularly meant today — if we search the Scriptures, we’ll find several examples of religious patriots who strive for their country in much the same way that Christian nationalists do today in America. They want to take back their nation for God and see it return to Him. They want to make their nation great again. They want to heal their land. Some of them proclaim Christ as King over their country.

In a way, the Old Testament is the story of a Christian nation. The Lord chose Israel to be His covenant nation — a designation some Christian nationalists today claim for the United States. They often point to Biblical Israel as their model, frequently quoting snippets of Scripture such as 2 Chronicles 7:14 and Psalm 33:12. The Israelites had a strong national pride, and still do, in the face of the world’s perpetual hatred for their country, which continues to this day.

That was the basis for their desire for a king in 1 Samuel.

Saul

Israel was being besieged by its enemies. The government was weak and corrupt. The people were crying out for a strongman to fight for them. Their solution was “Make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5).

The world values power, strength, and greatness, and believes those things can come from a strong leader. That’s who they trust to protect them and make everything right.

But in trusting a worldly king, they weren’t trusting in the Lord. That’s what God told Samuel, who bore the brunt of the Israelites’ demand: “they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them” (verse 7).

The Israelites, however, doubled down: “No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles” (verse 20). They wanted to be like the rest of the world, where kings fought for their nations and made them great.

God’s judgment was to grant their desire, choosing the physically imposing Saul to be their king. At first, Saul did exactly what they wanted, defeating Israel’s enemies. He was successful from a “policy” standpoint. But he did not end well, and his successor, the humble shepherd David, would give Israel a glimpse of what their true King would be like.

But even in God’s promise of a Christ from the line of David, the Israelites didn’t get what He was all about.

Jesus

All of Israel and Judah’s “good” kings — from David and Jehoshaphat to Hezekiah and Josiah — failed to save the nation from apostasy, division, and conquest by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and finally, Rome. And so when their true King arrived at last, His people were yearning for Him to overthrow the Romans and re-establish their glorious kingdom.

Making Him king

As Jesus’ fame spread throughout the land, so did the Jews’ Messianic fervor. After one of His most astonishing miracles, experienced by thousands of people, they decided that it was time to be delivered from Rome. John 6:15 says, “Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king.”

First of all, why would God’s King need the people to make Him king? Obviously, someone who can supernaturally create bread could have defeated the Romans and assumed the throne in Jerusalem anytime He wanted. But the second half of that verse tells us what Jesus thought of the people’s ambitions: “He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.” He would have none of it, just as in the wilderness where the devil tempted Him with all the kingdoms of the world.

Think of John 6:15 when you see Christian nationalists say “Christ is King.” In effect, that’s how they mean it.

Barabbas

There were Israelites, however, who did seek a violent revolution. In the gospels, we see two of them, and their drastically different choices.

One became Jesus’ disciple — Simon, a member of the nationalist sect known as the Zealots. He is never mentioned outside of lists of the Twelve (which included someone Simon would have despised as a traitor, the tax collector Levi, aka Matthew). Simon never acted on his zealotry after being with Jesus, even as the disciples were persecuted to their deaths. None of them ever fought back.

The other rebel did take action. Mark 15:7 says Barabbas committed murder in an insurrection. When offered the chance to decide between peaceful Jesus, who refused worldly power, and violent Barabbas, the people chose the latter. Many Christian nationalists today, if they were in that crowd, would have done the same and called for Jesus to be crucified. Loser.

On trial before Pilate, Jesus said His kingdom was “not of this world,” and He explained one way how — it was not a kingdom where His “servants would fight” (John 18:36). Christian nationalism, with its unholy politics and often venomous hatred of its enemies, is such a kingdom — of this world.

Restoring the kingdom

After Jesus triumphantly rose from the dead, surely that would be the time to rise up, right? “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” the disciples asked in Acts 1:6. Time to march into Jerusalem, show Himself to the stunned Romans, and take back the throne of David! Likewise, for Christian nationalists, now is the time to restore the kingdom, so to speak.

Jesus didn’t deny that He would destroy all of His nation’s enemies and establish His reign on earth politically. It wasn’t a matter of whether that was going to happen, but when. “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority,” He answered. The time of Christ’s earthly dominion is a matter for the Father alone. He will bring it about on the day He has appointed, when the Son will strike all the nations (Psalm 2:8-9, Revelation 19:15) and execute many kings in His wrath (Psalm 110:5-6).

Until then, that’s not the church’s job. Finishing His response to the question, Jesus gave His disciples their mission: Be His witnesses to the world. Preach the gospel of repentance and forgiveness of sins, as He put it in Luke 24:47. Populate the eternal realm. That, not restoring an earthly kingdom, is the Father’s business until the Son returns.

The church

That’s what the New Testament church did, and that’s all they did. They preached. They prayed. They persuaded. They loved. They didn’t evangelize corporate nations, but grassroots people. Their only power was the Holy Spirit and the word of God. They never took up arms; they never tried to overthrow the Romans; they never even set foot in the halls of government unless they were compelled to. They never instructed future generations of Christians to do any of that. They never talked like so many Christian nationalists do today.

They didn’t have to, because they believed what the Lord told them in His commission: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). Christ sent out His church in His absolute power, more power than all the nations of history combined. That’s why they turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6) despite having zero political might as they were scattered, hunted, and slaughtered like sheep (Romans 8:36).

They did that as the Lord’s instruments to build not a land-based country, but a new nation, a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9), one without armies or borders. A nation of believers in all nations, of all peoples, tribes, and tongues (Revelation 7:9). The nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His inheritance (Psalm 33:12).

That, the church, is the only Christian nation in the Bible, and the only one in the history of the world.

See also:

Keith Kraska