The phrase “Christian Nationalism” is being bandied about by the American political left and is defined as a belief focused on “legislating civil and criminal laws that reflect a view of Christianity and the role of religion in political and social life.^[1]” The reason they talk about it so much is they see Christians as the last obstacle to overcome in their desire to legislate their anti-Chrtian civil and criminal laws. To most Christians the idea of Christian Nationalism doesn’t sound like a bad thing, but I’d like to suggest that it’s too limiting in that it could be understood as a strictly New Testament approach to politics.

Christians do not develop all of their theology from the New Testament alone. We value the Old Testament as well, holding it in high regard and every bit the Word of God as the New. For this reason I believe that the church, both protestant denominations and more ecumenical types like the Catholic and Anglican churches, should prefer the term “Biblical Nationalism”. After all, why wouldn’t we want to include the whole counsel of God in our approach to politics, law, and social structures?

If we want to take this topic seriously, and I believe we should, then we need to create a proper theology of government and politics that is firmly based on all of Scripture. Traditionally, theology has been divided into 10 subjects: Angelology, Anthropology, Bibliology, Christology, Ecclesiology, Eschatology, Hamartiology, Pneumatology, Soteriology and Theology. Perhaps it is time we expanded our systematic theologies to include a form of godly politics, Politicology if you will. I think the reason it hasn’t been done before is because the answers to certain questions depend on what political system the Christian is living under, but there are basic principles that can apply to people living under any system and others that pertain to every government.

One such principle is the difference between citizen duties and government responsibilities. That statement rankles because most of us desire consistency, we want only one set of rules for everything. Yet recognizing the truth of this statement is important, and can be demonstrated clearly with a single example. The apostle Paul teaches that the government has the right of capital punishment^[2]. The only time God grants this rite to individuals is in the absence of a governing body (the book of Judges being the premier example). When a person does punish another by taking their life it is called revenge (something condemned by God) rather than justice. This is only one instance of a responsibility God has given government that is not extended to citizens. There are many more, which is justification enough for Christians to develop a theology of politics.

The fact is, the church have overlooked the study and preaching of Biblical principles for politics and opponents of Christianity are starting to exploit that neglect. There are a few good organizations doing great work in this field, but nothing mainstream enough to reach the church universal. There is only so much one web site can do to reach believers abroad, so as you read and as you think and as you study the Bible be sure to share what you learn with others. Bring it up at your church, Bible studies and other functions so that we can collectively respond in a godly fashion to those who will twist Scripture in an effort to silence truth and make God’s people irrelevant in the public square.

^[1]  Wikipedia, Christian Nationalism, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_nationalism

^[2] Romans 13.1-5