As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
Read the series.
In the last article, we discussed the most basic principle to rightly understand the “church v. state” conundrum. That principle was this—there are two kingdoms, Babylon and Jerusalem. Babylon will lose. Now we’ll build on this foundation and introduce the next building block:
Principle no. 2: God’s kingdom is distinct from every nation state.
This essay aims to help ordinary Christians rightly consider the relationship between the church and the state. This is important because Christians receive many contradictory messages about this issue. Some Christian influencers call for believers to “take America back for God.” Others just want good, old-fashioned Christian values to influence society and feel marginalized because Mayberry is gone and isn’t coming back. Still others just want nothing to do with politics—perhaps to the extent that their churches neglect to speak truth to a decadent culture.
Much of the issue targets Christian authoritarianism, theonomy, and Christian nationalism - 9 Marks
“I reached out to church leaders from around the world, asking how they apply Paul’s command to ‘be subject to the governing authorities’ (Rom. 13:1). These believers hail from all sorts of countries” - TGC
“John Randolph of Roanoke (1773–1833) had no confidence that America was, or ever had been, a Christian republic.” - Desiring God
“Nobody seriously thinks that hostile secularity is the ideal state of government, or rejects the claim that society should order us toward the truth or the good. What we cannot do, however, is wink at the authoritarian and illiberal claims about authority that are implicitly, or sometimes explicitly, made in some integralist arguments.” - L&L
The president of Southern Seminary is on record as saying that government funding for religious schools is wrong, that Baptists “consistently oppose” the public reading of Scripture in public schools, and he even agonized over whether it would “subsidize religion” for churches to be tax-exempt.1 This president is not Al Mohler, but his predecessor Edgar Mullins, writing in 1908. Some religious outsiders (and perhaps not a few Baptists) would be surprised to learn this.
“I understand and sympathize with the desire for something like Christian Nationalism, but if this book represents the best of that ism, then Christian Nationalism isn’t the answer the church or our nation needs.” - Kevin DeYoung
“The problem with Christian nationalism is that apart from being vague and deeply problematic for the United States’ historic religious liberty practices, it is ultimately superfluous.” - Providence
Discussion