In Part 1 & Part 2 of this three part series about America being a Christian nation, we have looked at different ways to fairly approach the subject, and we have perused three historical obstacles that stand in the way of America being properly named “Christian.” In this last piece I want to speak to the fact that many Christian nationalists view God’s relationship with America much like they view His relationship with Israel in the Old Testament. After giving some evidence of this fact, I want to show from scripture why no nation today can properly be a Christian nation, and why you should not place any trust in human governments, including America’s.
Israel: A Special Nation
In the Old Testament it is very clear that God selected Israel from among the other nations to be a special nation for Himself. Without exhausting too much time and space, notice a couple verses that prove this.
Deuteronomy 14:2 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
Deuteronomy 26:18, “Also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you…”
There was no nation like Israel. Paul witnesses to Israel’s uniqueness as a nation in Romans 9:3-5 when He says that Israel was 1) adopted by God, 2) experienced the glory of God, 3) entered into covenant with God, 4) was given the law of God, 5) was assigned the service of God, 6) received special promises from God, 7) became the heritage of many great forefathers, and 8) from whom came Jesus Christ! The last item on this list is what makes God’s selection of Israel so special. God didn’t enter into covenant with Israel for the sake of making a covenant. God selected Israel to prepare for and bring Christ into the world. As some people have put it, Israel was “selected for service,” and this selection was very unique. As Jack Cottrell says,
“The miracles and special providence by which God guided (Israel’s) history were all aimed at the accomplishment of (redemption). There is no reason to think that in some other part of the world at that time, such as Australia or East Asia, God was dealing with other nations in similar ways… We cannot assume that God is dealing with nations today after the pattern of the Old Testament. The promises and warnings applied to Israel cannot be carried over and applied to modern countries such as the United States of America without violating basic hermeneutical principles,” (139-140).
I agree 100% with Cottrell on his assessment about God’s special dealings with other nations or the lack thereof, and this brings us to the next point.
America: Not a Special Nation
God did not call George Washington into the fiery and smoking cloud that rested on Mt. Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights. He did not ask the colonists to approach the quaking and thundering mountain in the wilderness in Exodus 19. But the way many evangelical Americans talk about God and His relationship to this nation, you might be expecting to find Washington and Boston in the topical index of your Bible. This line of thinking is not new. “Mercy Otis Warren (1805)…thought that the overthrow of English dominion by a band of colonial soldiers, and the creation of a government based on freedom, was so momentous that it could only be attributed to a ‘superintending Providence’ or the ‘finger of divine Providence,'” (Fea 9). Fea cites many others from colonial to post-colonial times that wrote and spoke of God’s dealings with America in terms that either explicitly or implicitly conjure up memories of how God dealt with Israel. One very interesting quote is from a Northern Baptist preacher named John F. Bigelow who in said in 1861,
“Washington was a ‘second Moses’ with a divine mission ‘to lead our American tribes from the Egypt of Colonial bondage through the…Sea and wilderness of the Revolutionary struggle, to the Canaan of liberty,'” (Fea 14).
Now that’s visionary! I don’t know too many people that are as direct in comparing America to a special nation unto God as John Bigelow, but the milder speech of many today who call America a Christian nation is truly no different at the foundation. God did not choose America as a special people to Himself above other nations; if He did, where is the scriptural proof? God does not specially provide for America anymore than He does for the Ukraine; if He does, where is the scriptural proof? There is nothing within the whole of sacred scripture that indicates we should consider America as any more special to God and the gospel program than any other nation that is implicated in the commission: “go to all nations” (Matt. 28:19).
The Church’s Relation to America
If America is not a Christian nation (see Part 2 in this series) and God does not deal with America like he dealt with Israel, then what relation does the church have to America? The church in America should view America and its government the same way the church in Russia should view Russia and its government, or the same way the church in the Congo should view the Congo and its government. All human governments are just that: human governments. They are not divine, human governments, meaning, God does not directly legislate to and communicate with the leaders of human governments today. As a result, these human governments may protect the church and further the cause of Christ one day, and the next day the same government may flip the script and suppress Christ’s church. Regardless of what happens, Paul says to regard human government as an institution that receives authority from God to ideally keep order in society. That is what I believe Romans 13:1-4 and 1 Peter 2:13-14 are saying. Just because God gives human governments the authority to punish evil and reward good does not mean they will always do this. Because of the very fact that they are “human governments” or “ordinance(s) of man,” as Peter puts it (1 Peter 2:13), the church should expect occasional, if not frequent, conflict with the government. The government of the United States is not immune to this fact. Just because 1776 America potentially embraced more morals and Christian language than 2021 America does not mean 1776 America was Christian by the scriptural use of the word (Acts 11:26). No, 1776 America was a nation ruled by a human government that presumably had some Bible based Christians living under that government, but at the end of the day it was just a human government ruled by worldly men.
In light of what we have learned about the church’s relationship to the human government of America, we can now make practical application. Because Christ’s kingdom is a spiritual kingdom as opposed to a fleshly kingdom (Eph. 6:12; John 18:36), members of the church do not concern themselves with the affairs of the American human government.
“No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier,” (2 Tim. 2:4).
That is such a meaningful verse! To be a Christian soldier entangled in the affairs of this life looks like someone who claims to have his sights set strictly on heaven but is so distracted from week to week on the election, the current legislation being volleyed back in forth in Congress, the impeachment of some government official, or the societal unrest over some new raging issue. This person thinks to himself, “If only we (America) would repent and turn to God, then we could be great again.” This wishful thinking is grounded in a false hope that the human government of America has the substance needed to provide peace. This wishful thinking is hopelessly lost in the daydream that fleshly kingdoms can become united with the kingdom of Christ that is “not of this world” (John 18:36). This fallen thinking gives America and human government too much credit. There is no hope in any government besides that of Jesus Christ. Christians should not be surprised by the rampant increase of injustice, corruption, and immorality in a human government, because all human governments are ruled by men who love darkness! “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil,” (John 3:19). America is where it is today, not because it has gotten away from its quote, unquote “Christian” roots. America is where it is today because it is a human government, and all human governments are ruled by men who love darkness! There is no exception to this, no not one. As long as you keep trusting in human governments you will continue to be disappointed and reminiscing about “the good old times.”
Conclusion
Putting a wrap on this three part series, allow me to say one last time: America never has been and never will be a Christian nation. Hoping that it will become something it never was is a waste of time. Christians can pray for the leaders of America, but it is not in keeping with what we know about the will of God to pray that the American nation should turn to God. The Christian has no business getting entangled in the affairs of human government, and he will remain depressed and stagnant in Christ as long as he continues to place any amount of hope in the kingdoms of men. Honor the king, but don’t trust the king. Honor God, and fear God. This is the whole duty of the Christian.
Works Cited
Cottrell, Jack. What the Bible Says About God the Ruler. Eugene, Wipf & Stock Publishers, 1984.
Fea, John. Was America Founded as a Christian Nation. Louisville, Westminister John Knox Press, 2011
