As a former lawyer this topic is something I have given a lot of thought to. As a Christian in law school I developed a deep appreciation for the wisdom of the American Constitution. Through the years I have reflected on the role of Christianity in society.
The goal of Christianization movements is the administration of a society according to Christian values. Some views are stricter than others so we find that there is a continuum of Christianization thinking. Like prosperity gospel teachers, Christianization teachers often take Old Testament passages that refer to Old Covenant politics or to the final fulfillment of the kingdom of God and apply them to our current age. Christianization thinking is tempting for Christians when they witness their society decline into self-worship and destructiveness.
A term that is becoming synonymous with Christianization is Christian nationalism. Unfortunately, definitions of this term diverge, often according to the views of the writer. Some define it generally as the belief that loyalty to one’s nation is more important than loyalty to the kingdom of God. This is far too narrow since hardly any honest Christian would assent to this; therefore, this definition winds up sanctioning less damaging beliefs. Since a Christian can easily claim they do not have this attitude they can claim they are not Christian nationalists even if they support unbiblical Christianization. But Christian nationalism can also be defined overly broad by including political conservatism and belief in the inspiration of the bible as key indicators. This is unfair and untrue since one can reject Christian nationalism and still have these traits. I believe it is best to define Christian nationalism as the belief that it is God’s will that one’s nation should be definitively governed by Christian principles and that this goal should be a top priority for the church. It believes that God has appointed Christians to organize and politically transform societies accordingly. As such, it is a stricter form of Christianization thinking. This is not to be confused with healthy patriotism, which is a legitimate Christian attitude because it supports what is good in a society.
I believe it is best to define Christian nationalism as the belief that it is God’s will that one’s nation should be definitively governed by Christian principles and that this goal should be a top priority for the church.
Christianization ideologies cannot be supported from the New Testament. There are no clear instructions to Christians in the New Testament to gain political influence and reform un-Christian systems. This is because Jesus and his Apostles did not teach that Jesus’ goals would be accomplished through political power, because they knew that the world would not accept God’s kingdom. Instead, Christ-followers would be rejected and we would live “outside the camp” in Christlike disgrace (Heb. 13:13). The people of God no longer had a geographic homeland ruled by believers who were charged with administering God’s commandments as the Jews did in the Old Testament; instead, our “city” (Heb. 12:22) and our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20).
The New Testament identifies this world as foreign to believers; it is not our true home. 1 Peter 1:17 labels believers as “exiles”. If we are exiles then God has not appointed Christianity to rule. On what basis can someone argue that this is no longer the case? Philippians 3:20-21 states: “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (ESV). Hebrews 12:22 teaches: “You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (NIV). We are already residing, in part, in God’s heavenly city. So no matter how much we might transform society on Christian principles we need to remember that Jesus said to Pilate “my kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place” (John 18:36, NIV). We cannot establish the political kingdom of God on earth before Jesus returns and we cannot use political pressure to further the cause of Christ.
Christianization ideologies cannot be supported from the New Testament. There are no clear instructions to Christians in the New Testament to gain political influence and reform un-Christian systems.
Hopefully, Christians will excel in every area of society and provide Christlike leadership. And a society could become Christianized if the great majority of the citizens became followers of Jesus and the citizens as a whole chose to follow Christian principles in public life, but this is extremely rare. This can only happen if there is mass conversion to Christ. And if it did happen it would not be because it was promised under the New Covenant and because God called believers to be the administrators of their society. Moreover, it would still not justify an ideology of Christianization because that would imply maintaining Christian society through political pressure.
Next week is Part 2 of this series.
