I was listening to the podcast, Apollos Watered hosted by Travis Michael Fleming, recently when NT Wright made a very simple, but poignant, statement: “One of the most fundamental things about Christianity is that it is for everyone.” The context in which he made this comment was the subject of Christian nationalism.

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Christian nationalism is currently a hot topic in the United States, though we are hardly the first nation that has ever flirted with Christian nationalism. England had such a period in its history. The nation of Israel, however, had even more provenance to think that way. Let’s take a quick look at how that played out in the 1st Century, before I get to my point.

The nation of Israel was long a nation of “God’s chosen people” by the 1st Century when God became man and “came to His own”, and what happened? The Apostle, John, tells us in the first chapter of his Gospel that they, tragically, “did not receive him!” (John 1:1-11) They did not recognize God in human form standing before them!

We should be asking ourselves why! God became flesh, and He walked among them, and they didn’t recognize Him. We have the Holy spirit, of course, but they had God in human flesh!

We might assume that having the Holy Spirit makes us different than them. That might be true if a person actually has the Holy Spirit, and if a person actually lives by and listens to the Holy Spirit. Of those who do have the Holy Spirit, do they actually live by and listen to the Holy Spirit all of the time? Even most of the time?

NT Wright is a prolific and influential theologian. He has written key works on Paul and Romans. His insights are particularly relevant and poignant as such an expert who has no dog in the political and cultural “war” that rages in this country.

Such a simple statement: “Christianity is for everyone.” Who would not agree with that statement? Jesus said he came for everyone who believes. Paul said there is no Jew nor Gentile; we are all one in Christ.

In the 1st Century Jewish world, only two groups of people existed: Jews and everyone else. The Jews called everyone else Gentiles. What Paul means, therefore, is that everyone in the world is unified in Jesus Christ.

Paul said that Jesus tore down the wall that divided the two groups of people in the world, and he made the two groups one. He reconciled all people to himself through the cross. (Ephesians 2:14-16)

The danger of Christian nationalism in the United States (or anywhere) is that some nationalistic Christians may see themselves as uniquely Christian, uniquely privileged by God, and that can lead to us to see other people as less uniquely blessed and less divinely privileged. This is dangerous because we are tempted to view ourselves as better than others.

This attitude can hinder us from seeing our own faults and weaknesses that are unique to our culture. We are apt not to see the planks in our own eyes while we focus our attention on the specs in others’ eyes.

We might also tend to focus on maintaining our privileged position we believe God has given us, first, to the exclusion of other people. We might be tempted to cling to our privileged position while we should be focusing on helping our neighbors, including our foreign neighbors.

Jewish people in the 1st Century had the same attitude, and it blinded them from seeing who Jesus was – the Messiah they had been waiting for – because they thought he was their Messiah would liberate them. They weren’t prepared for a Messiah who came to liberate the whole world!

Though “God’s own” didn’t receive Him, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God….” (John 1:12) We might be so familiar with the following verse that we miss the scope of God’s focus:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

John 3:16-17

God’s focus is the world – the whole world. He even gives us a sneak peak at His end game through the same Apostle, John:

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”

Revelation 7:9

With Christian nationalism, however we might define it, the danger is that our perspective may become too narrow. We tend to focus too much on us when God is focused on the world.

Religious people wanted to kill Jesus in his hometown because he challenged their views as God’s privileged people. They became angry with Jesus when he talked about Elijah visiting and blessing the Canaanite woman in Sidon to the exclusion of all the widows in Israel. They were angered when Jesus said that Elisha healed the Samarian war general of leprosy rather than all the people in Israel who had leprosy. They were so incensed that they tried to throw Jesus off a cliff. (Luke 4:24-29)

Christian nationalism of any kind flirts with unhealthy pride in national identity. Unhealthy pride and emphasis on any identity other than our identity in Christ has a tendency to warp us inward and to diminish our identity in Christ. Thus, Christian nationalism can lead us to diminish our love for God.

When we think too highly of ourselves, we value our own culture and ways of looking at and doing things more than we should.  When we think too highly of ourselves and value our own ways too much, we also tend to devalue others and the ways that other people think. Thus, Christian nationalism can lead us to diminish our love for others.

As finite human beings, we all have a deficiency of perspective. Each individual and cultural perspective is limited, which is why Isaiah said:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8-9

In short, we do not have the perspective of God. His perspective is far greater than ours. This is true individually, of course, but it’s also true of humankind. It is also equally true of people groups, cultures, and nations.

We in the United States tend to be more steeped in our own cultural milieu, perhaps, than most of the people on this planet. Americans tend to know far less about other countries than people in other countries know about us. Most people keep up with the trends in the US, but we tend to pay little attention to trends outside our borders (unless they directly affect us).

This is not to say that nationalism or other isms of other groups does not exist. That is not my point. My point is simply that we all have limited perspectives, individually, collectively, as a nation, and even as one humanity.

The main point is that God has His purposes, and He designed His world for His purposes. God is working out His purposes in the world with or without us – with our help or despite us. Shouldn’t we want to be working with God, rather than against Him? Too often we go our own ways, and unhealthy nationalism is one of those ways in which we might be pushing or pulling against God’s greater purposes.

I am not saying that we cannot or should not appreciate and be thankful about our own nations, but we should recognize the value in all nations, tribes, people groups and languages. God cares for and is focused on people in all the world.

The Kingdom of God has been a continual focus for me for several years now as I read through scripture from beginning to end (in most years). I am continually impressed of the need to understand and get in line with God’s purposes and the Kingdom of God.

Jesus was very clear that the kingdom of God is not of this world. The Jews knew the Messiah would come from the line of David, as prophecies foretold, but they assumed that this “Davidic kingdom” that was to come was exclusively for them. Those prophecies help us identify Jesus as the long expected Messiah, but they do not mean that the Messiah came exclusively for the descendants of David.

We see this in the very last words Jesus spoke on earth. In the Great Commission Jesus told his followers to go to Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

This is the purpose, the great purpose of God. The kingdom of God is meant to be spread around the world and into every culture and country and people group. It is not meant to reside in any one particular nation to the detriment of any other nation or people group. We need to see beyond our national borders.

Indeed, if the descendants of Abraham had not become so “nationalistic” in their theology, politics and cultural attitudes, they would have recalled that the blessing to Abraham and his descendants was promised to all the nations of the earth. (Genesis 22:18)

I dare say these thoughts give us a completely different perspective on some of the most pressing matters of our day. One of the problems of Christian nationalism is the attitude that we need to fight to protect ourselves. The people we seek to protect ourselves from, however, are the very people Jesus came into the world to save.

If you want to hear the whole conversation with NT Wright, I am linking the two episodes below. I also highly commend the Apollos Watered website and the Apollos Watered podcast, generally.

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