I have yet to see any opponents of “Christian Nationalism” explain how a nation can be discipled (per the Great Commission) without becoming what could be called a Christian nation.
The explicit goal of the Great Commission is discipled nations – which are Christian nations.
This is just basic stuff. It’s not complicated. It’s Christianity 101. It takes a M.Div to screw up something this obvious.
ADDENDUM: I’m not interested in fighting over a label, so call it what you want. I’ve suggested “Christian Republicanism” as an alternative since “republican” language is used in the US Constitution. But that term is tainted and confusing in ways too.
The background to “nations” in the Great Commission has to come from the OT, where there is obviously a political element included (eg, Psalm 2, Isaiah 60, etc.). According to Acts 17:26, “nations” have borders – again suggesting a political element. The Great Commission has individual and institutional aspects.
The term “Reconstruction” in “Christian Reconstructionism” was considered problematic too some decades ago because it could be confused with the “Reconstruction” period in America’s history. The term got defined differently by CR advocates and served its purpose for a time. I imagine the same will be true of the CN label. “Nationalism” has baggage but it can also be reclaimed and redefined.
This is my take on CR and CN:
theopolisinstitute.com/notes-on-chris…
ADDENDUM: The background to and pattern of the Great Commission is established by what God did with old covenant Israel. That’s the blueprint: God baptized the nation of Israel as they crossed the Red Sea, then brought them to Sinai where he taught them his commands. The Great Commission is really a call to Israelize the Gentile nations. This biblical-theological pattern trumps attempts to truncate the commission, such as saying it’s really only about baptizing and discipling a remnant of individuals in nations, or its only about non-political “people groups,” or it’s only about personal discipleship and not also institutional and cultural discipleship. In addition, teaching the nations everything Jesus has commanded will entail teaching the whole Bible, which covers political and cultural issues anyway.
ADDENDUM: There a lot that could be said, and has been said to address these arguments elsewhere. I’m not repeating all that. All I will say here is that fulfillment of the Great Commission depends on both quantity and quality. Even if “ethnos” is taken merely as individuals from nations, and any geo-political aspect is sidelined, it still requires a sufficient number of conversions such that we can say the nation itself was discipled. And for the nation to be discipled by being taught all Jesus commands will be qualitatively transformative in every area of life, inescapably.
I live in a city with lots of Christians – thousands upon thousand of believers live here. But I do not live in a discipled city, because we still fall short, quantitatively and qualitatively, of what the GC requires. There is still much work to be done.
ADDENDUM: Nation-states consist of individuals. When Israel was baptized in the Red Sea, individuals got baptized. There is a lot of confusion in this discussion over means and end result. No one has ever argued that a nation must be converted all at once (though there may be a few examples of that historically). As a father, if disciple my family, I do that by getting them baptized one by one. Each member of the family has to be taught Jesus’ commandments. The result is a “discipled family.”
ADDENDUM: In the ancient world, there were nations in the sense of identifiable people groups with a shared government, borders, language, culture, etc. Sure, some aspects of nationhood have changed over history, and will again, but even within Matthew’s gospel we see this. For example, Matthew 10:18, 20:25, 24:7, and so on, indicate nations are people with rulers. In the book of Acts, Paul very much desires to preach to kings and is told when he in converted/commissioned that he will preach to rulers; Paul wants to be like David, Daniel, etc. from the OT, preaching to civil authorities. Revelation says the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of Christ because he King of kings and Lord of lords. Paul gives instruction for Christian magistrates in Romans 13 even though none existed at the time. The Reformed confessions all call on civil rulers to privilege the church and the Christian religion, which I take to be one aspect of fulfilling the GC. Etc.
ADDENDUM: There were nations in the sense of identifiable people groups with a shared government, borders, language, culture, etc. Sure, some aspects of nationhood have changed over history, and will again, but even within Matthew’s gospel we see this. For example, Matthew 10:18, 20:25, 24:7, and so on, indicate nations are people with rulers. In the book of Acts, Paul very much desires to preach to kings and is told when he in converted/commissioned that he will preach to rulers; Paul wants to be like David, Daniel, etc. from the OT, preaching to civil authorities. Revelation says the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of Christ because he King of kings and Lord of lords. Paul gives instruction for Christian magistrates in Romans 13 even though none existed at the time. The Reformed confessions all call on civil rulers to privilege the church and the Christian religion, which I take to be one aspect of fulfilling the GC. Etc.
ADDENDUM: Obviously, my postmil eschatology colors the way I see the GC. A nation is not fully discipled until the people of that nation have been taught to obey all of Jesus’ commands. I think Jesus’ commands cover not just individual lives, but social and political life as well. My understanding of what a “discipled nation” is flows from that. If there can be a Christian (or discipled) family, there can be a Christian (or discipled) nation.
The GC means discipling people in a nation to such an extent that the nation itself can legitimately be called a “discipled nation.”
ADDENDUM: Revelation 7 describes a multitude drawn “from” every nation. But this is a composite vision, a picture of the saved across history. If 500 years from now China is a largely discipled nation, in which the vast majority are Christians, in would be correct, looking back across history, to say a multitude “from” China had been redeemed. This does not preclude the possibility of China having become a Christian nation at some point in history, nor does it mean that never any more than a small remnant of Chinese were converted at every point in history.
ADDENDUM: The ethne (“nations”) in Matthew are geopolical entities — not just individuals but organized political bodies of some sort. Consider:
Matthew 10:18 indicates nations have “governors,” so it has to be geo-political in some sense .
Matthew 20:25 says the ethne have kings – again, it’s geo-political.
In 24:7, ethne/nations can go to war against each other and nations are set in parallel to kingdoms.
Thus in Matthew 28, the nations to be discipled are not *merely* individuals (though that is inescapably included); there is a strong political and cultural element involved as well.
The OT background to the GC (Genesis 12:1ff, 17:6; Psalm 2; Isaiah 60; etc.) also confirms this.
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Matthew Henry on the Great Commission:
From Matthew Henry on the GC: “[1.] How far his commission is extended; to all nations. Go, and disciples all nations. Not that they must go all together into every place, but by consent disperse themselves in such manner as might best diffuse the light of the gospel. Now this plainly signifies it to be the will of Christ, First, That the covenant of peculiarity, made with the Jews, should now be cancelled and disannulled. This word broke down the middle wall of partition, which had so long excluded the Gentiles from a visible church-state; and whereas the apostles, when first sent out, were forbidden to go into the way of the Gentiles, now they were sent to all nations. Secondly, That salvation by Christ should be offered to all, and none excluded that did not by their unbelief and impenitence exclude themselves. The salvation they were to preach is a common salvation; whoever will, let him come, and take the benefit of the act of indemnity; for there is no difference of Jew or Greek in Christ Jesus. Thirdly, That Christianity should be twisted in with national constitutions, that the kingdoms of the world should become Christ’s kingdoms, and their kings the church’s nursing-fathers.
[2.] What is the principal intention of this commission; to disciple all nations. Mathēteusate—“Admit them disciples; do your utmost to make the nations Christian nations;” not, p 1776 “Go to the nations, and denounce the judgments of God against them, as Jonah against Nineveh, and as the other Old-Testament prophets” (though they had reason enough to expect it for their wickedness), “but go, and disciple them.” Christ the Mediator is setting up a kingdom in the world, bring the nations to be his subjects; setting up a school, bring the nations to be his scholars; raising an army for the carrying on of the war against the powers of darkness, enlist the nations of the earth under his banner. The work which the apostles had to do, was, to set up the Christian religion in all places, and it was honourable work; the achievements of the mighty heroes of the world were nothing to it. They conquered the nations for themselves, and made them miserable; the apostles conquered them for Christ, and made them happy.”
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