Why Christian Nationalism Feels Biblical (and Isn’t)
Many Christians assume that if they just quote more Scripture, argue more carefully, or defend order more clearly, faithfulness will prevail.
But what we are facing right now is not an information problem.
It is a formation problem.
To see that more clearly, it helps to look at a real example.
Recently, I saw a social media piece making the rounds amongst some friends. A man named Brad Harrub published a post arguing that strict borders, ICE enforcement, and strong state authority are clearly biblical. His case is built on references to city walls in Scripture, Romans 13, and the story of Onesimus in the book of Philemon.
What makes this post important is not that Harrub is uniquely bad, extreme, or malicious. It is that his argument is representative of how many sincere Christians have been taught to read the Bible.
This makes it a helpful case study.
This Is Not About Intelligence or Intent
People like Harrub are not stupid.
They are not necessarily hateful.
And they genuinely believe they are being faithful.
The problem is not motivation.
The problem is the lens.
White Christian nationalism rarely begins with cruelty. It usually begins with fear, loss of status, and a theology shaped more by power than by Jesus.
If we miss that, we will respond with contempt rather than clarity.
Problem One
Treating the Old Testament as Christian Policy
A central move in Harrub’s argument is appealing to walls, borders, and law in the Old Testament as proof that modern enforcement is God’s design.
This collapses under basic Christian hermeneutics.
Christians are not Old Testament people.
The Old Testament tells the story of why law, kings, and walls fail.
The New Testament reveals what replaces them.
The Old Testament is not a policy manual.
It is a diagnosis.
If walls and laws could heal the human heart, Israel would not have needed a Messiah.
A gentle way to name this in conversation might sound like this
Christians read the Old Testament through Jesus, not around him. Without Jesus at the center, the Bible does not make Christian sense.
Problem Two
Ignoring the Cross
This One Is Fatal
The most striking feature of Harrub’s post is what is missing.
The cross is NEVER mentioned.
That is not a minor oversight. It is a theological collapse.
The cross ends scapegoating.
The cross exposes crowd violence.
The cross dismantles religious power.
The cross reveals God’s refusal to rule through force.
Any reading of Scripture that does not pass through the cross will eventually baptize control.
When the cross is sidelined, power becomes the savior.
And power and control are in direct contradiction to the freedom God gave us in Creation and Jesus restored on the cross.
Problem Three
Confusing Order With Control
Harrub assumes a chain that feels obvious but is deeply unbiblical.
Order comes from law.
Law requires enforcement.
Enforcement requires power.
Jesus offers a radically different vision.
Order flows from love.
Love requires vulnerability.
Vulnerability dismantles domination.
The New Testament does not offer better laws.
It offers a different operating system. (and this REALLY confuses people in America because of how radically outside of the box this is for all of us)
Turn the other cheek, love your enemy, and lose your life are not spiritual platitudes. They are the politics of the Kingdom.
Jesus did not reject order. He rejected using power and control as the way to achieve it.
Problem Four
Projecting Modern Borders Backward
Even on historical grounds, the argument fails.
Ancient city walls protected against invading armies not refugees seeking safety and were not immigration policy.
Projecting modern nation state logic backward into ancient texts is misplaced. It feels biblical, but it is historically inaccurate.
Problem Five
Power as the Unspoken Savior
This is the deepest layer.
Christian nationalism assumes
we can control culture for God
righteous ends justify coercive means
Jesus needs help from the state
The cross says something far more dangerous.
God saves by losing.
Truth emerges through suffering.
Power corrupts even religious people.
Christians do not occupy the throne.
We occupy the cross.
When Christians start defending power, it is often because we have stopped trusting resurrection.
Why This Matters for Relationships
Many Christians defending nationalist theology genuinely believe they are being faithful. They have never been taught how to read Scripture through Jesus. They were formed in fear based discipleship systems.
That does not excuse harm.
But it does change how we engage.
You do not deprogram fear with shame.
You do it with presence, truth, and costly love.
Anger is understandable.
This theology causes real harm.
It dehumanizes migrants.
It distorts the gospel.
And still, if rage becomes our primary posture, we are being discipled by the same power we are trying to resist.
Cynicism is just despair with better vocabulary.
The Invitation
The invitation is not to win arguments.
It is to become a different kind of people.
People formed by the cross.
People who trust resurrection more than control.
People who follow Jesus rather than defend Christianity.
This is slower work.
It is relational work.
And it is the only work that actually heals.
That is the heart of rediscovering Christ beyond progressive and conservative lenses.
Additional Thought: if you want to know if your church is reading Scripture through a lens of power, rather than through a lens of the cross, look for a belief statement on their website that says something like “The Bible is our final authority” even though Jesus says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end…” and “All authority has been given to me.” They are doing this as a control mechanism rather than releasing control to Christ.