Christian nationalism done right looks like this

Picture Jesus holding a coin in public, with people waiting for Him to choose a side. The question sounds simple: should we pay taxes to Rome? But Jesus turns it into a question about loyalty. “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” The coin has Caesar’s image, so it can go back into Caesar’s system. But human beings carry God’s image. That means the state can ask for taxes and public order, but it cannot claim the worship of the heart.

When a government tries to take what belongs to God — truth, conscience, the dignity of neighbors — it is crossing a line Jesus Himself drew.

Exiles who still plant gardens

The Bible does not train believers to be useless or bitter citizens. In Jeremiah, God tells exiles to build homes, plant gardens, raise families, and work for the good of the city where they live. That is not escapism. It is patient public responsibility. Christians are not told to curse the city from a distance. We are told to seek its well-being while remembering we do not own it and it does not own us.

This is the tension Christians live in every day. We show up to work, stand in line at government offices, vote, and care about schools and hospitals. We also refuse to treat any party or leader as a messiah. That balance is hard. It is also the only way to stay faithful when politics gets loud and angry.

Heaven’s citizenship is not a flight plan

Paul writes one of the most misunderstood lines in the New Testament: “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). Many people hear that and think it means, “This world doesn’t matter, I’m just waiting to leave.” But Philippi was a Roman colony, and the language of citizenship carried public meaning. Colonies were meant to extend the life and values of Rome into a faraway place. In other words, citizenship worked outward, not inward. Philippians would not say, “We are citizens of Rome, so we can’t wait to move there.” They would say it to explain why they lived like Rome where they were. 

That helps Paul’s point land with force. Christian citizenship is “in Heaven” because Jesus is king there. But that citizenship is meant to be lived here. The Church is called to show what the rule of Jesus looks like in a real neighborhood — how we handle money, power, speech, enemies, and the weak. A widely used summary of this idea is simple: Heaven is where Jesus reigns, and Christians wait for him to bring healing justice and new creation, not to abandon the earth. 

Augustine’s warning: politics follows love

Augustine, writing in a time of empire and collapse, gives Christians a clear way to test themselves.

He says two “cities” are formed by two loves: one shaped by love of self, the other shaped by love of God. That does not mean Christians should stop caring about public life. It means our politics will always drift toward worship unless our love is ordered. When fear runs the heart, we will accept cruelty “for safety.” When pride runs the heart, we will excuse lies “for victory.” When national identity runs through the heart, we will treat neighbors as threats. Augustine’s point is not abstract. It is a diagnostic tool: what do I love so much that I will sacrifice truth or people to keep it?

“Resident aliens”: belonging without being owned

Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon used a blunt phrase for this Christian posture: “resident aliens.” The point is not to sound strange; the point is to stay free. If the Church becomes a religious helper for national ambition, it loses its ability to speak truth. Their book argues that Christians are formed most deeply by the Church’s worship and practices, not by the nation’s slogans, and that the Church must resist being domesticated into “nice” religion that never confronts power. 

In plain terms: you can love your country without confusing it with the Kingdom of God. You can respect leaders without excusing them. You can serve the public without turning public life into a new religion.

So how should we live?

Start with honesty. Christian speech has to be cleaner than the culture’s speech — not polished, but truthful. A church that spreads rumors, enjoys propaganda, or excuses falsehood because it helps “our side” has already sold part of its soul. Jesus does not need lying to win.

Then practice steady public responsibility. Pay taxes. Obey just laws. Vote with care. Serve in your profession with integrity. Seek the good of the city in ordinary ways: fair wages, safe roads, decent schools, honest policing, clean water. Jeremiah’s exiles did not serve God by sulking; they served God by living faithfully where they were.

At the same time, keep a bright boundary. When the state demands what belongs to God — worship, ultimate loyalty, dehumanization of neighbors, or silence in the face of injustice — Christians must say, with the apostles, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Romans 13 is not a permission slip for tyranny. It is a call to respect authority’s limited role, while remembering that authority is accountable to God.

Next, let the Church be the training ground for public character. The most political thing many Christians can do is to become the kind of people who do not panic, do not hate, do not scapegoat, and do not look away when the weak are crushed. If worship does not shape us into people who tell the truth and protect the vulnerable, our worship is not doing its work.

Finally, learn to love without worshiping. Love your nation the way you love a neighbor: with loyalty that includes correction, and with hope that does not turn into blind devotion. Worship belongs to God alone. When Christians keep that simple order, we can be fully present in public life without being captured by it.