𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧?

𝐁𝐲 𝐀𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐦 𝐊𝐮𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐫

Terms such as “a Christian nation, “ “a Christian country, “ “a Christian society,“ “Christian art,” and like, do not mean that such a nation consists mainly of regenerate Christian persons or that such a society has already been transported into the kingdom of heaven. This was never the case anywhere. Even in Israel, the great majority was always apostate and idolatrous, and the “faithful” always a rather small minority. No, it means that in such a country special [redemptive] grace in the church and among believers exerted so strong a formative influence on common [non-redemptive] grace that common grace thereby attained its highest development. The adjective “Christian” therefore says nothing about the spiritual state of the inhabitants of such a country, but only witnesses to the fact that public opinion, the general mind-set, the ruling ideas, the moral norms, the laws and customs there clearly betoken the influence of the Christian faith.