The Case for Christian Nationalism

1. Nations Before the Fall | IV. Civil Order and Civil Virtue

Previously:

The Case for Christian Nationalism

Wolfe begins this section with the dubious, implicit claim that earth’s general climate would not significantly differ between pre- and postlapsarian states, ignorant of the fact that “cursed is the ground”, because of the fall (Genesis 3:17), and that creation is “subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it.” (Romans 8:20-22)

Inequality in bodily stature, beauty, knowledge, virtue, domestic authority, and civil authority were regularly affirmed as good and not due to the fall… Aquinas states… that differences in food sources, climate, and other factors would make some “more robust… and also greater and more beautiful, and all ways better disposed.” Here, he has in mind not only individual difference but also differences in groups.¹

With this, we are taken deeper into an ethno-nationalist theory; Aquinas is used to add gravitas to the claim that people born of different climates are objectively more or less beautiful and adept. Wolfe attempts to clean up this statement - or obfuscate it - with, “Of course, the inferior are not ascribed some natural defect; good things of the same class can differ in excellence.”² This does not change the original statement that different ethic groups are objectively more “beautiful, and all ways better disposed” than others. One must ask Wolfe which climate he thinks resulted in the most objectively beautiful and/or intelligent people.

Hierarchy is, therefore, not some postlapsarian necessity. But neither is it morally neutral. It is good in itself, even of higher worth that [sic] egalitarian arrangements.³

It is certain that civil hierarchy is ordained by God (Romans 13:1), and therefore good, though not “in itself”, as he claims. When we combine Wolfe’s affirmation of the goodness of hierarchy with his previous claim of the inherent superiority/inferiority of different people groups, based on the geolocation of their culture, his theory becomes even more ethically compromised. The rest of this section focuses mainly on the internal hierarchy of societal functions that naturally forms within a single people group. This is not objectionable, but, with such hyper-focus on natural law, it bears asking how the divine law of “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” (Galatians 3:28) might, in any way, alter the civil hierarchies of his supposedly Christian nation. Beyond claims of objective ethnic superiority, it continues to be conspicuous that Wolfe fails to mention the Gospel, mostly utilizing his own human reasoning and what amounts to a game of theological telephone with 16th century intermediaries.

Wolfe then brings to bear all of his prelapsarian theories towards the need for civil government.⁴ His general argument is sound, apart from the attempt to derive civil government’s goodness from the state of integrity. He could have begun his political theory with this section and Christian readers would have simply affirmed the need for civil government from natural law as it exists in a fallen world.

As I’ll argue in chapter 6, laws do not require civil penalties by definition, but such penalties are effective in a fallen world to shore up societal law-keeping.⁵

This claim directly contradicts longstanding political and legal theory. As the 19th century, French economist, Frédéric Bastiat, noted in his treatise, The Law, “law cannot exist without the sanction and the support of a preponderant force”.⁶ Any “law” that does not carry the implied threat of potential violence is not law, but merely suggestion. If a citizen incurs a fine for the most benign of infractions, and refuses to pay it, the fine will steadily increase until a critical mass is reached and a warrant is issued for his arrest. This common misconception among proponents of blasphemy law, who fail to see the inevitable snowballing of their policies, will be further addressed in chapter 6.

We can also conclude that a natural aristocracy would arise… Still, all civil rule is by consent of the ruled… Consent remains the efficient cause of civil society and is expressed when one pledges his service to the whole by participating in and benefiting from the symbiosis under the direction of government.⁷

The irony of this statement is twofold in that, firstly, it would be impossible to find a modern Western nation, province, or even a city containing a plurality of people who would consent to being ruled by “Presbyterian Christian nationalism” and, secondly, in that Wolfe immediately follows this proclamation with a call to repeal women's suffrage.

Wolfe next claims that prelapsarian society would have the potential for sinful, human violence, and that unfallen man’s need to physically protect himself renders counter-violence a “martial virtue” and a “feature of masculine excellence”.⁸ What would happen to a sinless earth if one of Adam’s descendants became murderous? Would only he and his progeny become fallen while God maintained direct communion with everyone else? Would only the ground in the region of earth the murderer’s tribe lived in be cursed? Simply to harbor hate towards another human being is sin (Matthew 5:21-22), so would God allow prelapsarian man to sin in his heart long enough for it to manifest into violence? Wolfe shows he has little understanding of the absolute obedience required to continue the covenant of works, and of the true cost of man’s disobedience.

As we near the end of this chapter on “nations before the fall”, Wolfe concludes his main argument with a general explanation of Two-Kingdoms Theology, though not explicitly naming it as such. Of most interest is his belief that this would have been the proper mode of prelapsarian government, though he is unsure whether there would be an official, ecclesiastical structure to the eternal kingdom, in relation to the needed hierarchical organization of the temporal kingdom.⁹ This, again, puts him in a heterodox position to his own church’s doctrine. As the Westminster Confession of Faith says of Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, “It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, his only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man, the Prophet, Priest, and King, the Head and Savior of his church, the Heir of all things, and Judge of the world: unto whom he did from all eternity give a people, to be his seed, and to be by him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified." (emphasis mine)¹⁰ It was from this position, as humanity's prophet, priest and king, that Adam sinned against God; hence, the corruption of sin was imputed to his descendants. As Presbyterian minister and theologian, Mark Jones, wrote in his modern-day catechism, Faith, Hope, Love, “In the original garden, God walked with Adam (Gen. 2:15; 3-8). Adam was God’s prophet, priest, and king. The Lord directed Adam to fill the earth and subdue creation, but the man failed to execute his threefold role. So another ‘Adam’ (i.e., Christ) was tasked with this responsibility, namely, to fill (Matt. 28:18-20) and subdue the earth (1 Cor. 8:6; 15:25-27).”¹¹ Hypothetically speaking, had he not taken of the fruit, if he had passed the probationary test and populated a sinless earth, it is assumed Adam would have remained prophet, priest, and king, wielding both the eternal and temporal swords, just as Christ will in the final Kingdom.

From here on, further claims from Wolfe of unaltered continuity between prelapsarian and postlapsarian states will only be dealt with verbosely if they are relevant to the claims of the chapter, since they have been conclusively shown to be a poor understanding of both Scripture and Reformed doctrine, as well as pure conjecture. It bears repeating that Wolfe believes his entire theory rests on his “account of human society in the state of integrity”.¹²

Next:

The Case for Christian Nationalism

1. Stephen Wolfe, The Case for Christian Nationalism (Moscow, Idaho: Canon Press, 2022), 67.

2. Ibid., 67.

3. Ibid., 68.

4. Ibid., 70-74.

5. Ibid., 72.

6. Frédéric Bastiat, The Law (Creative Commons, 2013), 6.

7. Stephen Wolfe, 72-73.

8. Ibid., 74-76.

9. Ibid., 77-79.

10. The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms: As Adopted by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church : With Proof Texts (Lawrenceville, Ga.: Christian Education & Publications Committee of the Presbyterian Church in America, 2007), sec. 8.1.

11. Mark Jones, Faith, Hope, Love: The Christ-Centered Way to Grow in Grace (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2017), 129.

12. Ibid., 56.