CAN A STATE BE BORN AGAIN?
By M. E. K.
A paper devoted to Christian citizenship and national reform ideas displays as one of the mottoes on its cover this sentence: “Except the State be born again, it can not see the kingdom of God.” These words sound familiar. They are somewhat like scripture. But they are not the words of God, tho couched in scriptural phraseology; and the name of the author attached to these words is not the name of one of the inspired writers of sacred writ. It is a bungling counterfeit, at the best. Dr. Young makes mention of a man “who stole the livery of the court of heaven to serve the devil in,” and to steal the sacred terms of the Scriptures to serve a purpose for which the Scriptures give no warrant, seems to us to be an example of a similar work. If it was in the order of God for nations to be saved in the aggregate, then, of course, nations might be born again as nations. There is one expression in the Scriptures about a nation being born in a day (Isa. 66:8); but it is Zion, or the church, not the State, which brings them forth. Nor does this text prove the idea that all the people of one earthly nation were so born, but rather that, as on the day of Pentecost, thousands of individuals are converted from many nations, and they altogether make up a nation, a body, of believers who would serve the Lord. Thus those who are finally redeemed are described by the Revelator as those who have been gathered out of many nations. Rev. 5:9; 7:9. We must also distinguish between the meaning of the words “nation” and “state.” The word “nation” may sometimes apply to the people in their several capacity, while the word “State” always refers to the people in their organized capacity as a civil government. Nations can be called upon to repent; can repent, by repenting individually. As an organized body, the State can not repent. The State, in its organized capacity, acts for the people in civil affairs, but it can not act for them in religious affairs. For instance, the people of a State can empower their civil officers to do those things which are for the advantage of the people of the State as a whole—as pertaining to the affairs of this world; but they can not authorize the representatives of the State to repent and be converted or be baptized for the State, or for all the people of the State. State officers can only act in those things which are delegated to them. They may repent of their own sins and turn to God with all their hearts; they may exert an influence for good upon others; but, after all, they can only act for themselves. A President of the United States can not act for the nation in those things which pertain to individual relations to God. He is not elected for that purpose. If he repents of his own sins, lives a godly life, and rules in the fear of God, that is all that God requires of him, and is much more than many civil rulers ever have done or ever will do. If we wait for salvation to come to the people through the State,—an organization for civil purposes,—salvation will be long delayed. Neither Jesus nor his apostles preached to States nor laid down any rules for the government of States. They appealed to individuals. “Repent, and believe the Gospel,” was the message borne to the world. Not what country, State, or nation, but “whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Finally, no State, as a State, can see the kingdom of God; for the kingdom of God is not set up until all the kingdoms of men, represented in Daniel’s prophecy by the image of gold, silver, brass, and iron, “shall be broken to pieces together,” becoming like the chaff which the wind carries away; and then the stone which smites the image, representative of the kingdom of God, fills the whole earth. Dan. 2:44. The same ending of earthly kingdoms and States prior to the setting up of God’s kingdom is described in Revelation 11. Under the sounding of the seventh angel, the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of Christ, but not by conversion. The nations, as states, are not born again. This may be seen from the statement made in the same connection, that the “nations were angry” (Rev. 11:18), and God’s wrath falls upon them. A state of anger does not represent the condition of a converted person, nor a preparation for that experience; nor does God’s wrath fall upon men for their conversion, but for their destruction. To make the whole matter treated in this article very simple, we may lay down two propositions: The State can not be born again, hence it can not, as a State, see the kingdom of God; but it must pass away at the coming of Christ, “who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.” 2 Tim. 4:1. Individuals can be born again. They can feel conviction for sin, repent, be converted, receive baptism, be admitted to the church, grow in grace, develop a Christian character, receive by spiritual faith the righteousness of Christ, grow up into him, and live in him. Thus they enter his kingdom of grace, which prepares them for entrance into the everlasting kingdom of glory which shall be established when Christ shall come, to separate the wheat from the tares, the goats from the sheep, and to reign henceforth over his people forever. M. E. K.