Inside: This is a Christian nation. Our Founding Fathers took truths from how God created things in nature, and from His Word, and built a nation.

Happy New Year and welcome to 2026!  This is my first article of the New Year, and we certainly have many things to discuss as we celebrate!  Our nation was created when we declared independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776. Our national birth certificate is the Declaration of Independence, and it is literally the first document we ever produced as an independent nation.  So this year, 2026, marks our 250th birthday!  Happy Birthday America!  The opening of that great document, the Declaration of Independence, reads:

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitles them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

Declaration of Independence

     What is it that entitled our founders to separate and to assume this new station as an independent nation…?  Did you catch it?  It says, “…the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitles them”.  What did they mean by this?  Like we said in our article entitled, What’s so Important about the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God?, if that is what entitled our founders to form a new nation, we need to understand what that means!  Unfortunately, the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God isn’t something we hear much about anymore.  So, let’s talk about it here! 

     I love it when I find Scriptures in the Bible that demonstrate our founding principles.  More than anything, that speaks clearly to me that ours is a Christian nation, and I love to think about our founders studying the same passage and shaping our documents and our nation accordingly.  In the Book of Romans, Chapter 2, notice verses 13-15… 

(13) (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. (14) For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: (15) Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)                                                                       

Romans 2:13-15

     We’re talking here about Gentiles – these are people who did not grow up with the Laws of Moses, but we see that they do things “by nature” that are contained in God’s Law, and these things “shew the work of the law written in their hearts”.  So, in this passage, we see God writes a form of His Law on the hearts of all people. 

     When I am studying the Bible, I also love to consider what Matthew Henry’s Commentary has to say about the passage.  Matthew Henry lived from 1662 to 1714, and Charles Spurgeon said of him,

“First among the mighty for general usefulness we are bound to mention the man whose name is a household word, Matthew Henry. He is most pious and pithy, sound and sensible, suggestive and sober, terse and trustworthy….” 

Charles Spurgeon speaking of Matthew Henry

I share Mr. Spurgeon’s assessment of Matthew Henry.  In Matthew Henry’s Commentary of Romans Chapter 2, he says that three “degrees of light are revealed to the children of men”.  They are defined as follows: 

1. The light of nature – This the Gentiles have, and by this they shall be judged.  By the force and tendency of their natural notions and dictates they apprehended a clear and vast difference between good and evil.
2. The light of the law – This the Jews had, and by this they shall be judged.  They sinned in the face and light of so pure and clear a law, the directions of which were so very full and particular, and the sanctions of it so very cogent and enforcing.
3. The light of the Gospel – according to this those that enjoyed the gospel shall be judged.  The judgment of that day will be put into the hands of Jesus Christ. God shall judge by Jesus Christ, (Acts 17:31). It will be part of the reward of his humiliation. Nothing speaks more terror to sinners, or more comfort to saints, than this, that Christ shall be the Judge. (Amen!)

     When I saw these three “degrees of light”, it struck me that the first two are essentially the “Laws of Nature”, and the “Laws of Nature’s God”.  Praise the Lord for the third one also!  But, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is specifically for individual people, not collectively for nations, so it makes sense it was omitted from the list of those laws which entitled us to form a new nation. 

Laws of Nature

     As we have said before, the laws of nature are those laws that God wrote into His creation.  My son often says that if you consider pottery made by a particular potter, you will see the signature style of his work and notice the themes and similarities that he has built into his creations.  Eventually, if you picked up a piece of his pottery, you would be able to identify whether or not it was created by the potter by recognizing the similarities of his pieces.  Of course, we can also see the fingerprint of the Creator of all the world in the law He has written into His creation.  We know it to be true because we recognize it in our own hearts. 

     As examples, I often say that people know not to mess with a mountain lion den or a bear cub.  We know God has wired defense of homes and defense of young into His creation.  So, if someone is messing with a bear cub and the mama bear shows up, we kinda all know what is about to happen! 

     As a result, we can begin to see things God has defined as either right or wrong based upon what we see in how God created nature. 

Laws of Nature’s God

     This is the Law God has revealed to us in His Word.  The natural world has been tainted with sin and many times we will see things in nature that do not perfectly reflect what is right.  For example, we see theft, and/or killing, among animals.  However, we know those things aren’t God’s plan because He has revealed to us His Word that says “Thou shalt not murder”, and “Thou shalt not steal”.  Laws of Nature’s God, is the Law that God has revealed to us in His Word.  Things defined in God’s Word as either right or wrong can be clearly known to be so! 

Both from God

     It is significant that the Laws of Nature, as well as the Laws of Nature’s God, are both from GOD!  God has written His Law either by building it into His creation and writing it upon the hearts of people, or He has given it to us in His Word.  Both of these are given to us by God, and both show us what is right and what is wrong.  In this way, we can see that from the very beginning of our nation, it was God Himself who defined right and wrong, either through what we saw in His creation – or more directly in His Word.  Either way – it was God who defined right and wrong in our nation’s birth certificate! 

Conclusion

     Some like to say the foundation of our nation was the separation from all things of God, in kind of a modern, misinterpreted, “Separation of church and state” kind of way.  But in the first sentence of the first paragraph of the first document that we ever produced as a free and independent nation, we set the clear standard that it is God who defines what is right and wrong in this nation.  The Declaration of Independence goes on to apply those definitions of right and wrong to their situation with the King of England, to show their reasons for declaring independence. 

     This is a Christian nation.  We were formed on Christian principles found directly in the Scriptures and expounded by Godly men like Matthew Henry.  Our Founding Fathers took truths from how the Creator built things, and specific truths from His Word, and said that based upon these laws of God, we were entitled to separate from Great Britain.  Let’s keep that in mind as we celebrate the 250^th birthday of our great, Christian nation this year!