Purpose of the Flag

The goal of this project is to point all who see this flag to God and the saving love He has shown through Jesus. It's design is meant to be striking, unique, and vividly explanatory of the good news of Jesus Christ through its symbols. Though this project is, in some sense, in its infancy, the intent is to distribute the flag in various forms so that believers in Christ can use it as a conversation starter about the gospel. Flags are an apparantly increasingly popular means of self-expression today in the U.S. and elsewhere and hopefully this flag can be a step into that arena for the the Kingdom.

If you are interested in flying one of these flags or obtaining a sticker, pin, or other item showing the Crown of Thorns Flag, please reach out at info@crownofthornsflag.org for more information. Please feel free to send any other questions you may have as well.

What the Flag Means

Each color on the flag represents an aspect of Christ and component of the gospel.

Red (Blood): Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross, paying the price for our sin and evil.
White (Righteousness): He lived the innocent life we can't so that we might be counted innocent in God's eyes.
Purple (Sovereignty): He rose again to proclaim His victory over evil and soverighty over death.
Gold (Glory): All this displays the glory of God, which is the purpose of this life we are given.

The emblem in each corner is a stylized crown of thorns containing a cross shape as well. The gold crown in purple field, glory and majesty, placed above or to the right depending on the flag's orientation, represents Christ, the head over His Church, seated at the right hand of the Father. The white crown in red field is the Church, all those who trust in Jesus for salvation and are washed white by the sacrificial pouring out of His blood. The cross is central on the flag as it is central to our faith and our hope, and it is gold because it is to God's glory that all things point. The fly (the right edge of the flag) is shaped to three points to represent the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the persons of the Trinity in whose names we are baptized. It is also meant to evoke a war flag as we march after our Lord to victory over sin and death.

Construction of the Crown of Thorns emblem

The crown of thorns and the cross are emblematic of God's total sovereignty. The thorns, meant to humiliate and agonize Christ, He made His laurels of victory. The cross, the implement of His torturous demise, He made the sign of new life. In rising from the dead, Jesus demonstrated the accomplishment of God's purpose to bear the debt of our sin. These symbols are a way of showing how God overturns the pain, sorrow, suffering and evil of our world to give us life abundant and true.

More About the Project

My name is Garrett L. White. I'm a seminary student and part-time college campus minister. I started working on the design for this flag in late 2022. I'm tremendously enthusiastic about flags and flag design and as a member of the North American Vexillological Association I know that I'm far from alone in this field of interest. Flags are an incredibly popular way to display identification with a multitude of affinities and political or ideological alignments. This seems especially true among young adults. The number of flags I see being flown by peers everyday celebrating empty, un-biblical and even intensly consumerist values can be disheartening. I decided I wanted to fly a flag that pointed people to Christ.

The popular "Christian flag" is by no means a bad design, but I considered it inadequate for my goals. First, I wanted to create an original design that would be unique and, hopefully, prompt questions and conversation. Perhaps more importantly, it is clear to me that the Christian flag draws on a great deal of cultural symbolism that creates a striking resemblence to the flag of the United States. As the symbolic ideas of freedom and justice embedded in the American flag are torn away from biblical truth by a culture that has largely rejected Christ, I think it is appropriate to create new symbols that are free of the godless notions of "liberty" that are prevalent in the zeitgeist of the U.S. and the Western world today.

The Holy Bible tells that real freedom cannot be found apart from Jesus Christ. I think American culture today is in serious need of an understanding of freedom that is colored by the context of God's glory, love, and authority. I tried to design the flag to evoke regality and monarchy because I believe this is the sort of message about God's character and humanity's relationship to Him that the culture needs in order to comprehend the true freedom that Christ offers through His redemptive sacrifice. If a single individual thinks more about Christ than they would have otherwise because of this flag, I count the whole endeavor a success. I am very thankful to God for His provision and grace, as well as to my caring wife and to the good friends who have lent their support to this effort.