The Changing Face of "Christianity"

The Church Embraces the State


Jesus taught that his rulership, or Kingdom, is a heavenly one that would, in due time, destroy all human rulerships and rule over the entire earth. (Daniel 2:44; Matthew 6:9, 10) It would not rule through political systems. "My kingdom is not part of this world," Jesus said. (John 17:16; 18:36) Thus, Jesus' disciples, while law-abiding, stayed out of politics.

However, by the time of Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, many professed Christians had become impatient waiting for Christ's return and for the establishment of God's Kingdom. Gradually, their attitude toward politics changed. "Prior to Constantine," says the book Europe-A History, "Christians has not sought to assume [political] power as a means of furthering their cause. After Constantine, Christianity and high politics went hand in hand.," The refashioned Christianity became the official "universal," or "catholic," religion of the Roman Empire.

The encyclopedia Great Ages of Man states that because of this Church-State marriage , "by A.D. 385, only 80 years after the last great wave of persecution of Christians, the Church itself was beginning to execute heretics, and it clerics were wielding power almost equivalent to that of the emperors." Thus began an era wherein the sword eclipsed persuasion as the means of conversion, and the titled, power-grasping clergy replaced the humble preacher of the first century. (Matthew 23:9, 10; 28:19, 20) Historian H.G. Wells wrote of "the profound differences between" fourth-century Christianity "and the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth." These "profound differences" even affected fundamental teachings about God and Christ.

Next time: Recasting God

Watchtower, 2000