Church And State

by T.M. Hyland, Birkenhead | Category: Departure From The Faith | Jul 1972

Before the resurrected Christ ascended to heaven to take His place at the right hand of God He appeared to His apostles during a period of forty days and conversed with them on "the things concerning the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3). These were the men chosen and commissioned by Him, the Founder of the Christian Faith, to be His witnesses to the uttermost part of the earth. To them He disclosed His future plan of campaign, and authorized them to play a vital part in it. It was the most important assignment committed to any body of men, and for its execution an endowment of divine power was necessary. This came, as promised, on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon them in overflowing fulness. The great Administrator of the Godhead now took charge of these men as they went f6rward to engage in "the things concerning the kingdom of God".

The charter of apostolic service is given in broad outline in the Great Commission of the risen Christ:

"All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 28:18-20).

How they performed this service is on record in the Acts and the Epistles. On the day of Pentecost their witness was in accord with the instructions they had received. About three thousand persons received the word, were baptized, and were added to the church of God in Jerusalem. These persons continued steadfastly in the teaching of the apostles. There is the pattern. Later, when Paul was chosen by the Lord and commissioned to fill an important place in apostolic witness, he followed precisely the same pattern. Disciples were made, baptized, gathered in churches of God, and nurtured in the teaching of the apostles.

These men were the gift of the ascended Lord (Eph. 4:11). Their work was not confined to their oral witness but is age-long in its relevance. The Spirit of God who empowered them has preserved their ministry in the New Testament writings. Their doctrine and practice are basic to the Christian Faith. No other body of men has been commissioned with apostolic authority. The ecumenical councils from Nicaea onwards had no divine sanction. If Nicaea elucidated Christian doctrine it had no authority to amend it. The Faith had already been committed to the saints, and committed "once for all".

The authority of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ and the applicability of their teaching have been asserted throughout this series of articles. It is re-stated here to clear the ground for a short study of developments in church constitution and practice which took place in the early centuries following the apostolic age. This is the test we shall apply to these developments, and if the reader does not concede the premisses laid down in these introductory paragraphs he will not be able to accept the conclusions based on them. But he will still have to face the vital question, Where lies authority for Christian doctrine and practice?

In the New Testament there are two main uses of the word 'church' (Greek ekklesia):

(1)It is used to describe what our Lord called "My Church" (Matt. 16:18). This Church is subsequently designated in Paul's Epistles "the Church which is His (Christ's) Body" (Eph. 1:22,23). It is composed of those who become children of God by faith in Christ and are thereupon baptized by Him in one Spirit into one Body (1 Cor. 12:13). Our Lord Himself is the Builder, Head and Saviour of the Church. It cannot be marred or destroyed, nor can any of its members be severed from it. Its security is not a matter of human responsibility. Membership thereof is eternal and 'is unaffected by death. Its building commenced at Pentecost and its completion will coincide with our Lord's second coming.

(2)The term "church of God" is used to describe a company of baptized disciples, brought together in church fellowship in a given locality (e.g. 1 Cor. 1:2). In contrast to the Church which is Christ's Body, churches of God are conditional in character and may cease to be (Rev. 2:5). Moreover, for various reasons a disciple may cease to be in a church of God whereas he can never forfeit his membership of the Body of Christ. These and other contrasts clearly indicate that "church (or churches) of God" and "the Church which is His Body" are not synonymous terms.

Failure to differentiate between these two uses of the word "church" in the New Testament has been the cause of much unsound teaching. (The subject is explored more fully in a booklet entitled, Churches of God: New Testament Pattern, which may be obtained from the address at the foot of the back page.)

In former articles in this series we have examined some of the doctrinal deviations from the Christian Faith which occurred in the sub-apostolic age. We have also pointed out that these struggles were concurrent with serious departure from the apostolic pattern of church constitution and practice. In developing this part of our study we shall have to use the word 'Church' in the commonly accepted sense of an organized body claiming that title. In doing so we are aware of a certain ambiguity in this use of the word. Firstly, because it fails to distinguish its two main uses in the New Testament; and secondly, because standard 'Church Histories' are largely occupied with the main body claiming the title, and take little notice of groups of Christians who remained detached from it. Readers will discern that in handling our subject in this way we are not conceding that it is proper to use the term 'the Church' in any sense which is contrary to New Testament usage.

The later Epistles of the New Testament, and the letters to the seven churches in Asia in the book of Revelation, indicate that error which made rapid advance in the early centuries A.D. had already gained a foothold during the lifetime of the apostles. In his address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus the apostle Paul gave the solemn warning:

"I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them ... I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace" (Acts 20:29-32).

The history of 'the Church' in the generation following that of the apostles can be studied in the 'Church histories'. Recent research has led to a reappraisal of some of the details of this period; the story is by no means so cut and dried as some earlier historians would have us believe. Moreover, 'Church' historians are liable to interpret events in accordance with their own ecclesiastical background. It has been fairly said in a recent study, "Often we have more gaps in our story than concrete facts. Many stories come in versions so distorted that it is hard to decide whether the principal characters were worthy successors of the apostles, or the devil's own agents" (M. A. Smith, From Christ to Constantine, Inter-Varsity Press, 1971). Our task in this study is not to reconstruct the story of those early centuries, but to notice the relationship of Church and State to the point in the fourth century when the emperor Constantine adopted 'Christianity' as the official religion of the Roman Empire.

The Christian Faith was established in a pagan world with which it could never come to terms. The Roman Empire was then at the zenith of its power. The apostles, following the teaching of their Lord, enjoined subjection to the "powers that be" (Rom. 13:1). There were things that belonged to Caesar and these were to be rendered to him. Respect for authority is consistently urged in the New Testament. In the churches prayer was offered to God for "kings and all that are in high place" (1 Tim. 2:1). There was, however, a sphere which belonged to God, and when the State crossed the boundary into that sphere then God must be obeyed rather than men. Christians must take a stand at this point, and when they were required by Caesar to offer incense to the genius of the Emperor a clash with the State became inevitable.

The first serious official onslaught on Christians took place in Rome in A.D. 64 when many were tortured and burned in Nero's gardens. The ferocity of this persecution even disgusted the unsympathetic Roman historian Tacitus who alleged that the Christians were scapegoats for the Emperor's own action in setting fire to a quarter of Rome to clear space for his building programme. The persecution of A.D. 64 seems to have been confined to Rome, but later, spasmodic outbreaks of persecution took place in various parts of the Empire. However, "It was not until A.D. 303 that Diocletian instituted a general and systematic effort to exterminate Christianity over the greater part of the Empire, when it was far too late. This curious vacillation on the part of the Roman Government, striking now and again with atrocious violence, and then for long periods letting the Christian community grow unchecked, suggests that the Government was really puzzled what line to follow, when confronted with the new and mysterious phenomenon" (Edwyn Bevan). In the Eastern part of the Empire this persecution went on till 311, but in the West, a young soldier, Constantine, who was proclaimed Emperor for the Western provinces in A.D. 306, was favourable to the Christians. Constantine became master of Italy and Rome in 312, and from 324 till his death in 337 reigned as sole Emperor over the Roman world. During his reign the Christian churches enjoyed imperial patronage for the first time.

T.M. Hyland, Birkenhead | Jul 1972
Departure From The Faith