"Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it." Winston Churchill

The Curse of Constantine

In 312 A.D. at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, Emperor Constantine claimed he had a vision. In response to the vision, he did something that has had profound and lasting consequences for the church and the world, which echo down to this day and to our current presidential election. According to Eusebius and others, Constantine looked up to the sun before the battle and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the Greek words "Ἐν Τούτῳ Νίκα" (~in this sign, conquer!). Apparently, God was telling Constantine to conquer his earthly enemies and strengthen his empire in the sign of the cross.

This vision ran contrary to all that God had said in His word and all that Jesus had taught about the nature of His kingdom. The cross is not a symbol to prop up earthly powers and worldly kingdoms. Nevertheless, Constantine obeyed this vision and painted the Christian "chi-ro" symbol on his soldiers' shields before the battle. They won. The following year, Constantine declared, "that it was proper that the Christians and all others should have liberty to follow that mode of religion which to each of them appeared best." Religious liberty for Christianity was enacted for the first time.

So, Constantine's vision and his obedience to it seemed to have very good results: Victory in battle and religious liberty for Christians. As the years progressed, Constantine established Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire and funded major church councils, including the Council of Nicaea. These early church councils established the orthodoxy of Christian faith, solidifying what the church had already believed and taught, while weeding out false teachers and strengthening our understanding of the faith.

So far, so good, right? Well, not so fast . . .

The decision of Constantine to embrace Christianity as a support for his empire has had severe negative consequences, too. The pastors and bishops who came out of the councils on the losing sides now faced persecution for their beliefs, sometimes even imprisonment and death. The church embraced worldly political power as the means to advance its cause in the world, just as Constantine embraced the church as the way for him to advance his cause in the world.

"My kingdom is not of this world," Jesus said in John 18:36. "If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting." Well, with Constantine's decisions in 312-313, the church forgot these words of Jesus and tried to make His kingdom of this world. The result? His followers began fighting to establish, defend and advance Christ's kingdom, something Jesus never told them to do.

What follows Constantine's "conversion" is the history of a church full of ugliness: Christians attacking each other, fighting religious wars, burning each other at the stake, mistaking their earthly political kingdoms with the kingdom of God, compromising the Gospel and their prophetic voice to gain political power. As things degraded further throughout the Middle Ages, the positions of bishop became landed gentry offices for sale to the highest bidders, popes became political manipulators who were often notoriously immoral, dissent was met with brutal force, the poor were oppressed and exploited, people were killed for translating the Bible into the language of the people and more.

In fact, the pursuit of political power brought the church back to the spiritual state of the leaders of Israel in Jesus' day. These men - Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes - were protecting the political power Rome had given them. They would do anything to keep power, even if it meant killing the Man who had clearly proven Himself to be the Messiah.

Here's the bottom-line lesson of the curse of Constantine: When the church focuses on earthly political power, both the church and the world lose. Instead of on preaching the Gospel, showing the love of Jesus and speaking as a prophetic voice of truth to the culture, the church fights among itself, jockeys for political power, compromises, manipulates, back-stabs and presents an ugly, awful witness to the world. The church loses her spiritual power, and the world loses a vital Gospel witness it so desperately needs.

I remember sharing the story of Chuck Colson's conversion with a non-Christian friend in college. He listened politely and said, "So, he went from being a Republican political operative to being a Christian? Not much of a change, huh?" That's the opinion of much of the world when it comes to Christianity. Sadly, we have too much in the media and on social media to reinforce that stereotype.

The Lie of the Lesser of Two Evils

As the church has sought to gain and keep political power, it has often compromised by giving into the lie that we must always choose the lesser of two evils. The church has been forced into situations of moral compromise by a worldly political power Jesus never called it to have. From the very beginning, the church had to decide how much it would compromise in order to gain and keep the favor of the emperor. They had to decide how far they would bend God's word to win political favor.

Some refused to compromise, preferring to preach and teach the word of God without compromise. Sadly, they often paid with their lives, since the church powers now had the power of the sword. John Chrysostom was walked to death in the year 407 at the age of 58 because he refused to compromise. Jan Hus was burned at the stake. John Knox was driven from Scotland and lived years in exile.