KNOW YOUR CHURCH HISTORY (4)
The Imperial Church (AD313-476) - Controlled
A. Introduction
1. What is church history?
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
The command of making disciples, which Jesus gave to His followers, involved them taking the good
news of Jesus to places where it was not known and teaching His followers to obey Him.
Church history is the story of how this has happened.
2. Why bother with church history?
Three great reasons for studying church history:
Instruction – the difficulties and circumstances we face today are not new and we can look to the past
to learn from where believers have acted wisely in these situations and where believers have acted
foolishly.
“Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell
you, your elders, and they will explain to you.” (Deuteronomy 32:7)
Worship – when we see all God has done through His church it should lead us to praise Him for His
faithfulness.
“Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for
his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.” (Psalm 150:1-2)
Confidence – Jesus is keeping His promise to build His church.
“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades
will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:18)
3. The Early Church was the period of church history between the Fall of Jerusalem in AD70 and the Edict
of Milan in AD313.
This period was marked by growth: the church grew in size as Christians spread the gospel
throughout the Empire; the church grew in maturity as they sought to obey everything Jesus had
commanded by gathering to worship, baptising converts, being instructed in doctrine, caring for one
another, and appointing leaders.
But two dangers threatened to halt its growth and could have potentially destroyed it: persecution and
false teaching.
The response of the early church to persecution was the rise of the apologist who defined and
defended the faith. Whilst it did not succeed in convincing any of the Roman Emperors to stop
persecuting the Christians, it did strengthen the confidence believers had in the truth they professed.
The response of the early church to false teaching (over who Jesus is and what is Scripture) was the
formation of the canon of Scripture and creeds that summarised what Christians must believe.
Responsibility for protecting the apostle’s teaching also transferred from the church to the bishop.
4. Everything would change with one man, one battle, and one evening.
The Roman Empire at time of early church covered the whole of Mediterranean Europe, North Africa,
and the Middle East.
As the early church period of church history was ending, the Roman Empire was divided in two, West
and East, each with their own Emperor.
In 312 a power struggle was taking place between army generals, Constantine and Maxentius, for
control of the Western part of the Roman Empire.
This would end on 28 October 312 at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge.
The night before the battle, Constantine had a dream in which the first two Greek letters of the name
Christ (Chi and Rho; c and r) appeared one on top of the other in the shape of a cross.
He also saw or heard the words, “By this sign, you will conquer”.
So he told his soldiers to chalk these letters onto their shields.
Constantine won the battle and marched triumphantly into Rome as Emperor over the Western part of
the Empire. He believed God had granted him the victory and was “converted”.
For the first time, the Empire now had a Christian Emperor.
The next year, Constantine met with Licinius, the Emperor over the Eastern part, in Milan. They
agreed a policy of freedom for all religions, both pagan and Christian, known as the Edict of Milan.
This brought an end to the persecution of Christians.
But in 320 Licinius started persecuting Christians. This led to tensions between Constantine and
Licinius. In 324 Constantine invaded the East to rescue the churches there from persecution.
Constantine was victorious and became Emperor over the whole of the Empire.
5. Was Constantine converted?
There is much debate over this question.
Some say “Yes”:
He professed to be a Christian – he had nothing to gain by doing this.
He regularly attended church services.
When his courtiers clapped and cheered him, he would always redirect their applause by pointing
upwards to heaven.
He made a number of laws that favoured Christianity – in addition to bringing an end to the
persecution of Christians, he gave tax benefits to church leaders, established Sunday as an official day
of rest, and sought to abolish the offensive aspects of Roman life like the gladiatorial games.
He allowed churches to have their own buildings, and built them himself, including two in his newly
established capital of the Eastern Empire, Constantinople.
Other say “No”:
He ordered the killing of a number of people for political reasons.
He favoured the Arian heresy.
Not clear at times whether he was worship the Son or the sun.
The answer is we cannot be sure.
However Constantine’s conversion would dramatically alter the church, and so began the period of
church history known as the Imperial Church, a time when almost all the Roman Emperors looked
favourably on the church.
6. The Imperial Church was the period of church history between these two significant events: The Edict
of Milan in AD313 and the Fall of Rome in AD476.
The Edict of Milan, after Constantine became Emperor of the western part of the Roman Empire,
granted religious freedom to Christians.
The Fall of Rome, led to a dramatic increase in the power and influence that the Pope in Rome had.
During this period of church history, three big changes took place in the church, the effects of which
are still seen in the church today.
B. Formalism
1. During the time of the Early Church, churches services took place mostly in homes and were simple.
The first part of the service (the Service of the Word) included four elements: Scripture Reading,
Sermon, Prayer and Singing.
The second part of the service (the Service of the Table) was when the Lord’s Supper was celebrated.
2. Two big changes to church services happened during the time of the Imperial Church.
The first was to do with where they happened.
The second was to do with what happened at them.
3. Church services now took place in church buildings.
The construction of these church buildings however went hand in hand with the adorning of them with
Christian art or icons of Jesus, Mary, and other saints. (Images were common in the pagan temples)
Respect would then be shown to these in the same way it would have been shown to images or
symbols of the Emperor.
In addition to this, churches were built at significant locations, such as where a martyr had been
buried.
4. Church services began to reflect the pomp of civil ceremonies.
Ministers before had worn everyday clothes, now they began wearing more luxurious garments.
Incense was used as a sign of respect for the Emperor, now it began to feature in the services.
The congregation knelt in prayer, as petitioners would knell before the Emperor.
The services began with a procession and choirs were developed to make these more impressive.
There was also an increase emphasis on the use of liturgy giving less variety to the services.
5. The church was being shaped by the world around them.
C. Nominalism
1. During the time of the Early Church it was dangerous to be a Christian.
Christians were persecuted by the Jews and the Roman Emperors, who sanctioned at least 10 official
persecutions.
This led to a number of Christians denying their faith.
So to be a Christian in those days, you really had to be serious about and committed to following
Jesus.
2. When the Roman Emperor, Theodosius, in 391 declared Christianity to be the official religion of the
Roman Empire and outlawed paganism, suddenly everyone in the Roman Emperor was now a Christian.
But many of these new ‘converts’ brought with them into the church their idolatry, superstitions and
impurity.
3. In addition to this, the church was now unable to give the necessary programme of teaching (present
in the early church) to prepare those wanting to be baptised for baptism, or to guide them in the
Christian life once they had been baptised.
This led to a decline in the purity of the church both in what they believed and how they lived.
4. The church was now a mixed community of believers and unbelievers.
D. Hierarchicalism
1. During the time of the Early Church the structure of the church was simple.
Each local church appointed both elders and deacons to lead them – the early church was made up of
local independent churches.
Within the elders, like in the Jewish synagogue, there was a first among equals, who was the official
teacher of the church because of their preaching ability.
This role over time evolved into the office of bishop and became a third office, distinct from the elders.
By AD180 this pattern of church leadership – bishop, elders, deacons – was universally accepted by
the church.
But what’s important to realise is that each local church had their own bishop and all bishops were
equal in importance.
In the latter part of the early church period of church history the responsibility of the bishop began to
increase from looking after a local church, to looking after all the believers within a city and then a
whole region.
This would evolve into a structure that emulated Roman organisation once Constantine became
Emperor and made bishops part of the Empire’s legal structure.
2. After a time the church began to conclude that there existed a hierarchy amongst the bishops under
the authority of the Emperor.
The bishop of the church in a provincial capital or major city began to be called
an archbishop or chief bishop.
A few bishops became even more powerful than the archbishops because of the
importance of their cities and churches. They were known as patriarchs
(fatherly rulers). There were five of them, the bishop of Rome (the pope),
Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.
By the 5th century, the territories of the different patriarchs had become fairly
well defined and all the archbishops and bishops in each territory were under
the patriarchs’ authority.
To individual local churches, the bishop assigned presbyters or priests, who
would care for the congregation under his authority and direction. The bishop
would be the pastor of the central church of a city.
3. The church was now under state control and the state would interfere in the affairs of the church, and
often on behalf of the church.
4. With influence of the world upon the practice of the church, the presence of unbelievers as members of
the church and the power of the state over the church will the apostles’ teaching about what to believe
and how to live be lost?
E. What lessons can we learn for today?
1. We must be clear on what a Christian is.
What the gospel is.
How someone becomes a Christian.
Who can be baptised.
Who can be a member.
We do not want people thinking they are saved and part of the true church when they are not.
2. We must be clear on what the role of the state is.
The role of the state is to maintain civil order, human flourishing and national security.
The state should not be involved in determining what churches can or cannot believe and do.