When Christianity joined forces with the world system
Because we live in a country with a history of Christian influence, many Christians have a hard time deciding how much to be involved in political affairs. Some people unfortunately see the success of the church connected to the success or failure of the nation. The reverse of that is true. In this message I hope to help Christians to understand the connection between the church and the state.
For three centuries the church of Jesus Christ fully understood that the body of Christ was to be totally separate from the world system. This is very clearly explained in scripture. Paul, for example, said bluntly: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Rom 12:2).
So, the basic position of a follower of Christ is to be living in a way that they are being transformed by the Lord so they will be able to discern the will of God and live by it. But he gives a warning not to allow the world to change us into its image. That was the position of the church the Holy Spirit was inspiring in the early days of Christianity. Christians would not have dreamed of sending their children to the Roman schools or being influenced by Roman entertainment or its styles and politics. Clearly, they saw themselves as separate from the world and full participants in the kingdom of God
Time has changed our perspective because we tend to be negatively influenced by the world. The word translated “world” here is the Greek word for “age” or “era”. Each earthly age has its own temptations and spiritual challenges because, as the Bible makes clear, Satan is the god of each age (2 Cor 4:4). The worldly system of things operating under his direction is designed to discredit Christ and destroy His followers. He opposes any genuine expression of the body of Christ. This means it is crucial to understand Satan’s scheming methods and remain in fellowship with Christ and His people (Eph 6:11).
Simplicity and purity defined the church’s attitude for centuries after its beginning. Paul warned against drifting from that simplicity and purity by adopting the confusion of human religion and losing the purity that comes from conforming to the world (2 Cor 11:3). He was constantly speaking out against “…the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Eph 4:14).
Tragically, the early church began a slow drift away from this simple, pure life of fellowship with Christ and His people. It began to make slight adjustments for the sake of conforming to Rome’s way of doing things. One of the first adjustments made was to slowly move away from the priesthood of all believers. This was a foundational truth of the early church. Each believer was seen as a priest with Christ as the High Priest (1 Pet 2:9; Rev 1:6; Heb 10:19f.) and continually encouraged all believers to do the work of the ministry to one another and the world (Eph 4:12). They were led, not by one trained man, but by a plurality of mature men who led everyone by example (Acts 20:17–28; Titus 1:5) and encouraged all believers to participate in fellowship (Eph 4:16; 1 Cor 14:26–31).
Prominent leaders like Ignatius (35–107 A.D.) began to elevate one of the elders to a special place of authority and this special elder was called bishop even though the word for bishop (episcopos in Greek) was used interchangeably with the term elder (Acts 20:17, 28; Titus 1:5; 1 Tim 3:1). Gradually the one-man form of leadership developed to the point that most people today see it as a scriptural truth.
This spiritual drift continued until emperor Constantine (ca. 280–337) claimed to have converted to Christianity and began the process of mingling Christianity with the traditions and practices of the Roman Empire. Slowly the church began to join forces with the Roman Empire and adopt its ways. From that time on the church stopped meeting in simplicity and purity in homes as the emperor ordered the construction of church buildings so that Christianity could have its own sacred buildings like the pagans. Thus began the slow march toward total conversion to the world’s pagan way of expressing itself through sacred buildings which become recognized as temples.
From that day forward the Catholic Church slowly formed as the church adopted sacred buildings to replace the body of Christ as the temple of God (1 Cor 3:16; 2 Cor 6:16), elders with a professional clergy, the Lord’s supper with the mass, and much pomp and festivity patterned after the pagans and the Roman empire. The Reformation produced some changes but the sacred buildings and the clergy system has remained to this day. Most people now think of the church as that building on the corner with its programs led by professional clergymen trained in the world’s educational system. We have drifted far from God’s desire for simplicity and purity in His church.
Today, the Catholic Church rationalizes its drift from the scriptural norm by appealing to tradition. It recognizes tradition as just as valid as scripture in their understanding of truth. The Second Vatican Council’s statement of divine revelation says,
. . . there exists a close connection and communication between sacred Tradition and sacred Scripture. For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge into a unity and tend toward the same end.
So the traditions that developed after the church drifted away from scripture were given the same status as the Bible for determining truth. This is how so much of the trend away from simplicity and purity resulted in sophisticated, man-made concepts and practices shaped by the world’s way of expression.
The end result was a paid clergy system, elaborate buildings, special clerical garb, candles and burning incense, choirs and much more. Gone was the simple family style gathering of the believers for fellowship and payer around a meal (Acts 2:42–47). Much of organized Christianity has accepted these traditions that have replaced God’s original plan for His church. As a result the church is limping along wondering where the life went.
So what is to be our relationship to the world system? Jesus explained it in a simple statement. Some Jewish leaders tried to trap Him by asking Him about taxes. His answer was classic:
Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matt 22:19–21).
“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” was His simple answer. In this statement He implied that while we are living in the midst of this fallen world system we have a responsibility to do what is legally required of us as citizens of a nation. Paul told the Roman Christians that “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities” (Rom 13:1).
In other words we are in the world as citizens of heaven but we should not be part of it. We are to submit to its laws and activities as long as they do not encourage us to violate our faith in Christ. All the while we are to listen to the Holy Spirit and scripture concerning the things that belong to God.
But, if we are being honest, we believers must admit that we have allowed ourselves to be shaped by the world system ruled by Satan. Even many of the practices of our church gatherings have been molded by the world’s ways. It’s time we understood this truth and seek God’s help in returning to simplicity and purity in our devotion to Him.
If we returned to the simplicity and purity God intends for His church, many of the questions we face today would find an answer. Division would be rare and unity the norm, love and genuine fellowship would replace what Paul calls “persuasive words of wisdom” (1 Cor 2:4), fellowship and sharing would flourish resulting in the growth of the body of Christ (1 Cor 14:26; Eph 4:15, 16), and organized Christianity would be replaced by organic, living church life. Get ready! It’s coming because Christ will have the last word on the condition of His bride (Eph 6:26, 27).
