The Early Church, Persecuted by the State~30 AD to 313AD

In the early church, immediately following the resurrection of Christ, there were literally thousands of people daily who responded to the message of the gospel. They joined the original disciples of Christ to form the first church. The believers organized very quickly into what we would call “house churches”: small groups that met daily in private homes to worship, encourage, teach, and eat together. In Acts 4:32 we read: “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.  With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”

For the first two or three hundred years, the Christian church grew quickly, but there was much persecution. Of the original twelve disciples, Judas hung himself after realizing what a despicable thing he had done in betraying Jesus, John was exiled to Patmos Island, and the other ten were martyred for refusing to stop preaching in Jesus’ name.

Hebrews 11:37-38 gives us the general idea of how well the Christian church got along with the establishment: “They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated– the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.”

A Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honoured by all the people, made a prophetic statement regarding the punishment of these early Christians: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men.  Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.  After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered.

Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

The synthesis of church and state: Constantine’s Edict of Milan (313 AD) – Reformation (~1525)

Skip ahead a few centuries. The persecution of Christians eased up, and the believers were able to settle down without fear of being captured and fed to lions or used as human torches. Under the rule of Constantine early in the fourth century, Christianity became the established religion, and its leaders gained political power.

For the next thousand or so years, the Roman Empire was unified by the synthesis of church and state. It evolved into a Christian society into which all persons were born as citizens, and baptized in infancy as Christians. The church became the organization that would operate the schools, the hospitals, the poor houses, and the orphanages. This situation, in theory, should have made for a poverty free world, with justice and equality for all. But – and there is always a but that follows the words in theory, the church now faced the enormous task of making society Christian, and absorbing into its own life the masses of people who become members without knowing it.

Externally, the church prospered. The pope and the upper echelon of church leaders became the most powerful and wealthy men in Europe. But, unfortunately, power and wealth often lead to corruption, even among Christians. Corruption, abuse of power, and worldliness invaded the church.

Monasteries were formed by those who wished to escape the sin and temptation of a wicked world by giving themselves to endless prayer and fasting.  Monks had little influence on the church of the day, but they played an intrinsic role in the preservation of the Scriptures by meticulously copying the Bible.

The Scriptures had been translated from their original Hebrew and Greek into the Latin Vulgate, but ordinary people and even many members of the clergy could not read or understand Latin. Clergymen were often illiterate, untrained, and immoral. Biblical doctrine and Christ- like behaviour were replaced by empty ritual, superstition, mysticism, and manmade rules. The Bible, with its message of salvation, was replaced by a penance system. The people were not taught that forgiveness of sin was a gift from God, purchased with the blood of Christ. Instead, clergy would sentence the penitent to ritual prayers or pilgrimage to pay for their own sins. Church leaders went so far as to sell “indulgences” – such as bones that they claimed belonged to saints, wood that they declared had been part of Christ’s cross, hay supposedly gathered from the manger at Bethlehem, and other nonsense (sounds like the medieval version of EBay). The rich could buy their way into heaven, while the poor were consigned to purgatory or even hell because they could not pay the fees demanded by the church for its services.

The Separation of Church and State: Reformation (early 16th Century) – Present

By the sixteenth century, the church was in desperate need of reform. There had been small, local attempts to restore the church to the virtue and integrity of the first century Christians. One of the reasons for the success of the Reformation at this time was the invention of the printing press. This enabled reformers like John Wyclif and Martin Luther to distribute their English and German translations of Scriptures to the common man, and the heresies and corruption introduced by the Catholic Church were exposed.

The Reformation ushered in the age of division between the Roman Catholic Church and various denominations of Protestant churches. In England, this division was solidified in the1530’s when King Henry VIII, angered by the Catholic Church’s refusal to annul his marriage with his wife Catherine of Aragon, decided to break with the Church and set himself as ruler of the new Church of England. This act resulted in ending the separation that had existed between The Roman Catholic Church and the State in England.

In the United States, the separation between church and state was clarified by Thomas Jefferson in a letter written to a group identifying themselves as the Danbury Baptists. In that letter, referencing the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Jefferson wrote:
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.” (Thomas Jefferson, 1802)

I have noticed that many people define the separation between church and state as the elimination of all Christian influence in society. At the same time, people wonder why the church is not doing more to help the homeless and needy.

I am completely in favor of the separation of church and state. Christianity cannot be legislated. Faith must be freely chosen by the individual. On the other hand, I think that the current battle to remove all things Christian from the public eye has escalated to the ridiculous. I also think that many nonChristians are too easily offended. I read about a woman who saw a nativity scene in a store window and exclaimed “Will you look at that! Now the church is trying to get in on Christmas!”