The story of the Emperor Constantine bears heavily upon the history of Christianity. His imposing figure would change for all time Christianity’s character, as well as its position in the world. Constantine was the son of Constantius, one of the four pagan emperors who ruled the empire conjointly at the close of the third century. Upon the death of Constantius, A.D. 306, the Roman army in Britain proclaimed his son emperor, contrary to the will of Rome. After six years of obscurity in the north, Caesar Constantine marched on Rome. Before his rival could prepare for war, he led his legions against the capital. Opposing armies were sent to meet him without success, then finally, ten miles outside Rome, the emperor Maxentius stood with an army ready to block his progress.
Constantine had been a worshiper of Mithra, the Persian sun-god. On the evening before the decisive battle he had an experience that would change the course of history. He is supposed to have seen a cross above the setting sun bearing the words, Hoc signo victor eris, “By this sign you shall be the victor” -often written Hoc Signo Vinces, “In this sign, conquer.”
The next day, October 28, 312, the deciding battle was fought at the Milvian Bridge, and the army of Constantine was victorious. The pagan forces were defeated, and Maxentius was drowned while attempting to escape. Admirers of Constantine would later point to this event as a miracle, and they hailed the emperor as a new Moses. Constantine eventually gained control of the whole empire — east and west — to rule as sole emperor. He believed he owed his victory to the God of the Christians and, in his own way, he would show his gratitude throughout his prosperous reign.
Constantine and Christianity
Upon his triumphal entry into Rome, Constantine had bishop Hosius of Cordova at his side. (He may have been with the emperor at the bridge. It appears that prominent Christians had joined ranks with Constantine, hoping to find themselves on the winning side. Constantine’s “sudden” acceptance of the Christian cause was probably due in part to their influence.) Bishop Hosius continued to be the emperor’s confidant and adviser, and one of Constantine’s first acts was to send the bishop to Africa to settle the dispute with the Donatists. The emperor, in his later campaigns, also took with him Catholic priests to support him in battle with their prayers.
Constantine’s edict in 313 placed Christianity on a footing of equality, before the law, with the other religions; under his leadership it would eventually eclipse paganism throughout the empire. Christendom, grateful to this Roman ruler for its new status, has proclaimed him a Christian emperor, though he was not baptized until just before his death.
Christianity received unexpected and unheard-of favors from the new emperor, and the bishops and clergy were very quickly won over to him. Constantine exempted the clergy from taxes and later arranged for them to live at public expense as civil servants. He also placed Christians in the highest administrative posts in his government. In effect, Christianity, which had been bought with the blood of Christ, allowed itself to be sold to the Roman emperor.
Constantine’s established his capital, Constantinople, in Byzantium -leading to the division of the Roman empire into its East and West components. Thus he fulfilled more than one Bible prophecy.
The birth of Christendom
Christianity underwent a spectacular change when Constantine took control of the Roman Empire. An Anglican church historian makes the following comment in writing about the period: “The peace of the Church transformed the relationship between the government and Christianity. Whereas previously the emperor had been the enemy of the Church, he now became its patron and protector so that henceforth the history of the Church is not something apart but inextricably bound up with society and with imperial policy” (The Early Christian Church, J. G. Davies, p. 163).
The established church had already drifted away from apostolic doctrine and practice. Its elevation under Constantine and the later “Christian” emperors confirmed its state of apostasy. To the present, the major churches are linked with secular society and politics. This stands in sharp contrast to the position of Christ and of Christians in the first century. Constantine, not Christ — nor the apostle Peter — was the founder of Christendom as we see it today.
Constantine’s interference in matters of church policy and teaching is illustrated by his convening the Council of Nicaea, which established the Trinity (a concept deeply rooted in Babylonian and Persian religions) as official Catholic doctrine. He was not particularly concerned with doctrinal matters; he only wanted to see Christianity united and peaceful. But he came to support the persecution of dissidents.
A “Christian” empire
The first “Christian” emperor attained his position by force of arms and political intrigue. While favoring Christianity, he allowed the prevailing pagan religion to continue, and like his predecessors, he retained the pagan high priest’s title of Pontifex Maximus. The title was discarded by the later “Christian” emperors. Significantly, it was ultimately assumed by the popes — who claim it to the present time.
Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, was ecstatic in his praise of the new emperor. Constantine was received as a “new David,” and his rulership was accepted as almost Messianic.
“…The mighty and victorious Constantine, adorned with every virtue of religion, with his most pious son..restored the Roman empire to its ancient state of one united body; extending their peaceful sway around the world…All things were filled with light, and all who before were sunk in sorrow, beheld each other with smiling and cheerful faces. With choirs and hymns, in the cities and villages, at the same time they celebrated…the praises of the pious emperor…Edicts were published and issued by the victorious emperor, full of clemency, and laws were enacted indicative of munificence and genuine religion…Thus, then, after all the tyranny had been purged away, the empire was justly reserved firm and without a rival, to Constantine and his sons” (Ecclesiastical History, X, ix).
Revelation 12
“The opening of chapter 12 takes us back to the place in history marked by the sixth seal, when a mighty revolution upset and abolished the pagan government of the world, the avowed enemy of Christ, and established in its place a system based upon professed allegiance to Christ. This revolution, effected under the leadership of Constantine, ‘the first Christian Emperor,’ was…in fact the inauguration of Christendom — the commencement of the nominal dominion of Christ on earth, to be succeeded by his real dominion. That nominal dominion was far from being a system of real submission to Christ; still it was a great improvement upon the empire of polytheism…” (ThirteenLectures on the Apocalypse, R. Roberts, p. 98).
Revelation 12 presents a startling vision, but the events it foretells are no less astounding. From its humble beginnings, Christianity had risen to prominence in the Roman world. In the process it had, for the most part, transformed itself in teaching and in practice from the apostolic to an apostate condition. Its teachers had not been faithful to the original gospel, and its adherents had failed to separate from their pagan world. The imperial son (Constantine) conceived by the apostate church came from her illicit union with the world.
John’s vision
The woman who appears in the vision of Revelation 12 represents the Christian body as it existed in the fourth century. The symbols associated with the woman indicate her elevation (“clothed with the sun”) and her triumph over the pagan priesthood of Rome (“the moon under her feet”). She is now a mixed community, no longer the faithful bride, and is about to produce an offspring. A dragon, symbolic of the pagan Roman empire, is set to destroy the son of Christendom. Failing in that endeavor, it turns upon the woman, who is removed from its fury. Finally, the wrath of the empire turns upon the “remnant” of the woman’s seed.
In the vision, we see two aspects of Christianity. There is, first, the church clothed with the sun, representing Christendom in league with the world. But there is a remnant, faithful to the principle of separation from the world, which would continue to suffer oppression.
To Christendom (as seen through the eyes of Eusebius) this new age was the millennium. To us, reading the Revelation, the overthrow of paganism prefigures that deliverance for which we still wait. We believe this is what the language of Revelation 12 is intended to convey. We must note that, after the apparent millennial vision of verse 10, the chapter goes on to speak of the further persecution of those who have the testimony of Christ — and adhere to it and bear witness to him. This will not happen in the millennium.
Where were the faithful?
Can we really identify the community that is seen fleeing into the wilderness? The dissidents in North Africa seem to fit the case, except that the Donatists were far from gospel truth themselves. Bro. Roberts explains the situation very satisfactorily in “Thirteen Lectures.”
“The answer is,” Bro. Roberts comments, “that though these communions were not in the mass the body of Christ, they contained it while the church ascendant — the Catholic sun-invested woman, contained it not at all.”
Where were the faithful? They were small, practically unnoticed groups contained in the community of dissent, though not a part of it in doctrine or in practice. Their writings and their history have been suppressed or ignored. The state-church had no interest in preserving anything of which it did not approve. We know of Donatists and Waldensian’s only because they were groups large enough to command the attention of historians. Later, we get glimpses of other persecuted minorities, some of whom were striving against all odds to follow apostolic Christianity.
It is the remnant of the woman’s seed — the usually unnoticed, often persecuted minorities throughout the history of Christianity — with whom today’s true believers can identify. Meanwhile, the Christendom of Constantine lives on, and it has a role to play as the time of the end approaches.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One