at all...
No darkness
The cross and the sword
Or
When did the church lay down the cross to pick up the sword?
With the recent death of Osama Bin Laden, the Red Sea was once again parted. But this time instead of showing a great deliverance for the children of God, it exposed a huge separation in Christian values. On one side of this great divide we see those holding the cross and on the other we see those holding the sword. In one instant Face Book, Twitter, My Space and the blogs lit up and the debates began. The most defining thing that came out of the debates was not who was right or who was wrong but the fact that there was a huge chasm within the Church. Christians that had been friends for years suddenly turned on each other. It was as if a sleeping giant that no one knew existed suddenly awoke. The unveiling of this giant brings us to the subject at hand. When did the church lay down the cross and pick up the sword?
Matt 5:38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. 43Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
For most of my Christian life the commentary I would hear on these verses (from those I looked up to) was something like, “this doesn’t mean we’re supposed to be door mats”, followed by a long explanation of what Jesus “really meant”. Looking back now it is very unsettling that preachers could so easily disregard the words of Jesus. But even more unsettling is the fact that I accepted their commentary as truth. We hear the beautiful non violent words from the prince of peace but in one phrase they are trumped by the traditions of men.
Jesus lived His non violent words as He was beaten and nailed to the cross. Steven breathed his last breath saying don’t hold this charge against them and the early church won Rome without ever drawing a sword. For the first three hundred years of recorded church history all true believers followed the words of Jesus and practiced non violence. So, when did the church lay down the cross and pick up the sword? Let’s look at a little church history to see if we can find out.
Around 300AD Rome was split into two kingdoms, east and west. Constantine was the son of the emperor of the eastern part of Rome. Before Constantine took rule from his father, he had the idea that he would take over the western part and rule both empires. So he gathers his army together and heads to the Milvian Bridge. This was the only bridge left standing from eastern to western Rome, all the rest had been destroyed by the western empire to try to keep Constantine’s army out. As they were camped the night before battle “supposedly” Constantine had a vision of a cross and saw the words “in this sign conquer”. In other words, conquer in the sign of the cross. So, Constantine had all of his solders paint the sign of the cross on their shields. The next day he goes to battle and wins, some call this (the battle of the Milvian Bridge). Because of Constantine’s “vision” he was now under the impression that the Christian God had given him the victory. Note: at this time Constantine was NOT calling himself a Christian.
About a year after this battle, Constantine succeeds his father as emperor. One of the first things he did was to declare the (Edict of Mi lan) which stopped the persecution of Christians by the Roman government. With Constantine now in power and his victory at the Milvian Bridge being credited to divine intervention from the Christian God, the church and state begin it’s mixing. I believe this is is where we see the first glimpses of what would eventually become the Catholic Church.
Sometime during this whole mess Constantine declares himself a Christian and in 380AD Christianity becomes the prefered religion of the government. Needless to say if you wanted to be in the (in) crowd in Rome at that time you better call yourself a Christian. This was possibly the worst thing that ever happened to Christianity. Greek mythology, pagan belief systems and governmental influence began spilling into all parts of Christian theology.
The change from the cross to the sword didn’t happen overnight but the strength of governmental influence slowly began to persuade many it was actually a divine blessing to kill and conquer in the name of the Christian God.
Augustine, one of the most well known theologians of all time was born in 354AD. His birth date combined with what we have already learned, give us great insight into the culture that would influence his thinking. He was the first theologian to grow up with the mixture of church and state being the norm, and before he reached his 30th birthday, Christianity was part of the state. Rome was a violent government and Augustine was brought up thinking overcoming evil with good meant using the sword to accomplish it. By the time Augustine began writing, the real meaning of turning the other cheek and loving your enemies had all but been lost. Guess who develops the “just war” theory?
I believe it was during this time in history that many began to lay down the cross of Christ and pick up the sword of Augustine.
Everyone is affected by presupposition and Augustine was no different. His thoughts were greatly influenced by the culture in which he lived and because of this we have inherited 1700 years of Christian theology that says its okay to exert power over someone else in the name of Jesus. But brothers and sisters, this is not what Jesus said. Another interesting note on Augustine is the fact that the first people he commissioned violence against were not unbelievers but believers.
From that day to this violence has been a part of Christendom. I believe the burning of so called "heretics", the "conquering" of America and even slavery can be traced back to the idea that there is such a thing as just violence.
The good news is even though Augustine and many that came after him have convinced most of the Church that its okay to pick up the sword, there was always a remnant that rejected all forms of violence. The interesting thing about this remnant is church history also reveals that these were the most persecuted of all. Even today while you might not be burned at the stake for taking a non violent stand, you can surely be scorched by the tongue.
In closing, I would like to leave you with a shocking piece of information the most Christians don’t know. There was actually a time in church history when people were tortured with tools inscribed with, “To God be all the glory”. How far is that from, “love your enemies”?
Brothers and sisters, have we laid down the cross of Jesus Christ to pick up a sword given to us by the traditions of men?
By Tim Cooper
