A Christian Theocracy

Jesus established a church without secular authority and without soldiers to defend it (John 18:36). So, how did the Roman Church become so powerful in secular issues, with its authority culminating in the union of church and state? From the fourth to the sixth century, several important steps were taken in that process.

During the time of Constantine, Christianity became the official religion of the state. The emperors that succeeded Constantine proceeded to make Christianity the exclusive religion of the state. After the sacking of Rome by the Visigoths in 410, Augustine wrote his famous work The City of God, in which he outlined the idea of a universal church in control of a universal state. His ideal was implemented with the support of both the Western Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire in the east.

The conversion of Clovis, king of the Franks, was a significant event leading to the unification of Western Europe in support of the papacy during the first part of the Middle Ages. Clovis’s war against the Visigoths and his victory over them in 508 represented another important step by providing an effective army to the Roman Catholic Church for punishing so-called heretics. On November 16, 534, Justinian, emperor of the Byzantine Empire, sent a letter to Pope John II recognizing him as “the head of all the Holy Churches” and promising “to increase the honor and authority” of his Holy See.

But it was not until 538 that the city of Rome became free from the domination of any “heretical tribes” and the Roman Catholic Church could effectively develop its ecclesiastical supremacy. There was a radical change from the early persecuted church of the first century to the later persecuting church of the Middle Ages, which killed thousands through the Christian Crusades and the Inquisition.

Undoubtedly, New Testament Christianity can remain truly Christian only by following Christ’s principle: “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).

The theocratic model of the Old Testament must never be imposed on it. And “in everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you” (Matthew 7:12, NASB), especially when it comes to religious freedom.