Page 20 - TH130 Kingdom of God A4 Final

The Kingdom of God

The Church after Constantine

In A.D. 313, the Roman Emperor Constantine declared Christianity
to be the official religion of the Roman Empire. As a result, the church
acquired a privileged status in society. As time went by, it began to see
itself as being the same thing as the kingdom of God. Church leaders
began to use the phrase “one God, one Logos, one Emperor, one Empire.”
As the state church, it became the servant of the empire, although at
times it even ruled over the empire. During this era, the church began
to think of the kingdom of God as the same as the earthly reign of the
Caesar or the Pope.

The Medieval Church
The medieval church existed during the Middle Ages, extending
from the end of the Roman Empire (A.D. 476) until the beginning of
the Protestant Reformation (A.D. 1517).
During this era, the church largely
followed the teachings of Augustine
The merging of in his book, The City of God. Augustine

church and state taught that the kingdom of God was
the visible church of his day. This view
led to tragic results. of the Kingdom led to the merging of
church and state. The results were
tragic. Joining with the state, the
church attempted to create a “pure” Holy Roman Empire by force.
The Crusades became the church’s way of doing missions. During the
Crusades, the church did many evil things while trying to retake the Holy
Land from the Muslims. Christian missions still suffers ill effects from
the Crusades.

Reformation to Present
The Sixteenth Century

The Reformation took place during the sixteenth century. At that time,
many people left the Roman Catholic Church and formed the Protestant
church. The leaders of this movement were called “reformers.” As opposed
to the teaching of the Catholic Church, these reformers identified the
kingdom of God with the invisible church. They taught that the Kingdom
was primarily a religious concept. Like the post-apostolic fathers, they
taught that the kingdom of God is in the hearts of believers.

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