When Emperor Constantine professed faith in Christ in 312 AD, Christians had been facing persecution for almost as long as the church existed. They were set on fire by Nero in the first century, executed by Trajan in the second century, and tortured, burned alive, and fed to animals by Diocletian in the third century. When Constantine embraced Christianity, it must have felt like all the church’s prayers were answered.
The following year, he signed the Edict of Milan, which legalized Christianity and granted broad religious toleration throughout the empire. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean that the church’s problems were over. After professing faith in Christ, he had his soldiers paint the sign of the cross on their shields to secure victory in battle. All of a sudden, the symbol of Christ’s death for sinners became a good luck charm in a military conquest.
Constantine gave wealth, tax exemptions, and legal authority to Christian ministers and in doing so attracted power-hungry leaders rather than spiritually qualified candidates. It was advantageous to identify as a Christian now, and nominal faith spread as a result. The state’s power was also used to exile heretics and seize the churches of leaders who didn’t accept his decisions. By mixing church and state, Christianity became a political identity, and the government became a means to enforce religious conformity.
Unfortunately, the church has often failed to learn from the past, and Protestants and Catholics alike have repeated history’s mistakes again and again. The allure of power tempts the church in every generation. Scripture helps us avoid repeating those mistakes. Three biblical principles especially help us understand the relationship between church and state.
1. Jesus did not establish His kingdom through political power
We often think that state authority would help the gospel spread more effectively, but Jesus explicitly resisted efforts to establish His kingdom through political power. For example, in John 6:15, when He perceived “that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king,” it says, “Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”
Later, when Jesus was interrogated by Pilate, He said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews” (John 18:36). Jesus is the King of kings, but His kingdom is not established through political force.
2. Church and state have distinct God-given responsibilities
The Roman Empire was marked by cruel dictators. King Herod sought to kill Jesus at His birth and Pilate carried out His execution. Despite this, Jesus recognized their authority, famously saying, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's” (Matthew 22:21).
Paul expanded on this teaching, calling governing authorities “ministers of God” (Romans 13:6) and “God’s servant[s] for your good” (Romans 13:4), saying that they “bear the sword” to carry out “God’s wrath on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:4).
Peter also addressed the role of government, saying, “Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good” (1 Peter 2:13-14).
So while the church makes disciples and spiritually disciplines those who betray their confession as citizens of heaven, civil government serves society at large by promoting good and physically punishing those who do evil.
3. The church’s mission isn’t advanced with the world’s weapons
The temptation to use the state to advance the gospel is attractive because of the power possessed by the government. Since Christians are so often disadvantaged by civil power, we’re tempted to seek that power to impose religious conformity or secure special advantages for Christians. Paul reminds us, though, that our power is spiritual, not political, and our battle is waged with persuasion, not coercion.
As he says in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
Christians should vote, and they can be active in civic and public life, but government isn’t the church, and Christian politicians have a responsibility to serve all of the nation’s citizens, not just the ones who believe the same things that they do.
The Fellowship Affirmation of Faith summarizes the Bible’s teaching on the church and state as follows:
We believe in the separation of church and state. The church should not resort to the state or worldly means to carry on its work. We believe that government is divinely appointed for the interest and good order of society, and its leaders are to be prayed for, conscientiously honoured and obeyed, except only in the things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Lord of the conscience and Ruler of the kings of the earth.
In awe of Him,
Paul
