In hoc signo vinces

I am rereading The Reformers and Their Stepchildren and read this morning the "conversion" account of Constantine. It is alleged that Constantine saw a vision of a cross while leading his army and heard the words "in hoc signo vinces", the Latin rendering of a Greek phrase which means "in this sign you will conquer". The notion that somehow God gave a vision to a man saying that he would vanquish his enemies under the banner of the cross is a perversion. The symbol of sacrifice where the Lamb of God laid down His life becoming a banner to kill and conquer others? Grotesque.

Christian history often looks back at the "conversion" of Constantine and his later acts to legalize and legitimize Christianity as a great moment for the church, an end to the era of persecution. I am afraid I don't see this as a victorious moment but rather the beginning of more than a millennium of a monstrous church-state hybrid that was not only soaked in blood but responsible for an empty religious expression of the church that has crippled the witness of God's people to this day. Of all the heresies that have sprung up over the centuries, few have been more tragic than the marriage of the Bride of Christ to the powers of the world. Thank God for the stalwart believers who have rejected this marriage at the cost of liberty, comfort and life and may He raise up a new generation of believers who are willing to surrender all to Christ.