Show Notes
What happens to the church when it stops being persecuted and starts being powerful?
In one generation, the cross went from a gallows to a battle standard. In AD 313, Constantine ended the persecutions—and the church suddenly found itself invited to the emperor's table. That turned out to be a harder test than the arena.
In Week 2 of The Story of Jesus' Church: From Acts to Today, Brad Sarian covers the Imperial Church from AD 313–590: the councils, the creeds, and the claim that a Roman emperor voted Jesus divine in 325. We'll walk through Constantine’s conversion, examine what Christians and their enemies said about Jesus long before Nicaea, and meet Antony, Macrina, Basil, and Augustine.
In this class:
-The blessings and the dangers of a church with political power -Why Nicaea, Chalcedon, and the other councils met, and what each one settled -The evidence for Jesus' divinity from before AD 325—Christian, hostile, and biblical -Why "fully God and fully man" matters for your salvation -How the church recognized the New Testament canon—and why Constantine didn't choose it -Why monks fled to the desert the moment Christianity became comfortable
Christianity has never been perfectly uniform. But a recognizable core has endured—Scripture, the triune God, Christ fully God and fully man, baptism and the Lord's Supper, love of God and neighbor. The church didn't invent that faith. It defended it. And Jesus keeps His promise: "I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18).
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