What It Means to Be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church

by Gavin Ortlund

In 313, the Edict of Milan provided Christianity legal status in the Roman Empire. Then in 380, under Theodosius I, Christianity officially became the state religion. The fourth century was thus a time of seismic changes for the church as she adjusted to what James Breckenridge calls “the mountainous wave of new converts from idolatrous paganism following the Edict of Toleration.”45 At this time art and statuary dramatically increased in churches, and we see the first pictures of Christ and Mary and other saints. As Robin Jensen notes, “Iconic portraits of apostles, saints, and Christ mostly appeared only toward the end of the 4th century.”46 Although portraiture art was still rare and not yet used for veneration or prayer, now there was at least the possibility of new temptations that had been completely unthinkable in the ante-Nicene period.

This is a good example of how understanding history opens our eyes to understand theology—this development is why people’s minds could change so quickly on a theological topic. Scripture did not change; the cultural makeup of the church did.