Shadows and Substance: The Truth About Jewish Roots and Christian Believers

by Neil Silverberg

The story of Constantine and his influence on the Christian Church has been written about (and argued over) for seventeen centuries. The arguments have largely revolved around whether or not Constantine’s conversion to Christianity was genuine. Some hold that God gave him a supernatural sign which led to genuine faith in Jesus. Others see his embrace of Christianity as largely a political ploy aimed at gaining control of the Christian church. Those on each side of the debate have their so-called evidence for their position.

He turned over confiscated property back to its Christian owners and relaxed the ban on Christianity. From that moment, Constantine showed great tolerance towards the faith which had previously been persecuted, taking an active part in influencing the direction of the Church in the Empire.

In ad 325, Constantine convened a council of Christian bishops at Nicea to settle some important theological issues threatening to tear apart the delicate unity of the faith.For the first time in history, a Roman emperor took a leading role in preserving Christian unity! This

amazing, especially in light of the fact that Diocletian, who reigned prior to Constantine in ad 244-312, bitterly opposed the Church, persecuting it fiercely. Some of the bishops who attended the Nicean Council bore in their bodies the marks of Diocletian’s persecutions. How mesmerized they must have been to now be sitting in a hall wit...

Nicea settled some of the most important issues facing the Church, such as the deity of Christ and the triune nature of God (the Trinity). What emerged was a unified Church that condemned heresy and established the first acceptable creed known as the Nicene Creed. While only approximately 18 percent of the bishops attended, the decisions of that council were far-reaching and are still impacting us toda...

Many Church History teachers have suggested that unless Constantine had come along, Christianity would have been defeated in the Empire. But Robert Arakaki, in an article entitled “Constantine the Great: Roman Emperor, Christian Saint, History’s Turning Point,” puts this into proper perspective: Contrary to popular belief, Constantine did not rescue Christianity from extinction. Even if he had not adopted the Christian cause, the majority of the Roman population was well on its way to becoming Christian. What Constantine did do was hasten the process of evangelizing the Roman Empire. Constantine’s conversion marked the climax of a centuries-long process of evangelization that began in an obscure corner of the Roman Empire. For the first time, the entire structure of Roman civilization, from the emperor down to the lowest slave, shared the Christian faith.1 It’s not surprising that most HRM teachers view Constantine negatively, blaming him for intentionally severing the faith from its Jewish roots by changing the Sabbath to Sunday and establishing the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. In a word, many HRM teachers blame Constantine for making Christianity pagan. According to the...