THE ASSEMBLIES AND CHRISTENDOM
Contrary to popular understanding, Christendom and Christianity are two quite distinct entities. Christendom represents what the world believes Christianity to be in those countries where the christian religion predominates, whereas Christianity is the N.T. apostles’ doctrine practised by autonomous local churches, simple gatherings of christians anywhere in the world.
In the modern context, Christendom comprises a variety of sects and denominations generally subscribing to christian values and doctrines as an ethic within their particular belief system. The term Christendom derives from the Latin word “christianos” denoting in the Middle Ages the political christian world, a christian theocracy or government upholding christian values. However, long before that, Christendom first appeared as a distinct entity when Roman Emperor Constantine embraced Christianity and proclaimed it the state religion early in the 4th century.
At this point Christianity, a “mystery” (1 Cor.2:7,1 Tim.3:9) communicated by the apostles and practised by born-again believers, began to assume a form suited to unregenerate mankind. Scriptures relating to spiritual life were naturalised and those in the epistles relating to secular life were ‘christianised’ so that natural man could participate in a sphere originally designed for the new man. A faith-based, heavenly (spiritual) system, a mystery to the unregenerate world, now became a secular state religion and forerunner of Christendom that changed forever the world’s understanding of Christianity.
Originally established by the apostles, Christianity was a Kingdom-of-God, spiritual system incomprehensible to the natural world – a mystery. The natural mind could comprehend neither the spiritual faculty “faith” (Heb.11:6) nor the new birth (John 3). Notwithstanding, it was now being transformed into a state religion of everyday life, social, political, etc., far removed from its apostolic origins. No longer a “mystery”, this new ethical dimension became its distinctive feature or doctrine. Christianity was now to be a religious means of improving human nature, sanctified flesh, and making the world a better place.
Early Christianity of the apostolic era comprised local churches or assembles of born-again christians gathered at Jerusalem, Corinth, Philippi, etc. in accordance with the apostles’ doctrine which we now know as N.T. Scripture. After the close of the apostolic era, this divine system suffered a gradual process of spiritual decline resulting in an erosion of scriptural principles and their replacement by human expedients. Local church elders became district bishops presiding over local N.T. churches whose character was changing to accommodate naturalistic influences; no doubt evidence of conversion, the new birth, would gradually cease to be a requirement of membership. The roots of Constantine’s state religion/Christendom were already being established so that the transition, when it came, was not difficult. All this of course was the work of Satan, the arch counterfeiter.
This state of affairs continued into the Middle Ages and, despite the Reformation, in principle to the present day. However, a significant spiritual development did occur early in the 19th century when christians began withdrawing from the denominations of Christendom to gather once again in local groups, or assemblies. This marked a gradual return to the apostolic Christianity that had been lost following the Constantine development.
Many of these local churches (the N.T. Greek word for church is “ecclesia” which translates as “gathering” or “assembly”) were established in the 19th century and gained the popular name of Brethren, though they actually gathered to the name of Christ alone, eschewing any sectarian name. Having left the fold of sectarian Christendom, these born-again christians abandoned many of its traditions and sought the guidance of N.T. scripture alone in determining their structure and function.
However, one tradition they did not relinquish was the legacy of Constantine, the secularising of The Faith; this was a mindset, ingrained in the christian psyche over almost two millennia, that had become universally accepted as the christian norm. Many spiritual truths lost in the intervening centuries were recovered at this time, but the original, heavenly/spiritual nature of The Faith (1 Cor.2:13-14) enshrined in the new birth and apostles’ doctrine, was a fundamental omission. The idea that the divine system of Christianity incorporates daily secular life was clearly one introduced at the inception of Christendom.
The retention of the naturalistic, ethical doctrine of Christendom continues to this day in many scripture- based christian assemblies. Clearly there needs to be recognition of the Christendom error and a setting aside of its tradition in parallel with acceptance of the spiritual character of The Faith. Christianity is a spiritual environment inhabited by born-again believers who hold and participate in those things that only faith/christians can understand (Matt.13:11). By this definition, the ‘secular christianity’ of Christendom is clearly erroneous and has no place in a christian assembly. It is not of God.