Kingdom or Christendom?
The deception of Christendom is the attempt to invoke God and Jesus to validate national institutions and ideologies.
In political contexts, ‘Christendom’ is virtually synonymous with
“Western European civilization,” and consequently, Christianity is identified
with specific nations, ideologies, and cultural values.
This practice has prevailed since the merger of Church and
State under the Roman emperor, Constantine the Great. The English term is
a combination of “Christian” (or “Christianity) and “kingdom,” but the word is found nowhere
in the Hebrew or Greek Bible.
In contrast to ‘Christendom,’ the New Testament teaches the “kingdom
of God,” a realm in which all old social, national, and ethnic barriers
have no place. In the gospel accounts, “kingdom of God” is the term
found most frequently on the lips of Jesus to describe his message.
‘Christendom’ is a roadblock to the proclamation of the gospel of
Jesus Christ since it associates Christianity with specific nations and
cultures. All too easily, its use as a cipher for Christianity hardens hearts
to the genuine gospel, ones not generally well-disposed to the nation or
culture that claims to represent Christianity.
And ‘Christendom’ is a pale imitation of the proclamation of God’s
Kingdom by Jesus and the Apostles, if not a satanic counterfeit. In this
fallen age, political operatives use it and similar terms to advance their
political agendas, implying to the gullible and ignorant that God backs their agendas
and presumptions of power.
In contrast, Jesus called all men to repent and submit to God’s
sovereignty. His kingdom is a political reality that transcends all national,
ethnic, economic, and cultural boundaries. By his death, he redeemed men and
women from every nation, tribe, tongue, and people, making them into a new “kingdom
of priests.” In him, divisions based on national identity, economic status,
or gender are disallowed, being contrary to the cross of Christ - (Galatians
3:28, Revelation 5:5-12).
“In Jesus,” God dissolved the “middle wall
of partition” between the circumcised and the uncircumcised, between the
Jew and the Gentile. No one is advantaged or disadvantaged before God based on
his or her gender, race, or nationality.
Any attempt to identify or limit Christianity to specific nations, societies, or “civilizations” contradicts scriptural teaching and constitutes idolatry.
Jesus is not Canadian, Egyptian, Russian, or American. God is one,
and He created and rules over all men. Christ certainly was Jewish while he was
on the earth, but now, he is the Lord who reigns over all humanity and the
entire Cosmos.
What counts before God is not national identity but whether a man
or woman is “in Christ,” a disciple and faithful member of
His covenant community. All those who belong to Jesus are children of the same
Father.
The methods Jesus bequeathed to his people to establish his
Kingdom differ from those of the political institutions of the world order.
Christians engage society and the State by means of gospel proclamation and
self-sacrificial service to others, not through political might and violence.
The “weapons” that Jesus gives his church are impotent and
contemptible in the eyes of the world, yet they are the very means by which he redeemed
humanity, indeed, the creation itself. His approach was epitomized in his
submission to arrest, trial, and execution at the hands of the all-powerful Roman
Empire.
The more politicized Christians become, the more they identify
Christianity with their own nation, culture, and preferred political ideology.
Thus, they embrace this insidious deception called ‘Christendom.’ “God is
on our side and against theirs!!”
And in the end, Christians who immerse themselves in the political
systems of this age will not reform them. Instead, they will be corrupted by
them. One cannot play with fire and not get burned.
Moreover, the same Jesus who suffered an unjust death on behalf of
others, even for the “enemies of God,” is not the exclusive property of
any nation, society, culture, or political system.
If anything, his crucifixion stands in opposition to the political
agendas and cultural values of this age. He summons us to love our enemies, to show
them mercy, and to do good to them, ideas none of the governments of this age endorse,
let alone practice.
The deception of ‘Christendom’ is the attempt to domesticate Jesus
and to use him to validate the programs, values and ideologies of national
institutions, values all too often are far more antichrist than
Christian.
The tragic irony is that these very same institutions are among the
forms of this age that already are “passing away” because
of his death, resurrection, and exaltation to reign over the Cosmos. None of
them will endure, though the kingdom of God most certainly will stand forever.
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