Defining Christendom: The Church in a Changing World with W. Robert Godfrey

Devotional

Day 1: The Coronation Oath: Echoes of a Fading Christendom

A king swears to uphold Protestant faith before a disbelieving crowd. This hollow ritual reveals Christendom’s final gasps – the crumbling alliance between throne and altar. For centuries, rulers enforced religious conformity through laws and taxes. Now empty cathedrals stand as monuments to a bygone era. Yet God’s people need no royal decrees to worship in spirit and truth. The true King still reigns. [10:41]

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you seen empty religious rituals masquerading as true faith? How might your community embody Christ’s reign without seeking earthly power?

Day 2: Constantine’s Shadow: When Empire Embraced the Church

Imperial edicts once made Christianity safe – and compromised. For 1700 years, crosses adorned banners and baptismal fonts doubled as political tools. State enforcement created cultural Christians but diluted radical discipleship. Now the marriage of power and piety unravels. The church breathes freer air when faithfulness matters more than influence. [04:16]

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (Romans 13:1, ESV)

Reflection: When has seeking cultural influence weakened your church’s witness? What would it look like to serve Christ without demanding earthly recognition?

Day 3: Reformation’s Fracture: Shattering the Unity of Christendom

Luther’s hammer cracks more than indulgences. Protestant rebellion fragments the medieval church-state monolith. Competing state churches emerge – Lutheran princes, Reformed cities, Anglican monarchs. Forced uniformity gives way to fragile diversity. The fracture reveals Christ’s body cannot be contained by human empires. True unity flows from Scripture alone. [16:49]

“Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” (Ephesians 4:3-6, ESV)

Reflection: What divisions in the church today stem from clinging to human traditions? How might focusing on Christ’s lordship heal fractures?

Day 4: Guillotines and Ten-Day Weeks: Revolution’s Assault on Sacred Order

Enlightenment radicals replace altars with reason’s cult. The French Revolution murders priests and reinvents time itself. Ten-day weeks erase Sabbath rhythms. But terror consumes its children. When humans overthrow every sacred restraint, chaos follows. Yet God’s providence works through collapsed thrones and failed utopias. [20:34]

“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” (Proverbs 19:21, ESV)

Reflection: What modern attempts to “remake society” ignore God’s design? How does Christ’s resurrection empower hope amid cultural upheaval?

Day 5: Monarchs and Doubt: Christendom’s Last Gasp in the 19th Century

Kings return after Napoleon’s fall, but the old alliance sickens. State churches become hollow shells. Intellectuals question everything – Scripture’s authority, Christ’s divinity, sin’s reality. Yet underground revivals burn where institutions falter. God needs no imperial approval to ignite hearts. The church survives when cultural Christianity dies. [23:49]

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you see God renewing His church through small faithfulness rather than grand programs? How can you participate in this quiet work?

Sermon Summary

The question of what God is doing in church history returns because the last few years have brought a remarkable change in the Western world. The change is not that Christianity has come to an end, because Christianity is alive and well and flourishing under the sovereign plan of God. Christendom, however, has come to an end, and that is a different matter. Christendom means Christ’s dominion as a public, legal, civil reality, where the Christian religion receives the special support of the state.

Constantine’s settlement in the fourth century introduced that reality by giving Christianity legal privilege, civil favor, gifts, and public status. The support of emperors and later kings did not merely decorate Christianity; it helped make Christianity a dominant cultural force in the West. The historical argument drawn from Peter Heather presses that Christianity’s cultural success is hard to imagine apart from civil backing, and that practical authority over the church often belonged more to emperors and kings than to popes. The same account also helps Protestants see that the Roman system Luther resisted was not simply 1500 years old, but in key ways a later development.

The coronation of King Charles III offered a living remnant of Christendom. The oath to “uphold the Protestant Reformed religion” still stood there in Westminster Abbey, even if hardly anyone present seemed likely to believe it from the heart. Established churches in Europe still show those pale shadows, with tax-supported churches often nearly empty on Sunday but still officially recognized by the state. The coercive power of the state historically stood behind that arrangement, fining people for absence from church, persecuting rival churches, and even executing religious dissenters.

The end of Christendom is therefore shocking because it ends a 1700-year cultural pattern. The unraveling began long before the present moment. The Reformation broke the old ideal of one emperor and one church, leaving Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed territories supported by different civil governments. The new divided reality opened the door for criticism, because if Christians could criticize one another, others could begin to criticize them all.

The Enlightenment and the French Revolution brought a more direct attack on the old world of kings and priests. The French Revolution tried to dismantle Christian influence so thoroughly that even the seven-day week came under suspicion. The attempt to build a world of liberty, equality, and fraternity collapsed into terror and then Napoleon’s empire. The Congress of Vienna restored monarchies and gave Christendom a kind of second wind, but the question remained whether Christendom was the future or only breathing its last breath.

##

Key Takeaways

1. Christendom is not Christianity. [03:20] Christendom names a public arrangement where Christianity holds legal favor and cultural dominance. Christianity rests on the sovereign plan of God, not on kings, taxes, coronation oaths, or civil privilege. Confusing the two makes the loss of social power feel like the loss of the faith itself, when in fact the kingdom of Christ is not identical with any Western settlement. [03:20]
2. Legal favor can confuse faith. [13:43] Civil support gave Christianity enormous public influence, but that support also came with coercion. A church backed by fines, penalties, and persecution may appear strong while leaning on powers Christ did not give His apostles. The hard question is not merely whether Christendom helped Christianity spread, but what kind of habits it formed in Christians who learned to expect the state to carry religious weight. [13:43]
3. Remnants can outlive conviction. [10:41] The coronation oath to uphold the Protestant Reformed religion shows how forms can survive after conviction has faded. A ceremony can still speak the language of Christendom while the hearts in the room no longer know what to do with that language. Such remnants are revealing because they show the difference between inherited religious furniture and living Christian faith. [10:41]
4. The Reformation cracked Christendom’s unity. [16:49] The Reformation did not simply reform doctrine; it shattered the old picture of one empire and one church. Once multiple churches received civil support in different lands, the imagination of Europe changed. Protestant criticism of Rome and Roman criticism of Protestants made room for wider criticism of Christianity itself. [16:49]
5. Revolution cannot redeem by destruction. [20:34] The French Revolution tried to sweep away the Christian old world in the name of a better future. Its cry for liberty, equality, and fraternity gave way to terror, bloodshed, and finally another despot. Hatred of corruption may expose real evil, but destruction does not create righteousness.

## [20:34]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:37] - Fifteen Years Later
[01:21] - Christian Disorientation in a Changed West
[02:44] - Christendom Has Come to an End
[03:20] - Christianity Is Still Alive and Well
[04:16] - Constantine and Official Religion
[05:55] - Civil Power and Christian Influence
[07:36] - Papal Authority as a Later Development
[09:05] - Coronation Oath and Christendom’s Remnant
[12:14] - Established Churches in Europe
[13:43] - Coercion and the Legal Church
[16:05] - The Reformation Begins the Unraveling
[18:14] - Enlightenment Attacks on Christendom
[20:34] - Revolution, Terror, and Napoleon
[23:02] - Christendom Reasserted, Questions Remained

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 22:21
They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”

John 18:36
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

2 Corinthians 10:4
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

Observation questions

What difference is being drawn between Christianity and Christendom, and how is Christendom defined as a public arrangement? [03:20]
What examples show that Christendom involved legal support from the state and not just private religious belief? [04:16]
What remnants of Christendom can still be seen in Europe, and what did the coronation oath reveal about them? [10:22]
What are some specific ways coercive state power was used to support an established church? [13:43]

Interpretation questions

Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world.” How does that help explain why Christianity can remain alive and well even when Christendom fades away?
Jesus says to render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God. How does that verse help a group think about the proper limits of civil power in matters of religion?
If the weapons of Christian warfare are not of the flesh, what does that suggest about the spiritual dangers of relying on fines, penalties, and political force to maintain religious faithfulness? [13:43]
The Reformation broke the old pattern of one emperor and one church. How did that divided situation open the door for wider criticism of Christianity in Europe? [16:49]

Application questions

Many believers feel disoriented when Christianity no longer has public honor or social advantage. Where has that disorientation shown up most in life—family conversations, work, news, school, or church expectations—and what might it look like to face it with calm trust in God’s sovereign plan? [01:41]
Christendom is not the same thing as Christianity. Where might there be a temptation to confuse the loss of cultural influence with the loss of Christ’s kingdom, and how could that confusion be corrected in daily thinking? [03:08]
Forms of religion can outlive real conviction. Are there inherited Christian habits, phrases, or expectations that have been leaned on more than living faith in Christ? What would honest renewal look like there? [10:41]
Christ’s kingdom does not advance by fleshly weapons. When political power, public pressure, or cultural influence seem attractive, what helps a believer remember the kind of power Christ actually gave His church?
A church can appear strong while depending on support outside the gospel. Where is there a tendency to want the state, the culture, or public approval to carry spiritual weight that belongs to God alone? [13:18]
The collapse of old arrangements can become an opportunity either for fear or for clearer obedience. In this present moment, what might it look like to be faithful Christians without expecting legal privilege, social prestige, or cultural control? [15:53]
Hatred of corruption does not by itself produce righteousness. When reacting to real problems in society or in the church, how can a believer resist the urge toward bitterness or destructive anger and instead pursue what is truly holy? [21:13]

Sermon Clips

I'm not saying that Christianity has come to an end. I want to be very clear about that. Christianity is alive and well and is flourishing under the sovereign plan of God, and we can rejoice in that and be glad about that. But Christendom is different from Christianity. [00:03:15]

I think what has really happened and has shocked and disoriented a lot of people is that Christendom has come to an end, and we haven't really recognized it. We haven't acknowledged that this has happened. And so, Christians in particular are living in a brave new world that they don't really understand. [00:15:46]

In earlier centuries, people might be fined by the state if they didn't go to church on Sunday. In earlier days, if an alternative form of the church tried to establish itself, they would be persecuted. People could be arrested. People could be executed for following forms of religion that were in conflict with the established church. The coercive power of the state was used to maintain the official legal religion, and this was Christendom. [00:13:50]

It's this idea that the civil government supports the church, and as a result, the church has a special influence and a special place, and that place of the church historically was supported by coercion. That is, the legal authority of the state to coerce people into doing things was used to support the church. [00:13:18]

That's why in so many parts of Europe, even though the churches are often all but empty on Sunday, they can continue because they're supported not by the free will gifts of the laity that attend church, but they're supported by taxes. And as a result, these official churches continue to be represented as the legal churches of the realm. This is Christendom still in action, maybe only the last pale shadows of Christendom, but it is still there. [00:12:40]

And over time, emperors began more and more to disadvantage non-Christian religions in the empire, so that by the late fourth century only Christianity was being supported, and increasingly only Christianity was tolerated as legal religion in Christiandom. So, Christendom, as I'm using that word, is a situation in which Christianity has become the official religion, the legal religion, with the full support of the state. [00:04:51]

This was the reality introduced by the Emperor Constantine and maintained, at least in part, in Europe for 1700 years. That's a remarkable success story. We'll come back and look at what it actually meant for Christianity, and we can discuss whether Christendom was good for Christianity or bad for Christianity, or probably a little of both for Christianity. But Christendom was a huge historic cultural factor in the history of the West and in the history of Christianity. [00:14:30]

but what I'd like to suggest is that what has changed in such a dramatic way, and what has led to the fact that particularly older Christians are feeling significantly disoriented, is that Christendom has come to an end. [00:02:54]

Now, the end of Christendom has been coming for a long time. Christendom has been under pressure for centuries now that have challenged it, that have attacked it, and in some ways have eroded the presence and the power of Christendom. One could say, perhaps, that the beginning of the unraveling of Christendom in the West was the coming of the Reformation. [00:16:11]

Even though maybe no one there really shares that commitment, there is still this remnant of the historic responsibility of kings to enforce true religion that's being expressed there. And you look around Europe and still in numerous parts of Europe, there are established churches, that is, churches that receive the special support, the special recognition of the civil government. They are the official religion of those nations. [00:11:34]

It's Christ's dominion, Christ's dominion over the nations. And Christendom has been a reality in the Western world, probably from the early fourth century. That's a long time ago. That is to say, Christendom was introduced as a reality by the Emperor Constantine in the early fourth century. [00:03:56]

And when Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation, his reaction was not against a system that had been in place for 1500 years, as Rome often argues, but he was reacting against a system that had been in place about three hundred years, so relatively new and relatively novel in certain ways. [00:08:32]

it was the key support of the civil rulers in the West that led to the special position that Christianity enjoyed, but also led to the spread of Christianity and the cultural dominance of Christianity. [00:06:55]

That's an oath emerging out of Christendom, that the King takes upon himself the responsibility to uphold, maintain and enforce true religion, which in Great Britain is the religion of the Protestant Reformation. [00:10:32]

But I believe that things have changed in the last fifteen years in a way that makes it appropriate to return to this question of what is God doing in church history? What is God doing in the history of the world and the history of His people? How have things changed? [00:01:07]

Ask a question about this sermon