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发帖数: 3781 | 1 Arminianism And State Churches
It could only be expected that Arminius's moderate and biblical view would a
ttract a large following. Many Protestant pastors, uncomfortable with the ex
tremes of Calvinism and with its militancy against those who disagreed, bega
n to see in Scripture and to preach the same modified Calvinism as Arminius.
They received considerable opposition from Calvinists wherever the latter w
ere in the majority and controlled public opinion. Furthermore, the Calvinis
ts, following Augustine's teaching and the practice of Rome, saw church and
state as partners, with the church using the state to enforce sanctions agai
nst whomever they considered to be heretics - an intolerance which Arminius
and his followers opposed.
This great error of union between church and state was, as we have seen, a l
egacy of Constantine who had also relentlessly forbidden anyone outside the
established church to meet for religious purposes and confiscated the proper
ty of those who did. Believing that baptism was "the salvation of God ... th
e seal which confers immortality ... the seal of salvation," 31 he had waite
d until just before his death to be baptized so as not to risk sinning there
after and losing his salvation. Later, Emperor Theodosius issued an edict ma
king "the religion which was taught by St. Peter to the Romans, which has be
en faithfully preserved by tradition" 32 the official faith of the empire; a
dherents were to be called "Catholic Christians," and all others were forbid
den to meet in their churches. 33 One historian has explained the tragic eff
ect for the church:
The Scriptures were now no longer the standard of the Christian faith. What
was orthodox [would] be determined by the decisions of fathers and councils;
and religion propagated not by the apostolic methods of persuasion, accompa
nied with the meekness and gentleness of Christ, but by imperial edicts and
decrees; nor were gainsayers to be brought to conviction by the simple weapo
ns of reason and scripture, but persecuted and destroyed. 34
Such was the official relationship between church and state which Calvin inh
erited from Augustine, enforced in Geneva and which the Calvinists wherever
possible carried on and used to enforce their will upon those who differed w
ith them. In league with princes, kings and emperors, the Roman Catholic Chu
rch had for centuries controlled all of Europe. The Reformation created a ne
w state church across Europe in competition with Rome that was either Luther
an or Calvinist. The latter became known as Reformed.
The Presbyterian Church in Scotland, the Church of England, and the Dutch Re
formed Church that persecuted the Arminians in Holland were all Calvinistic
state churches. Tragically, they followed Constantine, Augustine and Calvin
in the enormous ambition of imposing their brand of Christianity upon all in
partnership with the state. As David Gay points out:
In the Institutes Calvin said that civil government is assigned to foster an
d maintain the external worship of God, to defend sound doctrine and the con
dition of the church. He dismissed the Anabaptists as stupid fanatics becaus
e they argued that these matters are the business of the church, not the civ
il authorities. Nevertheless, Calvin was wrong; they were right .... He was
writing from the viewpoint of Constantine, not the New Testament . . . . 35 | S**********L
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