The First Roman Emperor To Convert To Christianity

Statue-of-Constantine-the-Great - Jesus Christ is Lord — After Constantines conversion to the Christian faith he turned to the church and counted on it to bring new life into the weary Roman Empire

Constantine’s conversion changed the course of history. “In the history of Christianity, few conversions rival Constantine’s for its impact on the church and all of Western culture. Converted in his youth, he united the Roman empire under his rule and gave protection to the beleaguered band of early Christians.”¹

The decline of the Roman Empire before Constantine’s Conversion

The reorganization of the Roman Empire

By the end of the third century, the Roman empire was in very bad shape. It seemed to be crumbling. Thirty emperors had claimed the throne in the third century and many others had tried. The Senate no longer pretended to elect the Caesars. When a Caesar was slayed, the Roman troops were often the ones around to proclaim the new ruler. Kinship to a fallen Caesar often meant they would be executed by rivals who aspired to replace the one who was slain.²

When Diocletian became emperor in 284 A.D., he realized how hard it would be for one man to rule such an expansive empire. So, he organized a system of divided power. He divided the empire into the Eastern and the Western Empires, and named an Emperor (i.e., Augustus) and a deputy emperor (i.e., Caesar) to rule each side. Diocletian became the Emperor of the Eastern Empire along with his Caesar, Galerius, who became the new Augustus following the planned transition of power in 305 A.D.³

Efforts to exterminate Christianity from the empire.

Both Diocletian and Galerius were intent on exterminating Christianity from within the empire. Two years before Diocletian relinquished power to Galerius, he ordered his army purged of Christians. He then issued edicts for his commanding officers to destroy church buildings, burn the Scriptures, and abolish Christian worship. Bishops were tortured and many were put to death, and there was a great amount of blood shed among the Christian community.

About a year before Galerius died in 311 A.D, he realized that his attempt to rid the empire of Christianity had failed. And as his last official act, he reluctantly issued an edict of toleration toward the Christians. This essentially put an end to the last and worst persecution of Christians by Rome.

Constantine’s preparation for battle that ended the civil war

Following Galerius’ death, a rivalry for imperial power developed between Constantine, the son of Augustus Constantius Chlorus, and his rival, Maxentius.⁴ Maxentius ruled in Italy and North Africa, but was not considered a legitimate emperor by his fellow emperors. Constantine had first started out campaigning in the East against the Persians. In 305 A.D., he moved to the West to fight alongside his father in Britain. After his father’s death in 306 A.D., Constantine was named emperor by his father’s soldiers.

Preparations for war by Maxentius

Maxentius lived in Rome, and he prepared the city for a siege by the forces of Constantine. He controlled the royal guards, had good stocks of grain, and was secured by impregnable walls. He also cut off all access to the city, except for a temporary bridge he built to cross the Tiber River and confront Constantine’s forces. But, as time passed and Constantine delayed his arrival by first traveling through central Italy, popular support for Maxentius shifted over to Constantine.

Being less confident of surviving a siege, Maxentius gathered his forces, which were twice as large as Constantine’s forces, and lined them up with their backs facing the Tiber River.

Constantine’s search for divine help to defeat Maxentius

About the same time, Constantine was convinced that he needed more powerful aid than his military forces could provide. So, he sought Divine assistance. He believed that the cooperating power of Deity would be invincible. Therefore, he considered what God he might rely on for protection and help.

He reflected back on how the past emperors had hoped in a multitude of gods, made sacrifices to them, and were deceived by flattering predictions, and oracles that promised prosperity. But they had been met with an unhappy end.

There was one alone, however, who had pursued an entirely different course. This one condemned their error and honored the one Supreme God throughout his entire life. He found him to be the Savior and Protector of his empire, and the giver of every good thing. So, Constantine concluded that it was folly to join in idle worship of those who were no gods and err from the truth. He felt that it was incumbent on him to honor his father’s God alone.⁵

Constantine’s heavenly sign and vision

Therefore, Constantine called upon this God with earnest prayer and supplication to reveal to him who He was and stretch forth his right hand to help him in his present difficulties. While he was praying, he reportedly saw a sign from heaven. Around noon, there appeared a trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, bearing the inscription, CONQUER BY THIS. Both he and all his army with him witnessed this miracle and were amazed, according to Eusebius, the Church’s first historian and Constantine’s biographer.

As Constantine pondered the meaning of this, it became night and in his sleep, the Christ of God appeared to him with this same sign, which he had seen in the heavens, and commanded him to make a likeness of that same sign and use it as a safeguard in all engagements with his enemies.

Constantine’s obedient response to Christ’s command

The next day, Constantine gathered those who worked with precious metals to prepare such a sign as the one which appeared to him. And having resolved to worship no other God other than the one who had appeared to him, he sent for those who knew His doctrines and asked them who that God was and what was intended by the sign. They told him, He was the only begotten Son of the one and only God, and the sign was the symbol of immortality and the trophy of that victory which He had gained when on earth.

Being persuaded that what he learned was divine truth, he devoted himself to the reading of the inspired writings. He also chose priests of God to be his counselors and deemed it incumbent upon himself to honor the God who appeared to him with all devotion. He was therefore fortified by well-grounded hopes in Him and hastened to meet the enemy.

The Battle between Constantine and Maxentius at the Milvian bridge (312 A.D.)

Constantine deployed his own forces along the whole length of Maxentius’ line. He ordered his cavalry to charge, and they broke Maxentius’ cavalry. He then sent his infantry against Maxentius’ infantry, pushing many into the Tiber where they were slaughtered and drowned. The battle was brief, and Maxentius’ troops were broken before the first charge. His horse guards and praetorians initially held their position, but they broke under the force of a Constantinian cavalry charge; they also broke ranks and fled to the river. Maxentius rode with them and attempted to cross the bridge of boats , but he was pushed into the Tiber and drowned by the mass of his fleeing soldiers.

Constantine believed God had drawn his enemy a long way outside the gates of Rome. And the miracles in Scripture, which show God’s power over the ungodly, were confirmed to believers and unbelievers alike, who witnessed the wonders of the battle. The outcome of the battle proved to Constantine the power of Christ and the superiority of the Christian religion.

Christianity moves from being persecuted to being preferred

Over the next twelve years (312-324), evangelization of the Roman Empire was radically improved. Along with fellow Augustus, Licinius, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan to assert freedom to Christianity. Licinius, who most believe was not a Christian, pushed for impartial treatment of religions. So, this Edict extended tolerance to all religions, while displaying limited favoritism to Christianity.

Relations between Constantine and Licinius were sometimes collegial and at other times contentious. At the Battle of Chrysopolis, which was fought on 18 September 324, Constantine defeated Licinius. He spared the life of Licinius for a couple of years, but had him executed in 326 when he was accused of treason. As a result, the tetrarchy that Diocletian created came to an end, and Constantine now became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.

Constantine’s Conversion: Good or Bad?

There have been mixed views of how beneficial Constantine’s conversion was for Christianity, especially for the long-term.⁶

Constantine’s progressively harsh treatment of paganism

Constantine adopted a harsher attitude toward paganism in the years following his victory over Licinius. And after 330, he dropped all pretense of toleration of paganism. He did all that he could to eliminate paganism and divergent forms of Christianity. Constantine began the destruction of the chief centers of the pagan cult. He robbed their treasures to enrich Christian churches, then started demolishing their buildings, and he prepared to eliminate pagan sacrifices shortly before he died in 337. These actions set Christianity on the course of persecution that has cast a shadow on its history ever since.

Discouraged by his inability to convert the Roman aristocracy to Christianity, he moved the Capital from Rome to Byzantium. He then renamed the city Constantinople. This set the stage for the eventual division of Christianity between East and West.

Constantine acted like a 13th apostle

Constantine saw himself as a 13th apostle. He called himself a “bishop ordained by God to oversee the outside of the Church.” In reality, however, he didn’t hesitate to act as a “bishop”. He directed the inside of the church as well, though he wasn’t baptized until near the time of his death. For example, He called and presided over the first ecumenical council of the Christian church, the Council of Nicaea.

Constantine sought to effect unity among Christians, since he believed the well-being of the empire depended on a common faith. While this seems ideal, it’s effect is to mix believers and unbelievers together under the auspices of the Christian church.

He also impacted other territories to accept Christianity, including Sarmatians, Goths, Iberia, Axum, and Armenia.

In the end, Constantine left it up for his sons to continue Christianizing an empire already divided.

Reflections on Constantine’s conversion

Perceived Need. Constantine believed he needed divine help to meet the challenge of the battle facing him. If he had felt self-sufficient, he would probably not have reached out to an unknown God, in prayer.
Resolved to follow the true God. Constantine recognized that past emperors had trusted in gods, who in reality are no gods, and they met with an unhappy ending. He knew he had to do something different; he knew he must pursue a God who had shown Himself to be trustworthy.
Obedience to God’s command. If Constantine had not carefully followed through with Christ’s command, it’s doubtful that he would have found success in the battle.
Desire to know God. Constantine was not content to just follow God’s commandment, he wanted to know Him. So he brought those Christians in to instruct him in the doctrines of God, and he gathered priests of God to become his counselors.
Delighted to serve God. After his conversion, Constantine did all that he knew he could do to advance the cause of Christ throughout the empire.
Persevered through difficulties. There were many heresies that arose in the early church. Constantine did his best to keep the church unified by convening church councils to resolve differences and exercising his control as he deemed appropriate.

Who are you following?

Who is your “North Star”? Are you following your own instincts? Perhaps you’re being led by the world’s way of thinking. According to God, you either belong to Him by faith in His Son or you belong to the devil. It depends on who you are following. If you don’t think you belong to anyone or anything other than yourself, you’re deceiving yourself.

God says He is not far from any of us. If you don’t know Him, ask Him to reveal Himself to you, like Constantine did when he searched for help. To help you discover the truth, go to my blog, How to Begin Your Life Over Again. May God bless you as you reach out to Him.

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References

1
Kerr, Hugh T. and Mulder, John M., Famous Conversion: The Christian Experience, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 1983, p.4
2
Shelley, Bruce L., Church History In Plain Language, Word Publishing, 1995, p.92
3
Curtis, Kenneth A., Lang, Stephen J., Petersen, Rand; The 100 Most Important Events in Christian History; Fleming H. Revell (Baker Book House); Seventh Printing-2000, pp.32-34
4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great
5
Kerr and Mulder, page 7-8
6
Hinson, Glenn E., The Early Church: Origins to the Dawn of the Middle Ages, Abingdon Press, 1996. pp 201-207