City of World VS City of God

Simon Yuan

In the first 300 years after the establishment of Christianity, the church and Christians suffered brutal persecution in the Roman Empire. Christians could not enjoy the basic rights of Romans and could not live a normal life. There were even thousands of Christian became Martyred and died tragically at the hands of the Roman Empire.

In the spring of AD 312, the history of Christianity began to be greatly rewritten, and the person who changed the history of Christianity was the Emperor Constantine of the Roman Empire. At that time, Constantine was fighting against his enemies and at a disadvantage, so he turned to the Christian god for help. In his dream, he saw a cross in the sky and the words "Under this sign can be conquered." Constantine made the sign of the cross on the battle flag of his army, and he miraculously achieved victory, believing that his victory on the battlefield was due to the power of Christ and the supremacy of Christianity. Of course, at that time, Constantine's understanding of Christianity was entirely about political and military power. He did not truly believe in Christ and be reborn and saved because of his victory on the battlefield.

Although Constantine was not a true Christian at the time, perhaps for political and ruling reasons, starting from AD 312, he openly favored Christianity. He gave Christian priests tax-free treatment, he abolished the death penalty by cross, and Use the Colosseum to punish crime. In AD 321, Constantine made Sunday a public holiday. In the following decades, Constantine made great changes in his religious life and family life. He raised his children to be Christians. In AD 337, Constantine died. Not long before Constantine's death, Bishop Eusebasius baptized Constantine. After Constantine was baptized, he never wore his royal robes again, and passed away wearing the white robes he wore when he was baptized.

Before 312 AD, Christianity and Christians had no legal status in the Roman Empire and suffered persecution. After Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, the Roman Empire was gradually conquered by Christianity. Later, Christianity actually became the state religion of the Roman Empire. In this process, many grand church buildings were built. Christians held great power in the Roman Empire. Christianity almost monopolized the Roman Empire. In the eyes of many Roman Christians, it was an excellent opportunity to spread the gospel of Christ and salvation. Relying on the political, economic strength, and cultural advantages of the Roman Empire, the Great Commission passed down by Jesus could be realized. Preach the gospel to the ends of the earth. Before Constantine converted to Christianity, Christians could not see the prospect of spreading the gospel of Jesus to the prefectural level. But with the backing of Emperor Constantine and the Roman Empire, it seemed that turning the entire world around with Christianity was no longer far away. 

Of course, there is no free lunch in the world. For Christianity to gain such strength in the Roman Empire, it must pay a heavy price. First of all, Christian bishops all obeyed the orders of the Roman emperor, and emperors such as Constantine controlled the church's bishops and priests just like they controlled their own subjects. Furthermore, before Constantine converted to Christianity, that is, during the years when Christians were persecuted, the pure Christian faith held by Christians and the hope for heaven were reflected in the world by their endurance and suffering in suffering. Hoping to be light and salt, few Christians have political ambitions. After Christianity gained power in the Roman Empire, those who called themselves Christians did not have pure Christian beliefs, but had other ideas and retained their former pagan ideas. As a result, the church was also greatly affected by world impact.

However, even though the Christian churches in the Roman Empire were aware of such costs, many Christians were still willing to use the power of the Roman Empire and the status given to Christianity to promote the spread of Christianity, believing that it might be an opportunity given by God. On the surface, Christianity was indeed expanding, and most people in the Roman Empire were professed Christians and participated in church activities. In addition, there is no doubt that the church also has many positive developments. For example, under the auspices of Constantine, the church established the basic truths of the Christian faith. The church also had a great influence outside the Roman Empire and accepted Christianity. People of faith were not all pseudo-Christians who advocated world power. Many churches were also established within and outside the Roman Empire. This period of church history is known as the Christian Roman Empire.

Although the church in Rome and many Christians believe that with the help of the power of the Roman Empire, the kingdom of God can be greatly developed, and they seem to see such a trend, and in the eyes of Christians in Rome, Rome should be the center of Christianity. The apostles Paul and Peter established the original church in Rome and introduced Christianity to the world from Rome. But in AD 410, history took a big turn, shattering the dreams of the Roman Christian Church and many Roman Christians.

For hundreds of years, Rome was known as the Eternal City because for 620 years before 410 AD, no army entered its walls. But in AD 410, King Arari I of Sigos led an army to attack Rome and was sure to win. The Romans prayed for mercy and wanted to negotiate peace with Arari I. Eventually, the Sigocian army stormed the city and wreaked havoc, but the church was saved by Alaris I, who called himself a Christian. After destroying the city, Arari I withdrew from Rome. After this, Rome was no longer an eternal city. Many Romans pointed to the statues of Roman gods standing on the ruins and said that when Rome believed in those gods, Rome was strong and prosperous, but Constantine wanted to turn to Christian gods. Are those Roman gods expressing anger towards Rome? , thus allowing the city of Rome to be captured and suffer the disaster of destruction. And Christians in Rome are also asking, why doesn’t God preserve Rome, where Christianity is the state religion? Why would God give up a power like the Roman Empire for the expansion of the Kingdom of God? Why were the armies of Sigos allowed to attack and destroy Rome?

After the fall of Rome, Roman refugees poured out of Rome and fled in all directions. Some refugees fled to the seaport city of Hippo in North Africa. The bishop of Hippo was Augustine, who heard many questions about the fall of Rome. Augustine was also thinking deeply, and he was also looking for answers to several such questions.

        Why did Christian Rome fall?

        Will the fall of Rome bring about the decline of Christianity and never recover?

        Is the end of the world coming soon?

Augustine's answers to these questions not only provided light in the dark era at that time, but the resulting ideological system provided the philosophical and theological foundation for subsequent European Christian civilization.

Augustine compared the fall of Rome to the judgment endured by Sodom in the Old Testament, but he pointed out that the difference was that Rome was disciplined but not completely destroyed, while Sodom was completely destroyed. He thought about this theme, which is similar to everything in this world. The cities of the world have their ups and downs, but the City of Heaven or the City of God (City of God) will last forever. In the last sixteen years of Augustine's life, he had been thinking about this theme and wrote the most important work of his life, which was also a work that had a great influence on later generations, that is, the book titled "The City of God" (The City of God) of God). The ideas of this book influenced Augustine for fifteen centuries after his lifetime, pointing out to Christians the difference between the City of God and the City of the World, and the relationship between Christians and these two cities.

Augustine wrote that from Adam to the end of the world, there were two cities. One was the city of the world. In the city of the world, people did not want God and lived a worldly life. The other city was under the grace of God. The city of God, those who inherit grace and are spiritual will spend eternity in the city of God. In the city of the world, people are united in their love for the temporal things of the world, but in the city of God, people are united in their love for God. Although world cities like Rome are praised by the world, the City of God emits a greater light. There is no comparison between the world city and the City of God. In the City of God, it is not victory, but truth, not Position, but holiness, is not peace and a short life, but eternity. Regarding the relationship between the state and the church, Augustine believed that the church is the only institution in this world to build the city of God, and the state is a machine to punish crimes and maintain peace, because the state is based on the desires of the world and must be governed by the laws of the Christian church. 

Through "City of God", Augustine demonstrates spiritual wisdom. The sufferings endured by Christians in this world are short-lived, and the prosperity and glory of this world will pass away and are not the goals that Christians should pursue. The kingdom of God, which is also the city of God, is the only hope for Christians. Of course, Augustine did not ask Christians to escape from the world. He actually encouraged Christians to be salt and light in the world. He also proposed the concept of just war based on the Bible, but all of it was for the city of God. Live for the City of God, fight for the City of God, and take the City of God as our hope and goal.

When Augustine was seventy-six years old, the barbaric Germans invaded the outside of Homer. Augustine was very ill. In his last days, he had verses from the Bible Psalms hung on the wall of his house so that he could read those verses every day while lying in bed. On August 28, AD 430, Augustine returned to heaven to be with Christ. After a 14-month siege, in August 431 AD, the barbaric Germans finally entered the city of Homer. They found that most of the people were dying or already dying of starvation. Another world city was destroyed, but the city of God still shines brightly, and Augustine has entered into the eternal holy light, which is the city of heaven or the city of God.

(This essay was written in Chinese, and translated into English by Google Translate)