Constantine was hero and villian, hero in that he called for The Council of Nicea, villan by re-erecting the curtain Christ tore down (Matthew 27:50-51, Hebrews 10:19-20), and ressurecting the old temple system with trillis and castes:
“But I will say this: after completed the great building I have described, he finished it with thrones high up, to accord with dignity of the prelates (bishops, priests), and also with benches arranged conveniently throughout. In addition to all this, he placed in the middle the Holy of Holies -the altar- excluding, the general public from this part too by surrounding it with wooden trellis..," (The History of the Church, Eusebius, Penguin Classics, pg 315) There is no caste system, all Christians are priests and prelates, “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10) and “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the First-born from the dead, the highest of earthly kings. He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood, and made us a Kingdom of Priests to serve his God and Father; to him, then, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:5-6);
and we csn all enter the holy of holies by Christ’s blood, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,” (Hebrews 10:19)
Christ now lives in all who believe in Jesus:
“All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.” (1 John 4:15)
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:20-21)
“For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.” (Colossians 1:27)
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)
“But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives lifebecause of righteousness.
11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.
13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope.” (Romans 8:10-20)
God does not dwell in temples of stone:
“However, the Most High doesn't live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that?' asks the LORD. 'Could you build me such a resting place? Has not my hand made all these things?' You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!“ (Acts 7:48-51)
Nor did God want a temple in the first place:
“When King David was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all the surrounding enemies, the king summoned Nathan the prophet. "Look," David said, "I am living in a beautiful cedar palace, but the Ark of God is out there in a tent!" Nathan replied to the king, "Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you." But that night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying: "Go and tell my servant David, 'This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have never lived in a house, from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until this very day. I have always moved from one place to another with a tent and a Tabernacle as my dwelling. Yet no matter where I have gone with the Israelites, I have never once complained to Israel's tribal leaders, the shepherds of my people Israel. I have never asked them, "Why haven't you built me a beautiful cedar house?""Now then, tell my servant David, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning. and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." (2 Samuel 7:1-13).
“After David was settled in his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent.”
2 Nathan replied to David, “Whatever you have in mind, do it, for God is with you.”
3 But that night the word of God came to Nathan, saying:
4 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in.
5 I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt to this day. I have moved from one tent site to another, from one dwelling place to another.
6 Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their leaders whom I commanded to shepherd my people, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” ’7 “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel.
8 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name like the names of the greatest men on earth.
9 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning
10 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies. “ ‘I declare to you that the LORD will build a house for you:
11 When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.
12 He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.
13 I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor.
14 I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.’ ”
15 Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.” (1 Chronicles 17:1-15)
“45After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. k47But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
48“However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:
49“ ‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
50Has not my hand made all these things?’
51“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.” (Acts 7:46-63)
Our bodies are now His temple:
“For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.” (1 Cornrhians 3:9)
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)
“If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:17)
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19)
“What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people." (2 Corinthians 6:16)
“In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.” (Ephensians 2:21-22)
“so that, if I am delayed, you will know how each one must conduct himself in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15)
“But Christ is faithful as the Son over God's house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast.” (Hebrews 3:6)
“As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him--And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.“ (1 Peter 2:4-5)
There is no temple in the New Jerusalem:
“I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” (Revelation 21:22)
Constantine did good by having the Council of Nicaea convened which led to the Nicene Creed:
“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, of things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the begotten of God the Father, the Only-begotten, that is of the essence of the Father.
God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten and not made; of the very same nature (substance) of the Father, by Whom all things came into being, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.
Who for us humanity and for our salvation came down from heaven, was incarnate, was made human, was born perfectly of the holy virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit.
By whom He took body, soul, and mind, and everything that is in man, truly and not in semblance.
He suffered, was crucified, was buried, rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven with the same body, [and] sat at the right hand of the Father.
He is to come with the same body and with the glory of the Father, to judge the living and the dead; of His kingdom there is no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, in the uncreated and the perfect; Who spoke through the Law, prophets, and Gospels; Who came down upon the Jordan, preached through the apostles, and lived in the saints.
We believe also in only One, Universal, Apostolic, and [Holy] Church; in one baptism in repentance, for the remission, and forgiveness of sins; and in the resurrection of the dead, in the everlasting judgement of souls and bodies, and the Kingdom of Heaven and in the everlasting life.” (Nicene Creed, English Text, Wikipedia).
Emperor Constantine opposed the Arian Heresy, and upheld Orthodox Christianity as defined at The Council of Nicea. Unfortunately, he did not stay out of ecclesiastical affairs and re-erected a system of separation from God that Jesus Christ tore down with His stripes and blood and death. Constantine had the best intentions, but to quote St. Bernard of Clairvaux, “The best intentions pave the way to hell,” and indeed a hellish form of Christianity came forth under Constantine’s hand, one that denied the power of grace and salvation by grace through faith in Jesus:
“4But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:4-9)
“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” (Philippians 3:8-9)
“How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29)
“I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.” (Galatians 2.21)
“You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
” (Galatians 5:4)
“8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11Jesus is
“ ‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’ a
12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”” (Acts 4:10-12)
“They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household.” (Acts 16:31)
“Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.10Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:11)
“13No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.b 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. 16For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. 18Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:13-18)
“For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day."” (John 6:40)
“8But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,”d that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:8-10)
The creator of the Byzantine Empire, Constantine, built many churches of extraordinary beauty, but his faulty soteriology, theology, and doctrines would led the world from the Bosporus to Atlantic into a spiritual darkness and false gospel of works (Galatians 1:8-9, 2 Corinthians 11:1-15) until the Reformation in the 16th century, some 1,194 years [323-1517 A.D.] later when the gospel of Jesus Christ was set free by God through His servant Luther and people returned to a “pure and simple devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3).
To quote the apostle Peter, Constantine had put a yoke upon the church that no one could bear, “Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:10), and the “destructive heresy,” (2 Peter 2:1) of Constantine would make people believe God is harsh, when He is gentle, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Amen.
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