Roman persecution was real. The violent persecution that Paul describes in this letter matches what Roman historians said about how the government treated Christians. Paul speaks of once being spared from “hungry lions” (4:17) and of “fighting wild animals in Ephesus” (1 Corinthians 15:32). In both cases, Paul may have been speaking figuratively. But for many Christians during Nero’s wave of terror in the mid-60s, there was nothing metaphorical about the wild beasts and executioners they faced in Roman arenas. Historian Tacitus, writing about the fire that consumed two-thirds of Rome in a.d. 64, expressed his sentiments toward the “detestable superstition” of Christians—whom Nero blamed for starting the fire. Yet even Tacitus felt that Nero’s tortures were excessive. The historian reports that some Christians were covered with fresh animal skins, then torn apart by starving dogs. Other believers were nailed to crosses, or were burned alive. Even Nero’s suicide in a.d. 68 didn’t end the persecution. In the decades that followed, the oppression came and went, like a tide rolling in and out. Pliny the Younger, Roman governor of a territory near Timothy’s church in Ephesus, revealed as much in a report he sent to Emperor Trajan in a.d. 112. Pliny said he had tried many people accused of being Christian: “I asked them whether they were Christians, and if they confessed, I ordered them executed.” Miller, S. M., & Gross, P. 1998. How to get into the Bible. Includes index. T. Nelson Publishers: Nashville
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 22:03:36 +0000
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