Be on your guard Suffering Church Sunday 2010 – 11
Persecution in the New Testament
Conclusion The range of anti-Christian persecution, and the reasons for it, are as varied today as in New Testament times, and many of the sufferings experienced by the first Christians find echoes in those of the 21st century Church. But the significance of persecution, and the response that is required from God’s people, are just the same. Human and demonic forces continue to wage war against the saints, and suffering is the unavoidable result. But for those who remain faithful to Christ, persecution becomes a channel of God’s rich blessing, both now and in eternity.
Background to New Testament teaching on persecution During the mid-2nd century BC, the nation of Israel was part of the Seleucid Empire. In the 160s BC the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes attempted to unite his kingdom, including his Jewish subjects, by imposing Greek culture on them all. He forbade Jewish practices such as circumcision and demanded that everyone offer sacrifices to pagan gods, on pain of death for disobedience. Some Jews chose to suffer and die rather than break God’s law. They believed that the shedding of their blood would bring blessing to Israel, and that they would be rewarded by God in the age to come. Others submitted to the king’s edicts, but some of these were put to death by zealous Jews for their disobedience to God. The king’s actions eventually led to a successful revolt against his authority. The Roman rulers of Israel (from 63 BC) were more tolerant of Jewish religious practices. But many of them despised the Jews for their strange customs, separation from others and contempt for Roman gods, and they feared the possibility of Jewish rebellion against Rome. Again, some Jews were willing to co-operate with their pagan masters, and their leaders had sacrifices made to God on the emperor’s behalf.
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An ancient gate in the old city of Damascus. Paul fled from persecution through a window in the city wall
BARNABAS AID SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010
Others, however, preferred to die rather than to call the emperor “Lord”, and they attempted to establish the nation’s independence under the rule of God alone, sometimes by violence. Some of them murdered collaborators or others whom they considered were compromising Israel’s distinctiveness as God’s people. This background helps to illuminate the early Christians’ view of their own persecutions. Jewish believers in Jesus were also accused by other Jews of disloyalty to God and to His people, and as a result many of them had to endure pressure or even violence. The Roman authorities suspected that Christians were disruptive and rebellious because their common life was so different and they proclaimed “another king, one called Jesus”. (Acts 17:7) Many Christians faced the same threefold choice as their Jewish forebears and contemporaries: first, to submit to their pagan rulers at the cost of disobeying God; secondly, to rise up against them in violent resistance; or thirdly, to accept persecution and (if necessary) even death at their hands. The New Testament forbids the first two options and commends the third, encouraging God’s people to endure persecution in the knowledge that they will receive God’s blessing in return, in the present and the future.