Hello

Persecution is a strategy that has been used by the devil against the Church from its earliest days.  It hasn’t worked very well.

In the early Church, Christians saw themselves as part of the Jewish religion and were persecuted by the Jewish religious leaders for proclaiming that Jesus was the Messiah.  So, the first persecution of Christians was carried out by the Jewish religious leaders, not the Romans.  The Roman authorities weren’t interested in what they regarded as an internal dispute among the Jews (see Acts 18:12-16).

The effect of the initial Jewish persecution was to scatter Christians across the areas outside Jerusalem.

“That day (the day of Stephen’s martyrdom) a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria.” (Acts 8:1)

Christians were scattered and that meant that they were sharing the Good News with people in different areas, and the church grew.

“the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.“(Acts 9:31)

Things changed when the Roman state began persecuting Jews – and this persecution may have started because the Jewish religious leaders were persecuting the Christians.  We can’t be certain this was the reason but we do know the emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome in about 51CE, and we know why he did this.  The Roman historian Suetonius stated,

“since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he (Claudius) expelled them from Rome.” 

“Chrestus” may be a misspelling of “Christ”.  So the disturbances that caused the expulsion may have been the persecution of Christians by the Jewish leaders.

A few years later, in 64CE, the Roman state began a much more serious persecution specifically aimed at Christians, who were now recognized by the Roman authorities as separate from the Jewish community.  A fire got out of control and burned much of Rome and the emperor Nero, who was thought by many to have been responsible for starting the fire, put the blame on the Christians.  The following record comes from the Roman historian Tacitus.

“Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace.  Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus…” 

This was the beginning of nearly two and a half centuries of persecutions by the Roman authorities.  These persecutions were not consistent or systematic for most of this period, but they were often brutal and many Christians were tortured and executed horribly during this time.  However the church grew in numbers through all these persecutions – even the most violent.  So, the strategy of persecution didn’t work.  Now, however, the devil came up with a brilliant new strategy.  A new emperor, Constantine, came on the scene and openly approved of Christianity.  Everything changed.  For the first time, the church became a respected institution, approved by the Emperor and, therefore, popular with those who wanted to get on in the world.  Its leaders became some of the richest and most powerful members of the Roman establishment.  Bribery and corruption were used to buy high positions in the church.  What happened to those teachings of Jesus about not seeking honor, the importance of humility, and the impossibility of loving God and money?  Well… You can probably work that out for yourself.

The devil’s strategy of making the Church a wealthy and respected institution was a masterstroke and it worked.  (See the article “How does the devil attack the Church? – Answer 3. By making the Church an institution.”  Link below.)  But our loving heavenly Father never stopped working in the hearts and minds of his beloved children.

 

May our loving Father bless us and keep us safe as we serve him.

Jesus is Lord.

Peter O

 

Related Articles

How does the devil attack the Church? – Answer 3. By making the Church an institution.

How does the devil attack the Church? – Introduction

How does the devil attack the Church? – Answer 1. Division

How does the devil attack the Church? – Answer 4. Distraction

 

 

 

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