Rome vs. Christianity in Order to Understand

Rome vs. Christianity

In order to understand the importance of Jesus' claim as the King of the Jews, it is important to understand Judaism at the time of the New Testament. This can be done by looking at the New Testament, but also by looking at contemporaneous historical documents. However, it is important to realize that, from a theological standpoint, Christian theology is separate from its counterparts in the Roman Empire, deriving solely from Jewish tradition, specifically the Old Testament.

If one is going to state that the Bible is a historical document, then one must examine it like a historical document. What make the Bible unique is that, unlike many other origination mythical stories, the Bible has an identifiable foundation in history. While not all of the events in the Bible can be verified through outside historical sources, many events in the Bible can be verified by looking at outside sources. This verification includes significant events, but also seemingly insignificant names and dates, which are repeated elsewhere in the historical record. While the Bible may not be strictly a history book and aspects of it may be allegorical in nature, it is far too based in fact to be dismissed as myth. In fact, the Bible not only specifically refutes the other origination stories that existed at that time; it also condemned the idea of myth in general. Instead, Christians were encouraged to follow Christ, who existed in truth, not only in myth. Furthermore, the Jews that preceded Christ in the Old Testament were also real men. They are treated like real people in the genre of the Bible, and sufficient information exists to substantiate the existence of some of these men and their descendants.

While the Bible recounts historical details, it is important to realize that the creation story contained within the Bible is sufficiently vague that one should reject those who would impose their beliefs upon the facts contained in the Bible, not because they are necessarily wrong, but because they lack support to establish that they are not wrong. For example, Genesis recounts that Adam and Eve were the first humans, and Jesus reaffirmed that statement. However, Genesis does not give a date for the creation of the earth. Some have attempted to use the genealogical accounts in the Bible to date creation, but given that historical genealogies are often incomplete, this dating is incomplete, at best. While the Biblical accounts fail to support the evolutionary position, which is a world that is millions or billions of years old, they also fail to support claims that the Earth is roughly 6,000 years old. This is an important consideration given that much of the modern debate about evolution vs. creationism focuses on the age of the Earth, claims about the age of the Earth which cannot be substantiated, whether religious claims or secular claims, should be examined cautiously and critically. Furthermore, attempts to suggest that creation may have occurred over an extended period greater than six days should be viewed critically. Placed within context, the original language (Hebrew) of the Old Testament uses words that continue to reflect day, morning, and evening, supporting the idea of the traditional 24-hour day cycle. Furthermore, the fact that Moses specifically contrasts the idea of a day with that of a year reinforces a literal six-day creation.

The idea of the six-day creation is actually one of religious importance for those who are devout. New Testament Jews observed the same practices as their ancestors; working six days and observing the seventh day as the Sabbath, as directed by God. Modern Jews continue to follow this pattern. It was observations such as this, which would not have been supported by Roman religious or secular practices, that helped exacerbate the differences between, first Jews, and later Christians, and the Roman occupiers.

Many of the critics of the Bible use a literary critique as a foundation to suggest multiple authorship of books that are credited to a single author, most notably Genesis. These criticisms would be important because, if Genesis was established as myth, it would undermine the historical accuracy of the entire Jewish creation story, which, in turn, would challenge Jesus' role as the Messiah. After all, what many people forget is that Jesus was never a Christian; He was a devout Jew and He fulfilled His role as the Messiah to the Jewish people. In other words, if Old Testament Jewish doctrine is questioned, the Jesus' authority is questioned. Therefore, one must look at the most common literary-based critiques of the Bible and examine whether they are meritorious. One of the criticisms levied against the Bible is the idea that it appears to contain two distinct creation myths. However, when examined, it becomes clear that Moses was using a two-step literary technique called recapitulation, wherein he provided a thumbnail version first, then expanded upon that in greater detail. Furthermore, the speculation about stylistic distances suggesting multiple authorships ignores that other historical documents with one known author also display a wide variety of styles. In addition, examination of the documents shows some of these stylistic differences within the space of a single sentence, which belies the notion that the stylistic differences must signal multiple authors.

Having established that the Bible is a bonafide historical document and that its historical significance removes it from the realm of myth, it is important to look at the Patriarchal period in the Old Testament, since Jesus derived some of his authority from his relationship to the patriarchs. The Patriarchal period began with Abraham. God instructed Abraham to leave his home and travel to the Promised Land. God also promised that he would make Abraham's descendants into a great nation. Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Abraham's son Isaac fathered Jacob, who fathered twelve sons. Jacob's older sons sold the youngest of Jacob's sons, Joseph, into slavery in Egypt. Joseph became powerful in Egypt, eventually becoming the second-in-power to the Egyptian pharaoh. He also moved his family to Egypt so that they could escape famine, which resulted in the Hebrew people all people in Egypt. Unfortunately, when Pharaoh died, his successor enslaved them. Moses, another descendant of Abraham, was chosen to lead them out of bondage.

Moses was not only the author of the Book of Genesis and the one to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, but also the patriarch to really cement the nature of the covenant relationship with God. He received the Ten Commandments from God. Though Moses was not allowed to enter into the Promised Land because of a digression, he provided the Israelites with the Ten Commandments, and Israel became a theocracy. The theocracy was ruled by a succession of monarchs, and they, particularly David, were considered great patriarchs, but each of them had significant failings. One of these patriarchs, David, was linked to the prophesied Messiah. It was impossible to separate Jewish secular law from religious laws, because all of their laws were religious laws. This dichotomy should help explain one of the reasons that Jews and early Christians found it challenging to live under Roman rule.

It is impossible to discuss Christianity, particularly early Christianity, without discussing the interaction between Rome and the emerging church. Roman control over that part of the world impacted religion throughout the Middle East. That is because Rome chose to exert total control over the lands that it conquered. The Roman Way, or Via Romani referred to the notion that those under Roman control would follow Roman rules. One of those rules included worshipping the Roman emperor as god. Therefore, any religion that had a different god would conflict with Roman rules. Rome did attempt to incorporate the religions of conquered people and had a polytheistic religion. However, monotheistic religions, such as Judaism, and later Christianity, were incompatible with the basic Roman truth that the emperor was god. Therefore, Jews, and later Christians, were automatically seen as suspicious by the Romans. One could not be both a good Roman and a faithful Jew or Christian because of the fundamental doctrinal message at the heart of both Judaism and Christianity, which was that there was only God. Furthermore, religion in Rome was suffering even before Jesus began preaching. While people may have celebrated the various deities, many people were beginning to reject them. Roman expansion had led to the incorporation of not only Greek, but also Oriental and Imperial Cult deities, so that the pantheon of gods was unwieldy and, in many ways unsatisfying to those who attempted to worship them. In many ways, these gods were dead and dying. Despite that, Rome adhered to the idea that the emperor was divine. In fact, worshiping the emperor was compulsory at least once a year, and failure to do so was considered treason. This placed Jews, who were taught that it was a sin to worship false gods or idols, in a tenuous position; if they followed civil law, they broke religious law.

This difference became exacerbated when Jesus began to preach and introduce his doctrine to the emerging Christian people. "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). That Jesus would declare himself to be the truth, and, thus, the true god was a direct challenge to Roman authority. Moreover, that he declared himself the way was also a challenge to Rome. Under the rule of Mos Mairorum, the living traditions, Romans were to live their lives according to Roman traditions. Christians could not do this, and the desire to follow the Christian way signified the ultimate challenge to Roman rule. Rome retaliated with tremendous prejudice, and began a campaign of persecution of Christians that would result in the confiscation of property, as well as the imprisonment, torture, and murder of Christians.

Furthermore, it is important to look at the fact that the political empire of Rome was based in earth. In addition to being god, Jesus also laid claim to being a ruler. He was the king of the Jews, a title that challenged the Roman emperor's authority, not only as a god, but also as a ruler. His kingdom, though not physical on earth, has prominence. As a result, his authority as a ruler is paramount. Moreover, his kingdom has a manifestation on earth: the Christian Church.

Of course, Jesus was not the only person during that time period that people claimed to be the Messiah. It is important to realize that the idea that a messiah would be sent for the Jewish people was a critical part of Jewish religious belief during that time period and multiple people claimed to be the Messiah. Even more interesting is that other cultures seemed to be awaiting a messianic figure, though they did not call it such. In much of the Orient, people believed that there would be a deliverer-king. The thought was the East would gain prominence. This suggests that the expectation that there would be a messiah crossed cultural and religious boundaries, which helped foreshadow that Jesus, though the King of the Jews, would be the means of deliverance for people from all cultures and societies. Furthermore, while the messianic expectation could possibly have come from other cultures being exposed to the Old Testament, the reality is that Jews were a relatively small sect, and it is unlikely that their religious book would have been able to impact other cultures in such a significant manner, absent God's intention for other cultures to await a messiah as well. Roman authorities certainly felt that the threat was valid; Rome ordered a massacre of baby boys in 63 BC and Herod the Great ordered a slaughter of all male children born in Bethlehem when Jesus was a baby because of a fear that the prophesied ruler would be born.