Even before the church’s beginning, followers of Jesus—eventually called Christians—faced great difficulty and persecution. The forerunner of Christ, John the Baptist, was imprisoned and beheaded. Jesus of Nazareth himself was crucified. Stephen was stoned to death after his witness before the Sanhedrin (Acts 6–8). Herod Agrippa killed James the brother of John (Acts 12:12), which led to the departure of the rest of the Twelve from Jerusalem. This persecution was not simply brought on by the missionary work of Paul, but the preaching of the first apostles regarding the Messiahship and Lordship of the risen Jesus.
This persecution should have come as no surprise to the disciples of Jesus since he had instructed them to expect discrimination, betrayal, imprisonment, torture, and even death. When they accepted the invitation to follow Jesus, the Twelve knew the potential cost—and he reminded them of this cost throughout his ministry.
Jesus told his disciples to expect persecution (Matt 10:16–23; Mark 13:9; John 15:18–27, 16:2–3, 33) and suffering for the sake of righteousness (Matt 5:10–11, 43–44; Luke 6:22–23). He even warned them they would be killed, as Israel had killed the prophets (Matt 21:33–40, 22:6, 23:30–31, 34, 37; Mark 12:1–11; Luke 6:22–23, 11:47–50, 13:34, 20:9–18). They expected persecution in the same manner Jesus experienced it himself (John 15:18–27) specifically because of their proclamation of the name of Jesus before men (Matt 24:9; Luke 21:12–13, 17). In turn, their deaths would testify to the truth of their proclamation, as the death of Jesus proclaimed the truth of his. Many Romans, when they saw Christians martyred for their faith, did in fact abandon their view of reality and choose to follow Jesus. Justin Martyr, for instance, considered the martyrdom of Christians a significant part of his journey to the Christian faith: “For I myself, too, when I was delighting in the doctrines of Plato, and heard the Christians slandered, and saw them fearless of death, and of all other things which are counted fearful, perceived that it was impossible that they could be living in wickedness and pleasure.”1
Showing the relationship between martyrdom and mission, Jesus says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24), so that the disciples expected to lose their lives for the sake of the advancement of the Gospel.
Mark cryptically clarifies the cost of discipleship by placing the martyrdom of John the Baptist (6:14–29) right between the commission of the Twelve (6:7–13) and their return (6:30). Mark’s reader is forced to consider that those who follow Jesus may face the same fate as John.2 Although the persecution of the disciples is not referred to during the ministry of Jesus, we see a hint of this persecution in John 9, where the blind man whom Jesus healed is cross-examined by the religious authorities and ejected from the synagogue for confessing Christ (9:22, 34). After Pentecost, however, when they were truly witnesses to the risen Christ (Acts 4:20), the apostles experience a wave of persecution from the religious authorities for confessing the name of Christ, which culminates in the arrest of Peter and the death of James (Acts 12:1–5).
Can these teachings of Jesus about suffering and persecution be trusted? John Meier provides three types of teachings that reliably trace back to the historical Jesus.
First, Jesus taught that losing one’s life for the sake of the Gospel is necessary to save it. If parallel passages are considered, this teaching occurs six times in the four Gospels (Mark 8:35; Matt 10:39, 16:25; Luke 17:33, 9:24; John 12:25). Meier concludes: “Such a pithy, paradoxical proverb that is attested in variant forms in Mark, Q, and John has a very good chance of going back to the historical Jesus.”3
Second, Jesus taught that his followers must deny themselves and take up their crosses and follow him. Meier observes: “Both the shocking imagery and multiple attestation of sources argue for Jesus as the source of the saying.”4 In the first century, a cross was an instrument of humiliation, degradation, punishment, cruelty, and shame. It was the ultimate symbol of Roman oppression. To pick up one’s cross was to sacrifice one’s entire life and allegiance to the cause of Christ. This saying has clear martyrological connotations.5
Third, Jesus warned his disciples to expect persecution from within their own families (Mark 10:29; Matt 10:37; Luke 14:26).6 In essence, Jesus was simply calling his disciples to experience the same type of persecution he faced, for even his own family rejected him (Mark 3:20–35; John 7:5).
How should the disciples respond to the possibility of suffering and death? Rather than cower in fear, they should preach boldly, acknowledging God before men (10:32), knowing that God will reveal everything in the end (Matt 10:26). They should proclaim the Gospel loudly, publicly, from the rooftops (10:27), trusting that God is more powerful than the persecutors (10:28). After the death and resurrection of Jesus, this is exactly what they did.
At his conversion, Paul was told that, as part of his mission, he would suffer explicitly before Jews and Gentiles (Acts 9:15–16), and indeed he did suffer. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians lays out most explicitly the suffering he endured, which included being whipped, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, near starvation, and in danger from various people and places (2 Cor 6:4–9).
Suffering is a central theme of the letters of Paul.7 He not only suffered deeply for proclaiming the name of Jesus, but expected other believers to suffer as well (Rom 8:35–36; 1 Thess 3:3–4; Phil 1:29; cf. 2 Tim 4:5). Paul and Barnabas encouraged their newly won converts in Asia Minor to continue in the faith because “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). It was through the suffering of disciples, not just the display of power, that Jesus would be manifest to the world (2 Cor 4:7; cf. John 17:1–5).
Paul faced the genuine possibility of death while ministering in Asia. He writes: “For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Cor 1:8b–9). At first, it appears this is another passage where Paul emphasizes God’s strength in human weakness (2 Cor 12:10), but closer analysis reveals that Paul seems to be anticipating his pending death. Paul says they were “burdened beyond our strength, that we despaired of life itself,” and “had received the sentence of death,” which indicate Paul and his companions truly believed death was imminent and, humanly speaking, there was no possibility of escape. What gave Paul hope amidst his despair and pending death? Thomas Wespetal concludes: “Thus, the hope of the resurrection was a sustaining force for Paul in this ‘non-fatal’ trial of faith, which was a precursor to and foreshadowing of his ultimate test before Nero in Rome.”8
Paul experienced persecution not only at the hands of the religious authorities, but also at the hands of Gentiles. He reports that the governor under King Aretas in Nabataea wanted to arrest him (2 Cor 11:32–33; Acts 9:23–25). This demonstrates two key points. First, even in this early stage, Paul did not limit his preaching to the Jews, but reached out to pagans as well. Second, non-Jewish governments were provoked by the public proclamation of Jesus in the earliest stages of the development of the church. The fact that the governor of King Aretas aimed to arrest Paul makes sense only if government officials considered Paul and his message provocative and threatening to public safety.9 This is an important precedent. While persecution of Christians primarily began at the hands of the Jewish authorities, this incident indicates that non-Jewish governments could also be threatened by the public proclamation of the Christian faith.
Another incident shows how the actions of Christians could provoke governmental backlash. In Philippi, a slave girl with a spirit of divination followed Paul and Silas around for many days, crying out: “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim the way of salvation” (Acts 16:17). After becoming annoyed, Paul cast the spirit out of her in the name of Jesus (v. 18). But when the slave owners saw she lost her powers, they dragged Paul and Silas before the magistrates and said: “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice” (vv. 20b–21). The crowd joined in attacking them, and so they were beaten and thrown in prison. While Paul and Silas were persecuted for economic reasons, rather than for preaching the name of Jesus, this incident provides early evidence of the conflict between Christian practices and those of the Roman Empire. Local magistrates were not afraid to severely persecute those who disrupted the common good. Most persecutions before the time of Decius were the result of popular clamor, such as this, rather than planned governmental campaigns.10
Yet Paul himself connects this incident at Philippi to suffering for Christ, in Philippians 1:28–2:11. He tells the Philippians that they are not to be frightened in anything by their opponents, for it was granted for them to suffer for the sake of Christ, referring then in 1:29 to his own suffering which “you saw”—the flogging in Philippi—and moves immediately into Christ’s own suffering on the cross for God’s glory. Paul clearly believes that their, his, and Jesus’s suffering is a part of the Christian call, and that his own suffering in Philippi was a part of suffering for Christ. While persecution was largely sporadic in the first three centuries, every Christian knew he might be called to testify to his faith at the cost of his life.
The expectation of suffering and persecution is not unique to the Gospel narratives or the letters of Paul. In fact, the expectation and importance of suffering is a central theme throughout the New Testament.
The epistle to the Hebrews was written to help Christians undergoing trials. As a result of great pressure amongst believers, many threatened to apostatize (3:12–13; 6:4–6; 10:26–29). Hebrews emphasizes the supremacy of Jesus, including his successful trials against temptation (2:9–10, 18), as well as the lives of those in the so-called “hall of faith” (11:4–38), as examples believers should imitate. What happened to many of those in the hall of faith? The author of Hebrews clarifies that the prophets:
who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. (Heb 11:33–38)
How should Christians respond to the reality of suffering? According to the author of Hebrews, they should follow the example of Jesus, who suffered profoundly for his faith—including hostility, violence, and death at the cross—and who is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12:2). Hebrews 13:12–13 says: “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.” Paul Middleton writes:
The command is to go out and suffer, following the example of Jesus and the heroes of faith, especially the martyrs, who come at the climax of the list of faithful heroes. Now is the time for Church members who have not yet endured to the point of spilling their blood to do so, and in this context, the triple warning against apostasy becomes explicable.11
The book of James is often called “The Proverbs of the New Testament” because it provides practical wisdom for putting faith into action. And yet a background assumption of James is that the righteous will suffer for their faith (1:2, 12). James encourages his readers to be patient in suffering and to recall the example of the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord:
As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. (5:10–11)
Those who proclaim the name of the Lord should expect persecution just as the prophets did. God honored the prophets by making them his mouthpiece, but their lives were not always spared. Similarly, those who proclaim the name of the Lord should expect to suffer, but can find encouragement in the example of Job and other prophets.
In the book of 1 Peter, Peter encourages Christians in the dispersion who faced persecution (1:6; 2:19–23; 3:14, 17; 4:1, 12–16, 19; 5:1, 9–10) to be willing to suffer for doing good, as Christ did (2:21; 4:1, 13), which accords with the will of God (3:17; 4:19). Peter calls these believers to stand strong in their faith and to be holy as Jesus is holy (1:15–16) even as they face the same kind of “fiery trial” Jesus faced, which included being beaten, insulted, reviled, and even killed (1:19–23; 4:12–16). There was early persecution for the name of Christ outside Jerusalem.
The letter of 1 John is written to testify to the truth of the incarnation and to encourage Christians to turn from sin and love God and one another. First John may in fact have been written in part to help the church address those who had failed the trial of martyrdom and succumbed to the world.12
According to one interpretation, 1 John 5:6–8 refers to the martyrdom of Christians as testimony of the true faith, along with the Spirit and baptism.13 While not required of the text, it must be conceded that this interpretation is indeed plausible. If correct, it would raise the expectation that the first witnesses—the Twelve—would in fact be martyred for their faith as testimony that they belonged to the true faith.
If this interpretation cannot be maintained, 1 John 3:13 still testifies to the expectation that believers will be hated for their faith: “Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.” At the very least, 1 John teaches that true disciples of Jesus should expect vitriol, scorn, and hatred from the world for their belief that Jesus is the Son of God.
The book of Revelation is undoubtedly one of the most controversial and difficult books to interpret. What is generally agreed upon, however, is that Revelation has the following as a central theme: that Christians must be prepared to face death for Christ’s honor, a theme supported by the multiple references to the suffering and persecution of believers for their faith (1:9; 2:10, 13; 6:9; 11:7–8; 12:11, 17; 13:7, 10, 15; 14:12; 16:6; 17:6; 18:24; 19:2; 20:4, 9). While Satan is the true enemy, Christians are called to “witness” to their faith, even if it means death: “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (2:10). Without exception, those considered “witnesses” (martyrs) face a violent death (2:13; 11:7; 17:6). At this stage, “martyr” simply meant “witness,” and did not yet signify one who dies in proclamation of the faith. Yet those who are “witnesses” in Revelation are killed for their faith, and thus are technically martyrs. In facing death, they stand firm in the faith and their lives testify against Satan and his followers (cf. 6:9–11; 12:11; 16:6; 17:6; 18:24; 19:2).
The writings of the New Testament make something very clear: suffering and persecution are to be accepted as part and parcel of the Christian faith.14 Jesus was the founder and exemplar of the faith and he was crucified as a criminal. Since Christians are called to imitate him, they ought to expect the same hatred by the world, which may include their own persecution, and even death. While dying for the name of Jesus is unique to the New Testament era, dying for God has earlier roots in the Old Testament.
In the first century AD, a popular tradition was that even God’s own people might kill the prophets. Jesus specifically cited this tradition,15 and implied it in some of his parables (Matt 21:33–40; Mark 12:1–11; Luke 20:9–18; Matt 22:6). Paul, Luke, the author of Hebrews, and James also referred to this same tradition (1 Thess 2:14–15; Luke 7:51–52; Heb 11:32–38; Jas 5:10–11). Recent prophetic figures, such as Onias the high priest (2 Macc 4:34–36) and John the Baptist, shared this very fate.
The popularity of this tradition raises an important question: How many prophets were actually killed for their beliefs? The New Testament seems to indicate that all, or at least most, ended their lives as martyrs. However, the Old Testament only records two specific instances of a prophet being killed (Jer 26:20–23; 2 Chr 24:17–22). But additional stories indicate persecution, and even death, for prophets who spoke words of judgment (1 Kgs 18:4, 13; 1 Kgs 19:1–8; Jer 11:18–23; 20:1–6; 37:11–15; 38:1–9; Neh 9:26).
Non-canonical sources tell a similar story of the martyrdom of many of the prophets. The Lives of the Prophets, a first-century AD Palestinian Jewish work, records the brutal deaths of many Old Testament prophets.16 According to this text, Manasseh ordered Isaiah be sawn in two.17 The Jews stoned Jeremiah. Ezekiel was slain by Israelites in exile because he criticized their idol-worship. King Joram threw Micah off a cliff for rebuking him. Amos was beaten and killed with a cudgel. Ignatius, too, wrote of the persecution of the prophets who were inspired by grace to convince unbelievers (cf. The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 8). The tradition of the martyrdom of the prophets underwent even further development in later Jewish tradition. According to John Pobee:
At this stage martyrdom became a sine qua non of the prophetic vocation and, therefore, every prophet was regarded as having undergone a martyr’s death …. Indeed, according to midrash standing in the name of R. Jose b. Nehonai, the following were the persecuted prophets: Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Saul, David, and Israel.18
Willingness to face persecution rather than forsake God has even earlier roots in the book of Daniel. The confidence of Daniel and his friends to face persecution boldly (Dan 3, 6) came from their belief in Yahweh, the one true sovereign God (5:23), who could resurrect them to eternal life (12:2–3). Yet even though Daniel and his friends are protected, the author of Daniel wants to portray that not everyone can expect a similar fate; however, they should not fear because their reward will come in the afterlife (Dan 12:1–3). From the earliest times, biblical stories such as Daniel provided models for how Christians could boldly face persecution.19
As Boudewijn Dehandschutter notes, 2 Maccabees also contains popular stories of martyrdom that may have influenced the first Christians. The people of Israel were facing great calamity at the hands of Antiochus Epiphanes (c. 215–164 BC). The temple was defiled, Jews were forced to eat sacrifices offered to false gods, and thousands were murdered (2 Macc 6:3–11; 8:3–4).20 Yet some stood strong. The scribe Eleazar was forced to open his mouth and eat swine flesh, but he spit it out and chose to “die gloriously, than to live stained with such an abomination” (2 Macc 6:19). The incident concludes: “And thus this man died, leaving his death for an example of noble courage, and a memorial virtue, not only unto young men, but unto all his nation” (2 Macc 6:31).
Seven brothers and their mother were also constrained to break the Mosaic Law by eating swine flesh. But one of the brothers spoke up and said: “We are ready to die, rather than to transgress the laws of our fathers” (2 Macc 7:2). The seven brothers were slaughtered with the most brutal means of torture. The mother pleaded with her last living son to spare his life, but he replied:
I will not obey the king’s commandment: but I will obey the commandment of the law that was given unto our fathers by Moses. And thou, that hast been the author of all mischief against the Hebrews, shalt not escape the hands of God. For we suffer because of our sins. (2 Macc 7:30b–32)
The brothers not only suffered deeply for their commitment to the law, but they expected to suffer as a result of the sins of Israel. What gave these brothers the courage and willingness to die for the law? Belief in the resurrection (2 Macc 7:14) and belief that the tormentors would be punished (2 Macc 7:19, 36).
Josephus records another incident where the Jews refused to honor Caius with a statue, even to the point of death. They even threw themselves on the ground, stretched out their throats, and said they were willing to be slain.21 The Jews suffered to testify that Yahweh is the one true God. Israel was called to bring this knowledge to the Gentiles (cf. 1 Sam 17:46). “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord (Isa 43:10), so that “my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isa 49:6). The Israelites were chosen to declare the holiness and greatness of God to the Gentiles, and suffering was a necessary component of this prophetic witness (Isa 53).
There was precedent that such suffering could bring about conversion of the persecutor; in fact, that was the point. As a result of seeing the willingness of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to face death in the fiery furnace, Nebuchadnezzar praised the God of Israel (Dan 3:28). And King Darius recognized the God of Daniel as well (Dan 6:25–28).
By the New Testament era, the Jews had fully embraced the value of dying for the truthfulness of the Law rather than recanting their beliefs. Although there are significant differences between Jewish martyrdom and Christian martyrdom, early Christians saw their lives and missions in light of this tradition.22 Even in the face of persecution and probable death, the apostles would refuse to compromise their beliefs about God with the hope that their persecutors would convert to the true faith. Jesus followed the example of the persecuted prophets, and after Pentecost, his apostles ministered in the same way, hoping their deaths would be a witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament and Gospel narratives provide the necessary background to anticipate persecution of the apostles. The book of Acts, however, provides the initial accounts. The tradition of God’s own people killing the prophets was correct, for the first systematic persecution of Christians began at the hands of the Jewish religious authorities. It was the Jewish leadership of the time23 who had turned Jesus over to the Roman authorities to face crucifixion (Matt 27:1–2; Mark 15:1; Luke 23:1; John 18:28). As soon as the apostles begin preaching that this same Jesus was the resurrected Messiah, the Jewish leaders began to silence and persecute them, too. They imprisoned and threatened them (Acts 4:13–22), beat them (Acts 5:40), and killed Stephen, a witness for the faith (Act 7:54–60).
After the death of Stephen (c. AD 37), “there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles” (Acts 8:1b).24 The view was sometimes held within Judaism that scattering was a good thing. Second Baruch 1:4 says: “For this reason, behold I bring evil upon this city, and upon its inhabitants, and it shall be removed from before Me for a time, and I will scatter this people among the Gentiles that they may do good to the Gentiles.”25 Paul was responsible for this scattering because of his fierce persecution, which he further attests to after becoming a Christian (Gal 1:13; 1 Cor 15:9). Can this tradition be trusted historically? According to James Dunn, an initial persecution directed by Paul from Jerusalem “can be readily envisaged on good historical grounds and with very plausible historical speculation.”26
This was only the beginning of the persecution. Philip the Evangelist fled to Samaria because of persecution (Acts 8:4–5). Paul faced persecution from the Jews, and often had to flee for his life (9:23–25, 29–30; 13:45–50; 14:5, 19; 17:1–10, 13–15; 18:6–7; 20:3; 21:27–36; 23:12–15). James the brother of John was killed (12:2) and Peter was arrested because it “pleased the Jews” (12:3). Persecution by the Jews was also taking place in areas outside Jerusalem, such as Thessalonica (1 Thess 2:14–16). Persecution by the Jews continued until at least the middle of the second century.27 In fact, according to Herbert Workman, the Jews could be detected in the background for virtually all persecutions against Christians, even after persecution became official policy of the state. This was possible because of how widespread the Jewish dispersion was throughout the Roman Empire.28
The first Christians were often protected from Rome (Acts 18:12–17; 19:23–41; 22:22–29; 23:23–28:31) as long as Christianity was considered a sect within Judaism—a religio licita—but once Christianity was considered a variant from Judaism, protection from persecution was no longer guaranteed. This is precisely what happened during the reign of Nero.
Nero was the first Emperor (AD 54–58) to persecute Christians; in AD 64, when rumors spread that Nero had started a fire that burned three entire quarters of the city of Rome and thousands lost their homes, Nero blamed Christians. Tacitus gives the details (AD 115):
Therefore to eliminate this rumor he falsely produced defendants and inflicted the most extraordinary punishments upon those whom, hated for their crimes, the people called Christians. The origin of this name was Christ, whom the procurator Pontius Pilate put to death in the reign of Tiberius; crushed for a while, the deadly superstition burst forth again not only throughout Judea, the source of this evil, but even throughout Rome, to which all horrible and shameful things flow from everywhere and are celebrated. Therefore the first persons arrested were those who confessed; then on their information, a great multitude was convicted not so much on the charge of setting fire as on hatred of the human race. Mockeries were added to their deaths, so that wrapped in the skins of wild animals they might die torn to pieces by dogs, or nailed to crosses they were burned to death to furnish light at night when day had ended. Nero made his own gardens available for this spectacle and put on circus games, mingling with the people while dressed in a charioteer’s uniform or standing in his chariot. As a result there arose compassion toward those who were guilty and who deserved the most extraordinary punishments, on the grounds that they were being destroyed not for the public good but for the savagery of one man (The Annals 15.44.2–5).29
Several observations are necessary. First, these words are some of the most ancient indications of how pagans viewed Christians. Clearly Tacitus does not believe Christians set fire to Rome, but were being sacrificed “to the ferocity of a single man.” Still, Tacitus believed the rumors that Christians were “a class of men, loathed for their vices” who believed a “superstition” and had a “hatred of the human race.”
Second, the fire in Rome was not the source of the misgivings and hatred of Christians. Rather, this brought to a head the growing suspicion many Romans already had of this new religion. Conflict inevitably traces back even earlier. Suetonius (c. 70–c. 140) mentions the expulsion of the Jews from Rome in AD 49 “at the instigation of Chrestus.” While conclusions must be drawn with a degree of tentativeness, it is historically probable that “Chrestus” refers to Jesus of Nazareth.30
The conflict in Rome was not caused by Chrestus, but by the teaching that Jesus was the Christ (Messiah), which generated opposition by the Jews, resulting in the expulsion of many from Rome.31 Suetonius had also referenced the persecution by Nero that is consistent with the Tacitus account: “Punishments were also inflicted on the Christians, a sect professing a new and mischievous religious belief.”32 These references by Tacitus and Suetonius reveal the disgust and hostility Greco-Romans held towards Christians as early as the mid-first century.
Third, Tacitus assumes a considerable number of Christians live in Rome by the early 60s. For Tacitus to have noticed Christians’ presence and been so apparently bothered by them—and for Christians to have provided a sufficient scapegoat for the fires—while certainly Nero killed a minority of all Christians at the time, he undoubtedly killed them in significant numbers.
Fourth, it appears the official persecution was confined to Rome, since there is no mention of persecution elsewhere. However, nothing was done to revoke the laws Nero had put in place against Christians. These laws thus provided sanction and precedent for the formal persecution of Christians by the state. From this point forward, the church was officially in opposition to the Roman state. Frend concludes: “In the 250 years that separate the Neronian persecution in 64 CE from the conversion of Constantine to Christianity, c. 312, Christianity was an illegal and suspect religion whose members were subject to arrest, condemnation and, in many cases, death.”33 Most of these persecutions were not at the hand of the emperor. Rather, most were police actions on the provincial level that went unrecorded in the archives of the nation.34 While few governors would have the desire to instigate a persecution against Christians, if public opinion turned against Christians, governors would indeed put Christians on trial to acquiesce to public demand.35
Fifth, Tacitus reports that Christians were killed for confessing the name of Christ. Once Nero officially condemned Christians for confessing the name of Christ, nothing prevented other provincial governors from persecuting those involved, by definition, with the same deviant and potentially treasonous religion. Workman notes what this meant for Christians after the reign of Nero:
To become a Christian meant the great renunciation, the joining a despised and persecuted sect, the swimming against the tide of popular prejudice, the coming under the ban of the Empire, the possibility at any moment of imprisonment and death under its most fearful forms. For two hundred years [after Nero] he that would follow Christ must count the cost, and be prepared to pay the same with his liberty and life. For two hundred years the mere profession of Christianity was itself a crime.36
Christians who minded their own affairs, who focused on living proper lives before outsiders, were often spared persecution from the state (cf. 1 Thess 4:11). However, outspoken leaders of the faith, such as the apostles (cf. Acts 4:13, 5:21), were much more likely to stir resentment and thus face the wrath of the state (cf. Acts 12:2–3). The apostles consistently proclaimed the name of Jesus, putting themselves in the greatest possible danger of facing persecution and martyrdom.
Candida Moss questions the extent of the first Roman persecution against Christians, and even claims early Christians invented the idea of martyrdom.37 She suggests caution in using the aforementioned passage by Tacitus, since he wrote “at least fifty years after the events he describes.”38 In response to Moss’s claim, though, Paul Maier notes: “This is the same as suggesting that no one today can write accurately about what happened in the Kennedy administration!”39 So while caution should be observed with the passage from Tacitus, as with any historical passage, many historical accounts are written over fifty years after the events, including the writings of Moss herself. In addition, Tacitus’s hostility towards Christianity actually weighs in favor. Remarkably, not a word appears in Moss’s book about the supporting passage in Suetonius (Nero, 16.2), which also mentions the punishment inflicted on Christians. Moss simply ignores the fact that persecution against Christians is mentioned not only by Christians, but also by two early Roman sources. This is why Maier concludes: “Rarely do both friendly and hostile sources agree on anything, but the persecution of Christians is one of them.”40
Christians faced the hatred, disgust, and persecution of the Roman Empire for a number of reasons.41 Perhaps the most prominent reason was that Christians refused to pay homage to the Roman gods. Because they worshipped an invisible deity that lacked physical representation, Christians were accused of atheism, which was akin to worshipping no god. In rejecting the gods of Rome, they rejected the legitimacy of the empire—which was sanctioned by the gods—and to deny proper honor to the gods was to be unpatriotic, compromising the health of the entire empire. Earthquakes, floods, and pestilence were often blamed on people refusing to honor the gods. Tertullian wrote:
If the Tiber rises as high as the city walls, if the Nile does not send its waters up over the fields, if the heavens give no rain, if there is an earthquake, if there is a famine or pestilence, straightway the cry is, “Away with the Christians to the lion!”42
Because the gods were considered the guardians of Rome, protection for the Roman people required they be given their proper honor and respect. The religious practices of the Roman people, then, could not be separated from the flourishing of the state.
The problem was not so much that Christians worshipped Jesus as God, but that they refused to show homage to other gods by offering sacrifices. According to Christians, Jesus had died on the cross as the ultimate sacrifice, so no further sacrifice was believed to be necessary. But the stability of the state, according to the Romans, depended upon all citizens offering obeisance to the gods. Exclusive worship of Jesus was believed to alienate the goodwill of the gods and disturb the pax deorum—the proper relationship between the gods and humanity. Christians thus bore the blame for various disasters affecting the community. Michael Haykin observes:
Why would Christians, who preached a message of divine love and who were commanded to love even their enemies, be accused of such a vice? Well, if one looks at it through the eyes of Roman paganism, the logic seems irrefutable. It was, after all, the Roman gods who kept the empire secure. But the Christians refused to worship these gods—thus the charge of ‘atheism’ that was sometimes leveled at them. Therefore, many of their pagan neighbors reasoned, they could not love the emperor or the empire’s inhabitants. Christians thus were viewed as fundamentally anti-Roman and so a positive danger to the empire.43
While the first Christians to address the charge of atheism were the Christian apologists of the second century, there is no reason to think the situation was previously different.44
An ancient tradition that the prophets would suffer for their faith, especially in the books of Daniel and 2 Maccabees, anticipated the New Testament era when it was believed that prophets would suffer at the hands of their own people as well as secular authorities. And many did suffer persecution. Jesus both taught and modeled this tradition to his apostles, warning them also to expect persecution. Jesus took up his cross to his own crucifixion, and he called on his apostles to go and do likewise. Christians were first persecuted at the hands of their own people, then by Gentiles during the reign of Nero, officially persecuted by the Roman government. From at least that point forward, Christians could legally be persecuted for the name of Jesus. These factors make it not merely plausible, but likely that at least some of the apostles would face martyrdom for proclaiming the name of Jesus.
1 Justin Martyr, Second Apology 12, as cited in The Ante-Nicene Fathers: The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, rev. A. Cleveland Coxe (Buffalo, NY: The Christian Literature Company, 1885), 1:1,193.
2 James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002), 177.
3 John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew (New York: Doubleday, 2001), 3:63.
4 Ibid., 3:65. Multiple attestation for this teaching occurs in Mark 8:34; Matt 16:24; Luke 9:23, and also Q (Matt 10:38 and Luke 14:27). A similar saying also occurs in The Gospel of Thomas 55.
5 Thomas J. Wespetal, “Martyrdom and the Furtherance of God’s Plan: The Value of Dying for the Christian Faith” (Ph.D. diss., Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2005), 83.
6 Meier, A Marginal Jew, 3:67–72.
7 Paul discusses suffering and persecution in six of his seven undisputed letters: Rom 5:3–4, 8:18, 35, 12:12, 14, 14:8, 15:31; 1 Cor 4:9–13; 2 Cor 1:3–10, 4:8, 6:4–9, 7:5, 11:24–27, 12:10; Gal 4:29, 5:11; Phil 1:29; 1 Thess 2:1–2, 2:14–15, 3:3–4. Suffering is also a central idea of some of the disputed letters: Eph 3:1; Col 1:24; 2 Thess 1:4–9; 2 Tim 1:8, 12, 2:3, 8, 10–12, 3:12.
8 Wespetal, “Martyrdom and the Furtherance of God’s Plan,” 87.
9 Eckhard J. Schnabel, Early Christian Mission: Paul and the Early Church (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 2:1,036.
10 The principal legal basis behind the persecution of Christians in the first few decades of its existence appears to have been the procedure of coercitio, which gave local authorities flexibility and discretion to enforce policies intended to maintain public order. Local magistrates were not forced to follow imperial judicial norms in breaches of civil peace. Provincial magistrates were given considerable latitude in judicial action. See Paul Achtemeier, 1 Peter, Hermeneia Commentary Series (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1996), 34.
11 Paul Middleton, Radical Martyrdom and Cosmic Conflict in Early Christianity (New York: T. & T. Clark, 2006), 158.
12 M.J. Edwards, “Martyrdom and the First Epistle of John,” Novum Testamentum 31 (1989): 164–71.
13 William C. Weinrich, Spirit and Martyrdom: A Study of the Work of the Holy Spirit in Contexts of Persecution and Martyrdom in the New Testament and Early Christian Literature (Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1981), 71–73.
14 Although it is impossible to prove the accuracy of the New Testament reports in light of the absence of multiple attestations, it is historically improbable that all of these reports would be invented whole cloth with no historical kernel behind them. Although it is important not to privilege the historical accuracy of the New Testament literature a priori when conducting historical research, to dismiss it a priori as biased propaganda would be to make as egregious an error in the opposite direction.
15 Matt 22:37; Luke 13:34; cf. Matt 5:10–11; 23:30–31, 34; Luke 6:22–23; 11:47–50.
16 Charles Cutler Torrey, ed. and trans., The Lives of the Prophets: Greek Text and Translation (Philadelphia, PA: Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, 1946).
17 The tradition that Isaiah was sawn in two is also possibly hinted at in Heb 11:37 and reported in The Martyrdom of Isaiah. See Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 2, 162.
18 John S. Pobee, Persecution and Martyrdom in the Theology of Paul, Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series, ed. Bruce D. Chilton (Sheffield, England: JSOT Press, 1985), 28.
19 Boudewijn Dehandschutter, “Example and Discipleship: Some Comments on the Biblical Background of the Early Christian Theology of Martyrdom,” in Polycarpiana: Studies on Martyrdom and Persecution in Early Christianity, ed. J. Leemans (Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press, 2007), 222.
20 Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 1:2.
21 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 18.8.3.
22 Paul Middleton notes some significant differences between Jewish martyrdom and Christian martyrdom. First, the Maccabean heroes died for the Law, whereas Christians died because of their refusal to sacrifice to the gods. Second, while both types of martyrdom deal with a larger conflict, the Jewish form has a more temporal focus—the ransacking and defilement of the Temple. And third, Jews saw suffering as caused by God to correct the Jews for their wrongdoings. Christians, on the other hand, saw suffering as coming from Satan, therefore death involved defeating Satan. Middleton grants that Judaism is an important factor in the development of Christian martyrdom, but it is not sufficient. See Middleton, Radical Martyrdom, 112–15.
23 To claim that persecution began with the Jewish religious authorities of the first century is not to indict all ethnic Jews, and is limited to the Jews of the time who rejected Jesus as Messiah and who persecuted the first Christians. The Twelve were all Jewish, as were many of the first disciples. Even Jesus was Jewish! Jesus loved the Jews and focused his primary ministry on reaching out to them.
24 The claim that a great persecution arose but somehow the 12 apostles were spared may seem implausible. It would seem more likely that the persecutors would specifically target the leaders. However, the key point is not that the apostles escaped persecution, since other passages in Acts make it clear they were targeted (4:1–3; 5:17–18; 12:1–19). Luke’s primary point is that while some Christians had to emigrate permanently because of the persecution, the apostles stayed as leaders in Jerusalem for some time. See Richard Bauckham, “James and the Jerusalem Church,” in The Book of Acts in its Palestinian Setting, ed. Richard Bauckham (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995), 428–29.
25 Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 2, ed. and trans. R.H. Charles (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913), 481.
26 James D.G. Dunn, Beginning from Jerusalem: Christianity in the Making (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2009), 2:275–76.
27 Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution, 154, 184.
28 Herbert B. Workman, Persecution in the Early Church (Cincinnati, OH: Jennings & Graham, 1906; reprint, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), 45–47.
29 Herbert W. Benario, “The Annals,” in A Companion to Tacitus, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World, ed. Victoria Emma Pagán (Chichester, England: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 114–15.
30 Robert E. Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), 29–39.
31 Gary R. Habermas, The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1997), 191. The account in Suetonius is not given a specific date. If the year is AD 49, it would cohere more or less with the account of Paul’s visit to Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth, when “Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome” (Acts 18:2).
32 Suetonius, Nero 16.2.
33 W.H.C. Frend, “Persecution: Genesis and Legacy,” in The Cambridge History of Christianity: Origins to Constantine, ed. Margaret M. Mitchell and Frances M. Young (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 503.
34 Workman, Persecution in the Early Church, 26.
35 G.E.M. de Ste. Croix, Christian Persecution, Martyrdom, and Orthodoxy, ed. Michael Whitby and Joseph Streeter (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 121.
36 Workman, Persecution in the Early Church, 42.
37 Candida Moss, The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom (New York: HarperCollins, 2013), 13–22.
38 Moss, The Myth of Persecution, 139.
39 Paul Maier, “The Myth of Persecution: A Provocative Title, an Overdone Thesis,” Christian Research Journal 36 (2013): 55.
40 Maier, “Myth of Persecution,” 55.
41 Christianity was suspect since followers worshipped a crucified criminal. In addition, the fact that many of the first believers were uneducated peasants contributed to the narrative that Christianity was a religion of the ignorant, or as Tacitus put it, of people who believe a “pernicious superstition.” And Christian rituals such as baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the giving of a holy kiss raised suspicion that Christians were a subculture in opposition to the empire.
42 Tertullian, The Apology 3:47.
43 Michael A.G. Haykin, Rediscovering the Church Fathers (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011), 37.
44 De Ste. Croix, Christian Persecution, Martyrdom, and Orthodoxy, 133–40.