This post presents limited research concerning the impact the Greco-Roman era had on events and conditions within the Book of Acts in Scripture. Spanning a timeline of 30 to 65 A.D., numerous concurrent and sequential events had a substantial bearing upon the early Church and particularly Paul the Apostle’s ministry. The early Church, and to a significant extent, nations and territories comprising of the Roman empire underwent an epic injection of the gospel within a relatively short period. While there were numerous sources of opposition and animosity, the situational environment narrated within the Book of Acts imposes and illuminates a perilous and inexorable message of treachery and hope. This post stitches together a few examples concerning the conditions and pressures the Greco-Roman era placed upon the early Church as narrated within the Book of Acts.
Interwoven throughout the Book of Acts are historical facts concerning the people, places, and circumstances around the arrival of the Holy Spirit and His work through developing Christendom in Judea, Samaria, and the Gentile world to include the Mediterranean and upper Mesopotamian territories. There are numerous underlying circumstances in the text of Acts that describe how the early Church grew with thousands of new believers, yet with often adversarial encounters in opposition to what the Holy Spirit accomplished. Moreover, government, religious, and cultural objections were imposed with adversity from people who sought to protect self-interest within Judaism or their Greco-Roman way of life.
The backdrop of ongoing Jewish hostilities among synagogue and temple leaders was a continuing opposition to believers in Christ. Yet, while Roman authorities’ force and aggression were a source of Jewish leverage, the presence of Roman prosecution toward Christians pressed upon both experienced and new believers alike. While some may feel an obligation of sympathy as due toward Roman authorities, there are various examples throughout the Book of Acts to indicate a rationale to the contrary. As evangelism and an apologetic for Christianity to the Romans were advocated throughout Acts,1 there remains further in the text an unmistakable peace-keeping presence for its governing interests. Pax Romana was the forceful current of the time to assure order and security, while Christ himself appointed the gospel to spread. The expansion of the early Church was explosive due to several factors. Notwithstanding Holy Spirit emboldened apostles who brought the gospels to the nations, the acceptance of the Greek language, the building of the Roman roads, the removal of Mediterranean pirates, and the openness of secular thought and philosophical ideas were viewed as alternatives or replacements to Greek and Roman polytheism.2 Within the Greco-Roman world, the arrival of the gospel and the early Church’s work was at just the right time.
From reading through the Book of Acts at least a few times, a reader begins to see a pattern emerge concerning the havoc Jewish leaders repeatedly raise by using Roman authority as a means of leverage to oppose, silence, and eliminate believers obedient to Christ. From after the time of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-3) through the conversion of Paul (Acts 9:1-31), there are just a few apparent references to Roman or Greek influence on events within the text (Acts 2:9-11, Acts 4:27, Acts 6:9). However, in Acts chapter 10, the narrative begins to change with the introduction of the devout Roman Centurion Cornelius (Acts 10:1) in Caesarea, a predominately pagan city,3 about 40 miles Northwest of Jerusalem.
Jewish temple leaders, the Sanhedrin, and prominent synagogue members throughout Israel and Asia Minor effectively weaponized Greco-Roman interests to stop or subdue evangelistic and apologetic efforts among apostles and disciples who siphoned off adherents of Judaism, God-fearers from synagogues, and pagan worshipers from idolatrous practices. From Peter (Acts 11:8) and the Judaizers (Acts 15:1,5, Gal 6:12-13), it was inferred and concluded from the gospel that the Jews were no longer the exclusive people chosen by God.4 As such, Roman authorities often then became Jewish instruments of Christian persecution. Just as Jesus was tried and crucified by Roman authorities by means of Jewish persecution (Acts 13:28), apostles and believers within the early Church would face the same adversarial hostilities (John 15:20).
It was not enough for Jewish leadership to use Roman authorities against the spread of the gospel. On Paul’s missionary journeys, he and his companions visited synagogues, marketplaces, and public gathering locations to speak before people who were present to hear the gospel. In so doing at Thessalonica, for example, yet another group of Jewish leaders formed a mob to drag some disciples before “city authorities” (NASB) or “rulers of the city” (KJV), or πολιτάρχης, politarchēs in Acts 17:6. By “turning the world upside down,” the Jews make accusations against followers of Christ and their efforts among cities and towns. To infer a legal disturbance that damages the Roman empire’s peace and well-being in Thessalonica, a Roman capital district in Macedonia.5
As emperor worship and offerings became expected of inhabitants within the Roman district of Thessalonica during the time of emperor Caligula (37-41 A.D), to advocate ideas to the contrary would at a minimum point to disloyalty to the empire.6 For the Jewish population of Thessalonians to hear Paul, his companions, and new followers proclaim and advocate a gospel that informs people of reconciliation to God without adherence to Jewish tradition and requirements would become reported and condemned. By “turning the world upside down” (Acts 17:6), further accusations of disruption to the policy of Pax Romana throughout the empire would become assailed. Thereby again rendering the Roman authorities a weapon of the Jewish leaders within the synagogues. Leaders who opposed Christ, His followers, and the gospel. With Greco-Roman idolatry the center of worship toward current and former emperors, Jewish leaders likely knew the risks of new believers who were to abstain from such practices. Speaking before city occupants, they spread a gospel that drew people away from their synagogues, and now from the temples of Greco-Roman gods.
Just as emperor Caligula declared himself a god (37 A.D.),7 there were cultural expectations that accompanied his divinity claim. As if he was an equivalent to Roman god Jupiter (Zeus in Greek mythology), he expected townspeople to recognize and honor him in accordance with what he believed. For people to act contrary either intentionally or unintentionally added weight of risk carried by believers as they knew of potential ramifications for disobedience. With the imperial religion permeating Roman society and local townspeople in Lystra,8 its evidence is recorded in Scripture (Acts 12:22, Acts 14:11-15) to highlight Jewish leaders’ exploitations of Roman culture and authority to stop the spread of the gospel and the growth of the Church.
Within the Book of Acts’ continued narrative, there were yet further trials that were framed by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem to involve substantial Roman government and military resources that were a culmination of intensified and heightening tensions.9 As Jesus spoke to Ananias, “I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake,” we have Paul’s later confirmation concerning what the Lord has said about his witness testimony to Rome. Paul had the confidence and guidance of the Holy Spirit and Christ Jesus (Acts 19:21, Acts 23:11) to travel to Jerusalem and Rome. It was to become a journey in which he would become captured and where the Jewish leadership will again produce false charges and hand him over to Roman authorities. Ultimately, after years of delay and further hardships, Paul the Apostle, our Lord’s faithful servant, was given over to Rome, where he became imprisoned (60 A.D.) and after that appeared before Caesar of Rome. Like Christ, Paul would face Roman execution as delivered from Jewish leaders to his death (64 A.D.).10
Citations
1 D.A Carson & Douglas J. Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 303.
2 Steven J. Lawson, Pillars of Grace(Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2011), 48.
3 John P. Lange, A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Acts (New York, NY: Scribner, 1867), 191.
4 Don Garlington, An Exposition of Galatians: A Reading from the New Perspective, Third Edition. (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2007), 379.
5 M. G. Easton, Easton’s Bible Dictionary: Thessalonica. (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1893).
6 Andrew R. Talbert, “Thessalonica,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
7 Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Reitzel, “Caesars, The,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 394.
8 John B. Polhill, “Acts,” in Holman Concise Bible Commentary, ed. David S. Dockery (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 516.
9 Patrick Schreiner, “Evaluating the Validity of the ‘Three Missionary Journeys’ Structuring Motif in Acts” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society Vol. 63, No.3, (2020), 514.
10 Rose Publishing; Illustrated edition. Rose Book of Bible & Christian History Timelines. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006.
Bibliography
Dockery, David S. Holman Concise Bible Commentary. Nashville: Holman Reference, 1998.
Easton, M.G. Easton’s Bible Dictionary. Logos Systems, Inc., 1893.
Elwell, Walter A. Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988.
Garlington, Don. An Exposition of Galatians: A Reading from the New Perspective. Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2007.
Lange, John Peter. “A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Acts.” In the Acts of the Apostles, An Exegetical and Doctrinal Commentary, by D.D. Gotthard V. Lechler, 480. New York: Charles Scribner & Co., 1867.
Lawson, Steven J. Pillars of Grace. Orlando: Reformation Trust, 2011.
The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, 2016. Moo, D.A. Carson & Douglas J. An Introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005.
Rose Publishing; Illustrated edition. Rose Book of Bible & Christian History Timelines. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006.
Schreiner, Patrick. “Evaluating the Validity of the “Three Missionary Journeys” Structuring Motif in Acts.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 2020: 505-516.
