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Chapter 5. Persecution of Christians. Questions to be addressed in this chapter. Why were Christians persecuted in the early centuries after Christ? How did Christians understand martyrdom? How did the doctrine of the Church develop in response to the problem of apostasy?
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Chapter 5 Persecution of Christians
Questions to be addressed in this chapter • Why were Christians persecuted in the early centuries after Christ? • How did Christians understand martyrdom? • How did the doctrine of the Church develop in response to the problem of apostasy? • What happened to the apocalyptic tendencies of the early Christians?
Persecution of Christians • The Romans had a list of officially approved gods, and the Christians would not acknowledge any of them. • This made them atheists in the eyes of Romans, and thus they were considered to be a direct threat to the unity of the state. • Christians stood out in Roman culture and were hated because of their beliefs, practices and values.
Martyrdom • The attitude taken toward martyrdom by the Christians of the first few centuries was a conscious continuation of the attitudes of Jesus and Paul. • Jesus said that he would acknowledge before God those who acknowledge him before men, but disown those who disowned him before men (Matthew 10:32-33). • The Apostle Paul said, “We are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:17). • After the Church had endured a couple of centuries of persecution, Origen would call martyrdom the “cup of salvation” and see it as the most perfect gift that a person could give back to God for all that was done for him or her.
The Apostolic Fathers • The Epistles of Clement of Rome • The Didache • The Epistles of Ignatius of Antioch • The Epistle of Polycarp • Writings of Papias of Hierapolis • The Epistle of Barnabas • The Shepherd of Hermias • The Epistle to Diognetus
Apostasy and the Church • In many of the accounts we have of martyrs who stood firm in their commitment to Christ and suffered the ultimate punishment, it is also mentioned that there were Christians who did not remain true to their faith. • The “confessors” (those who did remain true) wrestled with what to do with these “lapsed Christians.” • This crisis reached its peak after the most systematic and comprehensive persecution the Empire had seen during the reign of Emperor Decius in 250 and 251. • Decius pledged to restore Rome to its traditional values, and in January of 250 issued an edict that required everyone in the Empire to sacrifice to Jupiter and the other Roman gods for the good of the Empire.
Eschatology • It might be claimed that all of Christian thought in the first few generations had at its basis the apocalyptic vision of a soon returning messiah. • The Montanists were just one group of early Christians whose thought was organized explicitly around the expectation of the imminent return of Christ. • But as the years went on and the Parousia continued to be delayed, the Church needed an organizational structure to survive from generation to generation.
Summary of main points 1. Christian beliefs, practices, and values stood at odds with Roman culture; this created significant tension and led to persecution. Martyrdom was believed by many to be the perfect imitation of Christ. 3. Membership in the Church—not belief or faith—determined one’s eligibility for salvation. The “already, not yet” eschatological attitude developed in response to the delayed Parousia.
