Page 134 - Biblical Backgrounds student textbook

while the possibility of the war as a backdrop is real, it does not adequately serve to reclassify the
prophetic aspects of the epistle as purely apocalyptic literature.

Roman government structure in the 1 century:
st

The Roman empire had been a republic until the rise of Julius Caesar. His reign as dictator, which was
absolute, but was cut off quickly as he was murdered. Augustus rose to power and was crowned
emperor. Keep in mind the rise of an emperor caused major political changed in the empire. Many
reorganizations happened as a result of the establishment of new emperors in the first century. The
Roman Senate still existed but was ended under the power of the emperor Justinian at the end of the
fourth Century AD. NT Wright explains that during this transition from Republic to Empire, there were
many civil wars. Octavian (Augustus) would eventually defeat Anthony and focus the empire on social
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and economic stability. There was major restructuring and personnel changes across the empire as
well.

Roman religion and social life:

Roman religion and social life have been described in
other sections sufficiently. To restate certain important
points, the deities were often derivative of Greek deities.
They were simply renamed, though a few such as Apollos
continued without a name change. The Parthenon was
an ancient Roman temple. It was destroyed and rebuilt in
the reign of Hadrian in 126 AD. Socially there were
various classes present. There were senators, the
businessmen, soldiers, government workers, and salves.
A slave could be a terrible position or one of honor in
that culture. The slave of a prominent family or
individual would be given the respect due the family
when acting for their master. Slavery made up almost 30% of the population of Rome according to NT
Wright. Many Roman soldiers were offered land at the end of their service. So the cities Rome
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founded around the empire were often created in order to fulfill this promise. The added benefit was
the creation of a pro-Roman community in the foreign lands.

Some have debated whether the imperial cult saw Caesar as a God or whether the view was that he
became one after death. The reality seems to be that originally the view was that the emperor became a
god after death. Later the view changed. This change is demonstrated in the writing of Horace. This
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enshrining of Caesar as God would be unthinkable for the Christians who only recognized one God and
king. This led to a refusal to take part in the worship of the emperor. That refusal led to the mass
persecution the Christians faced. Many of those killings took place in the Colosseum. The Colosseum was

176 N.T. Wright and Michael F Bird, The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and
Theology of the First Christians (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019), 147.
177 Ibid., p. 148.
178 Christopher Bryan, Render to Caesar: Jesus, the Early Church, and the Roman Superpower (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2005), 25.

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