Page 157 - Advanced Biblical Backgrounds Revised

of Jesus reigning on the throne in physical Jerusalem. So 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.

st
Roman government structure in the 1 century:

The Roman empire had been a republic until the rise of Julius Caesar. His reign as a dictator 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 changes 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
and economic stability. 207 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, businessmen, soldiers,
government workers, and slaves. 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 to the family when acting for their master. Slavery made up almost 30% of the
population of Rome, according to NT Wright. 208 Many Roman soldiers were offered land at the end of
their service. So the cities Rome 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. 209 This
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

207 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.
208 Ibid., p. 148.
209 Christopher Bryan, Render to Caesar: Jesus, the Early Church, and the Roman Superpower (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2005), 25.

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