The World of The New Testament
THE WORLD OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
HAROLD H. ROWDON
The World of the New Testament was not the geographical world, but the Roman world, an enormous area stretching from Spain all the way around the Mediterranean Sea to North Africa. Its supreme ruler was the emperor. Technically he was no more than first citizen, but his power was supreme. He was commander-in-chief of the armed forces, his instructions acquired the force of law and he possessed powers which gave him the right of legal veto and jurisdiction to hear appeals.
The Roman empire consisted of some forty provinces which fell into two categories. Those which were situated in frontier or unsettled areas were under the authority of the emperor. They were governed by senatorial legates with the title of pro-praetor, or by nobles who were known as prefects or procurators. All were directly responsible to the emperor. More settled provinces were ruled by proconsuls appointed by, and responsible to, the Roman senate. This was an old established institution going back to Rome’s republican days which still retained some power under the empire.
The Roman world was plentifully supplied with cities. Many of them had been founded in the days of the Greek empire. They served as centers of government and administration, contained lavish provision for recreation and social communication, light industry and trade, and provided a kind of focus for the surrounding countryside. In some ways they were rather like English market towns. They contained many voluntary associations, or guilds, which brought together people with common interests in matters of business or social life. The banquets held by such associations, like the general civic festivals, contained religious overtones and created problems of conscience for Christians. Citizenship of a notable city was a source of special pride. The holding of municipal office might carry with it Roman citizenship. This was also given in recognition of outstanding services to the empire, and might be purchased.
Some cities which were formed by settlements of Roman citizens, often discharged soldiers, were known as coloniae. Others, which had been free cities before they were incorporated into the Roman empire, were allowed to retain their independent status, and were termed municipiae.
Radiating from the city of Rome was a superb system of roads which was better than anything before or since till the eighteenth century. Built for military purposes, they were maintained at the public expense and provided a unique system of communications – even if the motive power was only horsepower! Travel by sea was also relatively easy, because the Mediterranean had been almost entirely cleared of pirates. Navigational aids were few, however, and it was necessary to sail very close to the coast. Travel by sea was hazardous in bad weather and impossible in winter.
Judea had been incorporated into the Roman empire during the first century BC. Herod, son of Antipater, an Idumean who had been appointed procurator by Julius Caesar, ingratiated himself with Rome and was given the title of King of Judea. He tried to secure Jewish support by marrying Mariamne, heiress of the Jewish priestly house, and by rebuilding the temple on a magnificent scale. But he also built a temple to Augustus in Samaria and founded the city of Caesarea in honor of Caesar. He created a new nobility of royal officials, and there emerged among the Jews a party of Herodians.
On Herod’s death in 4 BC, the three of his sons who had survived the murderous intrigues of his reign succeeded to his domain. Philip ruled the area northeast of Galilee. Herod Antipas became tetrarch of Galilee, with Perea, east of the river Jordan. He built Tiberias in honor of the Roman emperor of that name, but lived as a practicing Jew and even showed some regard for John the Baptist. Antipas was married to the daughter of Aretas, king of Nabatea, but this did not deter him from forming a liaison with Herodias, who was daughter of one of his half-brothers and wife of another. On the death of the emperor Tiberius, Antipas petitioned Caligula, his successor, for the title of king. Instead, he was banished on the ground of treasonable charges that had been brought against him by his nephew, Herod Agrippa I, who was rewarded by being given the territory ruled by Antipas.
Judea and Samaria, the greater part of Herod the Great’s kingdom, went to his son Archelaus. He proved a thoroughly incompetent and unpopular ruler who managed to clear himself from one set of charges by a personal visit to Rome, but was eventually deposed in AD 6.
After that date, Judea was placed under the control of a succession of Roman procurators responsible to the emperor, except the years AD 41–44 when almost all the territory once ruled by Herod the Great was entrusted to Herod Agrippa I. He made a bid for Jewish support by persecuting the Christians, until his sudden death, recorded in Acts 12. The procurators, of whom Pontius Pilate was one (AD 26–36), resided in Caesarea, but in times of potential unrest, such as the Jewish feasts, made their headquarters in Jerusalem. They commanded a standing army of 3,000 men who were recruited from the non-Jewish sector of the population. One cohort was stationed in Jerusalem in the castle of Antonia which had been built by Herod and overlooked the temple. The procurator was responsible for taxation as well as law and order, but in general the Jews were self-governing.
Judaism was not confined to Palestine. Far from it: from the time of the Old Testament exiles, the Jews had become widely dispersed in the ancient world. In the first century AD there were probably more Jews outside Palestine than within it. In some cities they constituted a sizable proportion of the population. The Jews of the dispersion practiced their religion, though in a modified form. Synagogue worship, with its prayers to Jehovah, Scripture reading and exposition, and lofty moral teaching, attracted numerous Gentiles. Those who did not become Jewish proselytes – and they were many – often proved receptive to the Christian message.
The ancient world was exceedingly religious. As a topic of conversation, religion was an excellent starter! It pervaded every aspect of life, political, social and family as well as personal. It was like cement which did almost as much to bind together a heterogeneous empire as the military power of Rome.
State religion was polytheistic, and often purely formal. It was concerned with retaining the favor of the gods by showing them due honor. Since first-century religion was essentially syncretistic, it was not difficult to equate the traditional gods of Rome – Jupiter, Mars, Minerva and the rest – with Zeus and the other gods of Greece. The worship of the state gods was essentially civic, and all loyal citizens were expected to be present at festivals in honor of the gods.
The first century saw the development of another form of state religion, even more sinister from the Christian point of view. The emperor came to be regarded as a kind of incarnation of the spirit of the imperial dynasty, and the savior and lord of Rome. Highly successful emperors, like Augustus and Vespasian, came to be included in the number of those who should be worshiped as divine. From the end of the first century, emperors came to expect divine honors during their lifetime, if only as a token of loyalty to the Roman empire.
There were innumerable forms of private religion. Diana of the Ephesians enjoyed a wide vogue. Asclepius, god of healing, was almost a universal favorite. Lares and Penates, symbolic of hearth and home, called forth the religious devotion of many families. Religious practices merged into the magical. In the countryside, religion was almost animistic. Shrines were set up wherever there was some manifestation of life or power, such as a spring of water, a range of mountain peaks or a grove of ancient trees. To such shrines offerings of milk, cheese, grain or flowers were brought.
The first century saw the introduction into the Roman empire of new religions from the east, particularly the mystery religions with their sacred myths and their promise of “rebirth for eternity.” Their initiation ceremonies included purifications, robings and sacramental meals. They bear superficial resemblances to Christianity, but their main importance is as witnesses to something approaching a spiritual vacuum.
As a rule, Rome allowed individuals freedom to practice private religion unhindered, provided it was not antagonistic to the official cult, politically subversive or grossly immoral. It was taken for granted that the devotee would continue to observe the state religion.
Despite their rigid monotheism, the Jews had contrived to secure toleration. Theirs was a national religion, they were of great commercial importance to the empire, and they had influence in high places. Christianity at first shared in the toleration granted to Judaism, but with its increasingly obvious separation from that faith, it was compelled to be independent. It came to be regarded by those who had no intimate knowledge of its adherents as undesirable on political, religious, social and even moral grounds!
If Latin was the universal language of government and law within the Roman empire, common Greek was the lingua franca, at any rate in the towns. It was used in commerce and general social communication. Many examples of correspondence in Greek have come to light and show that it was widely used.
Greek philosophical thought had passed its peak, but in the first century the figure of the traveling philosopher was a familiar one. He might be a charlatan, offering cheap entertainment with his subtle pedantry. On the other hand, he might give careful instruction in one of the schools of Greek thought. Epicureanism extolled the pursuit of happiness. Cynicism despised external trappings of any kind and easily led to contempt for authority and morality as well as religion. Stoicism offered a kind of pantheistic materialism which identified the divine principle with reason, and urged people to live a life in accordance with the dictates of reason. The old philosophy of Platonism, later to enjoy a revival in the form of Neo-Platonism, taught that ultimate reality belonged not to the material but to the spiritual world. Some Christian thinkers were to regard it as having prepared the human mind for the Christian revelation.