July 7, 2022

We think highly of our ancient brothers and sisters in Christ – and rightly so!

The first Christians obeyed Jesus’ Great Commission and made disciples of the nations. They spread Jesus’ Gospel, beginning in Jerusalem and extending to the most remote parts of their world.

However, as highly as we esteem the earliest Christians, we know from the Gospels and the book of Acts that not everyone in their own day held them in such high regard.  We understand that Jesus’ fellow Jews opposed Him and His movement. But, as antagonistic as the Jews were to Christianity, the Romans were just as fiercely opposed to the Christian way. The Romans accused the Christians of heinous crimes and of gross immorality. They believed that the Christians were guilty of these things. And that is why the Romans brought persecution against the Christians.

So, of what awful things did they believe the believers in Jesus were guilty? Well…

1 – When they heard Christians referring to “partaking of the Lord’s body” at a communion supper, they thought that cannibalism was going on.

2 – They listened as Christians called each other “brother” and “sister” and assumed incestuous relationships.

3 – Good, upstanding Romans worshiped a multitude of state-approved gods and goddesses. Christians only worshiped the one, true God – and were therefore considered atheists.

4 – Rome honored tradition, and so the ancient religions were revered. Christianity was a novelty that threatened to disrupt their stable society, so Christians were seditious. As well, Christians were considered unpatriotic and anti–social for not participating in the worship of the ancient gods.

(The Romans had other complaints against the Christians. For instance, a high percentage of the early Christians were in deep poverty and were considered the dregs of society. As a result, Jesus-followers were often accused of being the targets of the gods’ wrath that led to natural disasters.)

Now, here is what may be a new thought to you: Understanding just how out of step with Roman culture the Christians were, the persecution that followed was understandable from the perspective of the persecutors.

It is important that we reckon with the idea that those who persecuted Christians were doing what they believed was right.

Years ago, I read an article in CHRISTIAN HISTORY journal titled, “The Piety of the Persecutors” in which the author (Robert L. Wilkin) argued that the Romans persecuted the Christians, believing that they – the Romans – were morally superior to the Christians and that the Christian way posed a risk to the stability of the Roman way.

It is hard for us to imagine that our brothers and sisters were accused of cannibalism and incest and atheism, when what they were actually doing was worshiping God in holiness and purity. But that is exactly what happened.

Boiled down to the essentials, by opposing the Christians, the Romans were: (1). Misunderstanding that what the Christians were doing was actually praiseworthy, and (2). Protecting the status quo of the Roman way.

When believers in Jesus live according to the New Testament’s teachings, they will often be misunderstood, they will upset the apple cart of a society’s status quo, and they can expect opposition.

As it was in the first century, so it is in the twenty-first.

When we, today, affirm an objective standard of truth (Scripture) that calls us to submit to Jesus, when we affirm and practice a different sexual ethic than our society does, and when we gladly engage in committed, loyalty-based, covenantal relationships, we are going counter-cultural.

We can learn from our Christian ancestors and expect that we may well face opposition, just like they did. More than that, we can expect to be opposed because of what Jesus said was coming. Foreseeing tough times ahead, Jesus told His followers in the Sermon on the Mount, [Matthew 5:11] “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.”

Given how severe the persecution was against the first-century Christians and how severe it is in many places today, it is a marvel that the church has survived.

Humanly speaking, it would not have survived if not for the indelible “mark” that suffering Jesus-followers have commonly left behind. They loved. They were and are famous for loving well. They loved each other and they loved their persecutors – just like Jesus did. Despite the misunderstanding of the Christians’ ways, Christians who are opposed survive, thrive, and multiply by following the path of love.

Whether the prevailing culture applauds our Christian convictions or not, let’s be sure to always leave behind the “mark” of love wherever we go.

Yours…His,

Dave