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"When
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son."
Galatians 4:4, KJV  rom
the first century, Christians have claimed that the world was uniquely
prepared for the coming of Jesus Christ and the birth of Christianity.
Perhaps it was the phenomenal spread of the new faith that sparked
these claims. Indeed, it is estimated that by 312 A.D. one in ten
people in the Roman world called themselves Christians.[1]
[P]robably no period in the history of the world
was better suited to receive the infant church than the first century
A.D….By the second century Christians…began to argue that it was a
divine providence which had prepared the world for the advent of Christianity.[2]
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What kind
of world would allow for such a rapid spread of this new faith? What
was the historical context for the advent of Christianity? There are
at least three sources of influence that came together in the Roman
Empire that seem to have encouraged its early
success: the political influence of the Romans, the cultural and intellectual
influence of the Greeks, and the religious influence of the Jews.[3]
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Roman influence
– political
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Unity and diversity
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As
the Romans moved out from their great city in ever-widening circles
of conquest, the empire came to encompass hundreds of different peoples.
Rome’s general policy of accommodation meant that most of these conquered
peoples retained their cultural identity even while they were politically
united under the rule of Rome. By the early third century, all freemen
in the empire had been granted Roman citizenship. This provided a
common point of reference, a kind of unity, for people from a wide
variety of cultural backgrounds.
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Pax
romana
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The reign
of Caesar Augustus inaugurated the pax romana, or ‘Roman
peace,’ two centuries of economic and cultural growth and stability
marked by the near absence of military conflict within the empire.
This era of peace allowed for freedom of movement and relative safety
throughout the Roman world. And where people travel, ideas follow.
The conditions of the pax romana facilitated
the rapid spread of Christian ideas in the Roman Empire.
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Roman roads
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 The
quality and extent of roads
in the Roman Empire is legendary. Thousands of miles of roads connected
major cities as well as outlying areas of the Roman Empire, facilitating
and encouraging travel throughout the Mediterranean world and beyond.
“[B]oth the New Testament and the literature
of the second century simply take for granted journeys of enormous
length which would scarcely have been possible after the fall of the
Empire until modern times.”[4]
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Roman army
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Of course,
the Roman army was the instrument of maintaining peace within the
empire, but it also became a major venue for spreading ideas. The
ranks of the Roman legions were increasingly filled by recruiting
provincials, bringing distant regions of the empire into contact with
the culture and ideas at its center, including Christianity. In addition,
by the fourth century, there were increasing numbers of Christians
among the Roman soldiers. And they carried their beliefs and ideas
wherever they were stationed.
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Conquest
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In the ancient
world, religion was closely tied to national identity. The success
or failure of a city or a people depended on their local deity. When
a region fell under Roman control, the conquered peoples were apt
to lose confidence in their gods. Although the cult of the emperor
was offered as a substitute, its emphasis was on civic duty and service
to the state, ideas that were not likely to appeal to newly conquered
peoples. In the resulting religious vacuum, some turned to mystery
religions like the cults of Cybele
and Isis or to Mithraism.[5] Among other things,
these religions offered believers a sense of belonging, a mechanism
for purification from sin, the practice of daily liturgy, and an avenue
to immortality. Many mystery religions also emphasized the role of
a savior-god. Each of these needs would also be met in the Christian
religion.
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Greek Influence
– intellectual and cultural
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Language
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 In
the process of conquering the Hellenistic world, the Romans absorbed
and adapted many facets of that civilization. Language was one of
the most important. Alexander the Great had made vernacular Greek,
koine, the common tongue of the East. Under the Roman
Empire, it became the common tongue of the West. Of course, the presence
of a nearly universal language meant Christianity could spread quickly,
especially since the followers of the new sect used this language
for their writings. This rapid dissemination of ideas was further
enhanced by the nature of the language. Koine
was the language of the conquered rather than the conquerors, and
so would not have been associated with imperialism and domination.
In addition, the language was already equipped with a large philosophical
and theological vocabulary which made it especially suited to the
spread of a religious message. |
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Philosophy
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The development
of Greek philosophy over the preceding centuries pointed to a rejection
of polytheism. Philosophers beginning with Plato had ridiculed the
gods and attacked the “crude anthropomorphic polytheism of the masses.”[6]
Another tendency in Greek thought was a subtle move toward monotheism.
Plato’s highest idea was Goodness which some identified as a personal,
creator-God. Aristotle had identified a single Prime Mover that is
above change and decay, an immaterial Final Cause. As early as the
sixth century B.C., Xenophanes declared that “there are many gods according
to custom, but only one according to nature” and ‘there is one God,
the greatest among gods and men, unlike mortals in appearance, unlike
in thought.”[7] In addition to these
ideas about monotheism, Plato held that the visible world is only
a shadow of the real world, that reality is not temporal, but spiritual
and eternal, an idea that would adapt well to Christian teachings.
Perhaps the most important form of Greek philosophy adopted in the
Roman Empire was that of Stoicism. This system of thought taught the
fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man and held to a high code
of ethics, elements that were also prominent in Christian teachings.
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Jewish influence
– religious
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 The
contribution of the Jews in the early years of Christianity was more
than that of the Romans and Greeks together. And by the first century,
Jewish religious ideas had spread throughout the Mediterranean world.
In fact, the Jewish faith proved influential enough to attract a significant
number of Gentile followers, some of whom adopted the Jewish religion
completely. |
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Monotheism
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The strict
monotheism of the Jewish faith was a striking contrast to the other
religions of the Roman world. The Jews confidently worshiped what
they believed to be the one true God of the universe, with whom they
had a unique covenantal relationship.
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Messianic hope
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A central
feature of the Jewish faith was the idea that the arrival of a Messiah
was imminent. It was in this context that the followers of Jesus claimed
that he was the expected Messiah. This belief was not unique to the
Jews, for Virgil had depicted Augustus not only as the ideal Roman
ruler, but as a savior-king.
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Ethical system
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The Jewish
faith was founded on a strict moral code based on the standard of
the Ten Commandments and the Jewish law. Failure to meet the requirements
of the law called for a sacrifice of atonement. Christians claimed
that the crucifixion of Jesus fulfilled this requirement for all time.
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Jewish scriptures
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The God of
the Jews had not left his people to search aimlessly for the truth,
but had revealed himself to them through the written word of the Scriptures.
The Jewish holy writings were available not only in Hebrew, but in
the common language of Greek as well.
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Philosophy of
history
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The Hebrew
prophets had introduced a linear view of history, the idea that God
was accomplishing his purpose in the world. Christians claimed that
Jesus had fulfilled many of the ancient prophecies, thus proving that
He was the end toward which history had been moving.
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Synagogue worship
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The Jews
had instituted synagogue worship during the Babylonian captivity when
they were no longer permitted to worship at the temple. Their regular
worship included singing and reading from Scripture, activities that
were interesting as well as relevant. The Jewish synagogue became
the preaching house of early Christianity.
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Conclusion
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Of course,
the new religion was not universally accepted at any time and it was
not until the reign of Constantine that it enjoyed full legal protection.
Christians, like other marginal sects, were subjected to persecution
and martyrdom. In spite of these obstacles, however, the Christian
faith spread rapidly in the Roman Empire. Part of the reason for its
rapid proliferation was the historical context into which it was born,
including the political influence of the Romans, the intellectual
and cultural influence of the Greeks and the religious influence of
the Jews.
[1] Latourette,
Kenneth Scott, A History of Christianity (San Francisco:
Harper, 1986).
[2] Green, Michael,
Evangelism in the Early Church (Guildford, UK: Eagle, 1995),
13
[3] see Cairns,
Earle E., Christianity Through the Centuries (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 1996).
[4] Green,16
[5] Starr, Chester
G., A History of the Ancient World (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1991), 602-625.
[6] Green, 18.
[7] Ibid,
20.
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