Early Church Persecutions
By
Steven R. Cook
Persecution
is the suffering or pressure, mental, moral, or physical, which authorities,
individuals, or crowds inflict on others, especially for opinions or beliefs,
with a view to their subjection by recantation, silencing, or, as a last
resort, execution.1
For
I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because
I persecuted the
For you have heard of my former manner of life in
Judaism, how I used to persecute the
“By his own repeated account, Paul’s
first relation to the young Christian movement was that of a persecutor.”3 Paul understood the limitless bounds
of grace, mercy, and love to the degree that he knew he was not deserving of
them because he persecuted the church.
Paul must have been rent with emotion when he realized that in his zeal
to serve God, he was actually attacking Him.
As a Jew, Paul surely remembered how
confident he felt about what he was doing and how he thought that surely God
must have been on his side to help destroy the Church. He also remembered how
God struck him with blindness and stopped him before he had time to do any
extensive damage. There must have been
some question why God would take someone who was opposing him and make him an
example of suffering to others. Paul
felt greatly humbled by the Lord because according to every human standard God
had every right to utterly destroy him.
Paul did not deserve the grace which God showed him, nor did Paul
deserve to be counted among the righteous; however, God, in His magnificent
wisdom and grace chose Paul to be his representative. Paul’s life would now be an example to
Christians everywhere of the suffering which would come upon many in the Church
for the sake of Christ. Indeed, Paul was one of the most persecuted Christians
of all time.
Paul’s
attitude toward suffering would set the stage for many who would come after
him. He became an example of living and
dying for Christ, both in conduct and in attitude. He taught that Christians
should have the same attitude that Christ Himself had, to be “obedient to the
point of death” (Phil. 2:8). In Paul’s
mind (as well as many Christians who followed), he knew that to live life meant
he had to live it for the Lord, but to die for the Lord only meant that there
would be gain – gain in the sense that he would be with the Lord Jesus and
there would be no more sorrow, tears, pain, and all of the old things would
pass away and all things would become new as he entered into the kingdom of
heaven. By Paul’s own account he describes some of the persecutions he
underwent:
Are
they servants of Christ? (I speak as if insane) I more so; in far more labors,
in far more imprisonment, beaten times without number,
often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine
lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned,
three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I
have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers,
dangers from countrymen, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in
the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been
in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst,
often without food, in cold and exposure. 2 Cor. 11:23-27
For Christians in the present, it is
erroneous to ever think that God will spare us from the glory of suffering for Him. David S. Dockery states:
Faith
in Christ does not automatically erase suffering’s presence, however. Paul
strongly opposed any notion of the Christian life as free from suffering. Quite
on the contrary, for Paul suffering was one of the marks of true gospel
ministry (2 Cor. 4:7-17;
Christians in the early church who
were going through persecution could find comfort and solace from many who had
undergone suffering before them (i.e. Old Testament saints). The scriptures
give us a record of their deaths:
And
others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes also chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to
death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being
destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy) (Heb.
In the new era of the Church age,
Christians would learn to suffer some of the most horrible persecutions and
forms of death imaginable. Extreme forms
of persecution in the early Church started to escalate around the summer of
A.D. 64. There was a massive fire in
Nero had hung Christians on tall
posts (about fifty at a time) and would light them on fire in order to
illuminate great feasts which he held in his gardens. Eventually the persecutions became so great
under the reign of Nero that it became the hope of many Christians to die a
quick death by beheading; however, “their citizenship did not always save them
from the tortures.”6 For those Christians who were not
Roman citizens their death experiences were most horrific.
The
Roman emperor Domitian was probably one of the cruelest persecutors of
Christians. Some believe Domitian wanted
to snuff out Christians because he thought they were guilty of sedition.
Even
though the persecutions started out, in part, as a misunderstanding, it quickly
turned into a sport for many Romans.
Domitian would persecute men, women, and children; not so much to try to
get them to change their ways as much as he wanted others to be afraid of
becoming a Christian. Some of the persecutions are here presented at length:
Some,
suffering the punishment of parricides, were shut up in a sack with snakes and
thrown into the sea; others were tied to huge stones and cast into a river. For
Christians the cross itself was not deemed sufficient agony; hanging on the
tree, they were beaten with rods until their bowels gushed out, while vinegar
and salt were rubbed into their wounds...Christians were tied to catapults, and
so wrenched from limb to limb. Some...were thrown to the beasts; others were
tied to their horns. Women were stripped, enclosed in nets, and exposed to the
attacks of furious bulls. Many were made to lie on sharp shells, and tortured
with scrapers, claws, and pincers, before being delivered to the mercy of the
flames. Not a few were broken on the wheel, or torn in pieces by wild horses.
Of some the feet were slowly burned away, cold water being dowsed over them the
while lest the victims should expire too rapidly...Down the backs of others
melted lead, hissing and bubbling, was poured; while a few ‘by the clemency of
the emperor’ escaped with the searing out of their eyes, or the tearing off of
their legs.7
For many Christians there was not
only the physical pain to be suffered, but also the emotional pain of watching
loved ones put to a horrible death; and all because they would not deny their
Lord Jesus Christ.
Some
might argue that it would be better to give some recognition to an emperor
rather than to suffer greatly or to watch family members be put to death. However, the demands of Christianity (now, as
well as then) are such that a believer cannot compromise any substitute for the
living Christ. Any compromise, no matter
how small, would have been shameful in the face of so many who had testified of
Christ with their life. Just as three
Hebrew children in the book of Daniel stood before a mighty king and were
willing to burn rather then deny their God, so hundreds and thousands of early
Christian believers where empowered by the Spirit of God to face death with
great confidence.
What
was the experience of the martyr as he passed through his great renunciation?
...when the great day came, and they passed into the furnace, lo! There was one
standing beside them, like unto the son of man, and so they found the fires of
their human torturers cold...the absence of fear, is one of the notes of the
early church.8
What
were their thoughts? How were these
Christians able to deal with such horrible deaths and not be controlled by
fear? Why were they so brave? These early Christian believers had confidence
in their Lord, which in turn produced courage toward life, death, and any
suffering along the way.
These
Christians wanted to be with their families and loved ones, but even more they
wanted to maintain their love with God.
Yes, they even wanted to be with God.
The apostle Paul stated it wonderfully when he said “we are of good
courage, I say, and prefer to be absent from the body and to be at home with
the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). Paul knew that when a Christian died he went straight
to heaven to be face to face with the Lord and that there would be eternal
bliss in the presence of God. Men could
destroy the body, but it was God who would save the soul which is
immortal.
A
believer can be confident in the face of death because he knows that God is in
control of circumstances, even the believer’s life. The believer knows “God causes all things to
work together for good to those who love God” (Rom.
1.
No appointment
with judgment (Heb. 9:27, 28; Rom. 8:1a).
2.
Face to face with
the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8).
3.
No more sorrow,
pain, tears, death, regrets or embarrassment (Rev. 21:4).
4.
An eternal
inheritance (1 Pet. 1:4, 5).
5.
A New Home (John
14:1-6).
6.
The perpetuation
of eternal life (1 John
7.
Resurrection body
(Job
8.
Removal of the
old sin nature (1 Cor. 1:8,
9.
Removal of human
good and evil (1 Cor.
These
early Christians had a monopoly on spiritual truth because they alone had the
one true God. As they learned to walk by
faith in their daily lives they came to understand that there were no
situations or circumstances in life where God would let them down. James told
Christians:
Consider
it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials…Blessed is a man who
perseveres under trail; for once he has been approved, he will receive the
crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (Jas. 1:2,
12)
The
Christian of the early Church knew he could do all things through God who
strengthened him. The Christian of the
early church had the joy of the Lord in his life and in his death. He understood that joy,
peace, love, life, hope, honor, strength, contentment, and all other good
things come from God and not from the details or circumstances encountered in
life. He understood he could not
necessarily control his circumstances, however, he did not have to be
controlled by those circumstances; he could rise above them by setting his mind
on God, and not the things of this world.
Even in the face of death a believer could remain calm because he had
God to support him.
For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and
this mortal must put on immortality.
But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal
will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written,
‘“death is swallowed up in victory.”’:’”O death, where is your victory? O
death, where is your sting?”’ (1 Cor. 15:53-55).
“The
meaning of the word martyr...is one who has proven the strength and
genuineness of his faith in Christ by undergoing a violent death.”10 Any believer can face any type of
death with a joy, peace, and an overall good attitude if he or she will claim
the promises of God and keep focused upon God who gives joy even to the
dying. Whether death is peaceful, or
whether death is violent, it does not matter to the Christian who loves the
Lord; his death is a glorious event to be embraced with confidence of mind and
joy of heart. The believer’s flesh will
fail him in time as death approaches; however, there is something greater than
his flesh to which he can look and find strength in his hour of need, the WORD
OF GOD! “All flesh is as grass, and all
its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls
off, but the word of the Lord endures forever” (1 Pet.
HOW DID YOU DIE?
Did you tackle that trouble that came your way
with a resolute heart and cheerful?
Or hide your face from the light of day
with a craven soul and fearful?
Oh, a trouble’s a ton, or a trouble’s an ounce,
or a trouble is what you make it.
And it isn’t the fact that your
hurt that counts,
but only how did you take it?
You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what’s that?
Come up with a smiling face.
It’s nothing against you to fall down flat,
but to lie there–that’s disgrace.
The harder you’re thrown, why the higher you bounce;
Be proud of your blackened eye!
It isn’t that fact that your
licked that counts,
it’s how did you fight and why?
And though you be done to death, what then?
If you battled the best you could;
if you played your part in the world of men,
why, the critic will call it good.
Death comes with a crawl, or it comes with a pounce,
and whether he’s slow or spry,
it isn’t the fact that you’re dead that counts,
but only, how did you die?
(Edmund Vance Cooke 1866-1932)11
There
are things more important in life than death; things such as honor, integrity, love,
and above all, a wonderful relationship with God who gives all good things to
His children. In life is faith, in death is glory and honor to those who love
God and reside in His love.
______________________
1. G.W. Bromily, International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia Vol. III (Michigan;
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986), 771.
2. All Scripture quotes are
from the New American Standard Bible, (
3. F.F. Bruce, Paul,
Apostle of the Heart set Free (Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company,
1977), 69.
4. David S. Dockery, Holman
Bible Handbook (Nashville, Tennessee; Holman Bible Publishers, 1992), 683.
5. Tacitus; translated by
Michael Grant, The Annals of Imperial Rome (London: England, 1996), 365.
6. Herbert B. Workman, Persecution
in the Early Church (Cincinnati: Jennings & Graham, 1906), 298.
7. Ibid., 299-300
8. Ibid., 305
9. R.B.
Thieme Jr., Dying Grace (Houston, Texas: Published in USA 1977), 8.
10. Merrill F. Unger, et al. Unger’s
Bible Dictionary (Chicago: Moody Press 1988), 822.
11. James D. Morrison, Ed. Masterpieces
of Religious Verse (New York: Harper & Row Publishers 1948), 377.