Church History - 'Nero fiddled while Rome burned'

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In bible times, people died for their faith.  Christ, Stephen and James were all killed for their beliefs.  At first, it was mostly the Jews that perpetrated these acts because they felt their religion was being hijacked.  We can see ambivalence by the ruling power of Rome during the crucifixion of Christ.  Pilate tried to hand over the criminal Barnabas to the mob but they would have none of it.  For the first few generations following Christ, Rome saw the squabble between Christians and Jews as a matter between rival groups and stayed out of the fray.  But mid way through the first century this attitude changed. 

It changed when Nero came to power in 54 A.D.  At first he was a nice guy interested in the arts.  But,

Gonzalez:  ‘Ten years after his accession to the throne, he was despised by the people as well as by the poets and artists, who were offended by the emperor’s claim that he was one of them.  Soon after the rumor began circulating that he was mad.’

In 64 A.D. a great fire broke out in Rome.  Large sections of the city were burned down over about a two week period.  During the fire, Nero is said to have taken up station on a rooftop and played music, danced and sang while the devastation unfolded.  As bad luck would have it, two of the districts not burned were predominantly Christian areas.

Since Nero was not well liked and because people observed his behavior during the fire, the word started to circulate that Nero started the fires to entertain himself.  These rumors persisted and the only way Nero could think to stop this talk was to blame the Christians for starting the fire.  A Roman historian captures the moment.

Gonzalez:  ‘Tacitus tells the story….In spite over every human effort, of the emperor’s largesse, and of sacrifices made to the gods, nothing sufficed to allay suspicion nor to destroy the opinion that the fire had been ordered.  Therefore, in order to destroy this rumor, Nero blamed the Christians, who are hated for their abominations, and punished them with refined cruelty.  Christ, from whom they take their name, was executed by Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius.  Stopped for a moment, this evil superstition reappeared, not only in Judea, where was the root of the evil, but also in Rome, where all things sordid and abominable from every corner of the world come together.  Thus, first those who confessed [that they were Christians] were arrested, and on the basis of their testimony a great number were condemned, although not so much for the fire itself as for their hatred of humankind.’

‘These words from Tacitus are of great value, for they are one of the most ancient extant indications of how pagans viewed Christians.’

It’s interesting that Tacitus thinks the emperor started the fire but he still had great disdain for Christians.

Gonzalez:  ‘This last charge makes sense if one remembers that all social activities-the theatre, the army, letters, sports-were so entwined with pagan worship that Christians often felt the need to abstain from them.  Therefore, to the eyes of a Roman such as Tacitus, who loved his culture and society, Christians appeared as haters of humankind.’

‘Tacitus goes on:  Before killing the Christians, Nero used them to amuse the people.  Some were dressed in furs, to be killed by dogs.  Others were crucified.  Still others were set on fire early in the night, so that they might illumine it.’

There are not many Christian names to associate with the Nero persecutions.  But Gonzalez says that it was ‘very likely that both Peter and Paul were among the Neronian martyrs’.’  It was under false pretenses that Christians first started being persecuted.  Soon it became so just because they were Christians.

Nero committed suicide in 68 A.D.  After a few failed administrations, Domitian became emperor in 81 A.D.

He passed laws banning Judaism.  In the Roman mind, a Jew and a Christian were the same thing so Christians started being persecuted again.  It was during the persecutions of Domitian that the book of Revelation was written. 

Gonzalez:  In the midst of persecution, Revelation displays a much more negative attitude towards Rome than the rest of the New Testament.

‘‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great whore who is seated on many waters…And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses to Jesus.’  Revelation 17:1,6

Domitian lasted until about 96 A.D. when he was assassinated.   

During the second century, a little provincial dictator named Pliny began renewed enforcement of the ban on Christianity. 

Gonzalez:  ‘The governor had the accused brought before him, and thus began learning of the beliefs and practices of Christians.  Many declared that they were not Christians, and others said that, although they had followed the new faith for a time, they had abandoned it.  Of those Pliny required only that they pray to the gods, burn incense before the image of the emperor, and curse Christ, something they he had heard true Christians would never do.  Once they performed these rites, he simply let them go.’

Pliny wrote to the emperor Trajan and asked for clarification of the policy towards Christians.  Basically the emperor said the edict should stand.  He told Pliny not go out of your way to chase down the Christians, but if they are brought to your attention and they refuse to renounce their faith, they should be punished.

In spite of these adverse conditions, some stayed faithful like Ignatius of Antioch. 

Gonzalez:  ‘About A.D. 107, the elderly bishop of Antioch, Ignatius, was condemned to death by imperial authorities…Ignatius was sent to the capital so that his death would help amuse the people.  On his way to martyrdom, he wrote seven letters that are among the most valuable for our knowledge of early Christianity.’ (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.toc.html#P1093_206499)

Half way through the second century the edict against Christians was still in effect.  Germanicus and Polycarp were martyred.  In his famous refusal to renounce his faith before the court who tried him, Polycarp replied, ‘For eighty-six years I have served him, and he has done me no evil, how could I curse my king, who saved me?’

When told he would be burned alive, Polycarp said ‘the fire that the judge could light would only last a moment, whereas the eternal fire would never go out.’

As Polycarp burned at the stake he prayed:

 ‘Lord Sovereign Lord…I thank you that you have deemed me worthy of this moment, so that, jointly with your martyrs, I may have a share in the cup of Christ…For this…I bless and glorify you.  Amen.’

Because some people chose to renounce their faith and others did not, early Christians began to develop certain beliefs about martyrdom.

Gonzalez: ‘...early Christians who believed that martyrdom was not something that one chose, but something for which one was chosen by God.  Those who were so chosen were strengthened by Christ, who suffered with them, and for that reason were able to stand firm.’

Not all the emperors of Rome were Nero types.  Some were well educated and thoughtful men like Marcus Aurelius who took power in 161 A.D.  Aurelius once wrote the following:

‘Think constantly, both as a Roman and as a man, to do the task before you with perfect and simple dignity, and with kindness, freedom, and justice.  Try to forget everything else.  And you will be able to do so if you undertake every action in your life as if it were your last, leaving aside all negligence and the opposition of passion to the dictates of reason, and leaving aside also hypocrisy, egotism, and rebelliousness against your own lot.’

And yet for all his refinement, Aurelius still persecuted Christians.

We learn from our bible that human beings are broken.  Without the one true God in our life, we use the talent God gave us to protect our own interests.  We learn from history that Nero, Pliny, and Aurelius are just early examples of those who trusted only in themselves.

I think there is a huge point to be made here.  Later Christians will do the same things to other people that the Roman Emperors did to Christians.  Why are some Christians more like Ignatius and Polycarp while others are more like Pliny and Aurelius?   Brokenness and Suffering?

Questions we might reflect on:

-Why did Nero care one way or the other about Christian worship?

-Where do we see Pliny and Aurelius in ourselves?

-How can one have a biblical worldview and still be wrong?

Source:  Justo L. Gonzalez from ‘The Story of Christianity, Volume 1, the Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation’