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Persecution of Christians in the New Testament

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Christianity began as a sect of late Second Temple Judaism.[1] According to Christian scripture and tradition, the early Christians were persecuted by the Jewish establishment due to their heterodox beliefs. Since there was not a single authority in charge of all of Jewish belief and practice, it is difficult to ascertain whether this alleged persecution was local in nature or a coordinated policy across all of Judaism. Christian tradition over the last 2000 years has interpreted the New Testament and patristic writings to indicate a coordinated policy across mainstream Judaism, however, against that tradition, Pope Paul VI issued the Nostra Aetate in 1965, repudiating the charge of deicide.

This account of persecution by the Jews is part of a general theme of a polemic against the Jews that starts with the Jewish rejection of Jesus' ministry and continues on with his trial before the High Priest and crucifixion and the refusal of Jews to accept him as the Jewish Messiah. This theme plays an important part in a number of Christian doctrines ranging from the release of Christians from obeying the many strictures of the Old Testament Law (see Christian view of the Law) to the commandment to preach to all nations, meaning to Gentiles as well as Jews (see Great Commission).

For centuries leading up to and including the present-day, Christian doctrine has assumed the veracity of the accounts of persecution by Jews as documented in the New Testament and the writings of the Church Fathers. Despite the importance of these events to Christian doctrine, reliable evidence of events accompanying the schism between Judaism and Christianity is not available. For example, the Acts of the Apostles recounts a number of instances where the early Christians were persecuted by a Jewish religious establishment of the time, in general represented by a Sanhedrin.[2] However, some modern scholars have questioned the historical accuracy of Acts[3], see also Acts of the Apostles#Historical.

The New Testament account

The New Testament reports that the earliest followers of Jesus suffered persecution at the hands of the Jewish leadership of the day. However, the narrative of this persecution is not given equal weight in all four Gospels.

Gospel of Mark

Paul H. Jones writes:[4]

Although Mark depicts all of the Jewish groups united in their opposition to Jesus, his passion narratives are not "overtly" anti-Jewish, since they can be interpreted as falling within the range of "acceptable" intra-Jewish disputes. To some readers, the "cleansing of the Temple" scene (11:15-19) framed by the "withered fig tree" pericopes confirms God's judgment against the Jews and their Temple. Most likely, however, the story explains for this small sect of Jesus followers that survived the Roman-Jewish War why God permitted the destruction of the Temple. It is an in-house interpretation and, therefore, not antiJewish. Likewise, the parable of the vineyard (12:1-12), by which the traditional allegorical interpretation casts the tenants as the Jews, the murdered heir as Jesus, and the owner as God, must be set within the context of an intra-Jewish dispute.

Gospel of Matthew

Paul Jones writes:[4]

Although the Gospel of Matthew is considered to be the "most Jewish" of the Gospels, it contains one of the most virulent anti-Jewish passages found in the Second Testament. Probably located in Syrian Antioch, the Matthean community defined itself over and against the synagogue. Thus, the term "Jews" in the Gospel represents those who deny the resurrection and believe that the disciples stole Jesus's corpse (28:13-15). Through Jesus, membership in the one people of God is extended to include the Gentiles (24:14; 28:16-20), but they do not replace the Jews (4:18-13:58). Both Jew and Gentile participate in God's plan for salvation.

As Matthew's narrative marches toward the passion, the anti-Jewish rhetoric increases. In chapter 21, the parable of the vineyard (to which we have already referred) is followed by the great "stone" text, an early christological midrash of Psalm 118:22-23: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" (Matt. 21:42). Then, in chapters 23 and 24, three successive hostile pericopes are recorded. First, a series of "woes" are pronounced against the Pharisees: "you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets...You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell?" (23:31, 33). Then, Jesus laments over the capital: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it...See, your house is left to you, desolate" (23:37-38). And finally, Jesus predicts the demise of the Temple: "Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down" (24:2b).

The culmination of this rhetoric, and arguably the one verse that has caused more Jewish suffering than any other second Testament passage, is the uniquely Matthean attribution to the Jewish people: "His [Jesus's] blood be on us and on our children!" (27:25). This so-called "blood guilt" text has been interpreted to mean that "all Jews, of Jesus' time and forever afterward, accept the responsibility and blame for Jesus' death." As discussed previously, the one time that the passion narratives break away from the method of "prophecy historicized" is when the Gospels assert Jewish responsibility and Roman innocence. Thus, Matthew "invented" this verse to address the fate of Jerusalem as just punishment for its rejection of Jesus.

Shelly Matthews writes:[5]

In Matthew, as in many books of the New Testament, the idea that Christ followers are persecuted is pervasive. Blessings are pronounced on those who are persecuted for righteousness sake in the Sermon on the Mount; the woes against the Pharisees in Matthew 23 culminate in predictions that they will "kill and crucify, flog in synagogues, and pursue from town to town;" the parable of the banquet in Mattthew 22 implies that servants of the king will be killed by those to whom they are sent.

The pervasiveness of the accusation that Jews persecute, kill or intend to kill Christ believers in Matthew is accompanied by a dearth of specifics regarding the charges, the motives, the causes, and the specific agents of the persecution.

Douglas Hare noted that the Gospel of Matthew avoids sociological explanations for persecution:[6]

Only the theological cause, the obduracy of Israel is of interest to the author [of Matthew]. Nor is the mystery of Israel's sin probed, whether in terms of dualistic categories or in terms of predestinarianism. Israel's sin is a fact of history which requires no explanation.

Gospel of John

Paul Jones writes:

The Gospel of John has the dubious distinction of being both the most popular Gospel (considered the most "spiritual" of the canonical Gospels) and the most anti-Jewish. The term "the Jews" (Ioudaios) in the Gospel functions as a "hostile collective stereotype" and is identified with "evil" and the "devil." Yet the Gospel of John is intimately connected with Judaism. Jesus is thoroughly Jewish in this Gospel. His life revolves around the Jewish festivals, and his identity as the Messiah is confirmed by the Jewish scriptures. According to John 20:31, the book was written so "that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God." Christology, therefore, is the key to understanding both the theology of the Gospel and its strained relationship with the larger Pharisaic Jewish tradition.

The Gospel of John in particular records a hostile attitude between Jesus and the "Jews" (the Jesus Seminar translates this as "Judeans", i.e. residents of Judea, in contrast to residents of Galilee). For example, in 7:1–9 Jesus moves around in Galilee but avoids Judea, because "the Jews/Judeans" were looking for a chance to kill him. 6:60–6:66 records "many disciples" (who were largely Jewish) leaving Jesus after he said that those who eat his body and drink his blood will remain in him and have eternal life (6:48–59, for interpretations of this passage, see Transubstantiation). In 6:67–71 Jesus asks the Twelve if they also want to leave, but St. Peter responds that they have become believers. In 7:12–13 some said "he is a good man" whereas others said he deceives the people, but these were all "whispers", no one would speak publicly for "fear of the Jews/Judeans". Jewish rejection is also recorded in 7:45–52, 8:39–59, 10:22–42, and 12:36–43. 12:42 says many did believe, but they kept it private, for fear the Pharisees would exclude them from the Synagogue. After the crucifixion, 20:19 has the disciples hiding behind locked doors, "for fear of the Jews/Judeans".

Luke-Acts

See also: Luke-Acts and Apostolic Age

Paul Jones writes:[4]

Addressed primarily to a Gentile community, the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles ... seek to negotiate the church's dual status in the world. On the one hand, they emphasize the movement's Israelite roots to certify it as part of an ancient and honorable tradition, and, on the other hand, they disassociate themselves from the politically dangerous Jewish nationalist sentiments.
Although Luke's Gospel places the blame for the death of Jesus on "scribes and chief priests" (20:19). and not the Jewish people as a whole, Acts condemns all Jews:
You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. You are the ones that received the law as ordained by the angels, and yet you have not kept it (7:51–53).
This passage (and others like it, such as Acts 2:36; 3:14-15; 4:10) not only expresses anti-Jewish rhetoric but also indicates that for this author '"the Jews' continue to persecute the apostles and Paul, the synagogue remains a place of danger and rejection, and the future of the church is among the Gentiles.

According to Acts, persecution of Jesus' followers began after a trip by Peter and John to the Jerusalem Temple and Peter's speech. Peter is recorded as saying {Acts 3:12–26-NRSV):

You Israelites ... Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate ... you rejected the Holy and Righteous One ... you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead ...

Peter and John were imprisoned by the Jewish leadership who were "much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead" (NRSV), a doctrine opposed by the Sadducees. According to Acts, the Jewish leadership was specifically "the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees ... rulers, elders, and scribes ... Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John (Other ancient authorities read Jonathan}, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family" (NRSV), who however later released them after warning them to never again "speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus" (4:1–21). Another time, all the apostles were imprisoned by the high priest and other Sadducees, only to be freed by an Angel of the Lord (5:17–21). The apostles, after having escaped, were then taken before the Sanhedrin again, but this time Gamaliel (a Pharisee well known from Rabbinic literature and leader of the Pharisaic Sanhedrin) convinced the Sanhedrin of Acts to free them (5:27–40), which they did, after having them flogged.

Acts 6:8–8:3 is the only source for the stoning of Stephen by members of the Sanhedrin (Acts 6:13–14 NRSV)

They set up false witnesses who said, ‘This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us.’

Stephen is remembered in Christianity as the first martyr (derived from the Greek word "martyros" which means "witness", see also Martyrology). Stephen's execution was the precursor to widespread persecution of Christians (Acts 8:1-3), resulting in the imprisonment of many of the new religion's adherents, and the scattering of many of them to throughout the Jewish Diaspora. Acts 8:1 claims that "... a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria." -NRSV According to the book of Acts, a young and zealous disciple of the Pharisees named Saul (also called Paul according to Acts 13:9), joined the persecutors, and played an ever increasing roll in this, the first persecution of the Church.[7]

Encouraged by his successes in Jerusalem, Paul attempted to carry the persecution into Damascus, to which many Christians had fled, but instead was converted to Christianity after reportedly being struck blind by a bright light and hearing the voice of Jesus on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9:1–31, 22:1–22, 26:9–24). While in Damascus, he joined with the Christians. Acts 9:23-25 says that "the Jews" in Damascus then "conspired" to kill Paul. They were waiting for him at the town gates, but he evaded them by being lowered over the city wall in a basket, thus escaping to Jerusalem. Another attempt on his life was made, this time by "the Grecians" (KJV), perhaps referring to a group of Hellenistic Jews (9:29), whom he debated while in or around Jerusalem.

Acts 12:1–3 records that King Herod (believed to be Agrippa I) had James executed by sword. Acts 12:21–23 claims King Herod was later struck down by an Angel of the Lord.

Several passages in Acts describe St. Paul's missions to Asia Minor and the encounters he had with Diaspora Jews and with local gentile populations. In Acts chapters 13 through 15, the Jews from Antioch and Iconium go so far as to follow Paul to other cities and to incite the crowds there to violence against him. Paul had already been stoned and left for dead once (Acts 14:19). In Philippi, a Roman colony, Roman magistrates beat and jailed Paul and his companions on behalf of the gentiles (Acts 16:19-40). Clearly at this point, Paul and his companions were still considered to be Jews by those in Philippi who raised protests against them, despite Paul's attempts to tailor his teachings to his audience (1 Cor 9:20–23). Later, in Thessalonica, the Jews again incited the crowds and pitted the Christians against the Roman authority (Acts 17:6–8).

In Corinth, Paul encountered a hostile Jewish crowd who "united" and took him before the Roman tribunal (18:12–17). Verse 13 records the charge: "They said, ‘This man is persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the law.’" Verse 17 records the final result: "Then all of them (Other ancient authorities read all the Greeks) seized Sosthenes, the official of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of these things." -NRSV

In Acts 21, a trip by Paul to Jerusalem, James the Just confronts Paul with the rumor about his practices (Acts 21:21 NRSV):

They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs.

A few verses later, the Jews from Asia Minor (modern Turkey) seized Paul, shouting (Acts 21:28 NSRV):

‘Fellow-Israelites, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place; more than that, he has actually brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.’

They tried to kill him but he was rescued by the Romans (Acts 21:31–35 NRSV):

While they were trying to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort [see also Antonia Fortress] that all Jerusalem was in an uproar ... When Paul came to the steps, the violence of the mob was so great that he had to be carried by the soldiers. The crowd that followed kept shouting, ‘Away with him!’

Paul addressed the crowd in their language, probably Aramaic, (22:1–21), but the crowd again became hostile: "Up to this point they listened to him, but then they shouted, ‘Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.’" (Acts 22:22 NRSV)

Acts 23 continues with a trial by Paul before a Sanhedrin at which he is accused of teaching "resurrection of the dead", but this divides the Jews because the Sadducees oppose the doctrine whereas the Pharisees support it. The division became violent, so the Roman tribune ordered Paul to be thrown in the barracks, but the next morning a "Jewish conspiracy", see also cabal, was formed to attempt to murder him (23:12-15). Previously, in 14:5, 20:3 and 20:19, Paul complained about "plots of the Jews". But the Romans learn of the plot and safely escort Paul, under heavy guard, to Caesarea, the capital of Iudaea Province: (Acts 23:23–4 NRSV)

...‘Get ready to leave by nine o’clock tonight for Caesarea with two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen. Also provide mounts for Paul to ride, and take him safely to Felix the governor.’

Galatians

In his epistle to the Galatians, Paul offers indicates several times that the Jews have persecuted Christians by the Jews beginning with his admission of his own persecution of the Christians prior to his conversion. (Gal 4:29) and ending with his suggestion that he is presently being persecuted because he no longer preaches circumcision (Gal 5:11).

2nd Corinthians

In Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians, he asserts that he had been persecuted by the Jews on numerous occasions (2 Cor 11:23–26 NIV):

...I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.

1st Thessalonians

In Paul's first epistle to the Thessalonians, he claims that Christian churches have been persecuted by the Jews (1 Thessalonians 2:14–16 NIV):

...those churches suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.

Patristic writings

Written in the second century, Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho a Jew[8] may represent a Christian-Jewish debate about Christianity, possibly with Tarfon, or it may be entirely the invention of Justin. "Trypho, a Jew" posits a number of objections, such as: 

   * Chapter X.—Trypho blames the Christians for this alone—the non-observance of the law. (see also Antinomianism)
   * Chapter XXXII.—Trypho objecting that Christ is described as glorious by Daniel, Justin distinguishes two advents. (see also Second Coming)
   * Chapter XXXIX.—The Jews hate the Christians who believe this. How great the distinction is between both! (see also Judaism and Christianity)
   * Chapter XLVI.—Trypho asks whether a man who keeps the law even now will be saved. Justin proves that it contributes nothing to righteousness. (see also Legalism)
   * Chapter XLVIII.—Before the divinity of Christ is proved, he demands that it be settled that He is Christ. (see also Jewish Messiah)
   * Chapter LVII.—The Jew objects, why is He said to have eaten, if He be God? Answer of Justin.
   * Chapter LXXI.—The Jews reject the interpretation of the LXX., from which, moreover, they have taken away some passages. (see also Septuagint)
   * Chapter LXXXIX.—The cross alone is offensive to Trypho on account of the curse, yet it proves that Jesus is Christ. (see also discussion: "Scandal of the Cross")
   * Chapter CXXIII.—Ridiculous interpretations of the Jews. Christians are the true Israel. (see also Supersessionism)
   * Chapter CXXXVI.—The Jews, in rejecting Christ, rejected God who sent him.

Assessments of the New Testament account

Historicity of the account

Jeremy Cohen writes on the historicity of the New Testament stories:

"Indeed, they contain "gospel truth." Nevertheless, despite their immeasurable value for historians, the Gospels are not books of history, certainly not in the modern sense, and we cannot fairly expect them to offer an accurate, factual report of historical events. Three factors underlie this presupposition. First, the evangelists, the writers of the Gospels, did not have historical reporting as their goal. ... Second, not only may we not classify the Gospels as historical writing, but we must also recognize that intellectuals in the classical world did not place the same high value on the accurate recording of historical events that we generally do today. ... Third, though they tell of the life of Jesus, which ended around the year 30 C.E., the texts of the Gospels belong to a very different historical context. "[9]

Some liberal theologians argue that NT account is ahistorical because there is no corroborating evidence outside the New Testament or the writings of the church fathers. According to this perspective, the persecutions either never happened or were exaggerated by either the New Testament authors as part of a polemic against the Jews. This polemical exaggeration was intensified by later writers such as the Church Fathers. For example, it is argued that the incidents in the New Testament represent isolated, local incidents and do not represent an institutional policy. Later events after the Bar Kokhba rebellion may have led to a re-interpretation of the isolated events into a perception of institutional policy.

According to James Everett Seaver,

Much of Christian hatred toward the Jews was based on the popular misconception... that the Jews had been the active persecutors of Christians for many centuries. Juster, Parkes, and Williams have ably shown the fallacy of this idea concerning Jewish persecution of Christians during the first three centuries. It remains to discover whether there is any basis for the claim, often voiced in the writings of the church fathers, that the Jews were actively persecuting Christians during the crucial fourth century, thus inviting Christian hatred and retaliation.

The... examination of the sources for fourth century Jewish history will show that the universal, tenacious, and malicious Jewish hatred of Christianity referred to by the church fathers and countless others has no existence in historical fact. The generalizations of patristic writers in support of the accusation have been wrongly interpreted from the fourth century to the present day. That individual Jews hated and reviled the Christians there can be no doubt, but there is no evidence that the Jews as a class hated and persecuted the Christians as a class during the early years of the fourth century.[10]

Hare and Pearson question whether any such persecutions of Christians took place prior to 70 A.D. However, the assertion that there was perhaps no persecution of Christians by Jews prior to 70 is widely disputed. Indeed, it is countered by the evidence of Paul himself, who admits in his own letters that he was once a persecutor of Christian churches. As Schlueter notes, quoting Sanders: "The best-attested fact (for such persecution) is that Paul himself carried out such persecution." See also New Perspective on Paul.

Sectarian conflict

One perspective holds that the earliest examples of "Jewish persecution of Christians" are examples of "Jewish persecution of other Jews," that is, sectarian conflict. Prior to the destruction of the Temple, Judaism was extremely heterodox; after the destruction of the Temple in 70, early Christians and Pharisees (the Second Temple group that would become Rabbinic Judaism) vied for influence among Jews.

According to Douglas R. A. Hare, "it has long been recognized that in the Gospel according to St. Matthew the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees has been intensified and it has often been suggested that this intensification reflects the continued struggle between the Church and the synagogue." Hare asserts that prior to the first revolt, Jewish persecution of Christians was more frequently directed at Christian missionaries to synagogues in the Diaspora than against the church in Jerusalem. Organized opposition to Christianity appeared during the first revolt (when nationalist sentiment was high) and after it (when Parisaic dominance of the Synagogue was established). Few Christians were martyred prior to the Bar Kokhba revolt. Most of those who were killed were victims of mob violence rather than official action. None were executed for purely religious reasons although individual missionaries were banned, detained and flogged for breach of the peace. According to Hare, the numerous New Testament references to persecution reflect early Christian expectations of persecution based perhaps on the pre-Christian "conviction that the Jews had always persecuted the messengers of God".."[11]

Some scholars assert that Jewish persecution of the followers of Jesus started only when Christianity started spreading among Gentiles and when the Jews realized the separation between themselves and Christians. [12] [13] Paul E. Davies states that the violent persecuting zeal displayed by some Jews sharpened the criticisms of the Jews in the Gospels as they were written. [13]

G. George Fox argues that the hostile utterances of rabbis were towards those Christians who did not support Bar Kokhba and was due to anti-Jewish feelings which were caused by Gentile converts to Christianity. This however is controversial as only certain segments of the community ever accepted Bar Kokhba as the Messiah, while many Rabbis scorned such a proposition. Fox also argues that the persecution accusations and stories of early Christians matrydom are exaggerated by the Church. [14] He asserts that it is unhistorical to assume that the matrydom of Stephan was representative of a widespread persecution of Christians because events of this nature weren't uncommon in that time. In support of this assertion, Fox argues that thousands of Jews were killed by Romans and it wasn't something new or novel. [14] Thus the persecution hardly started before 70 A.D. and when it was started by Bar Kochba, it wasn't not on purely theological grounds but also because of the disloyalty of Christians in the rebellion against the Romans.[14]

Claudia Setzer draws a distinction between Jews and Christians (both Jewish and Gentile) as to when the perception of Christianity as a Jewish sect was replaced by an understanding of Christianity as a new and separate religion. Setzer asserts that, "Jews did not see Christians as clearly separate from their own community until at least the middle of the second century." By contrast, "almost from the outset Christians have a consciousness of themselves as distinct from other Jews." Thus, acts of Jewish persecution of Christians fall within the boundaries of synagogue discipline and were so perceived by Jews acting and thinking as the established community. The Christians, on the other hand, being a new movement, worked out their identity in contrast and opposition to the Jewish community and saw themselves as persecuted rather than "disciplined."[15]

Politics as a motivation for sectarian conflict

There is some debate over why the Pharisees persecuted Christians, if in fact they even did so. According to Paula Fredriksen, in From Jesus to Christ, the reason was that Jewish Christians were preaching the imminent return of the King of the Jews and the establishment of his kingdom. To Roman ears, such talk was seditious. Romans gave Jews at that time limited self-rule (see Iudaea Province); the main obligations of Jewish leaders were to collect taxes for Rome, and to maintain civil order. Thus, Jewish leaders would have to suppress any seditious talk. In cases where Jewish leaders did not suppress seditious talk, Jewish leaders were often sent to Rome for trial and execution, or in the cases of Herod Archelaus and Herod Antipas merely deposed and exiled to Gaul.[16]

The problem with this theory, however, is that the Pharisees were by no means in league with, or agents of, Rome. Critics point out that Fredriksen is conflating the Pharisees with the Sadducees, their theological and political opponents. In fact, most of the Pharisees, prior to the Jewish Revolt of 66-70, were fairly millenarian, and apocalyptic themselves, entertaining and preaching Messianic hopes. Many of them were in fact associated with rebel groups (see, for example, Zealots), and the general disposition of the Pharisees could well be described as anti-Roman, anti-Greek, and pro-Parthian, and they made no secret of it.[citation needed] See for example Circumcision in the Bible— In the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha.The Tübingen school of historians founded by F. C. Baur holds that in Early Christianity, there was conflict between Pauline Christianity and the Jerusalem Church led by James the Just, Simon Peter, and John the Apostle, the so-called "Jewish Christians" or Pillars of the Church, although in many places Paul writes that he was an observant Jew, and that Christians should "uphold the Law" (Romans 3:31). See also Antinomianism in the New Testament.

Theology as a motivation for sectarian conflict

Often overlooked by modern scholars, however, is the "Scandal of the Cross". "Being hanged on a tree" is "the ultimate (or final) curse" in the Torah. In the first two centuries, and indeed long after, traditional, orthodox Pharisees and their followers held that any man who had been crucified (and therefore 'hanged'), regardless of how, why, or by whom, was ipso facto accursed by God[17]. The Christian claim that a man who had been crucified was, in fact, the promised Messiah, the apocalyptic judge of the world, and "the incarnation of the Angel of the LORD", was, to the Pharisees, a blasphemy they could not tolerate[18].


Relationship to antisemitism

Further information: Christianity and antisemitism
See also: Jews in the New Testament

The standard Christian interpretation of the New Testament account casts the alleged persecution by the Jews as an institutional rejection of Christianity. The polemic and conflict arising out of this sectarian conflict colored Christian attitudes, policies and behavior towards Jews for the next 2000 years. Thus, some scholars assert that antisemitism is rooted in the original conflict between Jews and Christians during the formative years of early Christianity. Today, although most Christian churches still consider the New Testament accounts to be factual, they reject the notion of the events providing any legitimate justification for antisemitism.

Many contemporary Christians disavow the importance of the New Testament passages that are deemed to be "anti-Jewish". However, some Christians continue to deem such passages "divinely inspired." According to Lillian Freudmann, "Nearly every book in the New Testament expresses slander and contempt for Jews. Most Christians have maintained that the New Testament is not anti-Jewish but that antisemitism arose as a result of the misunderstanding of it. Examination of the contents of the New Testament does not support this claim."[19] John Dominic Crossan also addresses this issue in his 1995 Who Killed Jesus? Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of the Death of Jesus.

Persecution in the post-apostolic era

James the Just

Circa 63, James the Just was stoned to death by order of the High Priest Ananus ben Ananus for transgression of the law, but later public opinion against the act resulted in Ananus being deposed by the new Roman governor Lucceius Albinus.[20]

Bar Kokhba

As he consolidated his power in preparation for war (132-135), Bar Kokhba persecuted Judeo-Christians who would not renounce their faith in Jesus Christ. Christians insisted that Jesus, rather than Bar Kokhba, was the Messiah and refused to fight. According to Justin Martyr, the consequence of their refusal was that they were "commanded to be punished severely, if they did not deny Jesus as the Messiah and blaspheme him."[21]

Persecution by the Pharisees

From the defeat of Bar-Kochba (AD 135) to Constantine the Great, the Church Fathers described the continuing persecution of Christians by Jews. The organized, post-Temple, Judaism that survived the Wars with Rome of 66-73, 115=117 and 132-135 AD was overwhelmingly that of the Pharisees (see Pharisees and Judaism and Christianity for details). The natural consequence of this redefinition or revitalization (depending on one's viewpoint) of Judaism was that the rejection of Christ and Christians that was already strong in the earliest days of the church became more institutionalized.[22] There were now two sharply defined claimants to the legacy of the Patriarchs, the Law, and the Prophets: one group defining itself by its belief in Jesus Christ and a New Covenant and New Testament and the other by the teachings of Hillel the Elder and other Torah sages later collected in the Mishnah which is part of the Talmud.[23] (See also Judaism and Christianity— Raison d'être of the religion).

The hypothesized Council of Jamnia c. 90 has been postulated as the historical turning point of relations between Judaism and Christianity, though the topic is also heavily disputed as an over-generalization. Nonetheless, it appears that in this time period, this council, or more accurately school or academy, did eject the Noẓerim/Nazarenes from Rabbinic synagogues.[24] See also John 9:22, 9:34, 12:42, 16:2. However, how well this was carried out is moderated by John Chrysostom's complaints in the 4th century, (see John Chrysostom#Sermons on Jews and Judaizing Christians), that some Christians even at that late date were still attending Jewish synagogues, i.e. Judaizing. See also the disputes over Antinomianism, the Sabbath in Christianity and Quartodecimanism.

Encouragement of Roman persecution

A number of Church Fathers charged that, at least on some occasions, Roman persecution of Christians was actively encouraged by Jews.

Justin Martyr makes this point on a number of occasions. Tertullian (c. 180) labels Jews “the seed-plot of all the calumnies against us,” and called the synagogues of his day “fountains of persecution.” Origen (c. 250) charges Jews with falsely reporting Christians guilty of cannibalistic practice and sexual orgies. Under Trajan, c 107 AD, Jews may have participated[25] in the death of St. Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem.

Many Roman governors that were in doubt if they should persecute Christians (most did nothing against Roman law), got complaints from Jews and Jewish priests when Christians were not persecuted. In the martyrdom of Polycarp of Smyrna there was also hesitation on the Roman side, while the Jews ("and heathen") of Smyrna asked for Polycarp to be eaten by lions and when this was refused, to burn him at the stake. According to Alistair Stewart-Sykes in his Lamb's High Feast: Melito, Peri Pascha and the Quartodeciman Paschal Liturgy at Sardis, Polycarp was likely an ethnic Jew. See also Quartodecimanism.

In AD 155 at Smyrna, when Polycarp was condemned to be burned, Jews gathered wood for the fire “as is usual with them.”[26] In Smyrna a century later, Pionius, burned under Decius, addressed the Jews that derided him before his death in the following terms:

“I say this to you Jews . . . that if we are enemies, we are also human beings. Have any of you been injured by us? Have we caused you to be tortured? When have we unjustly persecuted? When have we harmed in speech? When have we cruelly dragged to torture?”[7]

References

  1. ^ Acts 24:5, 24:14, 28:22, see also Jewish Encyclopedia: Christianity in its relation to Judaism: Early Christianity a Jewish Sect
  2. ^ Acts 4:1–22, 5:17–42, 6:8–7:60, 22:30–23:22
  3. ^ For example, see Catholic Encyclopedia: Acts of the Apostles: OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE AUTHENTICITY: "Nevertheless this well-proved truth has been contradicted. Baur, Schwanbeck, De Wette, Davidson, Mayerhoff, Schleiermacher, Bleek, Krenkel, and others have opposed the authenticity of the Acts. An objection is drawn from the discrepancy between Acts ix, 19-28 and Gal., i, 17, 19. In the Epistle to the Galatians, i, 17, 18, St. Paul declares that, immediately after his conversion, he went away into Arabia, and again returned to Damascus. "Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas." In Acts no mention is made of St. Paul's journey into Arabia; and the journey to Jerusalem is placed immediately after the notice of Paul's preaching in the synagogues. Hilgenfeld, Wendt, Weizäcker, Weiss, and others allege here a contradiction between the writer of the Acts and St. Paul." Note that the Catholic Encyclopedia considers the authenticity of Acts to be a "well-proved truth" but nonetheless notes that other scholars disagree. See also Catholic Encyclopedia: Gospel of Saint Luke: Saint Luke's Accuracy: "Very few writers have ever had their accuracy put to such a severe test as St. Luke, on account of the wide field covered by his writings, and the consequent liability (humanly speaking) of making mistakes; and on account of the fierce attacks to which he has been subjected..."
  4. ^ a b c "FROM INTRA-JEWISH POLEMICS TO PERSECUTION: The Christian formation of the Jew as religious other". Encounter. Sprint 2006. Retrieved 30 June 2007. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Shelly Matthews. "Violence in Matthew: The Question of Text and Reality". Retrieved 2007-06-06.
  6. ^ Douglas Hare. (1967). The Theme of Jewish Persecution of Christians in the Gospel According to St. Matthew. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 145.
  7. ^ See Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Stephen which among other things says: "The only first hand source of information on the life and death of St. Stephen is the Acts of the Apostles (6:1–8:2)."
  8. ^ "Dialogue of Justin, Philosopher and Martyr, with Trypho, a Jew". Retrieved 2 July 2007.
  9. ^ Jeremy Cohen (2007): Christ Killers: The Jews and the Passion from the Bible to the Big Screen. Oxford University Press. pp.15-18 ISBN 0195178416
  10. ^ The Persecution of the Jews in the Roman Empire (300-428) by James Everett Seaver. UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, 1952. Humanistic Studies, No. 30
  11. ^ The Theme of Jewish Persecution of Christians in the Gospel According to St Matthew by Douglas R. A. Hare. Series: Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series (No. 6) ISBN 052102045X p. 61
  12. ^ G. George Fox, p.83
  13. ^ a b Davies, p.74
  14. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Fox84 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Claudia Setzer (1994). Jewish Responses to Early Christians: History and Polemics, 30-150 C.E. Minneapolis: Fortress.
  16. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Herod: "He [Archelaus] soon aroused opposition by marrying his brother's wife -- a crime like that of Antipas later -- and having been accused of cruelty by his subjects, "not able to bear his barbarous and tyrannical usage of them", he was banished to Vienne, Gaul, A. D. 7 in the tenth year of his government (Jos., "Ant.", XVII, ix, xiii, 1, 2)."; "Contrary to his better judgment he [Antipas] went, and soon learned that Agrippa by messengers had accused him before Caligula of conspiracy against the Romans. The emperor banished him to Lyons, Gaul (France), A. D. 39, and Herodias accompanied him (Jos., "Ant.", XVIII, vii, 2). Josephus (Bel. Jud., II, ix, 6) says: "So Herod died in Spain whither his wife had followed him". The year of his death is not known. To reconcile the two statements of Josephus about the place of exile and death, see Smith, "Dict. of the Bible", s. v. "Herodias" (note)."
  17. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia: Saul of Tarsus: Antinomianism and Jew-Hatred:"The Pauline Jew-hatred was ever more intensified (see Romans 9–11, and comp. 9:31)—which is clear evidence of a later origin—and culminates in Gal 3, where, besides the repetition of the argument from Gen. xv. 6 and xvii. 5, the Law is declared, with reference to Deut. xxviii. 26 and Hab. ii. 4 (comp. Romans 1:17), to be a curse from which the crucified Christ—himself "a curse" according to the Law (Deut 21:23; probably an argument taken up from controversies with the Jews)—was to redeem the believer"
  18. ^ 1 Cor 1:23:"but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,"
  19. ^ Lillian C. Freudmann (1994). Antisemitism in the New Testament. University Press of America. ISBN 0819192953.
  20. ^ Josephus Antiquities 20.9.1
  21. ^ http://www.livius.org/ja-jn/jewish_wars/jwar07.html
  22. ^ It is disputed when or even if Rabbinic Judaism became formally institutionalized, though the Council of Jamnia is a common claim, for example, Albert C. Sundberg, Jr. writes in "The Old Testament of the Early Church" Revisited 1997: "It was the Jamnia decisions that, while not "official," came to be generally accepted in post-destruction Judaism." Christianity became formally institutionalized when it became a state religion, first in Armenia in 301, then Ethiopia in 325, then Georgia in 337, then the Byzantine Empire in 380 ... though some would push institutionalization back to Peter, see Primacy of Simon Peter and Apostolic Succession.
  23. ^ See Tannaim for details and references.
  24. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia: Min: "In passages referring to the Christian period, "minim" usually indicates the Judæo-Christians, the Gnostics, and the Nazarenes, who often conversed with the Rabbis on the unity of God, creation, resurrection, and similar subjects (comp. Sanh. 39b). In some passages, indeed, it is used even for "Christian"; but it is possible that in such cases it is a substitution for the word "Noẓeri," which was the usual term for 'Christian'... On the invitation of Gamaliel II., Samuel ha-Ḳaṭan composed a prayer against the minim which was inserted in the "Eighteen Benedictions"; it is called "Birkat ha-Minim" and forms the twelfth benediction; but instead of the original "Noẓerim" ... the present text has "wela-malshinim" (="and to the informers"). The cause of this change in the text was probably, the accusation brought by the Church Fathers against the Jews of cursing all the Christians under the name of the Nazarenes." Robert J. Miller's Complete Gospels, 1992, notes in its introduction to John, page 196: "The explanation [for the thoroughly Jewish yet anti-Jewish milieu of this gospel] appears to be that this group of Christian Jews has recently been expelled from the synagogue (9:22, 34; 12:42; 16:2) and therefore has a highly ambivalent, and frequently hostile, attitude toward the Ioudaioi [Judeans]"
  25. ^ Eusebius' Church History 3.32.4: "And the same writer says that his accusers also, when search was made for the descendants of David, were arrested as belonging to that family." Sidenote 879: "This is a peculiar statement. Members of the house of David would hardly have ventured to accuse Symeon on the ground that he belonged to that house. The statement is, however, quite indefinite. We are not told what happened to these accusers, nor indeed that they really were of David’s line, although the ὡσ€ν with which Eusebius introduces the charge does not imply any doubt in his own mind, as Lightfoot quite rightly remarks. It is possible that some who were of the line of David may have accused Symeon, not of being a member of that family, but only of being a Christian, and that the report of the occurrence may have become afterward confused."
  26. ^ “The Martyrdom of Polycarp” in <The Fathers of the Church> (Washington: Catholic University Press, 1962), vol. I, p. 157. See also The Martyrdom of Polycarp at newadvent.org

Sources

  • W.H.C. Frend, 1965. Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church
  • Lillian C. Freudmann. Antisemitism in the New Testament, University Press of America (1994); ISBN 0819192953
  • Douglas R. A. Hare. The Theme of Jewish Persecution of Christians in the Gospel According to St Matthew]. Series: Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series (No. 6) ISBN 052102045X \
  • James Everett Seaver. The Persecution of the Jews in the Roman Empire (300-428)]. UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, 1952. Humanistic Studies, No. 30
  • Claudia Setzer. Jewish Responses to Early Christians: History and Polemics, 30-150 C.E. Fortress. Minneapolis. 1994 254pp.

See also

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