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WAMT: New Testament Survey
Context
Geographical Context:
Paul’s Letters
Rome
Corinth
Thessalonica
Crete
(where Titus is)
Philippi
Ephesus
Galatia
Colossae
Hasmonean Rule
Seleucid Rule
Ptolemaic Rule
Greek Rule
Biblical-Historical Context
Biblical-Historical Context:
Late Old Testament History
• The Babylonians destroy Jerusalem and the temple in 586 BCE.
• The Jews spend fifty years in exile wondering “Why did God let this happen to us?”
Their answer: “Because we failed to keep the Covenant.”
• In 539 BCE, the Persians conquer Babylon and allow people to return to their
homelands. The Jews go back and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple (completed in
515 BCE).
• They are very concerned to not let the Exile happen all over again.
How do they
ensure that it doesn’t happen again? Make sure they keep the Covenant!
• Ezra the priest leads a religious reform movement aimed at bringing the people
into strict observance of the Torah (~450 BCE).
Biblical-Historical Context:
Inter-testamental History
• Persia maintains control of Judah for about 200 years (“the Persian
peace”) allowing the Jews some time to rebuild and regroup.
• In the late 4th century BC, the Greeks conquer the Persian Empire
under Alexander the Great.
• Alexander dies in 323 BC and his empire is divided among four
generals: Seleucus (Syria) and Ptolemey (Egypt) start vying for Judah.
• Control of Judah goes back and forth, mostly with Ptolemies, until
the Seleucids gain control in the late 3rd century BCE.
Division of Alexander’s Empire
Biblical-Historical Context:
The Maccabean Revolt (168-164BC)
• Antiochus IV Epiphanes is Seleucid king in 175 BC. He begins to force Greek culture upon
the Jews (“hellenization”). These stories are told in 1 and 2 Maccabees.
• Hellenization was a way to establish and maintain control: everybody speaks the same
language, follows the same customs, worships the same gods…everybody identifies as Greek!
• Jews are forced to do things that compromise the Covenant and their identity as God’s
People.
• 168 BC: Mattathias and Judas (“the Maccabee” or “the hammer”) start a revolt to throw off
the Seleucid rulers.
• Four years of guerrilla war ends with the Maccabees capturing Jerusalem in 165 BC and
throwing off Seleucid power in 164 BC.
• They establish the Hasmonean dynasty (family name), the first period of Jewish self-rule in
almost 600 years.
Jewish Self-­‐Rule
Babylonians
Assyrians
Persians
Greeks
Hasmonean Rule
Seleucid Rule
Ptolemaic Rule
Greek Rule
Who Controlled the
Land?
Romans
Jewish Self-­‐Rule
Biblical-Historical Context:
The Maccabean Revolt (168-164BC)
Take a look at the passages from 1 & 2 Maccabees:
• What did Antiochus IV do to try to force Greek culture
on the Jews?
• How did this violate the Jewish laws?
• What was the Jewish response?
• What does the Jewish response show about their
beliefs in this period?
• How does the text celebrate martyrdom?
Biblical-Historical Context:
Hasmonean Period
• The first period of Jewish self-rule since the Assyrians entered the picture in the 8th
century BC, almost 600 years earlier!
• Lasts from about 164 BC to 63 BC.
• Things start off well—the Maccabees are good kings—but things soon go downhill again.
Later Hasmoneans turn out to be as bad as the Greeks!
• Simon Maccabeus becomes king and high priest (142BC).
This blurring of
boundaries continues throughout the period.
• By about 100 BC, civil war is starting in Judah.
One Hasmonean king crucifies
800 rebels and slaughters their wives and children in front of them.
• Ends with the coming of the Romans to Palestine in 63 BC.
• Josephus (a Jewish-Roman historian) tells about these events in Jewish War.
Biblical-Historical Context:
Early Roman Period
• The Romans leave the Hasmonean ruler as king and high priest, but
take civil control for themselves.
• 40 BC: Herod the Great is made King of Judea.
• The region flourishes under Herod (expanded temple, lots of
building projects), but he was a vicious ruler.
• Jews never accept him because he only married into a Jewish family.
Herod himself was Edomite (a descendent of Jacob’s brother, Esau).
• Herod reigns until about 4 BC...the time of Jesus’ birth.
Early Roman Period
Biblical-Historical Context:
New Testament Period
• Jesus/Judea are not major players on the Roman scene! They are an
obscure sideshow to the story of the Roman Empire!
• Roman governors are sent to Judea to keep the peace in a
troublesome province. Judea is “backwoods”; governors “paid
their dues” in hopes that they would soon be called back to Rome.
• Pontius Pilate served as governor from 26-36 CE. He seems to have
provoked and antagonized the Jewish populace (see Josephus)
Josephus on Pilate
“Pilate…conveyed to Jerusalem the images of Caesar known
as standards. When day dawned this caused great
excitement among the Jews; for those who were near were
amazed at the sight, which meant that their laws had been
trampled on…They rushed off to Pilate in Caesarea, and
begged him to remove the standards from Jerusalem and to
respect their ancient customs. When Pilate refused, they fell
prone all round his house and remained motionless for five
days and nights…”
Josephus on Pilate
“…The next day Pilate took his seat on the tribunal in the great stadium
and summoned the mob on the pretext that he was ready to give them
an answer. Instead he gave a pre-arranged signal to the soldiers to
surround the Jews in full armor, and the troops formed a ring three
deep.” The Jews were dumbfounded at the unexpected sight, but Pilate,
declaring that he would cut them to pieces unless they accepted the
image of Caesar, nodded to the soldiers to bare their swords. At this the
Jews as though by agreement fell to the ground in a body and bent their
necks shouting that they were ready to be killed rather than transgress
the Law. Amazed at the intensity of their religious fervor, Pilate ordered
the standards to be removed from Jerusalem forthwith…”
Josephus on Pilate
“…After this he stirred up further trouble by expending the sacred treasure
known as Corban on an aqueduct fifty miles long. This roused the populace
to fury and when Pilate visited Jerusalem they surrounded the tribunal and
shouted him down. But he had foreseen this disturbance, and had made the
soldiers mix with the mob, wearing civilian clothing over their armor, and
with order not to draw their swords but to use clubs …He now gave the
signal from the tribunal and the Jews were cudgeled, so that many died
from the blows, and many were trampled to death by their friends as they
fled. The fate of those who perished horrified the crowd into silence.
--Josephus, Jewish War.
Biblical-Historical Context:
New Testament Period
• This sort of behavior on the part of the Roman rulers (along with
internal divisions and nationalistic fervor among the Jews) led to
the Jewish revolt against Rome in 66-70 CE.
• In the end, the Romans crushed the Jews, destroyed Jerusalem and
the temple, and carried the treasures of Jerusalem off to Rome.
• Much of the New Testament is written in the time after the
destruction of the temple and reflects upon questions of “What do
we do without the temple?”
Religious Context:
Second Temple Judaism
The Stories We Tell Ourselves:
• God created the world good, but it is marred by sin.
• God chose Abraham’s family as a vessel to bring redemption to the world.
God promised Abraham family, land, and blessing.
• God delivered us from slavery in Egypt.
• God made a covenant with us: he will be our God, we will be his people.
• We failed to live up to our side of the covenant and so reaped the
consequences: we were delivered over to our enemies.
• God has not forsaken us. God is faithful. God will yet fulfill his promises
to us.
Religious Context:
Second Temple Judaism
Some Themes:
• Continued Exile?: The Jews are back in the land but they are still
under the rule of foreigners/pagans.
• Salvation in the Land: “salvation” is being in the Covenant, being
God’s People, tied God’s promises to Abraham and to being in the
land.
• The “Fence Around the Law”: effort to create buffer zone around
the Torah, driven by belief that salvation is tied to the land (don’t
want to get kicked out again) and the Day of YHWH won’t come
until “we have earned it.” Leads to “tradition” and Pharisees.
Religious Context:
Second Temple Judaism
Some Themes:
• The Day of YHWH: the time when God would finally destroy the
evil (and all the pagans/enemies) and establish God’s rule over all
the earth.
• Messiah: God’s “anointed one.” Jews were awaiting the leader who
would overthrow the foreign rulers and usher in the Day of YHWH.
• Apocalypticism: the expectation that God will radically break into
the world to set things right (Daniel and Revelation are apocalyptic
literature)
Religious Context:
Second Temple Judaism
Key Questions:
1. How did we get into Exile?
2. How do we make sure we don’t go back into exile?
3. How are we going to get out of ‘continued exile’ under foreign
rulers?
4. When will God finally fulfill his promises?
5. When will God send a deliverer?
Religious Context:
FOUR “PHILOSOPHIES”
Sadducees
• Priestly group in charge of sacrifices and temple.
• Tended to be wealthy and aristocratic, interested in preserving the status
quo.
• Also religiously conservative: only accepted the Torah as scripture, didn’t
believe in resurrection, angels, or anything else not found directly in Torah.
• “The ‘Exile’ doesn’t matter any more. The most important thing is to make
sure that the temple system keeps going. We hope God will send a
deliverer, but for now, we just have to live with whoever is in charge.”
• The Sadducees essentially disappeared after the destruction of the Temple.
Their primary function and focus was gone! Judaism had to reinvent itself.
Religious Context:
FOUR “PHILOSOPHIES”
Pharisees
• Strict rule-followers, name probably comes from the word for “to separate.”
• Believed that the written Law was accompanied by an “oral Law” (interpreation of
the Law) that was passed down from Moses.
• Accepted a larger Old Testament canon than other groups (including the Prophets
and Writings, not just the Torah) and doctrines that accompanied.
• They sought to extend the holiness of the temple into domestic, everyday life.
• “Exile happened because we didn’t keep the Torah and God will only send a
deliver when we live up to the Covenant. We need to be even stricter, build a
‘fence around the Law.’ The problem is that those sinners who aren’t keeping the
Torah are holding us back!”
• The Pharisees became the primary players after the destruction of the temple!
Religious Context:
FOUR “PHILOSOPHIES”
Essenes
• A strict ascetic community who believed that the whole Jewish political-religious
system was corrupt. They separated themselves from society, practiced strict ritual
behavior, and waited for God to show up apocalyptically and set things right (with
them on top!).
• The Qumran community (origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls) is thought to resemble an
Essene community. Same with John the Baptist.
• “Everyone is compromising by living so close to Greco-Roman culture! We are the
righteous remnant! We are going out to the desert to separate and purify
ourselves. When God come, then God is going to vindicate us! But you all are in a
whole lot of trouble!”
Religious Context:
FOUR “PHILOSOPHIES”
Zealots
• Also known as or Sicarii (name of a short dagger that could be concealed
under a cloak). Josephus simply calls them the “fourth philosophy.”
• Guerrilla warriors who wanted to violently overthrow the Romans, just
like the Maccabees.
• “None of these other plans are working. God helps those who helps
themselves! God wants us to take matters into our own hands. Let’s just
overthrow the Romans violently just like the Maccabees did to the
Greeks!”
• Remember Simon the Zealot?
Second Temple Judaism
Things that set the Jews apart from other people:
• Three Defining Beliefs: nobody else believes these!
• Monotheism: YHWH alone is God
• Election: Jews are God’s chosen people
• Torah: the Pentateuch is God’s revealed law
• Three Distinctive Signs: nobody else does these!
• Circumcision
• Sabbath
• Food Laws
Second Temple Judaism
Things we have to understand as we head into the New Testament:
• The Jewish worldview (apocalypticism, exile, salvation, messiah, etc.): their
questions and their expectations.
• The history of foreign rule, oppression, persecution, unrealized hopes, and
unfulfilled promises.
• The different Jewish sects and their beliefs about the way the world works.
• The things that served as identity markers for the Jews (beliefs and signs) and
why these were so important.
• The Jewish sense of expectation!
The Jewish people were waiting for God’s
radical intervention in their world!
Social/Political Context
What is politics?
• Comes from the Greek word polis (!ολις), having to do with a
city or specifically the citizens of a city.
• Ideally, has to do with the affairs of the populace in
relationship to the society and to one another: i.e. issues of
governance and mutual-compromise for the good of the
whole!
• More frequently and popularly, has to do with issues of
power structures.
Social/Political Context
A few important notes about Greco-Roman society and politics:
• Rome’s success was built upon powerful armies and brilliant generals.
• Emperors needed support of armies. Often, after the death of an
emperor, it was the armies that chose the next (if there was not a clear
line of succession).
• The office of emperor was a dangerous one. Many were assassinated
(sometimes by their own guards).
• Pax Romana: period relative peace in the first century that was enforced
with the sword!
• “All roads lead to Rome”: Roman road system allowed easy travel and quick
movement of armies.
Social/Political Context
• Roman society was built upon classes: Senate (300 families),
Equestrian (.01%), Decurion (~.5%, provincial aristocrats),
Respectable Populace (merchants, craftsmen, etc.), Free Poor (tenant
farmers, day laborers, dependents of patrons, etc.), Destitute.
• Class was basically dependent upon wealth. There was not a lot of mobility!
• Patron system helped establish social ties and dependency.
• Roman citizenship was extremely important! It guaranteed rights that
were not granted to those who were not citizens (see Acts 22:25).
• Slavery was common: about 1/3 of population in Italy, about 10%
elsewhere.
Social/Political Context:
Social Hierarchy
Citizenship and Freedom
Patrons and Clients
Wealthy freeborn citizen
Imperial freed (citizen) slave
Imperial slave
Wealthy freed citizen slave
Poor freeborn citizen
Poor freed citizen slave
Wealthy freeborn noncitizen
Poor freeborn noncitizen slave
Freed noncitizen slave
Urban domestic slave
Farm slave
Mining slave
Patrician patron
Upper-class plebeian patron
Client of powerful patron
Client of weak patron
Age and Sex
Adult male, no living father
Adult male, living father
Widowed adult female with resources
Widowed adult female
Married adult female
Child (male, then female)
Social/Political Context
• Romans valued that which was “ancient.”
They
were suspicious of new “innovations” (especially
when it comes to religion).
• Romans were polytheistic.
Most emperors were
believed to become gods after their death (at least in
proclamation). Some emperors took “divine” titles
during lifetime, this often got them in trouble.
Augustus took title “Son of God.”
Social/Political Context
1. Remember that Second Temple Judaism had a sense of being in continuing
exile, was hoping to regain political independence.
2. Politics and religion go hand-in-hand in the first-century world.
• Civil religion: the use of religious language by a nation or society in order to
glorify, justify, and offer blessing to the actions of the nation…tends to see
themselves as “the chosen ones.”
• Roman politics had religious overtones: loyalty to empire was shown through
worship of the state/emperor; Christians and Jews were seen as bad citizens because
they refused to offer sacrifices to Caesar.
• Jewish religion had political overtones: religion was about identity as God’s
people; Jews were waiting for God to reestablish them as a national/political entity.
Social/Political Context
3. These institutions collaborated to form a system that
oppressed Jewish peasant people:
• Roman Empire: demanded tributes.
• Temple System: used by Herod as a political tool, priests
get enmeshed in politics, people have to pay temple tax.
• Provincial Kings: Herod’s family placed huge tax
burdens on the people to fund their lifestyles and building
projects.
Social/Political Context
All of these factors combine to form a situation that is very tense and a
society that is ripe for revolt, as we’ve seen before and will see again...
• 168-64 BCE: Maccabees
• 4BC-6 CE: minor revolts following the death of Herod the Great
(Judas the Galilean, Theudas, see Acts 5)
• ~30CE: Unnamed “prophet” (in Josephus)
• ~33CE: Jesus
• 66-70 CE: Jewish War (leads to destruction of Jerusalem/Temple)
• 130’s CE: Bar Kokhba Revolt leads to diaspora (scattering)
Social/Political Context
“It came to pass, while Fadus was procurator of Judea, that a certain
charlatan, whose name was Theudas, persuaded a great part of the people
to take their effects with them, and follow him to the river Jordan; for he
told them he was a prophet, and that he would, by his own command,
divide the river, and afford them an easy passage over it. Many were
deluded by his words. However, Fadus did not permit them to make any
advantage of his wild attempt, but sent a troop of horsemen out against
them. After falling upon them unexpectedly, they slew many of them, and
took many of them alive. They also took Theudas alive, cut off his head,
and carried it to Jerusalem.”
—Josephus, Antiquities
Social/Political Context
“For a man…rallied them, bidding them go in a body with him to Mount Gerizim,
which in their belief is the most sacred of mountains. He assured them that on their
arrival he would show them the sacred vessels which were buried there, where
Moses had deposited them. His hearers, viewing this tale as plausible, appeared in
arms. They posted themselves in a certain village named Tirathana, and, as they
planned to climb the mountain in a great multitude, they welcomed to their ranks
the new arrivals who kept coming. But before they could ascend, [Pontius] Pilate
blocked their projected route up the mountain with a detachment of cavalry and
heavily armed infantry, who in an encounter with the first comers in the village
slew some in a pitched battle and put the others to flight. Many prisoners were
taken, of whom Pilate put to death the principal leaders and those who were most
influential among the fugitives.”
—Josephus, Antiquities
Social/Political Context
But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by
all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time.
Then he said to them, “Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to
do to these men. For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody,
and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he was killed, and all
who followed him were dispersed and disappeared. After him Judas the
Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also
perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case, I tell
you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this
undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able
to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!”
—Acts 5:34-39
Social/Political Context
• Because of their monotheism, the Jews were unwilling to incorporate civil
religion into their worship (other polytheistic people groups were more willing)
• The Jews received an “exemption” from the Roman laws requiring
participation in the civil religion. The Romans recognized that it wasn’t worth the
trouble.
• The Romans valued things that were old, so they respected the Jews’ ancient
religion (and the Christians were safe as long as they were associated with the
Jews).
• Sometimes Roman authorities (e.g. Pilate) “tested” the Jews or tried to assert
their authority, “show them who’s boss.” (See Josephus)
Social/Political Context
N.T. Wright, Simply Jesus:
• Would-be “messiahs” tended to follow a similar agenda: defeat the enemies,
cleanse the temple, and establish the kingdom. (SJ p. 115)
• Jewish people waited for an initial “declaration of independence” that marked the
beginning of the kingdom and then a later final establishment of the kingdom. (SJ
p. 116)
• How does Jesus reframe this agenda and these expectations?
• Read Jesus temptation story: Luke 4:1-12. What kind of messiah was Jesus being tempted to be?
How was he tempted to bring the Kingdom of God?
• Contrast this with how Jesus chose to be the messiah/bring the kingdom: Luke 4:16-20;
Matthew 5:1-12, 38-48.
• Wright suggests that this is a “reframing” of the typical messianic “battle” agenda: Jesus is
fighting a different enemy. (SJ p. 120-122)
Social/Political Context
Summary:
• Politics and religion are inseparable in the 1st century world. Jewish
religion was caught up in political power struggles.
• Judea/Israel was an area that the Romans recognized as ripe for revolt.
They took measures to crush anything that even looked like the makings
of rebellion (in the name of the “Roman peace”).
• The Roman empire was built upon violent dominance, oppression,
exploitation and slavery…especially toward those who were not Romans.
• What was Jesus’ message in the midst of this environment? What is the “good
news” to people living in this kind of situation?
Social/Political Context
• In this environment, where everything is about politics, Jesus’ message
and the Christian Gospel was inherently political:
• The Kingdom of God…is incompatible with the Empire of Rome.
• “Jesus is Lord”…means Caesar is not.
• Jesus claims to be “king of the Jews”…(ironically affirmed by Pilate) this threatens
the power of Herod and his family.
• Jesus talks about tearing down the temple...threatens the power and place of the
religious authorities.
• Jesus offers forgiveness outside of the temple…threatens the religious power
structures.
• God’s peace brings wholeness…the “Roman peace” comes only through the
sword.