THE NEW TESTAMENT WORLD

In the period covered by the NT, the Jews were an underclass in a Mediterranean world dominated by the political power of Rome. This world was also under the intellectual sway of the Greeks, whose language had come to dominate the region since the days of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC.

The Jews had enjoyed a brief period of independence under the Maccabees, but this had ended in 63 BC when Pompey, a Roman general, invaded Jerusalem, made it a vassal state and appointed Antipater, an Idumean, as the vassal king. Antipater was succeeded by his son Herod, who ruled from 37 to 4 BC and became known to history as Herod the Great. He was an effective but cruel ruler (see, for example, Matt 2:16). In an attempt to establish his credentials as the true king of the Jews and to gain renown, he undertook an extensive restoration of the temple in Jerusalem, a process that was still going on in Jesus’ time, long after Herod’s death.

After the death of Herod the Great, his kingdom was divided among three of his sons. Judea and Samaria went to Archelaus, who proved a very unpopular ruler (Matt 2:22; Luke 19:14 may also allude to him). He eventually lost the support of Rome and was deposed in AD 6. Thereafter Judea was ruled by Roman governors like Pontius Pilate.

Meanwhile Galilee and Perea went to another son, Herod Antipas.

It was he who ordered the execution of John the Baptist (Mark 6:14- 29) and to whom Pilate sent Jesus (Luke 23:6-12). Herod the Great’s grandson Agrippa was the appointed king of Palestine between AD 41 and 44. It was he who killed the Apostle James (Acts 12). At the time of his death, his son was still a young man and Judea again became a Roman province. Eventually, this son, Agrippa II, was given some power by the Romans. It was he who presided over the Apostle Paul’s trial (Acts 25:23; 26:32).

While the Romans and the Herodian dynasty exercised political authority, religious authority rested with the Sadducees. This group accepted only the Torah (the first five books of the OT, which we know as the Pentateuch). By Jesus’ time, the Sadducees represented the wealthy aristocracy and controlled the Sanhedrin, the governing religious council. They exercised authority over the temple and the priesthood. They were generally satisfied with the status quo and their hold on the priestly institutions. They saw no need for a Messiah and did not believe in any resurrection of the dead (Mark 12:18). When the temple was destroyed in AD 70, the Sadducees ceased to exist.

But the Sadducees were not the only group within Judaism. Of the other groups, the most prominent were the Pharisees, who had great influence in the synagogues, where they were respected authorities on the interpretation of the law of Moses. The word “Pharisee” means “separatist” and reflects the fact that this group opposed Greek cultural influences and the combining of priesthood with political power. Not surprisingly, there were frequent conflicts between the Sadducees and the Pharisees.

The Pharisees believed in the direct application of the Scriptures to everyday life. They had developed a rich oral tradition on how to keep the law, a tradition which is known today as the Mishnah and forms part of the Talmud, the main text of Rabbinic Judaism. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection, heaven and hell, angels and demons. While Jesus opposed the legalism of the Pharisees, theologically he was much closer to the Pharisees than to the Sadducees. Paul the Apostle was a devout Pharisee prior to his experience on the Damascus road.

The Pharisees also believed in the coming of a Messiah, an anointed one, who would bring salvation and purify the nation and the temple. They interpreted salvation in terms of restoring the nation’s political and economic freedom, rather than in terms of salvation from sin.

As the longing for political deliverance from the Roman colonisers grew, so did the expectation that the Messiah would be a conqueror who would defeat the Romans and establish an earthly kingdom. These expectations led to the rise of groups like the Essenes, whose members withdrew from society and lived in isolation in a location near the Dead Sea, as well as activist groups like the Zealots. Simon, one of Jesus’ disciples, was a Zealot (Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13). Jesus’ presentation of himself as a suffering servant who would take away the sins of the people ran counter to the popular view that the Messiah would be a general who would lead the army into victory against the hegemonic occupiers of their land.

The rise of the Zealots and similar groups eventually resulted in a full-scale revolt against Roman rule in AD 66. The result was disaster.

Jerusalem was besieged by the Roman general Titus in AD 70. When the city fell, the inhabitants were massacred and both the city and the temple were destroyed. This destruction had been prophesied by Jesus in Mark 13:1-2. The loss of the city and of the temple, key markers of Jewish identity, struck a deep blow.

In the surrounding nations, the ferment was less political and more philosophical and religious. Various schools of thought, many of which originated in Greece, were in competition. Epicureanism taught that pleasure was the supreme good and to be obtained by living wisely. Stoicism held that one could find fulfilment through conformity to the logos (divine logic or reason). A new school of thought called Gnosticism was beginning to develop, which held that the material world was evil and only the spiritual world was good. We see awareness of these philosophies in the NT writings. The Apostle John uses the concept of the Logos (Word) in the prologue to his gospel. Paul addressed both Epicurean and Stoic philosophers in Acts 17:18. In the letters that he wrote to the churches, the issues he addressed include hedonism (1 Cor 6:12; 10:23) and extreme asceticism (1 Tim 4:3).

Other religions also flourished in the Mediterranean world alongside these philosophies. There were the ancient religions of Greece and Rome, evident when Barnabas and Paul were mistaken form Zeus and Hermes (Acts 14:12) and in the worship of Artemis in Ephesus (Acts 19:23-28). There were also newer “mystery religions”, like the cults of Dionysus and Mithras. These mystery religions were secret societies in which only an elite few were privy to secret knowledge and rituals that gave them access to spiritual power. By contrast, Paul repeatedly declares that the mystery of Christ is open to all (Eph 3:3-12).

Another popular religion in the region was the worship of Rome and the Roman emperors. Temples were erected to Julius Caesar, Augustus, Nero and Domitian. Such worship was a way to maintain the emperor’s favour, and those who refused to offer a pinch of incense at these shrines could be accused not only of a lack of patriotism but even of treason. This was the problem Christians faced when they asserted “Jesus is Lord” and refused to acknowledge Caesar as Lord.

In some respects, the world in which Christ lived and in which the NT was written is not unlike the world we live in today in South Asia.

A range of philosophies and religions still compete for our allegiance, and the options are not that different from what they were then. In political terms, our nations still think of national heroes, saviours who will reverse our political, economic and social fortunes. In India, oppressed classes like the Dalits have come to build their hopes around great personages such as Dr B. R. Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi and used their teachings to find their identity and place in history. Every country in the region has such a messianic figure of its own. The NT makes much greater sense to anyone who can see all such hopes, aspirations and struggles converge on one person, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, both prophetically, retrospectively and existentially.

Babu Immanuel Venkatarama