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Abstract
Inscriptions predating Christianity both describe the Emperor using
titles later employed to describe Jesus, and couch the Emperors
role in similar terminology to that employed by the early church.
What are we to make of such commonality between the terminology
used to describe the Roman Emperor and the terms the Bible uses
to describe the supreme Lordship of Christ? Worship of the Roman
Emperor through the Roman Imperial Cult was an empire-wide
reality confronting the first Christians, living under Roman rule, as
they approached life in a new empire under a new king.
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Introduction
God manifest. A god, and son of God. The Lord and saviour of the
world. The resurrected God. The subject of the . For
Christians this is language that describes the work, purpose andperson of Jesus Christ. For first century Roman citizens these titles
were shared with the emperors of the Julio-Claudian (49BC68AD)
and subsequent eras.
A study of Roman history charts the development of the Imperial
Cult as Romes predominant religious and political reality. The study
of epigraphic sources, and first and second century political
commentators sheds new light on the intentions of the writers of the
Bible, especially Paul, with regards to this political milieu. We will
examine the competing claims of the empire or Rome, and the
empire of Jesus through an examination of these sources.
We will consider the hypothesis that the gospel writers, especially
Matthew and Luke, framed their accounts as a challenge to Roman
authority, and that Paul, in his epistles and accounts of his ministry
in Acts, did not advocate conformity and obedience to the imperial
Roman hegemony, but rather a realignment of loyalties to Christ
and an accompanying repudiation of all other lords, including the
Emperor.
We will analyse the significance of language shared by the gospel
writers and heralds of the Roman emperor, arguing that while the
apostles proclamation of the of Jesus employed
politically loaded language, and titles familiar to first century
readers, this did not necessarily constitute a direct challenge to
Romes authority because such use of such terminology was
unavoidable. We will, however, conclude that it was likely perceived
as a challenge by Roman citizens participating the Imperial Cult.
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We will then consider the problems that converting to this new way
of life brought for first century followers of the way. Concluding that
such a radical realignment of fidelity was a guaranteed path to
persecution, suffering and rejection by the empire.
Tracing the Development of the Imperial Cult
and use of Divine Titles through primary
sources from the Julio-Claudian Era
The concept of resurrection was foreign to Roman belief during the
Republican Era, but as the empires boundaries expanded, thebeliefs of conquered nations were assimilated into the melting pot
of Roman religiosity. Two such beliefs were the notion of
resurrection, and the divinity of rulers. Traditional Roman theology
saw death and apotheosis (resurrection) as the path to divinity, this
contrasted with Greek theology, which treated rulers as gods within
their lifetimes.1
This theological disparity placed emperors in a difficult position
when dealing with emissaries from the east and west of the empire.2
This tension was soon resolved, as the cult became an important
mechanism of control for the emperor,3 and the worship of the living
emperor (and his deified ancestors) quickly became a normative
component of the Roman religious experience.4
1 Novak, R.M, The Worship of the Roman Emperor, Christianity and theRoman Empire Background Texts (Harrisburg: Trinity PressInternational), 2001, p 2672 Price, S.R.F, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor,(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 1984, p 753 Wright, NT, Pauls Gospel and Caesars Empire, Paul and Politics:Ekklesia, Israel, Imperium, Interpretation, ed Horsley R.A, (Harrisburg:
Trinity), 2000, p 161, Wright suggests it was worship, and not militarymight, that allowed Rome to control its vast empire.4 Gradel, I, Heavenly Honours Decreed by the Senate, Emperor Worshipand the Roman Imperial Cult, (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 2002, pp
260-265, see also Pachis, P, Manufacturing Religion: The Case of DemetraKarapophoros in Ephesos Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting,November 21-25, 2008.
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Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar was the first deified Roman emperor, his apotheosis
was legislated by the senate,5 but the process of his deification
began while he was alive. Two years before his death he washonoured with a statue bearing the inscription God made manifest
in the Greek city of Pharsalus.6 Another statue with an inscription
To the Conquering God was placed in the temple of Quirinius.
Coinage from the time also bears witness to this developing notion
of his divinity. A denarius from shortly before his death features the
inscription Clementia Caesarand the image of a temple of
Clementia and Caesar, a temple that was apparently never built.
7
Augustus
Augustus engaged in a sophisticated campaign to claim divine
authority, while habitually declining divine honours in order to
appear humble. The symbolic appearance of humility was important
for Augustus, as demonstrated by his handing of power back to the
senate, only to have them immediately confer the power back to
him, for life, and give him the title Augustus, as recorded in his
Res Gestae,8a regularly updated list of his achievements.9
First century writers Livy, Suetonius and Dio Cassius, link the title
Augustus with the role ofaugur, a key religious and political role in
the first century.10
5 Novak, R.M, The Worship of the Roman Emperor, Christianity and theRoman Empire Background Texts (Harrisburg: Trinity PressInternational), p 2676 Kreitzer, L, Apotheosis of the Roman Emperor, Biblical Archaeologist.53 December, 1990, pp 211- 217, p 2127 Kreitzer, L, Apotheosis of the Roman Emperor, p 2128Res Gestae, from The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian, p 49, Inreturn for this service of mine, by senatorial decree I was called
Augustus After that time I excelled all men by my authority, but I had nomore official power than other men who were my colleagues in eachmagistracy.
9 Gradel, I Emperor Worship and Roman Religion, p 280 suggests the ResGestae should be understood as a supplement to Augustus will andessentially as his claims to divine office.
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A linen breastplate in the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, described by
Livy inAb Urbe Condita, bore an inscription naming Augustus
Caesar as the founder and restorer of all temples.
Augustus synergised the spheres of church and state by taking the
religious roles of augur, and Pontifex Maximus. 11 His assumption of
religious roles was a step towards obtaining Pax Deorum, the peace
of the gods.
VergilsAeneiddescribes Augustus as the founder of a golden age,
heading for divinity.12 This view of Augustus as the harbinger of a
golden age is corroborated by documentary evidence, including a
decree from the Asian League following a twenty year competition
to find the most appropriate recognition for the emperor, which
describes Augustus as: filled with virtue for the service of mankind,
a saviour, who brings peace, whose arrival surpassed the
anticipation of good news (), outstripping those who
came before and leaving no hope of anybody greater in the future.13
The letter that won the competition, from the Roman proconsul to
the Asian League in 9 BC claims the birthday of our most divine
Caesar as the beginning of all things because Augustus restored
stability in a time of disarray and gave a new look to the entire
world, which led to a reconfiguration of the Roman calendar.14 This
10 Brent, A, The Foundations of the Imperial Cult, The Imperial Cult andthe Development of Church Order: Concepts and Images of Authority inPaganism and Early Christianity before the Age of Cyprian, (Leiden:Brill),1999, pp 24-5211 Brent, A, The Foundations of the Imperial Cult, pp 24-5212 Aeneid, lines 6,791-6,794, Brent, A, p 58, This is the man, this is hewhom you have often heard promised, Augustus Caesar, son of God, whoshall found the golden age once more over the fields where Saturn oncereigned.
13 Inscription of the Asian League, 9 BC, Lines 31-41, 44, 47-53, fromHarden, The Imperial Cult in the Roman Empire and Galatia, 2008
14Letter to the Asian League (Priene: 9 BC), from Harrison, J.R, TheAugustan Age of Grace, Tyndale Bulletin, 50.1, 1999, pp 79-91, at pp 85-86
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competition followed the normative pattern of imperial recognition.
It was most often the result of provinces and cities competing to
glorify the emperor, rather than the initiative of the emperor
himself.
15
Augustus also assumed control of Romes prophetic schools16 and
was able to collate, and edit prophetic expectation of his rule.17 He
was prophet, priest and king, and from there it was only a small
step to divinity.
A statue of Augustus dressed as Apollo, next door to the newly
dedicated Temple of Apollo in Rome, indicates that as far back as 28
BC Augustus was manoeuvring public perception of himself towards
that notion.18
A fusing of Roman virtues (peace, fortune, providence, etc) in the
person of the Emperor led to the fusing of the cults of the empire
(Roma), and emperor. A coin, from 19 BC links worship of the
personified Rome, with worship of the Emperor Augustus the coin
is from Pergamum, the first province to build a temple to
Augustus.19 Augustus also embodied the spes (hope) of the Roman
Empire another Roman virtue that had essentially been
epigraphically and numismatically dormant until his reign.20 The
office, and person, of the emperor was now a sacramental sign of
15 Zanker, P, The Power of Images, Paul and Empire: Religion and Power
in Roman Imperial Society, ed. Horsley, R.A, (Harrisburg: Trinity Press)1997, p 7616 Res Gestae (7.3) I was Pontifex Maximus, augur, quindecimvir ofsacred affairs, septimvir for religious banquets, Arval Brother, fellow of thesociety of Titius, fetial priestFrom The Roman Empire: Augustus toHadrian, Documents of Greece and Rome, Edited and Translated by Sherk,R.K, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 1988, p 43 thequindecimvirwas the keeper of the Sibylline (prophetic) books.17 Brent, A, The Foundations of the Imperial Cult, p 59, this editinginvolved the burning of sibyllines he couldnt apply to himself.18 Brent, A, The Foundations of the Imperial Cult, p 60
19 Kreitzer, L, Apotheosis of the Roman Emperor, p 21420 Clark, M.E, Spes in the Early Imperial Cult: The Hope of Augustus,Numen Vol XXX, Fasc 1, 1983, pp 80-105
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the Golden Age, and the emperor was both priest and god of his
own cult.21
When Augustus took the title ofPontifex Maximus in 13 BC heestablished the practice of swearing oaths to his genius, this
followed the senates decree in 30 BC that every public and private
banquet feature a libation to his genius.22In 7 BC he established the
Lares Compitiales, featuring the image of his genius alongside
images of other gods.
Fishwick (1969) discussing the distinction between genius and
numen, erroneously concludes that the emperors were never
deified, though the public possibly saw them as gods, arguing from
silence that nobody is recorded praying to the emperor for health
and treating ascriptions of divinity as non-literal honorifics.23 This
argument would seem to fail on the basis of epigraphic evidence,
and the decree for oaths and libations to be focused on the imperial
genius (a problem that confronts the first Christians in Corinth).24
Fishwick, in a later work, traces Augustus manipulation of the
imperial cult as a political tool.25 Fishwick takes epigraphic evidence
at face value concluding that the cult was a provincial phenomenon
discouraged in Rome.26 As we will see this undersells the important
role the cult played in the stability of imperial rule.
21 Brent, A, The Foundations of the Imperial Cult, pp 65-6622 Brent, A, The Foundations of the Imperial Cult, p 61, Brent suggests
that this, along with a renewed emphasis on ancestor worship, was a keystep towards the empire wide imperial cult.23 Fishwick, D, Genius and Numen, Harvard Theological Review, 62 no 3,1969, p 356-36724 Discussed below, but see25 Fishwick, D, The Imperial Cult in the Latin West: Studies in the RulerCult of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire, Vol I, 2nd Edition,(Leiden: Brill) 1993, pp 73-8226 Fishwick, D, The Imperial Cult in the Latin West, p 72 Provincial cult,where alone the state might be involved, was carefully focused on DeaRoma alongside Augustus himself, but otherwise direct cult of the
emperor was avoided in Rome and municipal and private cult were left tolocal or personal initiative; there was no organized, universal religion of agrand design.
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Temples of Augustus from throughout the empire, including in the
west,27 have been dated as early as 27 BC.28 One such inscription
puts Augustus alongside the gods, describing the sacrificing ofoxen to Imperator Caesar Augustus, and to his two sons, and to the
other gods.29 Zanker (1997) contends that by the end of Augustus
reign that there was probably not a single Roman city in Italy or the
western provinces without some form of imperial cultic structure.30
The imperial cult emerged from its chrysalis in the lifetime of
Augustus, and like a chess grandmaster he manoeuvred its pieces
so that upon his death it was inevitable that he would join his
adoptive father in state sanctioned divinity. 31 Worship of a living
emperors numen almost guaranteed their apotheosis.32
The ceremonial exaltation of Augustus as he passed into divinity at
his death caused Tacitus to remark in the Annals of Rome: No
honours were any longer reserved for the gods, when he wanted to
be worshipped with temples and cult images by flamines and
priests.33By the time of his death the imperial cult was a bona fide
institution extending to the imperial family.34
27 Zanker, P, The Power of Images, p 77, Zanker describes an ImperialCultic temple and festival held in 27 BCE and announced in Rome, to the
approval of the emperor.28The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian, ed. and trans. Shrek, R.K, pp11-1629 Hodot in the J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 10 (1982) 166 Cumae, TheRoman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian, ed. and trans. Shrek, R.K, p 1630 Zanker, P, The Power of Images, p 7731 Novak, Christianity and the Roman Empire, p 26732 Turcan, R, The Gods of Ancient Rome, trans, Nevill, A, (New York:Routledge), 2000, orig 1998, p 13833 Tacitus, Ann. 1. 10. 5, Gradel, I, Emperor Worship and Roman Religion,p 276
34 Winter, B.W, Seek the Welfare of the City. Christians as Benefactorsand Citizens, First-Century Christians in the Graeco-Roman World(Michigan: Eerdmans), 1994, p 124.
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Tiberius
Tiberius was a zealous campaigner for the divinity of Augustus, but
when it came to his own divinity, both within his lifetime, and after
his death, he was forwards in going backwards.
Though he accepted one temple in his honour he felt compelled to
publicly defend that decision on the basis of Augustan precedent,35
and as a result of zeal for Augustus to refuse all future honours.36
Tacitus Annals of Rome records him declining honours and wishing
that rather than divinity he might have a quiet mind, gifted with
the understanding of law human, and divine and that on his death
he might be thought of kindly.37
The suspicious reaction to Tiberius persistent contemptuous
rejection of divine honours, in contrast to Augustus hopeful pursuit
of posthumous divinity, is also recorded by Tacitus.38
35 Tacitus, Annals of Imperial Rome 4.37-38, in Novak, R.M, Christianityand the Roman Empire Background Texts (Harrisburg: Trinity PressInternational), pp 267-268, Since the deified Augustus had not forbiddenthe construction of a temple at Pergamum to himself and the City ofRome, observing as I do his every action and word as law, I followed the
precedent already sealed by his approval, with all the more readiness thatwith worship of myself was associated veneration of the senate.
36 Tacitus, Annals of Imperial Rome 4.37-38, in Novak, R.M, Christianityand the Roman Empire Background Texts (Harrisburg: Trinity PressInternational), pp 267-268, ...to be consecrated in the image of deity
through all the provinces would be vanity and arrogance and the honourpaid to Augustus will soon be a mockery, if it is vulgarised by promiscuousexperiments in flattery.
37 Tacitus, Annals of Imperial Rome 4.37-38, in Novak, R.M, Christianityand the Roman Empire Background Texts (Harrisburg: Trinity PressInternational), pp 267-26838 Tacitus, Annals of Imperial Rome 4.37-38, in Novak, R.M, Christianityand the Roman Empire Background Texts (Harrisburg: Trinity PressInternational), pp 267-268 an attitude by some interpreted asmodesty, by many as self-distrust, and by a few as degeneracy of soul:The best of men, they argued, desired the greatest heights: so
Hercules and Liber among the Greeks, and among ourselves Quirinus, hadbeen added to the number of the gods. The better way had been that ofAugustus who hoped!
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Tiberius wishes regarding his own posthumous divinity were
perhaps understood in the light of his speech, upon his death, when
the process of apotheosis was normally ratified by the senate, and
despite attempts by Caligula to procure his granduncles divinity,the senate opposed his deification.39
His adopted son, Germanicus (father of Caligula), repudiated divinity
by association in his time in Egypt in 18-19AD. A papyrus scroll from
the time contains his threat to no longer appear before them,
declining their odious shouts, as appropriate to the true saviour
only and the benefactor of the entire race of men, my father.40
Gaius Caligula
Caligula, like his granduncle, was denied apotheosis by the senate.
He was the first of the emperors to overtly promote his divine
status.41
Suetonius, in his second century Life of Caligularecords details of
his personal campaign for divinity which involved placing his head
on ancient statues of the gods, sitting as a living god within a
temple, and creating his own temple with priests.42
An inscription from his reign reveals his personal campaign for
divinity, in the context of providing recognition for the bodyguard
kings of his provinces, the inscription describes his friends inability
39 Kreitzer, L, Apotheosis of the Roman Emperor, p 21540 Documents 320, Papyrus from Egypt, The Roman Empire: Augustus toHadrian, ed. and trans. Shrek, R.K, p 61, also Inscriptions of the RomanEmpire. AD 14-117, edited by B. H. Warmington, B. H. and S. J. Miller(London: The London Association of Classical Teachers, 1996), p 1141 McLaren, Jews and the Imperial Cult,Journal for the Study of the NewTestament, 27.3 (2005), pp 257-278, p 274
42 Suetonius, Life of Caligula, 22.2-3, in Novak, R.M, Christianity and theRoman Empire Background Texts (Harrisburg: Trinity PressInternational), pp 268-269
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to find an appropriate response to the gracious act of such a great
god.43
Caligula famously planned to set up statues to himself on the altarof the temple in Jerusalem. Both Philo and Josephus devote
significant attention to reporting this incident, from their accounts it
seems that a persistent outcry from the Jews was enough to see the
procedure aborted.44
By the reign of Caligula the ruler cult was an overt method
employed by Emperors to maintain power and control of their
subjects.
Claudius
Claudius, in a letter to the Alexandrians, acknowledged the citys
piety towards theAugusti, and, with a show of humility, accepted
the honours they had directed to him, he allowed the Alexandrians
to venerate his birthday, and reluctantly45 let them erect statues
of himself in Alexandria and Rome, he granted them a Claudian
tribe, and Egyptian styled grove, but rejected their offer of a
temple and priests.46 In return for thesehonourifics he granted them
citizenship, and all benefits that they had enjoyed from the time of
Augustus.47
43 SIG 798, Cyzicus, The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian, ed. andtrans. Shrek, R.K, p 79 - He began from that time on to lay claim to divinemajesty; for after giving orders that such statutes of the gods as were
especially famous for their sanctity or their artistic merit, including that ofJupiter of Olympia, should be brought from Greece in order to removetheir heads and put his own in their place He also set up a specialtemple to his own godhead with priests and with victims of the choicestkind.
44 McLaren, Jews and the Imperial Cult, p 26645 Of the two golden statues even when I wished to reject the idea forfear of seeming to be quite arrogant, shall be erected at Rome, and theothers shall be carried in the manner you requested
46But a priest for me and erection of temples I reject, not wishing to beoffensive to the men of my time and judging that temples and such things
to the gods alone should be reserved and granted every age.47 Letter of Claudius to the Alexandrians,Papyrus found at Philadelphia inthe Fayum, Egypt. The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian, ed. and trans.
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A plinth of a statue of Claudius read the saviour of all mankind,48
and in the announcement of the arrival of Nero describes the
departing Claudius as the manifest god, Caesar.
49
Nero
Nero was posthumously refused divinity by the Roman Senate, and
thus no coins display his apotheosis.50 Like his ancestors he initially
declined cultic offerings, while simultaneously awarding benefits to
those offering them. In a papyrus scroll sent from Nero to the
province of Egypt he declined a temple in his honour, sent back a
golden crown and assured the province it would keep the benefits
given to them by his ancestors.51
Neros designation of tax-exempt status for the province of Achaia is
an example of the exchange of titles for benefits, and evidence that
he pursued recognition as a deity.
An inscription from Boeotia contains Neros decree, freeing noble
minded Greece from taxation for its goodwill and piety towards
himself, and the Achaean response calling Nero lord of the whole
world.52
Refusing Divine Titles and the importance of the
Imperial Cult
The foundation of the cult was laid with Julius Caesars deification,
and the parameters of the cult were established by Augustan
precedent rather than by formal edict. This provided flexibility in
accepting or refusing divine offers throughout the empire.53
Refusing cultic offerings was a performance of humility orchestrated
for the populace. The emperor had to maintain the legal and social
faade of being a citizen of the empire, in a privileged position by
Shrek, R.K, pp 83-86
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the will of the people.54 He was trapped between consolidating his
position within Roman cultural mores,55 and being culturally
sensitive to the Hellenistic segment of the empire.
Glorification of the emperor was a form of political currency, or a
system of exchange whereby cities and provinces curried favour
with the Roman emperor.56 Price (1984), in examining a cultic
offering to Augustus from the city of Sardis,57 notes cultic offerings
were accompanied by requests for the emperor to act as
benefactor, which were often granted.58
48 Winter, B.W, Sharing Divine Titles While Declining New Temples,Sharing the Throne of God: Imperial Cultic Activities and Early ChristianResponses (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), forthcoming, Harrison, J.R, Pauland the Imperial Gospel at Thessoloniki,JSNT25 1, 2002, pp 71-96, p 81describes a statue inscription which reads Tiberius Claudius CaesarSebastos Gemanicus god manifest ( ), saviour () ofour people too.49 Draft of a Proclamation of Nero as emperor (Papyrus from Oxyrhynchus
in Egypt), The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian, ed. and trans. Shrek,R.K,pp 102-10350 Kreitzer, L, Apotheosis of the Roman Emperor, p 21651 Greek papyrus from the Arsonoite Nome, Egypt, The Roman Empire:
Augustus to Hadrian, ed. and trans. Shrek, R.K,p 10352 Nero Liberates the Province of Greece (AD 67), Marble stele containinga speech of Nero, discovered in Boeotia, The Roman Empire: Augustus toHadrian, ed. and trans. Shrek, R.K, pp 110-112, It also names him fatherof his country, a benefactor of Greece while dedicating an altarconflating Nero and Zeus inscribed To Zeus the Deliverer, Nero forever.Statues of Nero were then placed in other temples so that our city might
seem to have fulfilled every honour and act of piety toward the house ofour lord Augustus Nero.
53 McLaren, Jews and the Imperial Cult, p 275, also, the case of Tiberiusdeclining temples on the basis of Augustan precedent would seem to bearthis out.54 Price, S.R.F, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor,(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 1984, p 7355 Particularly under the early emperors where memory of the republiclingered.56 Price, S.R.F, Rituals and Power, p 6557 IGR IV 1756 = Sardis VII I 8, Sardis sought approval to erect a statue of
his son in his temple. His approval of this request is recorded in thisinscription.58 Price, S.R.F, Rituals and Power, pp 66-71
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It is an oversimplification of a delicate political construction to view
the process as an exchange of goods for worship rendered. It was
important for both parties that these traditionally Greek cultic
exchanges continue under Imperial rule.
59
It was also important,from a traditional Roman perspective, for the emperor to maintain
the appearance of ordinary citizenship.60 These socio-political
complexities, and the need to maintain an air of benevolence in
imperial transactions,61 led to what Price calls the sincere fiction of
disinterested exchange.62
Winter (forthcoming) suggests that even when offers to construct
imperial temples were declined by emperors they were still
constructed in their honour.63 Oakes suggests inscriptions recording
cultic offerings were used to enhance the citys imperial standing
and were occasionally prone to hyperbole (for example when calling
for unilateral conduct from an entire city).64
The cult began almost instantaneously in the Roman east,65 and was
eventually spread throughout the empire,66 and demographically
diverse.67 Religion and politics were not separate spheres in Rome,
they were synonymous, the imperial cult was not on the sidelines,
nor was it simply political window dressing.68
59 Price, S.R.F, Rituals and Power, p 7260 Price, S.R.F, Rituals and Power, pp 73-7461 It could not be the case that a deposit of imperial worship was
automatically met with reward.62 Price, S.R.F, Rituals and Power, p 7463 Winter, B.W, Winter, B.W, Sharing Divine Titles while Declining New
Temples, Sharing the Throne of God: Imperial Cultic Activities and EarlyChristian Responses (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), forthcoming, p 764 Oakes, P, Re-mapping the Universe: Paul and the Emperor in 1
Thessalonians and Philippians, JSNT273 (2005) 301-322, p 31265 Winter, B.W, The Imperial Cult, The Book of Acts in its First CenturySettings: Vol 2: Graeco Roman Settings, ed Gill, D.W.J and Gempf, C,(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), 1994, pp 93-10366 Price, S.R.F, Rituals and Power, pp 65-72
67 Oakes, P, Re-mapping the Universe, p 311, Price, S.R.F,Rituals and
Power, pp. 107-108, it was not just the realm of the wealthy or powerful68 Price, S.R.F, Rituals and Power, p 234
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The birth of the Imperial Cult at the ludi saeculares of 13 BC was a
political and religious reformation.69 The ruler cult was more than
means to facilitate efficient government,
70
a methodology of socialcontrol,71 the legitimisation of rule,72 or the axiomatic result of
holding power.73 The cult, diplomacy and politics were essentially a
triumvirate of tools that constructed the reality of the Roman
empire.74
The cult, through civic distributions of food, and entertainment,
provided the rich fabric of Roman civic life and contributed to the
growth of the empire,75 an inscription details a series of imperial
cultic distributions in Galatia during the reign of Tiberius.76 It
integrated the religious, political, and commercial aspects of city life
into one system.77 Cultic temples were geographically located in
positions that reflected the cults prominence.78
The veneration of men who became gods was the stitching that held
together the fabric of life in the first century Roman Empire;
69 Brent, A, The Foundations of the Imperial Cult, p 1770 Price , S.R.F, Rituals and Power, p 23971 Price, S.R.F, Rituals and Power, p 24072 Price, S.R.F, Rituals and Power, p 24173 Price, S.R.F, Rituals and Power, p 24174 Price, S.R.F, Rituals and Power, p 24875 Mitchell, S,Anatolia: land, men, and gods in Asia Minor, (Oxford:
Oxford University Press), 1995, pp 108-11776 This inscription goes on to list several similar distributions from avariety of cultic priests, Mitchell, S, p 108, Inscription on the left anta of atemple in Ancyra OGIS 533, The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian,Documents of Greece and Rome, Edited and Translated by Sherk, R.K pp73-74 those who were priests of the god Augustus and of the goddessRoma. In the governorship of ------, son of King Brigatos, gave a publicbanquet, distributed olive oil for four months, presented public spectacles,gave a show of thirty pairs of gladiators and a hunt of bulls and wildanimals.
77 Hardin, J.KGalatians and the Imperial Cult(Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck,
2008), pp 32-37.78 Hardin, J.K, Galatians and the Imperial Cult, p 31, Winter, B.W, Seek theWelfare of the City, p 127, Mitchell, S,Anatolia, p 107
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stitching that was torn asunder for the first Christians by the
competing, and similar claims of an alternate king.
The Man Gods
Winter (2010) and Gradel (2002) explore the significance of the
Latin terminology of divinity when assessing the divinity of
emperors. The Latin words divus (a deified human) and deus (an
eternal God) are both translated in Greek. This presented a
challenge for identifying the theological category in which to
understand the imperial claims to divinity. Winter, following Wardle
(2002) suggests Caesar was described as a divus because he was a
man who been attributed divine status by law.79 Wardle suggests
this decision was both theological and philological,80 but mostly
political.81
Contra Wardle and Winter, Gradel suggests that divus traditionally
described eternal gods. He cites the lack of a similar title for
Hercules and Romulus (both state gods who had once been human),
and the dying words of Vespian: Vae, puto dues fio(I think I am
becoming a god), as evidence for a reverse understanding of the
nature of divinity.82 He acknowledges that the application of the
terminology to the divinity of dead emperors changed the meaning,
that for Varro a divus was a deus who had always been divine, and
men who were made divine upon death were deus. Gradel argues
that as the ruler cult developed the place of the divine, but
departed, emperors was below that ofgenius of the living emperor
when it came to worship.83 Wardel convincingly suggests that
Varros distinction was a minority position in the light of common
79 Winter, B.W Sharing Divine Titles, pp 2-3, Wardle, D, Deus or Divus:The Genesis of Roman Terminology for Deified Emperors and aPhilosophers Contribution, in Philosophy and Power in the Graeco RomanWorld: Essays in Honour of Miriam Griffin, edd Clark, G and Rajak, T,(Oxford: Oxford University Press), 2002, pp 181-191, esp p 18780 Wardle, D, Deus or Divus, p 18281 Wardle, D, Deus or Divus, p 19182 Gradel, I, Emperor Worship and Roman Religion, p 26583 Gradel, I, Emperor Worship and Roman Religion, pp 275-276
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usage from his time,84 and points out that the qualification ofdivus
was unnecessary for gods whose status was well known.85
Fundamental to the theological understanding of the divinity of theemperor is that they were men, who rose up to grasp divinity. This
was Tacitus implicit criticism of Tiberius failure to hope for divinity.
Competing Claims
In 20 BC, Herod the Great erected a statue of Augustus modelled on
the Olympian statue of Zeus in Caesarea. Marks gospel records
Caesarea as the location of Peters declaration that it is Jesus, not
Caesar, who is the Christ and Son of the Living God (Mark 8:27-
30).86 Living under these parallel claims of divinity was the day-to-
day reality of the first Christians.
Shared Titles Jesus as the Lord of a competing
kingdom
A cursory glance at the titles of the Roman Emperors recorded in
the primary sources reveals significant parallels between both Jesusdescription of himself, and the New Testaments testimony.
Spicq (1994), in an analysis of the League of Asias proclamation of
Augustus noted just how similar the Imperial claims were to those of
the early church.
A saviour who realised ancestral hopes; who has a uniqueimportance for humanity; who is so great that he will be never
surpassed; whose birth marks the beginning of a new era: so many
descriptions that one might think were created by Christian piety,
but which nevertheless are found in a pagan inscription from not
long before the birth of Jesus.87
84 Wardle, D, Deus or Divus, p 18385 eg Romulus, or Hercules, Wardle, D, Deus or Divus, p 19186 Brent, p 72
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It was not simply the shared titles of Jesus and the emperor that had
the potential to cause trouble, but the manner in which those titles
were used, the shared terminology, that presented a predicament
for the first Christians.
Shared terminology
The New Testament documents were redolent with Imperial
terminology for their first readers. The writers penned their texts
against a backdrop of Judaism and Roman rule.88 This context leads
us to the conclusion that this shared terminology was deliberate,
inevitable, and unavoidable.89
Oakes (2005) supplies a helpful rubric for analysing authorial
intention in the case of shared terminology from independent
sources. While acknowledging that the outcome of overlapping
language may have created conflict with Rome, he points out that
the language of lordship employed by New Testament authors was
also the language of the Septuagint Jew. Oakes contends that
parallels arising from a common model do not a priori supply
grounds for understanding the relationship between Christianity and
Rome.90 To read any terms commonly employed by the empire as
an implicit challenge of its authority is an illegitimate totality
87 C. Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, Vol. 3 (Peabody:Hendrickson), 1994, pp 353-54,88 Wright, N.T, Paul: Fresh Perspectives, p 5989 Deliberate because the writers were heralding the arrival of a new andcompeting claim to Lordship, inevitable because of the common Greek
parlance of the writers of the gospels and imperial proclamations, andunavoidable because to aptly frame Jesus claims to divine kingship thewriters had to employ both the terminology of royalty, and this language,whether purposefully or otherwise.90 Oakes, P, Re-mapping the Universe: Paul and the Emperor in 1
Thessalonians and Philippians, JSNT 273 (2005) 301-322, p 303, 309,Oakes suggests that any challenge to the perceived structure of socialorder would be interpreted as a challenge to Rome, but argues thatbecause Roman ideology both provided, and adopted commonterminology about authority, any first century writer discussing the notionof power or authority must borrow Roman language and concepts. Not all
uses of Roman terminology are implicit challenges to Roman rule, someare the inevitable by-product of this reality. Rome used all the goodlanguage.
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transfer. Sandmels (1962) warning against parallelomania stands,91
and is rightly invoked by Burks (2008) criticism of some proponents
of the Fresh Perspective on Paul,92 and indeed against some who
take parallels past the nth degree.
93
Oakes supplies four interpretative options for assessing parallel
terminology:
1. The parallel is a coincidence based on use of the same prior
model;
2. Christians are borrowing some aspect of Roman discourse or
practice (without intentionally creating conflict);
3. Christian discourse uses Roman language to react against
trouble caused by Rome;
4. Christians write in Roman terms to directly oppose Rome.94
Given Romes intolerance of opposition within the empire it is
likely that use in any of these four categories could be misconstrued
against the first Christians.
Deissmann (1927) suggests the heralds of Christianity endeavour
to reserve for Christ the words already in use for worship in that
world, words that had just been transferred to the new deified
emperors. He acknowledges the operation of categories one and
two but suggests that these chance coincidences might later
awaken a powerful sense of contrast.95
91 Sandmel, S, Parallelomania,Journal of Biblical Literature, 81 (1962),pp 1-13.92 Burk, D, Is Pauls Gospel Counter-Imperial? Evaluating the prospects ofthe Fresh Perspective for evangelical theology,Journal of theEvangelical Theology Society, 51/2, June, 2008, pp 309-33793 Carotta, F,Jesus was Caesar: The Julian Origin of Christianity,(Soesterberg: Aspekt) 200594 Oakes, P, Re-mapping the Universe: Paul and the Emperor in 1
Thessalonians and Philippians, p 30795 Deissmann, A, Light from the Ancient Near East Or The New TestamentIllustrated by Recently Discovered Texts of the Graeco Roman World
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Winter (2010) suggests that comparisons between the God who
became man and earthly rulers who became gods were
inevitable.
102
The conflicting claims of Caesar were everywhere infirst century life literally from the pillar to post.103
Competing Claims Kingdom of God v kingdom of gods
When Paul arrived in Athens proclaiming his of Jesus
Christ, the locals said he appears to be a herald of foreign
divinities.104 A charge fitting with Wrights repackaging of the
gospel mission. But is this true of every testimony to the Lordship of
Jesus in the New Testament, namely the gospels, the epistles and
the apocalypse?
The cult was most certainly operating in each of the cities
addressed by the epistles,105 and a body of scholarship exists to
importance practices of providing divine titles and recognition to emperorsspread throughout the empire. See Novak, R.M, Christianity and theRoman Empire Background Texts (Harrisburg: Trinity PressInternational), p 267102 Winter, B.W, Sharing Divine Titles while Declining New Temples,Sharing the Throne of God: Imperial Cultic Activities and Early ChristianResponses (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), forthcoming, p 10103 At the very least from inscriptions on temple pillars to milestones bythe side of the road, where ILS 100, a milestone from Arles in 3 BC readsfather of the fatherland, the emperor Caesar, son of the deified PontiusMaximus,Winter, B.W, Sharing the Throne of God, p 4104 Winter, B.W, Identifying the Offering, the Cup, and the Table of theDemons in 1 Corinthians 10:20-21, Saint Paul and Corinth: 1950 YearsSince the Writing of the Epistles to the Corinthians, International ScholarlyConference Proceedings, (Corinth, 23-25 September 2007), p 815 makes
the point that divinities here was actually , a point we will getto below.105 Harland, P.A, Honours and Worship: Emperors, Imperial Cults andAssociations at Ephesus (first to third centuries C.E.), Studies in Religion /Sciences religieuses, 25 (1996), pp 319-34, Maier, H.O, A Sly Civility:Colossians and Empire,JSNT, 213 (2005) pp 323-349, Oakes, P, Re-mapping the Universe: Paul and the Emperor in 1 Thessalonians andPhilippians, pp 307-308, Harrison, Paul and the Imperial Gospel at
Thessoloniki,JSNT25 1, 2002, pp 71-96 Harrison relies on numismaticevidence and inscriptions to establish a flourishing cult in the city of
Thessolonica, Spawforth, A.J.S, The Achaean Federal Cult Part I:Pseudo-
Julian, Letters 1981, Tyndale Bulletin 46.1 (1995), pp 151-168, Winter,B.W, The Achaean Federal Imperial Cult II. Tyndale Bulletin, 46 no 1 My1995, pp 169-178, Winter, B.W, The Imperial Cult and Early Christians in
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suggest that such a claim is born out with regards to the gospels,
and the letters to Rome,106 Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus,107 Philippi,108
Colossae,109 and Thessalonica,110 and Johns apocalypse.111 A full
study of this scholarship is beyond the ambit (and word limit)
112
ofthis essay. We will, however, consider three case studies the
gospels, the letter to the Galatians, and 1 Corinthians.
Competing Claims A Gospel Case Study
The language used to describe Jesus in the gospels is identical to
that found in epigraphic descriptions of the Roman Emperors.
Nowhere is this clearer than in Johns gospel. Jesus was with God,
and was God, he became flesh (the manifest God) and entered the
Roman Galatia (Acts XIII 13-50 and Galatians VI 11-18), inActes du lerCongres International sur Antioche de Pisidie, eds., T. Drew-Bear, M.
Tashalan and C. M. Thomas: Iniversite Lumiere - Lyon 2 and Diffusion deBoccard, 2002, 67-75, Hardin, J.K, Galatians and the Imperial Cult,(Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck), 2008106 Wright, N.T, Paul and Caesar: a new reading of Romans,A RoyalPriesthood: The Use of the Bible Ethically and Politically, ed. C.Bartholemew, (Carlisle: Paternoster), 2002, pp 173193, Harrison, J.R, TheAugustan Age of Grace, The Augustan Age of Grace, Tyndale Bulletin,
50.1, 1999, pp 79-91, Charlesworth, M.P , Some Observations on Ruler-Cult Especially in Rome, Harvard Theological Review, 28 no 1,1935, p 5-44107 Strelan, R, Paul, Artemis, and the Jews in Ephesus, (Berlin: Walter DeGruyter), 1996, p 110, contra Horsley, Pauls Counter-Imperial Gospel:Introduction, p 142, and Elliott N, The Anti-Imperial Message of the Cross,Paul and Empire, pp 178-181 who deny Pauline authorship of Ephesiansand thus minimise his focus on powers in Eph 6:12.108 Oakes, P, Re-mapping the Universe: Paul and the Emperor in 1
Thessalonians and Philippians,JSNT273 (2005) 301-322109 Maier, pp 326-344 suggests several passages in Colossians are
directly related to the imperial cult and concludes that the letter disavowsthe empire even as it mimics it.110 Harrison, Paul and the Imperial Gospel at Thessoloniki,JSNT25 1,2002, pp 71-96, Donfried, K.P, The Imperial Cults and Political Conflict in 1
Thessalonians, Paul and Empire, ed Horsley, R.A, pp 221-223, Oakes, P,Re-mapping the Universe111 Friesen, Satan 's Throne, Imperial Cults and Revelation, Journal forthe Study of the New Testament27.3 (2005), Barr, D.L, Johns IronicEmpire, Interpretation vol 63 no 1, Jan 2009, pp 20-30, Van Kooten, G.H,The Year of the Four Emperors and the Revelation of John: The 'pro-Neronian9 Emperors Otho and Vitellius, and the Images and Colossus of
Nero in Rome, Journal for the Study of the New Testament30.2 (2007), pp205-248112 Though an extended edition is available upon request
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world that was his. These competing claims run through all four
gospels.
Brent (1999) argues that Luke-Acts frames Christianity as thefulfilment of Judaism in a direct parallel to the Augustan fulfilment of
Roman religious belief.113 He sees Lukes linking of the chronology of
Jesus ministry with Roman chronology, and the recording of
interactions with key Roman characters, as part of this deliberate
parallel between the two kings,114 suggesting Lukes focus on
salvation as the role of the king is another direct contrast with
Roman theology. He identifies parallels between the Augustan
decree from 9 BC, and Zechariahs song (Luke 1:78-79).115
Luke contrasts the Roman notion of the emperors as sons of gods
with the direct claim that Jesus is an actual son of god (Luke 1:35).
Matthew records Jesus claim that all authority on earth is his (Matt
28:18), Luke records Jesus words against the so called benefactors
the kings of the Gentiles (Luke 22:25), conferring a God given
kingdom on his disciples (Luke 22:29). These statements of
authority similar to Pauls description of Jesus current rule (Phil
2:9-11) deliberately contrasted Romes imperial claims.116 Rowe
(2005) suggests that Lukes priority is to clarify the appropriate
relationship between Christians and the empire, focusing on his use
of the word for both Jesus and Caesar. Concluding that
Lukes view of a Christian response is that they may refer to the
as , as indeed Luke himself does (Acts 25.26),
but Jesus is the (Acts 10.36).117 Brent
113 Brent, A, The Foundations of the Imperial Cult, p 77114 Brent, A, The Foundations of the Imperial Cult, pp 82-85115 Brent, A, The Foundations of the Imperial Cult, pp 92-94116 Oakes, P, Re-mapping the Universe, p 309117 Rowe, C.K, Luke-Acts and the Imperial Cult: A way through theconundrum,JSNT213 (2005), pp 279-300, Rowe spends the first half ofhis article wandering the Roman forest of Luke-Acts blindly ignoring the
Imperial trees, before suddenly opening his eyes, even his abstract isconfused: This article points out the serious difficulties inherent in tryingto relate Luke-Acts to the imperial cult. Having acknowledged such
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suggests Luke-Acts is predicated on providing Christians with
reasons not to participate in the cult.118
John paints the Roman Empire in a negative light, establishinggrounds for criticism of the emperor on the basis that Rome was
culpable for the death of Jesus. In John the Jewish agitators persuade
Pilate that Jesus stands in opposition to Caesar, and thus is worthy
of death (John 19:12). The Jews claim to have no king but Caesar
(John 19:15). Koester (1990) points out the contrast John creates
between the Jews and the Samaritans reception of Jesus, where
they proclaim him the saviour of the world a phrase steeped in
Imperial significance (John 4:42).119
Mark focuses on Jesus claims to lordship, which culminate with his
account of Jesus trial, and the Roman Centurions testimony that
Jesus is the Son of God. Kim (1998) argues that the anarthrous use
of the in Marks account (Mark 15:39) is a purposeful
parallel with the ruler cults use of son of god to establish imperial
authority.120 Winn (2008) dates Mark at around 70AD, and reads his
account against a Sitz im Leben of intertwined Jewish messianism
and imperial cultish ideas.121 Assuming an earlier (pre-Nero)
difficulties, the attempt is made nonetheless to relate concretely Luke-Acts to the cult on the basis of the significance of Acts 10.36 for Luke-Actsas a whole and its potential impact upon auditors in the ancientMediterranean world.
118 Brent, pp 127-128: Luke-Acts offers a positive reason for non-
participation, namely that the purpose of the Imperial Cult, namely thepax deorum and the sacramental means for the continuance of thesaeculum aureum is far better achieved through the of Bethlehemand the Triumphal Entry and and that follow the birth of theChild from the Virgin, and his death and resurrection
119 Koester, C.R, The Savior of the World (John 4:42),Journal of BiblicalLiterature, 109/4, 1990, 665-680, p 678120 Kim, T.H, The Anarthrous in Mark 15,39 and the RomanImperial Cult, Biblica 79, 1998, pp 221-241121 Winn, A, The Purpose of Marks Gospel: An early Christian response toRoman Imperial Propaganda, (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck), 2008, pp 172-175,
Winn cites heightened Roman sensitivity to Jewish messianic ideas (in thewake of failed messianic revolts) and Vespians claims to be the fulfilmentof messianic prophecy as factors contributing to this setting.
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composition for Marks gospel does not necessarily negate Winns
observations regarding its political setting.122
It is clear, from this small sample of apparently deliberate contrasts,that the heralds of the new empire saw the kingdom of God
occupying the same space as the kingdom of Rome, or at the very
least in the same space as the cultic aspect of the emperor of that
kingdom.
Competing Claims A Galatian Case Study
The question of references to the Imperial Cult in Galatians is a
Jewish question. Winters (2002) thesis on the motives behind Jewish
agitation in Galatia (Galatians 6:12) is that Jewish Christians were
encouraging gentile converts to use Jewish camouflage to avoid
participating in imperial cult, or persecution for failing to
participate.123 Jews in the Roman Empire are understood to have
been exempt from cultic practices, free instead to practice their own
religion.124 This freedom varied from emperor to emperor, and
region to region. There was no written charter providing such
freedom.125
122 The persecution Christians faced under Nero would likely produce thesame Judeo-Christian sentiment regarding Roman rule, and failedmessiahs were common in the first century AD.123 Winter, B.W, The Imperial Cult and Early Christians in Roman Galatia(Acts XIII 13-50 and Galatians VI 11-18), inActes du ler CongresInternational sur Antioche de Pisidie, eds., T. Drew-Bear, M. Tashalan andC. M. Thomas: Iniversite Lumiere - Lyon 2 and Diffusion de Boccard, 2002,67-75, This thesis finds some support from Stanton, G,Jesus and Gospel,
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 2004, pp 43-46, and Hardin, J.K,Avoiding Persecution and the Imperial Cult, Galatians and the ImperialCult, (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck), 2008, pp 85-115124 Letter of Claudius to the Alexandrians,Papyrus found at Philadelphiain the Fayum, Egypt,The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian, ed. andtrans. Shrek, R.K,pp 83-86 Therefore, even now I earnestly ask of youthat the Alexandrians conduct themselves more gently and kindly towardthe Jews who have lived in the same city for a long time, and that they donot inflict indignities upon any of their customs in the worship of their god,but that they allow them to keep their own practices just as in the time ofthe god Augustus, which practices I too have confirmed after hearing both
sides125 Rajak, T, Was there a Roman Charter for the Jews?, The Journal ofRoman Studies, Vol 74 (1984) pp 107-123, Pucci Ben Zeev, M, Jewish
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Josephus and Philo record that the Jews abrogated their cultic
responsibilities by offering sacrifices for the emperor,126 Herod, not
content with this arrangement, built three temples dedicated to theemperor and Rome, McLaren (2005) suggests honouring the cult
was a major priority in Judea.127 This did not prevent the use of the
cult as a weapon in Jewish-Roman relations.128
Winter (2001) argues that Gallios decision (Acts 18:12-17) initially
served to protect Christians from participating in the Imperial Cult
under the mos maiorum, and Gentile converts to Judaism were
recognised as Jewish by imperial law.129
Hardin (2008) in his extensive treatment of the situation follows
Winter, adding a minor addendum to reflect his findings that the
Jews actually participated almost fully in the practices of the
Imperial Cult. He suggests Christians were in no mans land
neither Jew, nor gentile, and that the agitators, Jewish converts,
Rights in the Roman World The Greek and Roman Documents quoted byJosephus Flavius, 1998, Mohr Siebek, pg 412, Rutgers, L.V, Roman PolicyTowards Jews,Judaism and Christianity in First Century Rome edited byDonfried, K.P and Richardson, P, pp 93-116, one only needs to considerCaligulas aborted attempt to hijack the temple, and its destruction underNero to accept this point.126 McLaren, J.S, Jews and the Imperial Cult,Journal for the Study of theNew Testament, 27.3 (2005), pp 257-278, p 271127 McLaren, J.S, Jews and the Imperial Cult, p 259, these temples wereconstructed at Caesarea Maritima, Sebaste, and Banias
128 McLaren, J.S, Jews and the Imperial Cult, p 262, Imperial culticrequirements were a flashpoint. The Greek citizens of Alexandria triggeredthe incident leading to Claudius missive by erecting statues of theemperor in the synagogue. If the Jews removed the statues this may beseen as imperial impropriety, Josephus account of the incident suggeststhe Greek citizens used the cult as a weapon, Pilate also caused someconsternation in Judea by introducing inscribed shields to Jerusalem, seeFuks, G, Again on the episode of the gilded Roman shields at Jerusalem,Harvard Theological Review, 75 no 4, 1982, pp 503-507
129 Winter, B.W, After Paul Left Corinth, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans),
2001, pp 278-280, Winter, B.W, Gallios Ruling on the Legal Status of
Early Christianity (Acts 18:14-15), Tyndale Bulletin 50.2 (1999) 213-
224.
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wanted the church to pick a side.130 He concludes his monograph by
suggesting that the imperial cult forms an important backdrop for
the study of Galatians, and the New Testament as a whole.131
Competing Claims - In Corinthians (1 & 2)
The Imperial Cult was part of the fabric of Corinth from its inception
as a Roman colony.132 Oakes interprets 1 Corinthians 8-10 as Paul
providing concessions for the Corinthians to take part in the Imperial
Cult,133 Winter (2007) offers a better reading of these chapters,
arguing that Paul wanted his readers to have no part of the
emperors cup and table (1 Corinthians 10:20-21).134 They were not
to drink from the cup of the , the emperors genius,135
Tertullians Apology demonstrates that this was how the earliest
readers understood Pauls instructions.136
Legal exemption from the cult did not matter, because Christians
were choosing to exercise their rights to partake in cultic activities.
130 Hardin, J.K, Avoiding Persecution and the Imperial Cult, Galatiansand the Imperial Cult, (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck), 2008, pp 85-115131 Hardin, J.K, Galatians and the Imperial Cult, p 155132 Winter, B.W, The Achaean Federal Imperial Cult II, p 170133 Oakes, P, p 309, on the basis of knowledge that the gods arefalse.134 Winter, B.W, Identifying the Offering, the Cup, and the Table ofthe Demons in 1 Corinthians 10:20-21, Saint Paul and Corinth:1950 Years Since the Writing of the Epistles to the Corinthians,International Scholarly Conference Proceedings, (Corinth, 23-25September 2007), pp 815-836135 Winter, B.W, Identifying the Offering, the Cup and the Table of
the Demons, p 836, drinking libations to the emperors geniusstarted in the time of Augustus, here Winter argues that it becamepart of the veneration of living emperors under Claudius and Nero.
136 Tertullian, Apology, 32.3, in Novak, p 270, We make our oaths too, not by the genius of the Caesar but byhis health, which is more august than any genius. Do you not knowthat genius is a name for demon, or in the diminutive daemonium?We respect the judgment of God in the Emperors, who has set themover that nations. We know that to be in them which God wished tobe there, and so we wish that safe, which God wished; and we countthat a great oath. But demons, or geniuses, we are accustomed toexorcise in order to drive them out of men not to swear by themand so give them the honour of divinity.
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Caught Between Two worlds - In Ephesians
The Imperial Cult was already established in Ephesus at the time of
Pauls visit (Acts 19).137 Harland (1996) makes the case for a
significant adherence to the cult operating in the city.138
Modern scholarships fascination with denying Pauline authorship of
Ephesians, and reducing the spiritual significance of the imperial
cult in the lives of Roman citizens,139 has diminished the focus on
Pauls condemnation of powers. Horsley suggests deutero-Paul pulls
his punches by spiritualising imperial powers,140 Elliot (1997), in
distinguishing Pauls approach from the so called pseudo-Paul ofEphesians, suggests that Paul only ever deals with the powers in the
earthly plane.141
Strelan (1996) suggests the language of powers (Ephesians 6:12)
can be read in line with a struggle against the Roman system,142
which is essentially a struggle against the imperial cult.
Caught Between Two worlds - In Colossae
The city of Colossae was situated 100km away from the Sebasteion
of Aphrodisias, which was completed at around the same time as
the epistle.143
137 Brent, pp 120-121138 Harland, P.A, Honours and Worship: Emperors, Imperial Cults
and Associations at Ephesus (first to third centuries C.E.), Studies inReligion / Sciences religieuses, 25 (1996), pp 319-34.139 Horsley, R.A, Pauls Counter-Imperial Gospel: Introduction,Paul and Empire, pp 142-144140 Horsley, Pauls Counter-Imperial Gospel: Introduction, p 142141 Elliott, N, The Anti-Imperial Message of the Cross, Paul andEmpire, pp 178-181142 Strelan, R, Paul, Artemis, and the Jews in Ephesus, (Berlin:Walter De Gruyter), 1996, p 110143 Maier, H.O, A Sly Civility: Colossians and Empire,JSNT, 213(2005) 323-349 p 336, a monument to the divinity of the Julio-Claudian dynasty featuring statues of the imperial family alongsidethe gods of Olympia.
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Pauls proclamation of for the whole world (Colossians
1:6, 23), and the language of Roman Triumph (Colossians 2:15)
have been interpreted as the clearest links with imperial theology.
Maier (2005) identifies the language of the kingdom of Godsbeloved son, (Colossians 1:13), universal reconciliation, beyond the
boundaries of Romes empire (Colossians 3:1) and Gods making
peace with enemies (Colossians 1:20-23), the renewal brought
about by Christs enthronement, and resulting peace of Christ
(Colossians 3:1, 10, 15) as playing in the contact zone of imperial
politics,144 and capturing the zeitgeist of Roman utopian ideas.145
Maier speculates that the language of peace in Colossians is a
reference to the Roman Pax, and associated imperial honorific.146
Colossians 1:15-21 presents the narrative of Jesus life in divine
terms he unlike Caesar, was a God who became man, and who has
a natural claim on the world. Maier suggests the language of this
passage resonates with the language of imperial rule, so that first
readers could not fail to make a comparison.147 By identifying his
crucifixion at the hands of Rome as his triumph (Colossians 2:15),
Paul draws an ironic parallel with the triumphs of Roman rulers, a
parallel Maier suggests continues in the putting off the old nature
and putting on the new (Colossians 3:8-15). Roman triumph rituals
required the symbolic changing of clothes to celebrate victorious
rule.148
Maier concludes that Colossians deliberately echoes imperial ideas,
without replicating them, and that the cross disavows the empire
even as it mimics it.149
144 Maier, p 326-328145 Maier, p 340146 Maier, p 333147 Maier, p 339148 Maier, p 344, Maier also suggests the aorist middle (2.15) refers to Christ's death as a disrobing inpreparation for the victory parade to follow149 Maier, p 349
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subvert this idea.156 He suggests use of without deference to
Rome was inconceivable.157
Numismatic and epigraphic evidence support the notion of aflourishing imperial cult in the city.158 Its citizens are zealous for the
emperor. The accusation brought against Jason and his fellow
Christians in Thessalonica (Acts 17:5-7) is that they preach a
different emperor. Judge (1971) suggests this charge arises from an
oath of fealty the Thessalonians swore to the emperor as part of
their cultic practices.159 Donfried (1997) suggests Christians in
Thessalonica had been martyred at the time of Pauls epistle, for
breaking this oath.160
156 Oakes, P, p 306, Harrison, Paul and the Imperial Gospel atThessoloniki,JSNT25 1, 2002, pp 71-96, Harrison suggests 1 Thess4:13-5:11 is a deliberate and provocative reimagining of Augustaneschatology, post death Augustus is believed to rule the world fromheaven via his star sign, maintaining the political status quo. Paulscontrast of a king who will return from death is couched in imperial
terminology and could not fail to be understood that way.157 Harrison, J.R, p 78158 Harrison, J.R, Paul and the Imperial Gospel at Thessoloniki, p81, The obverse of a series of Thessalonian coins show the laureatehead of Caesar and carry the legend . The reverse displays thebare head of Octavian either with the legend or|159 Judge, E.A, The Decrees of Caesar at Thessalonica, The FirstChristians in the Roman World: Augustan and New TestamentEssays, ed. Harrison, J.R, (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck), pp 456-462, orig1971, the oath (CIL II172) the people of Antium swore to Caligula
thirteen years before Thessalonians was written reads: On myconscience, I shall be an enemy of those persons whom I know to beenemies of Gaius Caesar Germanicus, and if anyone imperils orshall imperil him or his safety by arms or by civil war I shall notcease to hunt him down by land and by sea, until he pays thepenalty to Caesar in full I shall not hold myself or my childrendearer than his safety and I shall consider as my enemies thosepersons who are hostile to him If consciously I swear falsely or amproved false may Jupiter Optimus Maximus and the deified Augustusand all the other immortal gods punish me and my children withloss of country, safety, and all my fortune.160 Donfried, K.P, The Imperial Cults and Political Conflict in 1Thessalonians, Paul and Empire, ed Horsley, R.A, pp 221-223
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churches (Revelation 2-3) contain no references to Imperial Cults,168
and that he only makes use of the cult as a rhetorical device for a
broader purpose of fostering agreement between disparate
communities in the later chapters (Revelation 13-19).
169
He does,begrudgingly, admit that Johns purposes are to foster an orientation
of resistance to Roman imperialism.170 Barr (2009) reads Johns
vision not against a backdrop of persecution from Rome, but rather
a backdrop of participation in cultic practice.171
Van Kooten (2007) argues convincingly for a much earlier
composition of Revelation, which brings the imperial cult back to
front and centre for interpretations of Revelation.172
Caught between two worlds the life of the
first Christians
Recognition that for the first century reader being caught between
two worlds was not a metaphysical conception but their day-to-day
social, political and religious reality is an emerging trend in Biblical
scholarship.173 It was not on the periphery, or a fiction created by a
Christian apocalyptic propaganda machine.174
168 Friesen, Satan 's Throne, Imperial Cults and Revelation,Journal for the Study of the New Testament27.3 (2005), p 366169 Friesen, Satan 's Throne, Imperial Cults and Revelation,p 367170 Friesen, Satan 's Throne, Imperial Cults and Revelation,p 373171 Barr, D.L, Johns Ironic Empire, Interpretation vol 63 no 1, Jan
2009, pp 20-30172 Van Kooten, G.H, The Year of the Four Emperors and theRevelation of John: The 'pro-Neronian9 Emperors Otho and Vitellius,and the Images and Colossus of Nero in Rome, Journal for the Studyof the New Testament30.2 (2007), pp 205-248
173 Winter, B.W, The Achaean Federal Imperial Cult II, Tyndale Bulletin,46 no 1 My 1995, pp 169-178, p 170, Contrary to the popular perceptionof New Testament scholars, emperor worship was subsequently neitherrejected by Tiberius, nor did it lie dormant until the reign of Domitian,except for spasmodic periods in the reigns of Caligula and Nero.
174 This argument persists, for example in Harland, P.A, Honouring TheEmperor Or Assailing The Beast: Participation In Civic Life AmongAssociations (Jewish, Christian And Other) In Asia Minor And The
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Converting to Christianity presented problems for anyone living in
the Roman Empire. Christian ideas inherently challenged the
imperial cult, and thus the Roman ideology.175 Correspondence
between Pliny and the Emperor Trajan indicates that worshiping theemperor eventually became a litmus test for apostasy, but the
competing claims of Christ and Caesar were a catalyst for trouble
Rome and the first Christians.176
Participating in the imperial cult was always anathema for
Christians,177 the Christian empires eschatology and Christology are
in conflict with Roman ideology.178They were two incongruous
systems employing shared terminology.179 Christianity may have
employed similar titles to the empire, but they did this with the
intention of expanding imperial ideas to capture the superior
majesty of Christ.180Comparisons were inevitable. The propaganda
of imperial rule carried the terminology of Christian gospel
proclamation.
The colourful trappings of the imperial cult were a snare for the first
Christians, and its place in civic life made life as citizens difficult for
Apocalypse Of John,Journal for the Study of the New Testament, no 77,2000, p 99-121, at pp 103-104, The traditional view of the Apocalypse isthat the author's references to martyrdoms in the futuristic visions are infact references to the actual, current situation faced by most Christiansinvolving a substantial and official persecution under Domitian, whoforced inhabitants to worship him as 'lord and god'Many scholars nowconvincingly argue that persecution of Christians in the first two centuries
in Asia Minor is better characterized as local and sporadic, relating tosocial harassment and verbal abuse by some inhabitants that couldoccasionally lead to physical abuse or martyrdom.An early (pre Nero)dating of Revelation solves the conundrum posited by Harland et al whominimise the impact of imperial persecution.175 Oakes, P, Re-mapping the Universe, p 314176 Oster, R, Christianity/Emperor Veneration in Ephesus, RestorationQuarterly, 25 no 3 1982, p 143-149177 Oakes, P, Re-mapping the Universe, p 311178 Oakes, P, Re-mapping the Universe, p 321179 Winter, B.W, Sharing Divine Titles,p 10
180 Maier, H.O, A Sly Civility: Colossians and Empire, JSNT213 (2005)323-349, p 325, note 5
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conscientious objectors. Tertullians Apology demonstrates that this
refusal to worship the men who became gods, in the place of the
God who became man, was a problem for the first Christians:
You do not worship the gods,' you say to us, 'and you do not offer
sacrifices for the emperors.' It follows that we do not sacrifice for
others, for the same reason that we do not sacrifice for ourselves
in a word, from our not worshipping the gods. Consequently we are
judicially charged with sacrilege and disloyalty. This is the chief
point in the case, or rather it is the whole caseWe cease to
worship your gods from that moment when we recognize that they
do not exist.
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