Program / Course 16: Historical Defense / Lesson 6.1
What you will learn
- Describe what the New Testament and outside sources report about early persecution of Christians.
- Distinguish local and sporadic persecution from empire-wide campaigns.
- Explain what the word martyr meant and how martyrdom accounts developed.
- Summarize the debate about how widespread early persecution was.
The big idea
Christians were persecuted from the beginning, sometimes by Jewish authorities, sometimes by local Roman officials and mobs, and occasionally at the order of an emperor. The best attested early cases are Stephen, James the son of Zebedee, James the brother of Jesus, the Neronian executions at Rome, and the trials before Pliny. Persecution was real but often local and irregular. The first empire-wide campaign came only in the middle of the third century. A fair account must avoid both exaggeration, which pictures constant massacres, and minimization, which ignores the sources.
Key terms
- Martyr
- From the Greek martys, meaning witness. In the early church it came to mean one who bore witness to Christ even to death.
- Persecution
- Hostile action against a group because of its identity or beliefs, ranging from social pressure to execution.
- Acts of the martyrs
- Early Christian accounts of trials and deaths, some based on court records, others heavily edited or legendary.
- Sporadic persecution
- Persecution that occurs in particular places and times without a standing policy of searching out Christians.
- Edict of Decius
- A decree of the emperor Decius in AD 250 requiring all inhabitants of the empire to sacrifice to the gods, which led to the first empire-wide persecution.
- Apostolic Fathers
- Early Christian writers of the late first and second centuries, such as Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp.
Background
The question for this module is what the deaths of early Christians can and cannot show about the truth of the resurrection claim. Before reaching that question, one must establish what actually happened. Tradition, preaching and popular histories often describe the early church as hunted continuously by Rome. Historians have shown that the evidence is more varied.
The sources include the New Testament, Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny, and Christian writings of the second century. They record persecutions of different kinds and motives, and they are of different value. This lesson sets out what is attested and how well.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Persecution in the New Testament
Acts reports the stoning of Stephen in Jerusalem (Acts 7:54-60), the execution of James the son of Zebedee by Herod Agrippa I, probably in AD 44 (Acts 12:2), and the imprisonment of Peter. Paul says that before his conversion he persecuted the church of God (Galatians 1:13), and that he himself was later beaten, stoned and imprisoned (2 Corinthians 11:23-25). The letters of Peter and Revelation speak of suffering and, in Revelation, of one Antipas who was killed (Revelation 2:13).
Josephus records the death of James, the brother of Jesus, stoned on the orders of the high priest Ananus about AD 62. Paul’s own persecution of the church is among the best attested facts, since he states it himself.
Step 2: Roman action
Roman action first appears clearly under Nero. Tacitus reports that after the fire of AD 64 a great number of Christians were convicted and killed with cruelty, including by being used as torches (Annals 15.44). Scholars debate whether they were convicted for arson or for their name, and how many died. Suetonius also mentions Nero’s punishment of Christians. Christian tradition, from the late first century onward, adds that Peter and Paul died in Rome under Nero. First Clement, written around AD 96, speaks of the sufferings of Peter and Paul and of a great multitude of the elect (1 Clement 5-6), though without detail.
The letters of Pliny and Trajan (about AD 112) show a policy of punishing Christians who were denounced and refused to recant, but not of searching for them. Roman authorities took action usually at the request of local people, for reasons of public order and reverence for the gods.
Step 3: The second century martyrs
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was taken to Rome for execution about the early second century and wrote letters on the way, in which he spoke of his desire to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts (Letter to the Romans 4). His letters are widely accepted as authentic. The Martyrdom of Polycarp reports the trial and burning of the bishop of Smyrna, probably in the 150s or 160s, and is often regarded as an early and relatively reliable account, though scholars question some details. Justin Martyr was executed in Rome about AD 165 according to the usual dating.
In the late second century, accounts like the Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs (AD 180) and the Letter of the churches of Lyons and Vienne (about 177) give detailed records of trials in Africa and Gaul.
Step 4: How widespread was it?
Historians now generally hold that the persecutions were limited in the first two centuries. There was no standing law to hunt Christians until the third century. The first empire-wide action was the edict of Decius in AD 250, followed by Valerian and finally the Great Persecution under Diocletian from AD 303. Between these, long peaceful periods allowed the church to grow.
Candida Moss, in a book of 2013, argues that the image of constant persecution was largely created in the fourth century and later, that many martyr acts are unreliable and that the church exaggerated its suffering. Other scholars, while accepting some of her points about the sources, hold that she goes too far and that the early evidence from Tacitus, Pliny, Ignatius and Polycarp shows that being a Christian was a real danger.
Step 5: Why it matters for the argument
Some defenders of the resurrection argue that the willingness of early Christians to suffer shows that they believed their message, and that the apostles in particular risked death for it. For that argument to work, the sources must show that the persecutions occurred and that the apostles suffered for their claim about the resurrection.
The sources show clearly that some early Christians suffered and died. They are much less clear about particular apostles, as the next lesson discusses. Lesson 6.3 considers what such suffering can show.
- Which persecutions are attested by early and independent sources?
- Who carried out the persecution, and why?
- Is a given martyrdom account early or late, and how was it written?
- Is the claim that persecution was constant supported by the sources?
- What did the word martyr mean before it meant death?
- What would a historian need to show that the apostles died for their message?
Examples
Paul the persecutor
Paul writes in Galatians 1:13 that he persecuted the church of God beyond measure and wasted it. He is a witness against himself, since he later became a Christian. Scholars treat this as one of the most secure facts about the early church.
Pliny’s practice
Pliny asked Christians whether they were Christians, asked up to three times, and executed those who refused to recant. He noted that he had never taken part in such trials before. His letter shows how a local governor handled the matter without a general rule.
Moss and her critics
Moss argues that martyrdom stories were used to shape Christian identity, often by editing earlier accounts. Her critics agree that the stories were used that way, but say that the early cases like Ignatius and Polycarp still show a willingness to die, so they treat the point as one of degree.
Different perspectives
Catholic and Orthodox
Both traditions honor the martyrs as witnesses to Christ and keep their memory in liturgy. The blood of martyrs is held to be the seed of the church, as Tertullian is quoted. Scholars in these traditions acknowledge the difficulties of some martyr acts.
Protestant Christians
Protestants honor the early martyrs and also the martyrs of their own history, and many stress the willingness to die for the faith as a sign of its truth. Some scholars distinguish carefully between well-attested and legendary martyrdoms.
Historians of the Roman world
Most agree that persecution was sporadic and local before AD 250, that Christians were viewed as a suspect group and that governors acted on denunciations. They stress that the sources are mostly from the Christian side.
Revisionist scholars
Scholars like Candida Moss argue that much of the traditional picture is a later construction, and that the early church’s identity as persecuted was cultivated. Their work has made scholars more careful with martyr acts.
Traditional apologists
Some apologists argue that the persecution evidence is sufficient to show that the apostles and early Christians believed enough to die. Careful ones limit the claim to the cases that are well attested.
Why it matters
Statements about early martyrs appear often in sermons and debates, with claims that range from every apostle died for the faith to there was almost no persecution. A student who knows what the sources say can evaluate such claims, and can see what the actual evidence can bear when the argument turns to the resurrection.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Christians were constantly hunted by Rome from the first century.
Correction: Persecution was real but mostly local and sporadic until the middle of the third century. Long periods passed without an active campaign.
Misunderstanding: There was no real persecution, only later legends.
Correction: Tacitus, Pliny, Josephus, Paul and Ignatius give early evidence of real persecution and executions. The point is that the picture should not be exaggerated.
Misunderstanding: Martyr means someone who dies for a cause.
Correction: The word first meant witness. It came to mean a witness who died. Using it for any death for a cause is a later extension.
Misunderstanding: All martyr stories are equally reliable.
Correction: They range from authentic letters and court records to legends written long after. Each must be judged by date and source.
Knowledge check
Name three early, well-attested cases of Christian suffering or death.
Examples: Paul’s persecution of the church, which he himself reports, the executions in Rome under Nero reported by Tacitus, the stoning of James the brother of Jesus reported by Josephus, and Pliny’s trials of Christians. Stephen and James son of Zebedee in Acts are also given. Any three with their sources are correct.
What was the nature of Roman persecution before AD 250?
It was local and irregular. Governors like Pliny dealt with denounced Christians, punishing those who would not recant, but did not hunt them out. Nero’s action in AD 64 was a specific case. The first empire-wide campaign came with the edict of Decius in AD 250.
What does Moss argue, and how do critics respond?
She argues that the image of constant persecution is largely a later construction and that many martyr stories are unreliable or exaggerated. Critics accept that sources must be handled carefully but reply that early evidence from Tacitus, Pliny, Ignatius and others shows real danger and willingness to die.
Why is it important to separate early from late martyr accounts?
Early accounts like the letters of Ignatius may be firsthand, while later acts are often edited or legendary. An argument from martyrdom is only as strong as its sources, so a historian must date each account and ask how its author knew.
Think it through
- What picture of early persecution did you have before this lesson?
- Why might a church tend to exaggerate its sufferings, and why might outsiders tend to minimize them?
- How would you judge a story that was written two hundred years after the event?
- What does it mean to be a witness in the original sense of the word?
Independent assignment
Sorting the evidence
In your own notebook, make a list of six early persecutions or martyrdoms, and for each give the earliest source, its date, and a rating from firm to uncertain. Write 200 words on what the list suggests about the scale of early persecution. Do not send this to anyone.
Further study
- J. B. Lightfoot, ed., The Apostolic Fathers Read Ignatius and the Martyrdom of Polycarp if included.
- Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians Read Ignatius for his view of suffering and his understanding of his own coming death.
- Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians (1 Clement) Read chapters 5 and 6 on Peter, Paul and the sufferers.
- Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics Read for a Latin Christian view of the church under pressure.
- Acts 7:59 Stephen is stoned.
- Acts 12:2 Herod kills James the brother of John.
- Galatians 1:13 Paul persecuted the church.