Reading: Raising Up Leaders of Renewal, Revival, and Restoration

The Roman culture was built on the religious premise that Caesar was Lord. The emperor cult was started by Augustus. This was not just about piety or honor to the ruler. This cult represented the Roman way or culture. Katherine Crawford of St. Olaf College wrote, "After Augustus, the [emperor] cult was firmly implemented in the Roman Empire and was used by successive emperors as a way to maintain control of the Roman state." https://silo.tips/download/katherine-crawford-st-olaf-college-the-foundation-of-the-roman-imperial-cult

Jesus was born while Caesar Augustus was still Emperor. Thirty-three years later, Jesus was crucified as a criminal and died on a cross with the emperor cult a factor in his demise.

But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

  “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

  “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. (John 19:15)

There is no getting around the fact that the Christian message challenged the authority of Caesar and the Roman way of life. Pilate mockingly inscribed on Jesus' cross the words, "King of the Jews." When Jesus rose from the dead, he rose as king over life and death - and everything in between.

Eighty years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Christian message was quickly spreading. By this time the Roman government started persecution campaigns because of this disruptive message that threatened to place Jesus as Lord of life, death and even culture. Christians became in trouble with the law. Many were thrown in prison; many were martyred.

Christianity threatened the Roman way of life and the worship of the Emperor. Christianity claimed a message that enthroned Jesus, a Jewish peasant carpenter, as the Lord over every authority - even life and death. In fact, Christians believe that Jesus is Lord, their "emperor" so to speak, not Caesar. The Apostle Paul put it this way.  "For in Christ, all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form . . who is the head over every power, and authority." (Colossians 2:9-10)

The emperor cult stressed the point that Caesar saved humanity. Christians stressed the point that Jesus saved humanity.

Interestingly, Christianity appealed to large numbers of people in the Roman Empire. Donald L. Wasson observed that "Christianity continued to spread across the empire, appealing to women and slaves as well as intellectuals and the illiterate." http://www.ancient.eu/Roman_Religion/

By 112 CE, Pliny the Younger, a Roman magistrate in Bithynia and Pontus (Northern Turkey), complained of this fact to Emperor Trajan in one of his surviving letters. Emperor Trajan sent Pliny from Rome to shape things up there. According to the book "The Christians as the Romans Saw them," by Robert Louis Wildens, Pliny was there to stop corruption, get the financial house in order, and disband societies or associations that threaten Roman rule. 

Pliny suspected that Christianity was a newer society that threatened Roman rule and religious thought. He wrote that Christians were everywhere, "for there are many of every age, of every rank, and of both sexes, who are now and hereafter likely to be called to account, and to be in danger; for this 'superstition' is spread like a contagion, not only into cities and towns but into the country villages."

 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/pliny.html

While Trajan did not ruthlessly seek out Christians for martyrdom, he did consider their offenses against Rome worthy of death. This new religious society was not acceptable. Pliny enforced his policies with moderation. 

It was interesting to note how Pliny investigated the seriousness of the problem. He found some Christians who would not deny Christ. Some recanted their faith. Some he executed and some he set free. He found former Christians who described to Pliny how Christians gathered for common meals. Pliny discovered that the religious society of the church included the slaves.

Pliny arrested two female slave Christians and wrote about the proceedings.

"These examinations made me think it necessary to inquire by torments what the truth was; which I did of two servant maids (female slaves), who were called Deacons ["deacons" in the Greek; "ministers" in Latin]: but still I discovered no more than that they were addicted to a bad and to an extravagant superstition."  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/pliny.html

Pliny tortured these deacon ministers, possibly causing their deaths. While doing so he found out that they were "addicted to a bad and an extravagant superstition." What did that bad and extravagant superstition look like? Maybe something like, "Jesus is Lord. I am an image-bearer of God. I have hope over death because of the resurrection of the dead of Jesus Christ."  Maybe they shared the ideas of Colossians 3:11, "Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all." 

The Deacon Minister Enters the World Stage

Why did Pliny go out of his way to mention to Trajan that he tortured two female deacon ministers who were slaves? He questioned many people. Mentioning that he arrested two female deacons who were slaves and tortured them seems insignificant. Why mention it? Why not share what he found out from two citizens? 

One likely possibility is that the Romans believed that if you tortured slaves, you could torture the truth out of them. He wanted to know more about the Christian religious society. These slaves were "ministers" in that society. How odd, "this society has slave ministers," must have made him wonder. 

Pliny mentioned the slave women called deacons (ministrae) to Trajan.  Pliny writes Latin here, and he uses the word "ministrae," which is translated into English as a "minister." The Latin word "ministry" is translated from the Greek word "diakonos," which is translated as "deacon, minister or servant." He communicates that the Christians have leaders who are slave women, called deacons. Pliny wanted Emperor Trajan to know that these women ministers were "slaves."

The message between the lines was: "Sir, these Christians, and their society (church) are threats! Their ministers also include slave women. Sir, they are mobilizing the slave women to be their leaders. Remember Spartacus! Sir, this society should be persecuted, what is your advice? These are criminals against the state."

Much of Roman society was built on the backs and bosoms of slave labor.

Slavery was widespread in ancient Rome. Historian Mark Cartwright comments on this:

Slavery was an ever-present feature of the Roman world. Slaves served in households, agriculture, mines, manufacturing workshops, construction and a wide range of services within the city. As many as 1 in 3 of the population in Italy or 1 in 5 across the empire were slaves and upon this foundation of forced labour was built the entire edifice of the Roman state and society.

The Romans needed slaves to stay slaves. Any religious society, association, or assembly that mobilized slaves to be the leaders was offensive.

Imagine the disgust of Roman leaders who presided over an empire keen on keeping thirty-five to forty percent of the population serving their needs. These male and female slaves were treated as property. They could not marry. They could not freely determine their destinies.

Roman leaders owned slaves as property, male slaves were higher in rank than female slaves. Romans treated female slaves as the lowest rank. Owners expected them to do their bidding regardless of the consequences. Many male owners showed little sexual restraint to the point of abusing their female slaves. Owners considered them as property, and they did not have legal rights.

Author Neil Burton wrote that in Ancient Rome "slaves were regarded as property and lacked the legal standing that protected a citizen’s body. A freeman who forced a slave into having sex could not be charged with rape, but only under laws relating to property damage, and then only by the slave’s owner." Neil Burton, Psychology Today

The slave women were objects of sexual domination by their owners.  Carolyn Osiek writes, "No legal recognition is granted to the sexual privacy of the female slave." (Carolyn Osiek; Margaret Y. MacDonald; Janet H. Tulloch. A Woman's Place: House Churches in Earliest Christianity [Kindle Location 1344], Kindle Edition.)

The role of a female slave was defined in Roman culture. A female slave was not a person; she was property. She was not allowed to marry. When she bore a child, the child was a slave. Even if the father was the master, the child was still a slave. The slave child was not considered a son or daughter of the slave owner. This slave child did not belong to her, but to her owner. She raised her child as the owner's property. Edgar S. Shumway said, "The prevailing view of the Roman slave was that he/she was a thing and not a person."  (Freedom and Slavery in Roman Law", Edgar S. Shumway)

I find it ironic that the title "Minister" is used in this official Roman government business between Pliny and Emperor Trajan. The title is cast upon two female slaves. Christianity appeared as something very different from anything that was ever seen before.

The Disruptive Message of the Gospel

The message of the Christians also challenged the Roman worldview to its core.

The worldview of the Christian faith was that all people are image-bearers of God and have intrinsic value in Christ. Female slaves included! Christians were ordaining deacon ministers who were women, slaves. In fact, Christians were seeing the slaves in the Roman empire as "brothers and sisters." Not property. This was evidenced in recent archaeological digs. Early Christians.org reports,

In the Christian cemeteries, there is no difference between the tombs of slaves and those of the free. The inscriptions on pagan sepulchers — whether the columbarium common to all the servants of one household, or the burial plot of a funerary collegium of slaves or freedmen, or isolated tombs — always indicate the servile condition. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/s/slavery-and-christianity.html

The Romans Feared Slave Leaders

Since so much of the Roman Empire consisted of slave labor, would the Romans fear slave uprisings? Yes! The stories of Spartacus were well documented. Spartacus led a slave uprising that has been the subject of many books and movies.

Even Pliny, who was mentioned before as writing about the two female deacons (Ministers), also wrote about rogue slaves. Fear of slaves was on his mind. He wrote this in one of his surviving rants,

What a shocking story I have to tell you, and one worthy of more than just a simple letter! Larcius Macedo, a man of praetorian rank, suffered a terrible fate at the hands of his slaves. (Admittedly he was an arrogant and cruel master who remembered too little, or perhaps too well, that his own father had once been a slave.) He was bathing in his villa at formiae. Suddenly his slaves surrounded him. One began to strangle him, another punched him in the face, yet another beat him on the chest, stomach, and even (it makes me sick to report) the genital area. When they thought he was dead, they threw him onto the red-hot floor to see if he was still alive. He, whether unconscious or pretending to be, lay stretched out and still, confirming their opinion that death had come. Finally they carried him out of the bath as if he had been overcome by the heat. His more faithful slaves took his body, and his concubines ran up, wailing and shouting. But then, awakened by their voices and refreshed by the cool air, he raised his eyelids and moved his body to indicate that he was still alive. The treacherous slaves fled in all directions, but many were caught, although a few are still being sought. He himself, although barely kept alive for a few days, nonetheless did not die without the satisfaction of revenge since the slaves were punished while he was still alive in the same way that murderers are punished. Do you realize how many dangers, how many injuries, how many abuses we may be exposed to? And no one can feel safe, even if he is a lenient and kind master. Slaves are ruined by their own evil natures, not by a master’s cruelty." --Pliny the Younger, Letters, 3.14

The Mobilization of Local Christian Leaders

The story of the early spread of Christianity is a case study of the mobilization of local Christian Leaders and their societies. This mobilization included every rank: slave or free, low-born or high-born, every economic status, each gender, every education level. Many were in trouble with the law because of their faith. The spread of early Christianity was potent and irresistible.  The participants and leaders were from local stock. The early church raised effective leaders who quickly reproduced themselves in their communities. Christianity spread to renew, restore, and revive individuals, families, and communities. The goal was to reach the whole world with the gospel.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

The early spread of Christianity has reached people and inspired Christian leaders for 2,000 years now. The spread continues. Christianity will bring renewal, restoration, and revival foreshadowing the making of all things new when Christ returns. As you continue reading, ask yourself what is my role in renewing, restoring, or reviving my community. What must happen in my soul to strengthen my connection with God? How do I need to be prepared? What work or ministry am I called to pursue? Do I need to pursue a minister credential role?

This book will talk about these issues.  Early Christianity was about mobilizing those who were publicly considered the lowest of the low, that was, female slaves. God takes you where you are right now and has a plan for you.

Maybe you are considered the low of the low; God may be calling you to bring renewal to this world. Maybe you are in the middle class, do you sense his irresistible calling to bring restoration? Maybe you are well-off financially, but you know you are called to bring revival. Still today, like in the early days of Christianity, I want Pliny's word to be said again of Christianity,

"For there are many of every age, of every rank, and of both sexes, who are now and hereafter likely to be called to account, and to be in danger; for this 'superstition' is spread like a contagion, not only into cities and towns but into country villages"

 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/pliny.html