Lesson

#13
Excursus, the Roman Empire at the
Time of Lukes Gospel

Excursus, the Roman Empire

In Lessons 11 & 12 we con-nued our journey to Jerusalem, listening

with the crowds to Jesus teaching and conversa-on, and in both
lessons we focused our a@en-on on Jesus parables, 5 of them in
Lesson #11 and 8 of them in Lesson #12. In both lessons we reiterated
that:
A parable is a succinct, didac-c story thrown alongside a common,
ordinary truth to illuminate that truth in a striking and memorable
fashion. Parables are meant to illuminate, not to hide or obscure.
Although Jesus did not invent the parable as a pedagogic device, he was
a master at using it, and some of the synop-c gospels most memorable
moments take place within Jesus parables.

Excursus, the Roman Empire

All three synop-c gospels were wri@en 30-40 years aPer Jesus walked this earth,
and each one of the gospels portrays Jesus in light of events that followed his
death, burial and resurrec-on. Consequently, each gospel writer looks back at
Jesus life, and his view is colored by his understanding of those historical events.
The Gospel according to Luke was probably wri@en some-me in the early to mid
70s, a -me of enormous turmoil in the Roman Empire. As we learned in our
studies of Ma@hew and Mark, the back-story begins with the emperor Nero, who
rose to power in A.D. 54. A brutal sociopath, Nero murdered his mother Agrippina
in A.D. 59, set re to Rome in A.D. 64 (blaming the re on the Chris-ans) and
began the rst state-sponsored persecu-on of the Church in Rome, A.D. 64-68.
During Neros reign the great Jewish revolt of A.D. 66-73 began, a revolt that
resulted in the death of 1.2 million Jews, the destruc-on of Jerusalem and the
Temple, and the Jewish exile from Pales-ne that lasted nearly 2,000 years, un-l
the founding of the modern state of Israel on May 14, 1948.

Excursus, the Roman Empire

This experience was a current event at the -me the Gospel according to Luke was
being composed, and it could not help but color our authors understanding of
Jesus thoughts and ac-ons.
Here in Lesson #13 we examine Luke himself, and we review those events that had
such an impact, not only on Lukes gospel, but on all the wri-ngs of the New
Testament.

Excursus, the Roman Empire

Although the Gospel according to

Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are
anonymous, the early church
unanimously held that Luke was the
author of both.
Raymond Brown, perhaps the greatest
Roman Catholic Scripture scholar of the
20th century, points out that the
Muratorian fragment (A.D. 170) and St.
Irenaeus (A.D. 180) support Lukes
authorship, and the earliest manuscript
of the gospel (Papyrus Bodmer, p75
c. A.D. 175-225) explicitly ascribes the
work to Luke.

Excursus, the Roman Empire

Papyrus Bodmer (P75) is the oldest surviving manuscript of the Gospel according to Luke,
da-ng c. 175-225 The manuscript resides at the Va-can Library.

Excursus, the Roman Empire

To understand the Gospel according to

Luke it is essen-al that we understand
the biographical, historical and
cultural context from which Lukes
gospel emerges. Specically, we must
understand:
1. The perspec-ve from which Luke
writes his gospel;
2. How Lukes perspec-ve informs
and shapes the narra-ve that his
gospel presents; and
3. The historical and cultural context
from which Lukes gospel
emerges.

Excursus, the Roman Empire

Ok, so what do we
really know about
Not me.
Luke?
Thats a good
place to begin!

Excursus, the Roman Empire

Heres what we know from Scripture

itself:
The earliest reference to Luke is in St. Pauls le@er to
Philemon (1: 24), in which Paul writes: Epaphras, my
fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, as well as
Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my co-workers.
Paul is wri-ng from Rome, some-me between A.D. 60-62,
to Philemon, who lives in Colossae in Asia Minor. Here, we
learn that Luke is with Paul in Rome, as he writes.

The 2nd reference is in St. Pauls epistle to the Colossians

(4: 10-11, 14), in which he writes: Aristarchus, my
fellow prisoner, sends you greeKngs, as does Mark the
cousin of Barnabas . . . and Jesus, who is called Justus,
who are of the circumcision [that is, Jews] . . . [and] Luke
the beloved physician sends greeKngs, as does Demas.
Colossians is also wri@en from Rome between A.D. 60-62,
and it is addressed to the church that meets in Philemons
house (cf. Philemon 1: 2). Here, we learn that Luke is both
a gen-le and a physician.

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Dr. Creasy visits the unexcavated tel of Colossae in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey).
Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

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10

Logos students atop the tel of Colossae.

Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

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11

Rome
Colossae

Jerusalem
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12

Some-me between A.D. 64-68 (most likely in

68), St. Paul is on death row in the
Mamer-ne Prison in Rome, caught in Neros
net during the persecu-on. In 2 Timothy 4:
9-11 (his last le@er), Paul writes to Timothy,
his young protg: Try to join me soon, for
Demas, enamored of the present world,
deserted me and went to Thessalonica,
Crescens to GalaKa, and Titus to DalmaKa.
Luke is the only one with me.
Only Luke stays the course, a@ending to Paul
as his physician, traveling companion and
friendfrom A.D. 50 un-l Pauls execu-on in
Rome in A.D. 68.

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13

Dr. Creasy and Logos students visit the Mamer-ne Prison in Rome.
Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

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This is the cell where tradi-on says St. Paul spent his nal days.
Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

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On Pauls 2nd missionary journey (A.D. 50-52)

Paul, Silas and Timothy leave Pisidian An-och
and make their way to Troas; from which
they con-nue on to Philippi, ul-mately
ending in Corinth where Paul spends the next
18 months.
In Acts Luke writes about Paul in the 3rd
person plural (they and them) un-l Paul
and company reach Troas. At that point (Acts
16: 10) Luke shiPs the pronouns to the rst
person plural (we and us), indica-ng that
Luke is now traveling with Paul and his
companions.

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Troas
Pisidian An-och

Corinth
Syrian An-och

Pauls 2nd Missionary Journey

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Dr. Creasy teaching in Troas, at the harbor from which Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke
set sail for Europe
Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

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At Troas, the Aegean Sea in the background.

Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

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So, we may reasonably conclude

that:
Luke was a physician, a gen-le who lived in
Troas;
Luke did not meet Paul and knew nothing about
Jesus un-l A.D. 50, when Paul and company
arrived in Troas;
Luke then leP Troas and traveled with Paul for
the next 18 years, during which -me he learned
about Jesus as viewed through Pauls eyes;
Luke stayed with Paul un-l Pauls execu-on in
Rome, A.D. 68;
Some-me aPer thatin the early to mid-70s
Luke wrote both his gospel and Acts; and
Tradi-on holds that Luke later lived in Syrian
Andrea Mantegna. Luke the Evangelist [detail from An-och (where Pauls home church was located)
the St. Luke altarpiece] (tempera on wood), 1454. and that he died in Boeo-a, a region in central
Brera Art Gallery, Milan
Greece, in A.D. 85.

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20

I suspect that Pauls thinking

greatly inuenced Lukes
Not me.
portrayal of Jesus in his
gospel.

Excursus, the Roman Empire

That sounds
reasonable to
me!

21

Yes, that would, indeed, be a reasonable

assump-on. St. Paul was rst and
foremost the Apostle to the
gen-les (Romans 11: 13), and Pauls
message to the gen-lesincluding to
Lukeembodied a very high view of
Jesus . . .
Who, though he was in the form of God, did not
regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather he empKed himself, taking the form of a
slave, coming in human likeness; and found human
in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming
obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because
of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on
him the name that is above every name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in
heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father.




(Philippians 2: 6-11)
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Thats a very dierent

perspec-ve on Jesus than
Not me.
we nd in either Ma@hew
or Mark!
It sure is!

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23

In addi-on to his very high Christology, St.

Paul held a dis-nctly apocalyp-c view of
the future, believing rmly that in the
end -mes Jesus would return . . . and
he believed it would happen within his
life-me:
Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord,
that we who are alive, who are leV unKl the coming
of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have
fallen asleep [that is, died]. For the Lord himself,
with a word of command, with the voice of an
archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come
down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise
rst. Then we who are alive, who are leV, will be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air.



(1 Thessalonians 4: 15-17)

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So, Pauls (and Lukes)

understanding of Jesus return
and the Kingdom of God ts
ma@hew
e.
right in wNot
ith M
and
Mark, but their Christology is
much higher.

Excursus, the Roman Empire

I think thats fair

to say.

25

But were not nished yet! We

also have to understand what was
going on in the Roman Empire
during the -me that Luke was
traveling with PaulA.D. 50-68
as well as what happened
immediately aPerward, leading up
to Luke composing his gospel and
Acts. Understandably, Lukes
immediate historical context
colored his understanding of Jesus,
adding tone and texture not only
to his portrayal of Jesus, but also
to how he viewed the emergence
of the early Church.
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26

I wonder, though, if Luke was fully

aware of the historical events of his
day, and if so, does he reect them
accurately? APer all, the Roman
Empire was Not
a big
lace,
mpe.
and Luke
didnt have the Internet, Facebook
or Twi@er!
Good point!

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27

Sir William Ramsay, the foremost authority

on the New Testament in his day, wri-ng in
1915, says that Luke is a historian of the rst
rank; not merely are his statements of fact
trustworthy . . . he should be placed among
the very greatest of historians.1
E.M. Blaiklock, Professor of Classics at
Auckland University, wri-ng in 1970, says
that for accuracy of detail, and for evocaKon
of atmosphere, Luke stands, in fact, with
Thucydides.2
1 Ramsay. The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the

Trustworthiness of the New Testament. London! Hodder and

Stoughton, 1915), p. 222.
2 Blaiklock. The Archaeology of the New Testament. (Grand

Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1970), p. 96.

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28

Its important to understand, however,

that ancient historians, such as
Thucydides and Herodotusor Luke, for
that ma@ershould not be judged
according to modern standards.
New Testament scholar Luke Timothy
Johnson rightly observes that Lukes
account is selected and shaped to suit his
apologeKc interests, not in deance of but
in conformity to ancient standards of
historiography.3
Luke draws on the history he knowsas
he perceives itand he uses that history
to reinforce his narra-ve and to create
verisimilitude.
3 Johnson. The Acts of the Apostles (Louisville: Liturgical

Press, 1992), p. 474.

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So what do we know about

the Roman Empire at the
-me of Lukes gospel?
Much of it weve explored in
Not

our studies
of m
Me.
a@hew
and
Mark; some we havent.
But, its good to
review!

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30

The 1st-century Roman

Empire was not simply
Italy and parts of Europe;
rather, the 1st-century
Roman Empire was the
enKre land mass
surrounding the
Mediterranean Sea:
nearly half of which is in
north Africa!

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31

1.

By the end of the 1st century A.D.

the Roman Empire consisted of 5
million square kilometers,
encompassing 40 different modernday countries and as many different
cultures.

2.

Its three largest citiesRome,

Alexandria and Antiochwere over
twice as large as any city on earth
until the modern-day 18th century
industrial revolution.

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32

3.

50-60 million people lived in the

Roman Empire.

4.

Although commerce was conducted

primarily by sea, the Roman empire
built over 58,000 miles of roads,
many of which are still evident
today, over 2,000 years later!

5.

To encourage efficient and effective

commerce the Roman Empire had a
fully-developed banking system and
common coinage.

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33

6.

7.

Thanks to Alexander the Great, Greek

was the common language of the empire
until the 4th century A.D., creating
cohesion in a very geographically and
culturally diverse population. Although
a plethora of local languages were used,
the entire New Testament was written in
Greek.
Unlike most other ancient cultures, the
Roman Empire did not have a rigid class
system, but evidenced a high degree of
social mobility.

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34

8.

The Roman Empire practiced slavery. Overall,

10-20% of the population throughout the
Empire were slaves. Slaves were primarily
war captives or indentured servants; slavery
was not racially based. Slaves could earn
their freedom or be granted their freedom by
those who owned them.
10. Freeborn women were Roman citizens, kept
their family name (not their husbands),
could own property independent of their
husbands, could own and operate businesses,
could inherit property and wealth, wrote
their own wills and could travel freely
throughout the Empire.

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35

10. Roman law formed the basis for the

entire Western legal tradition, including
that of Great Britain and the United
States.
12. Religion in the Roman Empire was an
integral part of civil life, and it
encompassed practices and beliefs the
Romans considered their own. Religions
of other cultures within the Empire
were respected and protected: the
Jews, for example, were free to
practice their religion and to operate
their temple in Jerusalem.

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36

Of course, like any great

civiliza-on Rome had its share
of rascals and rogues, heroes
and villains, wars and
brutali-es, scandals and
horrors.
The New Testament mirrors a
brief slice of Romes 1,000 year
history, a -me of great
achievement but also a -me of
great turmoil and strife.

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37

The 2nd half of the 1st

centurythe period in
which the Gospel according
to Luke was wri@en
witnessed cataclysmic
turmoil, especially as it
aected the Jews in
Pales-ne and the emerging
Chris-an Church throughout
the Empire.

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38

The story begins with Julia Agrippina (A.D.

15-59), great granddaughter of Caesar
Augustus; adop-ve granddaughter of the
Emperor Tiberius; sister of the Emperor
Caligula; wife of the Emperor Claudius; and
mother of the Emperor Nero.
Through incestuous marriages, imperial
intrigue and duplicitous assassina-ons,
Agrippina engineered her sons rise to
power. APer poisoning Claudius (her uncle
and 3rd husband), her seventeen year-old
son Nero became Emperor in A.D. 54, with
Agrippina controlling the reins of power.

Julia Agrippina with her son Nero,

c. A.D. 54-59.
Aphrodisias Museum, Turkey.

Quickly, however, Neros rela-ons with his

mother deteriorated, ending by Nero
having her murdered in A.D. 59.

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39

Nero,
5th Emperor of the Roman Empire.
Capitoline Museum, Rome.

On 18 July A.D. 64 the Great Fire

of Rome erupted, destroying a
large por-on of the city.
According to the historian
Taci-us, the re raged for ve
days, destroying three of
fourteen districts and severely
damaging seven others. Both
Suetonius and Cassius Dio point
to Nero as the arsonist, who
wanted to clear a large part of
Rome so he could build a new
palace complex.

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40

Hubert Robert. The Fire of Rome, 18 July 64 A.D. (oil on canvas), c. 1760.
Muse Malraux, Le Havre, France.

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41

To deect blame, Tacitus writes that Nero

blamed the re on Romes Chris-ans:
Therefore, to put an end to the rumor Nero created a
diversion and subjected to the most extraordinary
tortures those called ChrisKans, hated for their
abominaKons by the common people. The originator
of this name [was] Christ, who, during the reign of
Tiberius had been executed by sentence of the
procurator PonKus Pilate. Repressed for the Kme
being, the deadly supersKKon broke out again not
only in Judea, the original source of the evil, but also
in the city [Rome], where all things horrible or
shameful in the world collect and become popular. So
an arrest was made of all who confessed; then on the
basis of their informaKon, an immense mulKtude was
convicted, not so much of the crime of arson as for
hatred of the human race.

Tacitus (c. A.D. 56-117)

Austrian Parliament Building,
Vienna.

Both Peter and Paul were martyred

in Rome during this -me.
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42

Claudia Octavia, daughter of the

Emperor Claudius, step-sister and
wife of Nero.
NaKonal Museum of Rome.

The persecu-on ended with

Neros death. The Roman
Senate had declared him a
public enemy of the Roman
people and announced their
inten-on to have him executed.
With that, Nero turned to
suicide, but too cowardly to
carry it out, he enlisted his
private secretary, Epaphroditos,
to do the deed. Nero died on 9
June A.D. 68, the 6th anniversary
of his murdering his stepsister
and rst wife, Octavia.

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43

Galba, A.D. 68-69

(8 months)
Assassinated

Otho, A.D. 69
(2 months)
Suicide

Vitellius, A.D. 69
(8 months)
Assassinated

Vaspasian, A.D. 69-79

(10 years)
Natural Death

Following Neros death

civil war erupted and four
emperors reigned in quick
succession: Galba (8
months); Otho (2 months);
Vitellius (8 months); and
Vespasian (10 years). The
rst three emperors were
dispatched through
murder or suicide within a
year.

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44

 At this -me of enormous poli-cal

chaosin A.D. 66the great

Jewish revolt began in Pales-ne.
Nero chose the brilliant general
(and future Emperor), Vespasian,
to suppress it. Fielding more than
50,000 combat troops, Vespasian
began opera-ons in Galilee; by
A.D. 68 he had crushed opposi-on
in the north, moved his
headquarters to Caesarea
Mari-ma, the deep-water port on
the Mediterranean, and
methodically began clearing the
coast.

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45

 Meanwhile, the defeated Jewish

leaders in Galilee escaped to

Jerusalem, where a bi@er civil
war among the Jews erupted,
piwng the fana-cal Zealots and
Sicarii against the more
moderate Sadducees and
Pharisees. By A.D. 68 the en-re
Jerusalem leadership and their
followers were dead, having
been killed by their fellow Jews,
and the Zealots held the temple
complex, using it as a staging
area for their war against Rome.

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46

With Neros death in Rome, Vespasians troops

proclaimed him Emperor. Support spread
quickly, and in A.D. 69 Vespasian leP Jerusalem
for Rome to claim the throne, leaving his son
Titus to conclude the war in Jerusalem.
By the summer of A.D. 70, Titus had breached
the city walls and captured the temple. During
the erce gh-ng the temple complex caught
re, and on Tisha BAv (29/30 July A.D. 70) the
temple fell: 1,000 years of Jewish temple
worship ended in a single day. The re spread
quickly to the city itself, destroying most of it.
Tacitus writes that no fewer than 600,000 Jews
fought the Romans in Jerusalem; those
Titus
captured were crucied, up to 500 per day;
Capitoline Museum, Rome.
and historians es-mate that 1.2 million Jews
died during the span of the Jewish Revolt, A.D. 66-73. It was the greatest catastrophe
in Jewish history un-l the Nazi holocaust of 1939-1944.
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47

David Roberts. The Siege and DestrucKon of Jerusalem by the Romans under the
Command of Titus, A.D. 70 (oil on canvas), 1850. Private Collec-on.

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48

During the Jewish Revolt of A.D. 66-73

thousands of Jews ed Jerusalem to other parts
of the Roman Empire, many to the far west. In
Pompeii, Mt. Vesuvius was hea-ng up. Located
a li@le over ve miles east of modern-day
Naples, a short distance from the Mediterranean
shore, Pompeii sits at the foot of a somma
volcano, a 4,203 foot high, humpbacked
mountain with a summit caldera surrounding a
newer cone. It is one of the most dangerous
volcanic mountains on earth, erup-ng countless
-mes throughout history. In modern -mes
Vesuvius has erupted six -mes in the 18th
century, eight -mes in the 19th century and
three -mes in the 20th century, the last in 1944.
On several occasions post-erup-on ash
blanketed all of southern Europe, and twice
A.D. 472 and 1631Vesuvian ash fell on
Constan-nople (modern-day Istanbul), over 750
miles to the northeast.
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49

Mt. Vesuvius from the air.

Photography by Ross Ellio@

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50

But never had there been an erup-on like that of

A.D. 79. On the morning of 24 August a massive
explosion occurred, blas-ng a column of ash and
pumice 50,000 100,000 feet into the atmosphere
at a rate of 1.5 million tons per second. Recent
studies suggest that the energy suppor-ng the
column came from steam superheated by magma.
The cloud collapsed as expanding gasses lost the
ability to support their solid contents, crea-ng a
pyroclas-c surge, a huge turbulent mass of uid
rock and gas traveling at near supersonic speed,
releasing over 100,000 -mes the thermal energy of
the atomic bombing at Hiroshima. Six such surges
occurred over two days, dropping ash and debris at
temperatures reaching 600 F and reaching a depth
up to 75 feet, burying both Pompeii and
neighboring Herculaneum. 16,000 people died
instantly in the surges and thousands more from
poisonous gasses, falling debris and collapsed
buildings. Nothing like it had ever been seen.
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Pompeii, with Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

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An entombed, ash-covered body at Pompeii.

Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

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53

Pliny the Younger gives us the only eyewitness

account of the Vesuvius erup-on in his two
le@ers to the historian, Tacitus. Heres a sample,
wri@en by Pliny at Misenum, about 20 miles
across the Bay of Naples from Vesuvius:
Though it was now morning, the light was exceedingly
faint and doubbul; the buildings all around us
tocered . . . we therefore resolved to quit the town. A
panic-stricken crowd followed us . . .. Being at a
convenient distance from the houses, we stood sKll, in
the midst of a most dangerous and dreadful scene. The
chariots, which we had ordered to be drawn out, were
so agitated backwards and forwards, though upon the
most level ground, that we could not keep them steady,
even by supporKng them with large stones. The sea
seemed to roll back upon itself, and to be driven from
its banks by the convulsive moKon of the earth; it is
certain at least the shore was considerably enlarged,
and several sea animals were leV upon it.
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54

On the other side [of the bay], a black and dreadful

cloud, broken with rapid zigzag ashes, behind it
variously shaped masses of ame; these were like
sheet-lightning, but much larger . . .. Soon
aVerwards, the cloud began to descend, and cover
the sea . . . a dense dark mist seemed to be following
us, spreading itself over the country like a cloud . . ..
We had scarcely sat down when night came upon us,
not such as we have when the sky is cloudy, or when
there is no moon, but that of a room when it is shut
up, and all the lights put out. You might hear the
shrieks of women, the screams of children, and the
shouts of men . . . some wishing to die, from the very
fear of dying; some liVing their hands to the gods;
but the greater part convinced that there were now
no gods at all, and that the nal endless night of
which we have heard had come upon the world.
(Pliny the Younger, Le@er 66, to Cornelius Tacitus)
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This is the world in which Luke

lived, the soil from which Lukes
gospel and Acts emerged.
It is the same world that formed
the background of Ma@hew and
Marks gospels, but Lukes high
Christologycertainly, the result
of St. Pauls inuencebrings
another perspec-ve en-rely.

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Rather than the fear and urgency

that is visceral in Mark, Lukes
gospel projects a calm assurance
that Gods plan will unfold as he
determined before the beginning
of -me, with the Lord Jesus Christ
in full control, from his Galilean
ministry, to his journey to
Jerusalem, and to his death,
burial, resurrec-on and
ascension.
Indeed, to his imminent return in
glory.

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1. How did Luke, a gen-le physician in Troas, learn of the

Gospel?
2. Luke was St. Pauls physician, traveling companion and
biographer for eighteen years. Can you think of
another pair in literature with a similar rela-onship?
3. How does Lukes view of Jesus dier from that of
Ma@hew and Mark?
4. What are some examples of the tumultuous -mes in
which Luke lived?
5. How does the idea of history dier today from the way
the ancients viewed history?

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Copyright 2015 by William C. Creasy

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Excursus, the Roman Empire

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