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Part 2, Color Photos for Seven Congregations in a Roman Crucible

April 3, 2013 7:28 pm / Leave a Comment

Hello Everyone,

This URL will take you to a second page of color photos from the commentary.  I am not including the ones that were never in color, like many of the coin photos, but the rest that are enjoyable to see in color.  Due to the number of color photos I will not try to display all of them at one time.

So, enjoy.  Over the next week or so I hope to get all of them from the commentary on this blog.

Click this link, or copy and paste it:       http://richardoster.com/color-photos-for-seven-congregations-in-a-roman-crucible-part-2/

I have included the page numbers and figure numbers from the commentary to help you see where belong.

For those of you who have purchased a copy of the commentary, THANKS.

Would Jesus Go to Church?

October 23, 2011 8:29 pm / 4 Comments

It has been around for centuries, this idea of devotion for Christ  and apathy for his church.  Dan Kimball, for example, wrote a book a few years back entitled They like Jesus but Not the Church.  This dislike for the local congregation but interest in Christ is certainly widespread today.  From a perspective that is very subversive to the individualistic practices of many modern believers and para-church ministries, God reveals to John a Son of Man who has planted himself directly in the midst of churches.  
John leaves no doubt about this since those 7 lamp stands where the Son of Man resides are interpreted as the 7 churches of Revelation (Rev. 1:12-13, 20).  Far too many lifetimes have been wasted by individuals desperately wanting to interpret the symbols of Revelation while all the time ignoring one of the few symbols that Revelation itself interprets for the reader.  Christian pietists have always been excited about John’s earlier scene with the Son of Man “coming with the clouds” (Rev. 1:7), but they seem to lose interest when he is to be found dwelling among congregations.  
Jesus’ choice to hang out with the saints is even more startling in light of the poor performance and patent heresy of many of these congregations.  Some of these churches had people who had turned their backs on Christ, yet there he still is among them.  While Christ was never known to make choices based upon the “cool factor,” he truly chose some of the un-coolest folks in Roman Asia to hang out with.  Had Christ wanted to be worshipped with excitement and style, he clearly would have chosen to hang out with those worshipping the Emperor or with those where truly exciting worship took place like in the Mystery Religions.
This apparent desire of Christ to shun individualism and to be seen with his people is highlighted in John’s use of other collective images and illustrations.  It is impossible to make any sense out of Revelation’s use of the 144,000 without noticing that it points to 12 thousand from each of the 12 tribes (Rev. 7:4-8), and not just 144,000 individuals.  Even the image of the Bride of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7; 21:2, 9; 22:17) is built upon Old Testament nuptial ideas where the corporate people of God are taken as the Bride.  As with the Apostle Paul (Eph. 5), for John we are only the Bride of Christ as the church.
Revelation 14:1-5 has a powerful scene that depicts the saints in heaven.  Among the many descriptions of this group of the saved is that these are “the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Rev. 14:4).  Unlike many of their modern counterparts, these believers and martyrs in John’s vision were willing to follow the Messiah anywhere without reservation, even into the life of the local church.

gods everywhere

October 20, 2011 10:50 pm / 1 Comment

GRANT
Graeco-Roman Antiquities & the New Testament
There are things you can tell about an entire ocean even if you have only one cup of water from it.  Naturally a scientist would like to have as many cups and as broad a sampling as possible, but even a single cup is of some help.  The same is true when investigating the world of the New Testament.  You can learn something even from one ancient document, though the explorer of the ancient world would like to have as many documents as possible. 
I hope once a week to present a small sample of information that mirrors some aspect of the ancient world surrounding nascent Christianity.
 
gods everywhere
“Deities are so prevalent in our neighborhood that you are more likely to bump into a god than a man.”
Petronius, Satyricon
The above 1st century AD quotation reflects the ubiquity of ancient polytheistic beliefs and people’s desire to create deities and religious festivals whenever possible.  There is a Greek language inscription from early Roman Sardis, for example, that depicts this so well.  It merits a mention on this blog because it deals with veneration of the Imperial family, and although first published about 100 years ago, I have not seen a widespread awareness of this relevant artifact among New Testament scholars.
Roman coin showing Augustus’s two 
maternal grandchildren.  Used with the kind 
permission of Classical Numismatic Group, Inc.,
 http://www.cngcoins.com.

The Roman Emperor Augustus was the maternal grandfather of Gaius Julius Caesar [20 BC-AD 4] and Lucius Julius Caesar [17 BC-AD 2].  Since Augustus had no sons himself, he adopted them  as his heirs.  Roman society had a special ceremony when young boys reached their middle teen years and could wear the new garment, the toga virilis, indicating their arrival into manhood.  This rite of  passage in Rome for Gaius Caesar was acknowledged and celebrated many miles away by one of the 7 cities of Revelation.  

Gaius Julius Caesar; British Museum
Gaius_Cesar_BM_GR1870.07-05.1_n1.jpg

Not only does this decree from the city of Sardis mention prayers being offered to Augustus for the safety of his children, but the city proclaims this day of transition from youth to manhood for Gaius Caesar as an annual “sacred day” on which the city of Sardis will offer prayers and sacrifices to the gods and “all shall wear wreaths and festal garments.”  Furthermore, a statue of Gaius Caesar was to be erected in the imperial Temple of Augustus located in Sardis.  In addition, this news was regarded as such “good news” [euangelisthē] by those in Sardis that they wore wreaths and gave sacrifices to the gods on that very day that such “good news” was received.  The “good news” language of this inscription is noteworthy since it uses the same Greek verb [euangelizō; e.g., Matt. 11:5; Lk. 4:18; Acts 5:42; 17:18; 1 Cor. 1:17; 15:1; Gal. 1:11] that would be used later by Jesus and his followers when describing the proclamation of their own “good news.”  

Neither Gaius Julius Caesar nor Lucius Julius Caesar was able to fulfill divine destiny.  They both died prematurely and Augustus had to adopt Tiberius to become the next Emperor at his death.
 
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