The goal is to provide readers with a general understanding of the period that frames the NT.

1. The Political World of New Testament Times

   This description begins with the period before the birth of Jesus, then covers the entire first century of the modern era, which is divided into three parts: the first part covers much of the life of Jesus, the second covers the oral proclamation of the Christian message and the composition of Paul's major letters, and the third covers the growing dominance of Gentile converts in Christian communities and the composition of the majority of the NT works.

   1. What Preceded The 1st Century AD?

      A new period began in 332 BC. After conquering Tyre in Phoenicia, Alexander the Great extended his control over Samaria and Judea, previously under Persian rule. The Jews of the Palestine-Syria region (and soon those of Egypt) were now part of that amalgam of Greek and Oriental civilization which we know as the Hellenistic world.

      1. 323 - 175 BC: Dominance of Palestine by Competing Hellenistic Kings

         After Alexander's death, his empire was divided among his generals. Politically, the high priests of Judea were caught between the ambitious dynasties of Egypt (the Ptolemies) and Syria (the Seleucids), both of which were descended from Greek generals. For the first hundred years, the Ptolemies generally dominated Judea. Through a policy of political and financial cooperation, the high priests of Jerusalem avoided Ptolemaic interference in religion for most of the period. In Egypt, the Jews became a significant minority, and by the beginning of the third century BC, the process of translating the Scriptures into Greek (the Septuagint) was well underway.

         The situation changed when, in the course of a series of campaigns (223-200 BC), the Syrian Seleucid ruler Antiochus III humiliated the Ptolemies and took control of all of Palestine. During this period of conflicting allegiances, the Jews felt persecuted by the Ptolemies, as attested by the legends of 3 Maccabees. And after the defeat against the Romans (190 BC), who imposed a huge war indemnity, the Syrians' need for money increased. During the reign of Antiochus' son Seleucus IV (187-175), the Syrian general Heliodorus is known to have plundered the treasury of the temple in Jerusalem.

      2. 175 - 63 BC: Antiochus Epiphanes, the Maccabean Revolt, and the Hasmonean High Priests

         The difficult situation caused by the Seleucids worsens with Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164) who proceeds systematically to the unification of his subjects by making them share the same culture and the same Greek religion. The venality and the ambition of the high priests of Jerusalem, that he does not stop removing, serve his plans. He punished attempts at resistance by attacking Jerusalem (169 and 167), massacring the population, looting the Temple, erecting a statue of Zeus on the altar of burnt offering in the Temple ("the abomination of desolation" in Dan 11:31; 12:11; cf. Mark 13:14) and installing a permanent Syrian garrison in a fortress (the Akra) in the city. This persecution provides the context for the Book of Daniel, which uses descriptions of the Babylonian kings of the 6th century BC to decry the Syrian rulers of the 2nd century BC. In 167, a Jewish revolt led by Mattathias, a priest living northwest of Jerusalem, was continued for a period of thirty-five years by his sons Judas Maccabeus, Jonathan and Simon. A number of very pious people (the Hasideans) joined the revolt in the hope that victory would put an end to the corruption of the Temple cult by the Seleucid kings. In 164 the Jews won a victory that led to the cleansing and rededication ("Hanukkah") of the altar site, the appointment of Jonathan as high priest in 152, and the capture of the Akra and expulsion of the Syrian garrison in 142.

         During the reign of John Hyrcan I (135 - 104 BC, who began a dynasty called "Hasmonean," possibly originating from Asamōnaios, the great-grandfather of Mattathias), son of Simon, Rome recognized Jewish independence. Hyrcan destroyed the Samaritan sanctuary on Mount Gerizim, amplifying the already existing hatred between the Samaritans and the Jews. His son Aristobulus (104-103) assumed the title of king. This combination of high priesthood and kingship would be maintained by his successors for the next forty years, with the political interests of the position often dominating the religious interests. The wars led by Alexander Jannaeus (103-76), son of John Hyrcan and brother of Aristobulus, extended the borders of the kingdom. Dissolute and cruel, he stooped to crucify his Jewish enemies. He was followed by his widow Salome Alexandra (76-69), then by two sons, Hyrcan II and Aristobulus II, whose quarrels for power opened the way to Roman intervention in the person of Pompey, who entered Jerusalem and the Temple in 63 BC.

      3. 63 - 4 BC: Roman Dominance, Herod the Great, Augustus

         The Romans preferred the weak Hyrcan II (63-41) to the high priest Aristobulus II, but an Idumean adventurer, Antipater II, imposed himself by various shenanigans (murder, marriage) as adviser of Hyrcan, then, with the approval of Julius Caesar, as procurator or supervisor in full. The son of Antipater, Herod (the Great), He cleverly switched allegiance during the Roman civil wars that followed Caesar's assassination (44 BC). In 37, thanks to his brutality and a quick marriage with the Hasmonean family, he became the undisputed king of Judea, a kingship approved and extended by Octavian in 31/30. Regarded with contempt by many Jewish subjects as only half-Jewish (he was an Idumean convert to Judaism), Herod's sympathies were clearly with Greco-Roman culture. His reign was marked by extensive construction projects, including the rebuilding of the former capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, Samaria, which became Sebaste (in honor of Augustus), the new port city Caesarea Maritima (in honor of Caesar Augustus), and, in Jerusalem, the Antonia fortress (in honor of Mark Antony), a royal palace, and a massive expansion of the temple. His distrust of possible rivals led him to build inaccessible fortress-palaces (including Machaerus, in Transjordan, where John the Baptist died years later) and to murder some of his own sons. The brutal cruelty, even madness, of Herod's last years gave rise to Matthew's account that this king was willing to slaughter all the male children of Bethlehem up to the age of two as part of his desire to kill Jesus. He died around 4 BC.

         On the side of Rome, Octavian is the one who survived the wars that followed the death of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. Assuming the title of peacemaker, this master of propaganda dotted the empire with monuments celebrating his achievements, including this inscription at Halicarnassus calling him "savior of the world." Luke's infancy narrative (2:11,14) with the angels singing peace on earth and the resounding proclamation, "Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you who is Messiah and Lord" could well echo Augustus' publicity. Under his reign Rome goes from a republic to an empire.

   2. The First Third Of The 1st Century AD

      After Herod's death, Augustus divided the kingdom among three of Herod's sons. In the two regions that most affected Jesus' life, Archelaus became ethnarch of Judea, Samaria and Idumea, while Herod Antipas became tetrarch of Galilee and part of Transjordan. Archelaus' rule in Judea was autocratic and aroused the hatred of his subjects to such an extent that they sent a delegation to Rome to demand his removal (the parable in Luke 19:14 may allude to this). Judea then became a Roman imperial province. To initiate this transformation, Quirinius, the Roman legate in Syria, conducted a census for tax purposes as part of this takeover, which led to a rebellion by Judas the Galilean. This census is mentioned in Acts 5:37 and is probably also referred to in Luke 2:1-2. The Judas rebellion, which occurred around 6 CE, when Jesus was about twelve years old and some twenty-five years before his crucifixion, is the only serious Jewish uprising recorded in Palestine during Jesus' childhood and maturity. Valerius Gratus and Pontius Pilate, each lasted ten years - indicating that this was not a period of violent revolution.

      In Jesus' homeland of Galilee ruled Herod Antipas, a cunning and conceited king, while Jerusalem and Judea were controlled by a Roman prefect. But the relationship between Herod (or the Herodian princes) and Pilate was not always harmonious. A few years after Jesus' death, Pilate's harsh use of force to suppress a Samaritan religious movement led to the intervention of the Roman legate in Syria who sent Pilate to Rome in 36 AD. The four-year reign of Emperor Caligula (37-41) was frightening for the people of Jerusalem because he tried to have a statue of him erected in the Temple.

   3. The Second Third Of The 1st Century AD

      Herod Agrippa I, who had previously succeeded to the territories of his uncles Philip and Herod Antipas in the year 39, was a friend of Caligula and the new emperor Claudius (41-54). As a result, he was made king of all Palestine (41-44), re-establishing the kingdom of his grandfather Herod the Great. Agrippa attracted the goodwill of the Jewish religious leaders and tried to appear pious. Acts 12 attributes to him a persecution that killed James, the brother of John, son of Zebedee. After Agrippa's death (dramatized in Acts 12:20-23), another period of Roman rule began; but the procurators of the period 44-66 were of low caliber, vicious and dishonest, causing intense unrest by their injustice. Their mismanagement gave rise to the Sicarii (knife-wielding terrorists), the Zealots (ruthless followers of the Law) and a great Jewish revolt against the Romans. After a hearing of the Sanhedrin convened by Ananus (Annas) II, a high priest who was later deposed by the procurator Albinus for acting illegally, James, the "brother of the Lord," was executed in the year 62. Only two years later, after the great fire of Rome in July 64, the emperor Nero (54-68) persecuted the Christians in the capital, a persecution in which, according to respectable tradition, Peter and Paul were martyred. Thus, by the mid-60s, the most famous Christian personalities in the Gospels and Acts had died, so that the last third of the first century can be called postapostolic. The Jewish revolt raged from 66 to 70, and large Roman forces and the best generals were called in. A somewhat uncertain tradition reports that the Christians in Jerusalem refused to join the Revolt and withdrew to Pella across the Jordan.

   4. The Last Third Of The 1st Century AD And The Beginning Of The 2d Century

      The emperors of the Flavian family reigned from 69 to 96 AD. Vespasian, the first, had taken command of Judea in 67 and had straightened out the Roman efforts, until then unsuccessful, to suppress the Jewish revolt. But after Nero's suicide in 68, the legions proclaimed him emperor. His son Titus found himself at the head of the Judean campaign, which ended with the capture of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 70 (the last bastion of resistance at Masada fell in 74). The two drachmas that the Jews paid each year for the Temple of Jerusalem were now directed to Rome for the support of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. Around 75 Titus lived openly in Rome with his mistress, the Jewish princess Berenice, sister of Herod Agrippa II. It was also in Rome, under the patronage of these emperors, that the Jewish writer Flavius Josephus wrote his account of the Jewish War and, in the early 90s, his great history of the Jews, the Jewish Antiquities, invaluable sources for understanding first century Judaism.

      In this dynasty of emperors, Domitian, the youngest son of Vespasian, had the longest reign (81-96). Autocratic and vindictive, in his quest to restore the purity of the Roman religion, he executed on charges of atheism some of those attracted to Judaism, and was very hostile to Christianity. During the reign of the three Flavian emperors, Jerusalem began to be surpassed in importance for Christians by other centers with large Christian communities, such as Antioch, Ephesus and Rome. It was probably also at this time that the number of Gentile Christians exceeded the number of Jewish Christians. In the synagogues, the relationship between Jews and believers in Jesus probably varied from region to region. In some Christian communities, there was a strong antipathy to the leaders of the Jewish synagogues, as evidenced by a series of passages in Matthew (6:2. 5; 23:6 where the claims of the Jews are denounced); the synagogues were accused of persecuting the Christians (Mt 10:17; 23:34) and of expelling them (Jn 9:22; 12:42; 16:2), so that the Jews became for them strangers (see Mt 28:15; Jn 10:34; 15:25). Shortly after the assassination of Domitian, another dynasty of emperors was formed: Trajan (98-117) and his successor, Hadrian (117-138). An efficient administrator and inclined to intervene in the provinces, Trajan issued regulations that led to the persecution of Christians in Asia Minor.

      In his search for Christians, the official and writer Pliny the Younger expected to find them among the slave class, especially female slaves; he mentions Christians gathering to sing hymns to Christ "as to a god." The need for a well-articulated order in the Christian churches if they were to survive is attested to by Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch, who, while being taken to Rome as a prisoner to be martyred (c. 110), wrote letters to the churches stressing the importance of remaining united to the bishop. At the end of Trajan's reign (115-117) and in the early years of Hadrian's, there were Jewish riots throughout the eastern part of the empire. Hadrian's insistence on a shrine to Jupiter Capitolinus in Jerusalem on the site of the Temple that had been destroyed in 70 and his prohibition of circumcision contributed to the second Jewish revolt led by Simon ben Kozevah, known as Bar Kokhba, and recognized as the messiah by Rabbi Akiba. The Romans ruthlessly suppressed the revolt; Akiba was martyred; and henceforth no Jew was allowed to enter Jerusalem on pain of death. On the site of the ancient city of Jerusalem, a new pagan city was built, Aelia Capitolina. Although Jesus' relatives are said to have been influential in the churches of Palestine in the time of Domitian, this precedence ended in the time of Trajan; and under Hadrian, the leadership of the church in Palestine is said to have passed into the hands of converted pagans.

2. The Social World of New Testament Times
   1. A world marked by Judaism, but within a Hellenistic framework

      The first believers in Jesus were Jewish; the majority of the NT authors were Jewish. The memories of Jesus and the writings of his disciples are filled with references to Jewish scriptures, festivals, institutions and traditions. There is therefore no doubt about the influence of Judaism on the NT. On the other hand, since the time of Alexander the Great, the Jews had been living in a Hellenistic world, so that by the time of Jesus a good percentage of the world's Jews spoke Greek. The biblical books written in Hebrew and Aramaic had been translated into Greek, and some of the deuterocanonical biblical books, such as the second book of Maccabees and Wisdom, were written in Greek. In various ways and to varying degrees, through trade, schools and travel, Jews were influenced by a world very different from that described in much of the OT.

   2. An urban world with a mixed population

      Christian communities grew up around cities. The reason is simple: the Roman road network, originally built for military purposes, often facilitated the travel of Jewish Christian preachers, bringing them to the towns along the roads; and these towns had synagogue communities to which these preachers could appeal.

      Cities have a long history of interaction of different people. Three hundred years after Alexander's conquests, local populations had been integrated into the Greek world, while Roman conquests led to the creation of colonies in some parts of Greece as a territorial reward to soldiers. The privilege of being a citizen depended on particular circumstances. For example, in some cities, Jews could be granted citizenship. On the other hand, the customs of one group imposed limits on others: foreigners were forbidden to enter the temple of Hera at Argos in Greece; no non-Jew was allowed to enter the temple at Jerusalem; only Greeks could be initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. In general, the Roman administration tried to maintain peace between the different segments of the population.

   3. A world grouped in associations and the problem of social integration

      In this world of great diversity and mobility, it is not surprising to see the number of associations to support the need to belong. There are associations to maintain gymnasiums where the body and mind are trained; professional and trade associations that function as guilds, unions, and brotherhoods; religious associations for those who practice faiths other than public worship; and clubs for the young and old. In particular, those who were not citizens gained a sense of community in these associations. Jews were excluded from some aspects of communal civic life because of their religion and dietary laws, although some Jewish officials and wealthy members of society made concessions, for example by providing financial support for a festival. Sometimes the degree of participation depended on personal judgment. Meals with non-Jews were particularly sensitive, not only because forbidden foods might be served, but also because the food might be dedicated to a pagan god. Such meals were also the subject of acrimonious debate among Jews who believed in Jesus, according to Gal 2:12. Paul condemned the participation of Christians at pagan altar tables where sacrifices were performed (I Cor 10:21). Yet, on the premise that pagan gods do not exist, he argued that eating food from sacrifices was not idolatrous. Nevertheless, since some who did not have this perception could sin by eating such food, it was necessary to be sensitive to their conscience (1 Cor 8:4-13). Rev 2:14, 20 is more severe, condemning outright the eating of food dedicated to idols. People who did not share the same practices and beliefs were always suspect, and anti-Judaism was common in some parts of the empire.

      Nevertheless, the particular beliefs and commitments of Jews were legally protected by privileges granted by Julius Caesar and reaffirmed by his successors. Christians probably enjoyed similar protection as long as they were considered Jews; but once most Christians were Gentiles or Jews rejected by the synagogues, they no longer enjoyed a legal umbrella. The popular opposition to the Christians is echoed in Acts 28:22: "As for this sect, we know that it is denounced everywhere." This alienation from social life was trying for the Christian psyche, hence certain writings such as 1 Peter who addresses the believers who had become aliens and sojourners (2:11) and who were reviled as wrongdoers (2:12) and insulted (3:9); he assures them that they are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and the people of God (2:9-10).

   4. A mixed perception of the Roman Empire

      For some populations, the arrival of the Roman Empire was an improvement to their lot, for others: not. And not all the cities were treated in the same way; Tarsus was a free city, allied, exempted from the imperial tax; cities like Corinth and Philippi, because of the Roman reconstruction or resettlement, bore the title of colonia in which agricultural land was not subject to taxation. In the older cities, the traditional names of officials were retained (and the Acts are adept at reporting these titles). Unfortunately, Rome gradually opted for an aristocratic administration, so that a number of classes, including Roman citizens, were now excluded from certain functions. The collection of taxes was often entrusted to the highest bidder, so that a tax considered oppressive could be so in itself or because of the greed and ruthlessness of the collectors. The Acts of the Apostles paints a mixed picture of the Gentile authorities, without always specifying whether the local authorities or magistrates who dealt with Paul were Roman: in 16:22, 36-38 and 17:6-9 they are unjust or indifferent; in 13:12 and 19:35-40 they are sympathetic or just.

   5. A diversity of social classes

      The NT often refers to "the poor". But we must not identify these poor with the people of the third world today who cannot find a place to live and are often on the verge of starvation. In the Gospels, which partly reflect Jesus' life in Galilee, the poor are small farmers with insufficient or barren land, or serfs on large estates; in the cities, without the help of the produce of the land, the poor are somewhat worse off. Yet both groups of NT poor were better off economically than the desperate poor of the modern world. As for Jesus himself, who is remembered for showing affection for the poor, according to Mark 6:3 he was a tektōn, that is, a "woodworker" who made doors or furniture for stone or mud brick houses, as well as plows and yokes for farmers. As a village craftsman, he could be compared to a "blue collar" lower middle class American.

      With regard to slaves, the NT translations render the doulos Greek with "servant" or "slave"; but those so described are not to be imagined as the 19th century models of British servants or African slaves in America. By the time of the NT, slavery had existed for several centuries, even if it was beginning to decline. Early sources of slaves were the pirate raids and frequent wars that preceded the inauguration of the Roman Empire, as prisoners and sometimes the entire population of a conquered city were sold as slaves. The status of slaves varied. Those who rowed in the galleys or worked in the quarries had a brutal existence. Yet slaves had legal rights, and under the empire, abusing or killing slaves was a punishable crime. In addition to working in business, agriculture, and households, slaves could be administrators, doctors, teachers, scholars, and poets, and accumulate wealth. In addition, pagan nobles denounced slavery, and some Eastern religions accepted slaves without prejudice.

      Christian preachers made converts among the city poor and slaves, but they also made considerable inroads into the middle class. Although there were some wealthy Christians, the fewest conversions were among this social class and among the aristocrats. In 1 Corinthians 1:26, Paul does more than rhetoric when he says, "There are few wise men among you... few powerful, few noble." A particular occasion of Christian social tension seems to have been the Eucharistic meal. For a number of Christians to gather together, a large room was necessary. In this room, often located on the second floor of a private house of a wealthier believer, were invited Christians of a lower class who otherwise would have had no contact with the owner. One interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11:20-22, 33-34 is that some owners had found a way around this socially awkward situation by inviting only their friends to a meal first, so that they had eaten and drunk before the larger group was welcomed to the Eucharist. Paul condemns this as unchristian because it brings shame on those who have nothing. The short letter to Philemon shows that Paul is grappling with the problem of a runaway slave who has become a Christian. He asks the owner to take the fugitive back as a brother and, implicitly, not to impose severe penalties on him.

   6. The school world

      The Greek model of education, well established throughout the Roman Empire, consisted of an elementary school (about seven years old) for the teaching of reading, writing, music and athletics, followed by tutoring in grammar, especially poetry, and finally (for a small number) by higher education in rhetoric and philosophy. As for the influence on Jesus, there is little evidence that Greek schools were widespread in Palestine at the time of the NT. The influence on him of the culture of Hellenistic cities such as Tiberias on the Lake of Galilee (near where he preached) and Sephoris (only seven kilometers from Nazareth) should not be exaggerated. The fact that these two cities served as capitals of Herod Antipas may have made them abominations to Jesus, who spoke scornfully of "that fox" (Luke 13:32). In any case, there is no evangelical indication of Jesus' contacts with these cities. Nor do we have any concrete evidence that Jesus or his most frequently cited Galilean disciples spoke Greek in any significant way, nor that he formulated any of his teachings in that language, although it is plausible that he and the disciples became familiar with certain expressions through contact with Greek-speaking people in commerce or daily life.

      As for Saul/Paul who knew Greek quite well, if he was trained in the diaspora, he may well have received a basic Greek education. Moreover, we must remember that in a center like Tarsus, there were also public sources of education that could have influenced him, for example, the libraries and theaters where the plays of Greek poets were performed. Some Christian preachers may have had a more sophisticated Greek education, for example Apollos, whom Acts 18:24 describes as eloquent, or the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, who displays the best Greek in the NT. But in general, the NT writings are written in the Greek of the time, the koinē, or everyday Greek. The strong Semitic influence on the Greek of some of the NT books, the colloquial character of Mark and the grammatical errors of Revelation could have made these works crude in the eyes of a more educated audience that had gone through the school curriculum. It is therefore understandable that, in implicit self-defense, Paul acknowledges that he did not preach "with words taught by human wisdom" (1 Cor 2:13).