Qtnurnr~ttt
m~tnln!lirttl :!InutlJly
Continuing
LEHRE UND WEHRE
MAGAZIN FUER Ev.-LuTH. HOMILETIK
THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLy-THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY
Vol. V November, 1934 No. 11
CONTENTS
Die Theologie Karl Barths. w. Kemner ••••••••••••••••••
The Primitive Christians. E. G. Sibler •••••••••••••••••••
Die chronologische Reihenfolge der Weissagungen im Buche
Jeremias'. P. E. Kretzmann ••••••••..••••••••••••••••
Melanchthon and Luther's Translation of the New Testa-
Page
817
829
835
ment. H. O. Keinath. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 842
The Church Reform of Henry VITI a Product of the
Renaissance. Theo. Hoyer. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 847
Sermon Study on Reb. 10, 32-39. Th. Laetsch. • • • • • • • • • •• 854
Der Schriftgrund fuer die Lehre von der satisfactio vicaria .
• • • • • • • • • . . . • . . . . • . • • . . .. P. E. Kretzmann ••••••••••• 863
Sermons and Outlines ............................... 866
Miscellanea ........................................ 871
Theological Observer. - Kirchlich-Zeitgeschichtliches .... 879
Book Review. - Literatur ........................... 889
Ein Predlger mU98 nicht alleID welMla,
alao dass er die Schafe unterweise, wle
ole reebte OhrIaten BOllen eeln, BOndem
auch danehen den Woelfen 1D6hreA, dass
ole die 8chafe nicht angreUen und mit
faacher Lehre verfuehren und Irrtum eln-
fuehren. - LuIMr-.
Es 1st keln Ding, daB die Leute mehr
hel der Klrche behaelt dean die cute
Predigt. - ApolQgu, Arl.~.
If the trumpet give an uncertain BOund,
who shall prepare b1meelf to the battle f
1 Cor. ,lJ,8.
PubUshed for the
Ev. Luth. Synod of lItissouri, Ohio, and Other States
OOJ!l'OOBDIA PU'BLISBING HOUSE, St. Louis, Mo.
The Primitive Christia;n.B. 829
aat! \Battl) rourbe am 10. lJJlai 1886 in \Bafer gevoten. Sein mater roar
SUtofeffor bH ::tf)eorogie in \Bern. Grr ftubierte bon 1904 viS 1908 5tl)eorogte in
\Bern, \BerHn, ::tiibingen uno lJJlarvurg. mon 1908 viS 1909 roar cr .i;lUf~~
arbeiter an bel' ,{leitjcl)rift ,,~f)tiftricl)e illicIt" in lJJlarvurg, bann .i;lHfsgeiftrid)er
an bel' refonnierten ®emeinDe in ®enf. mon 1911 big 1921 roar er qJfarrer
in 6afenroH im ~cmton ~argau. 1919 etfdJien bie erfte ~uflage feine~ ~uf~
fef)en erregenDen aommentars 3um ffiiimerbtief. Grr rourbe barauf .i;lonotar,
.profeffot fiit reformiette ::tf)eorogie in ®iittingen, einige :;'Saf)te fpnter orbentricl)et
SUrofeffot in lJJliinfter, unb feU cinigen :;'Saf)ren ift er in \Bonn tntig.
mon feinen 6d)riften fi·nb in biefem llluHat venu~t rootben: ,,5Da~ Illiott
®ottes unb bie ::tf)eologie", f cine Illu~legung bet mriefe qJauli an bie ffiiimer unb
an bie qJf)Hippet, Fides (Juaerens Intelleotum, ,,~nfelms melDeis bon oet
(':!;iften3 ®ottes", "IDie firc~1id)e SDogmatif", 1. manb: IDie l3ef)re bom Illiotte
®ottes. mon ben 6d)tiften feinet i\'reunbe finb aU nennen: Cl:b. ::tl;urnCl)fen:
"SDag Illiott ®ottell unb bie ~ircl)e." i\'. ®ogatten: 1I@laube unb Offenbarung",
,,5Die teIigiiife Grntfd)eibung", ,,:;'Sllufionen, ®laube unb Illiitflicf;feit ll , "SDie Sd)ulb
ber ~itcl)e gegen bie Illiert ll , "qJolitiid)e Grtf)U".
)Btemen, ~elltfdjranb. )lB. S\) e m n e r.
~ II ~
The Primitive Christians.
( Ooncluded.)
III.
Ohristian scholars cannot dispense with the study of "classical"
antiquity. I know few academic habits as wrong as that of calling
every Greek and Homan Wl'iter a "classic." As if eleg'ance of form
could be a counterweight to much of pagan content! Now Ohris-
tianity confronted, overcame, absorbed, and finally destroyed classical
paganism, although it labored for centuries, up to Oonstantine's Edict
of Milan (313 A. D.), under the hardship of being a religio illicita,
·under the Homan Law. Was there persecution of the Ohristians be-
f01'e the persecution of Nero, 64 A. D.? J ames, the brother of John,
was executed in Jerusalem 44 A.D. (Zahn). About Pentecost, 58 A.D.,.
the Homan authorities at Jerusalem saved Paul of Tarsus from the
fury of the Jews. We refer once more to 1 Pet. 4, 12 ff. The Ohris-
tians to whom Peter wrote were of the Diaspora, in the eastern prov-
inces of the Roman Empire (Pontus, Galatia, Oappadocia, "Asia,"-
the Roman province called so by the Romans, with Ephesus as capi-
tal, - and Bithynia). Now, these Ohristian converts were suffering
severe persecution when Peter wrote - persecution for what? For
having a non-pagan religion? By no means. The orthodox Jews were
safe and unharmed in their religion an:d worship, as guaranteed by
edicts of Oaesar, Augustus, and Agrippa. The Jews did not worship
Isis, Osiris, Anubis, Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Diana (not even at Ephe-
sus), nor Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Oapitol, and they suffered
830 The Primitive Christians.
no persecution whatever for their abstention. Now, why were the
Christains to whom Peter wrote (before 64 A. D.) subject to persecn-
tion ~ It seems clear that the new "Ohristians" (Messiah-believers)
were maligned as disloyal to the Roman government. That is why
Peter avows his loyalty in these words (chap. 2, 13 fl.) : "Subject your-
selves [be obedient] to every human institution on account of the
Lord, to the emperor as ~upreme authority or to proconsuls sent by
him," etc. Now, why did the Ohristians sufler persecution ~ Indirectly
it was stirred up by the orthodox Jews, but directly inflicted by the
Roman officials in these eastern provinces. IIvgwalq (I, 4, 2) is a severe
term. The Jews said: "These Ohristians are not loyal, they worship
a ruler of their own, called 'Messiah,' or 'Ohrist'; no Roman official
should permit this." This obloquy against the "Messiah-believers"
was, I think, widely spread before the great fire at Rome, 64 A. D., and
brought the Ohristians and their religion into the very focus of the
empire's interest. Even about 180 A. D. we read in the Octavius of
Minucius Felix, c. 28: U quasi Christiani monstra colerent, infantes
vorarent, convivia incesta miscerent." And the pagan interlocutor
says of Ohrist, the Orucified (c. 9,4): "et qui hominem surnmo sup-
plicio pm facinore punitum et c1'1/'cis ligna feralia eorum caM-imo-
nias fabttlatttr, congruentia perditis sceleratisque tl"ibuit altaria, ut
id colant quod merentu.r." Now, Paul, writing to Rome, about 58 A.D.
(Zahn), intimates nothing whatever of such a hostile attitude of the
secular government towards the Olll'istians there, who clearly were
vastly more numerous than those greeted by name in chap. 16. In
the cosmopolitan capital on the Tiber countless "religions" were freely
practised, especially that of Isis and Osiris. Seneca could write scorn-
fully of the very worship practised in the temple of the Oapitoline Ju-
piter. Of the Jews he said (cited by Augustine from Seneca, Dialogus
de Superstitione) : U cum interim tLsque eo sceleratissimae gentis con-
suetudo convalu6j'it, ut peT' OMNES rAM TERRAS recepta sit: victi victo-
ribus leges dederunt." (De Civitate Dei, VI, 11.) Like Peter in the
East, Paul wrote to the Ohristians at Rome that they should be loyal
to the government. Nero ruled when Paul wrote this appeal: IIiJ.aa
'PvX~ 8~ova{aL, V1tsgsxovaat, v1to7:aaaia{}w, Rom. 13, 1 (Peter used both
these last two terms).
It is a curious fact that two profane authors, still studied every-
where, tell UB much about the primitive Ohristians, Tacitus and his
friend Pliny the Younger. I will now present the report of Tacitus
(Annals, XV, 41 fl., of 64 A. D.). The great fire occurred July 19-24
of that year, beginning at full moon, when arson would be difficult.
Nero was at Antium when the fire began. Tacitus (Ann., XV, 38) says
that it was "uncertain whether the fire began accidentally or by crim-
inal design of the emperor" ("forte an dolo principis incertum"). It
began near the Oircus Maximus, where many shops contained inflam-
The Primitive Christians. 831
mabIe material, and a high wind was blowing. No matter what Nero
did to aid the sufferers, the rumor spread that he chanted the fall of
Troy (Ann., XV, 39). Rome then had fourteen regiones, or wards;
four remained untouched, three were swept to the ground, in the other
seven only a few buildings remained. Even the temple of Vesta with
the "household gods" (penates) of the Roman people was destro'yed
(chap. 41). The Sibylline Books were duly consulted. Vulcan, Ceres,
and Proserpina were specially prayed to. Juno's figure was particu-
larly sprinkled with water brought from the sea, married women held
all-night services, and still the conviction prevailed that the fire was
due to deliberate arson C quin IUSSU}.! incendium crederetur," XV, 44).
"Therefore Nero, to do away the rumor, persecuted as defendants,
and visited with the most exquisite penalties, those whom, as they
were hated on account of their shameless practises (per jiagitia in-
visos) the general public (vulgus) called Christians. The author of
that name, Christus, during the reign of Tiberius, had been executed
by the Procurator Potius Pilate, and the deadly superstition, checked
for the moment, again broke out, not only in Judea, the source of that
evil, but also in Rome (per urbem), whither all abominable and shame-
ful things flow together and are celebrated. Therefore first those who
confessed [that tlley were Christians], then, through their informa-
tion, a huge multitude was guilty, not so much through the charge
of arson as on account of the hab'ed of the human race (odio generis
humani) , and as they were dying, sport was added, so that, covered
with the skins of wild beasts, they perished through the mangling of
dogs or, nailed to crosses, were set on fire and, when the day was done~
were burned to illumine the night. Nero had offered his gardens for
this show and was giving a chariot race, even standing on his chariot,
mingling with the crowd. Hence pity arose (although towards guilty
ones and those who had deserved the severest penalties), as though
they were being destroyed not in the public interest, but for the cruelty
of a single person." 1)
1) An Italian scholar, Carlo Pascal, in 1923 actually asserted that
the Christians started the fire. I consulted a special work: Dr. E. Th. Klette,
Tuebingen, 1907: Die Ohristenkatastrophe unter Nero, nach den Quellen,
insbesondere nach Taoitus' Ann. XV, 41 sqq. He says, p. 117: "Die von
den Juden geschuerte allgemeine Verfehmtheit der Ohristen in sittlicher
und religioeser Beziehung, die Wi1' bei Tacitus oetont finden und durah
weZahe die Olwisten fuel' Nero zu Optern emptohlen sein moahten, hat
nach spaeterer vidfaeltiger E1'fahrung fuel' die Auffassung der zu Gerioht
sitzenden Staatswuerdent1'aeger ihren zusammenfassenden Ausdruck stets
in dem Namen 'Ohristianus' gefunden." Klette also cites from Roman
Law, Paulus, Sententia, V, 211: "Qui saara impia nocturnave obcantarent,
defigerent, fecerint faciendave cumverint aut crucibu8 suffiguntu1' aut
bestiis obiciuntur, vel, si honestiores sunt, capito puniuntur. Magicae
artis conscios summo supplicio adfici placuit, id est, bestiis obici, aut
crucibus suffigi, ipsi autem magi vivi exuruntu1·."
832 The Primitive Christians.
But let us turn to Pliny, the proconsul of Bithynia, and his re-
port to the Emperor Trajan (Epp., X, 96) about 112 A. D., according
to Fynes Clinton, Fasti Romani, 1844, still the most eminent authority
for all scholars. This official letter of Pliny affords the best insight
into the awful position of the Ohristians now available from ancient
tradition. ,Ve hear of "the shameless practises connected with the
name" (fiagitia cohaerentia nomini) as something familiar to all.
Those who persisted in calling themselves Ohristians he ordered to be
1ed away to execution. "Those who denied that they were, or had
heen, Ohristians, when, at my reciting the formula to them (prae-
.eunte me), they called upon the gods and worshiped your image, which
-on that account I had ordered to be brought in with the images of
the gods with incense and wine, and besides cursed Ohrist, none of
which it is said those can be forced to do who really are Ohristians,
I thought should be acquitted." . . . "All both worshiped your image
and the figures (simulacra) of the gods and cursed Ohrist. They
stated that this had been the sum of their guilt or errol': that they
had been accustomed to meet before daybreak and to recite a chant
to Ohrist in turn (invicem, antiphony?) as to a god and pledge them-
selves by an oath, not to some crime, but not to commit theft or rob-
bery or adultery, not to break their word, not to deny a deposit en-
trusted to them; having done this, they had been accustomcd to
withdraw and to meet again for taking food (the aya1r1}?), general,
however, and harmless; and this itself they had ceased to do after
:my edict, by which, according to your order, I had forbidden such
dubs" (heta81'ias, in the quotation from Paulus, Sententia, above).
"The more necessary I considered it to inquire from two female ser-
vants (ancillis) who were called deaconesses (ministrae) what truth
there was even by torture. I found nothing but wicked and immod-