The Adventures of the Early Church . . .

PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH

Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. — Rev. 2:10

This charge to “the persecuted church,” as the congregation of believers in Smyrna is sometimes called, is not saying simply that a Christian will be rewarded if he remains faithful all his life. It is rather saying that the believer is to be faithful unto death, a death exacted by the hand of persecution. It is urging the church to be faithful unto martyrdom itself.

Such was their lot. The Lord said to them through their messenger: “Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days,” and he refers to “those things which you are about to suffer.” When he assured them that “I know your tribulation,” it must have comforted them, and when he said their ordeal would be but ten days he was telling them it would soon pass. While they were blasphemed by “a synagogue of Satan” and suffered poverty, the Lord could nonetheless say to them You are rich!

The Scriptures make it clear that those who suffer martyrdom for their faith will receive special blessings. They are indeed rich, however poor they may be or however young they have to die. Jesus made this truth one of the beatitudes: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” — in a special way, we may conclude, for he goes on to say, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven” (Mt. 5:10-12).

The apostle John sees martyrs “under the altar” in heaven, which may be a symbolic reference to the sacrificial nature of their shed blood, for in a literal scene only a few could find room under the altar. He identifies them as “those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held” (Rev. 6:9). The apostle hears the martyrs cry out, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” If this is a call for vengeance it would run counter to the forgiving spirit of the Christ who prayed on the Cross for his persecutors. The context indicates it is a call for judgment upon all the earth.

God’s response was that the martyrs were to rest a little while longer “until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.” This is a remarkable statement since it implies that the final judgment will not come until all those who are destined to die for their faith have suffered martyrdom. Do we not have to conclude from this that if Christ’s coming is imminent then there will be no more martyrs, for their number is complete. If some of us are yet to die for our faith, then the final judgment and the coming of Christ will await the completion of the number of the martyrs.

It is evident in any event that martyrs are especially blessed. Rev. 2:10 gives them the crown of life, Rev. 6:11 a white robe, and in Rev. 20:4 they sit on thrones and live and reign with Christ. While these rewards are for all faithful saints (the apostle John himself to whom all these things were revealed was not a martyr), they are especially for those whose faith is sealed by a martyr’s death. In 2 Tim. 4:6 the apostle Paul says, “I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand,” which is a reference to his own martyr’s death. He goes on to refer to “the crown of righteousness” that will be given him, but he acknowledges that such a crown is for all the faithful. The crown in these contexts is the victor’s crown, such as was given in the Olympic games, except that the crown of life bestowed by the Lord will never fade.

So common was it in the early church for a witness for Christ to die for his faith that martyr (Greek martus) and witness came to mean the same, such as in Rev. 2:13, “Antipas, my faithful martyr (or witness), who was killed among you.” Antipas was not a witness (martus) because he was put to death, but h..: was put to death because he was a witness. This illustrates how witnessing and suffering went hand in hand, as in the case of Jesus himself, who in Rev. 1:5 and 3:14 is called “the faithful martyr (or witness).” As Kittel’s Theological Dictionary notes, every Christian who died for his faith was not a martyr, but “The name is reserved for those who prove the final seriousness of their witness by suffering death.” Jesus, Paul, Stephen, James, and those in Revelation who were beheaded “for their witness of Jesus and for the word of God” were martyrs because they died while witnessing to the truth. In Acts 22:20 Paul refers to Stephen’s martyrdom: “When the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death.” Stephen is known in history as the first Christian martyr. But, again, we are to note that Stephen was a martyr not only because he died for his faith but that he died while proclaiming his faith. It was therefore witnessing (that commonly led to death) that made one a martyr.

It is evident from 1 Pet. 5:1 that suffering with Christ made one a martyr even though there was no actual death. “I am a fellow elder and a witness (martyr) of the sufferings of Christ,” says the apostle. This does not mean that he was an eye-witness to Christ’s suffering on the Cross, but that he himself suffered with Christ in his ministry of the gospel. When he goes on to say that he was also “a partaker of the glory that will be revealed,” he is saying that he will receive the glory because he suffered with Christ.

There is implied in the New Testament that if one is a Christian he will suffer (perhaps die) for his faith. If there is no such thing in the New Testament as an unbaptized Christian, there is also no such thing as a non-suffering Christian. Paul more than implies it when he says in 2 Tim. 3:12, “Yes, and all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” In fact Paul argues in Gal. 5:11 that “if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution?” His persecution was a sign of his loyalty to Christ. If one seeks to please men, he can avoid persecution; if he seeks to please Christ, he will be persecuted. The apostle then pens a line that challenges the church in every age: Then the offense of the Cross has ceased.

It would be inconceivable to the apostle Paul that the church in the world could ever escape persecution, for the church’s message by its very nature is offensive to the world. If the church is not persecuted, then the offense of the cross has ceased. This he says in Gal. 5:11. Moreover, he contends in Gal. 6:12 that they who desire to make “a good showing in the flesh” and thus compromise the gospel do so “only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.” Is not the apostle saying that there is no way to be a true Christian without suffering persecution?

The conflict between the church and the world is the conflict between flesh and spirit and between bondage and freedom. Those who love and serve carnal things will persecute those who love and serve spiritual things, and those who choose to be bound by ignorance and sectarianism will persecute those who choose to be free in Christ. So Paul teaches in Gal. 5 in the allegory of two women, Sarah and Hagar. In verse 29 he says, “He who was born according to the flesh (Ishmael, son of Hagar) persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit (Isaac, son of Sarah).”

Then the apostle drives home his point, Even so it is now! He is saying that those with carnal minds (those who think like the world and hold to worldly values) will always oppose, ridicule, and persecute those who seek to escape the enslaving systems of men and be free in Christ. Is it not the case even in the church, and is not Paul’s point that even in religion there is this ugly confrontation between bondage and freedom? It is the carnal, worldly, sectarian church that persecutes the free church.

It has been my experience in these many years as an editor that even among our own people one is destined to be persecuted by his own brethren when he breaks with the System and becomes a free man in Christ. Indeed, the more one conforms to the likeness of Christ and the more accepting he becomes of all God’s children, which is the essence of freedom, the more he will be persecuted by those who are sectarians and’ who love the praise of men more than the praise of God. It is common among us that you are “loved” only so long as you are true to the party line.

The recent history of the “captive churches” in the Communist bloc countries is an example of the eternal conflict between Christ and “the children of this world,” who in order to have their systems will destroy those who follow the humble Nazarene. Bishops of the church in such countries as Hungary and Yugoslavia decided that it is better to “cooperate” with the powers that be and thus have some visible presence of the church than to have a decimated church underground. But the church is always an underground church in some parts of the world. There is a sense in which Christians are always “underground” in this world, for they know what their mission is and they know who the enemy is. Or to put it another way, the church will always be the persecuted church because it is a pilgrim church. This world is not our home.

Even in our free society this conflict between the carnal and the spiritual is evident. William Buckley on his TV program Firing Line told Malcolm Muggeridge that in the many social gatherings with America’s elite he could comfortably introduce any subject for conversation except his religious faith. In our proper society it is inappropriate for someone to speak of his Christian faith. Buckley commented that any reference to Christ in such company is met with awkwardness and embarrassment, and so it is almost never done, not even by believers like Buckley, who confessed to his reticence. It illustrates how offensive the Cross is to our modern world.

Our Lord has told us that it would be that way: “They will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake” (Mt. 24:9). Do we deceive ourselves into believing that it can be otherwise? Christians who expect to be comfortable in this world are not likely to have an authentic witness.

Christ’s prediction of persecution certainly proved true for three centuries, until the Roman emperor Constantine became a Christian, supposedly. Christianity then became an accepted religion of the Empire and official persecution ceased, though indirect persecution continued. I question Constantine’s conversion because of his reason for becoming a Christian. He said he saw the sign of the Cross in the sky that told him “By this conquer!” He resolved that if he won his next battle he would become a Christian. One can see what kind of Christian he was when he killed his son for seeking to usurp the throne and his wife for lying to him. Historians concede that the Empire corrupted the church more than the church converted the Empire. While a corrupt church need not be persecuted by the world, true Christians throughout history have always been persecuted.

The story of the early church is a story of persecution. At first it was instigated by the Jews, but once it was evident that Christians would not worship the emperor, which was the heart of pagan religion, the Romans declared Christianity an illegal religion. It was actually a crime to be a Christian. A believer could save himself by renouncing Christ and proclaiming Caesar Christos! in a pagan temple as he sprinkled incense over the eternal flame. Polycarp, the aged bishop of the church in Smyrna, was one who refused to confess Caesar as Lord, and so he was burned at the stake in 155 A.D., and so he could claim a martyr’s reward. “Eighty and five years have I served him,” he told his persecutors, “and I cannot deny him now.”

That was the kind of testimony that rang out all over the Roman Empire from the time of Nero in 64 A.D., who burned Christians like torches and fed them to the lions, to the time of Diocletian in 300 A.D., who sought to exterminate the Christian faith by burning Scriptures and leveling the first church buildings that had been erected. Nero was quoted as saying as he inspected the torn bodies on the floor of the Colosseum, some of them still in a joyous embrace even in death, “These miserable creatures, how they loved one another!” And Diocletian found believing soldiers in his army who would not sacrifice to the emperor, and who did not seem to care when he ordered them to be executed.

Such testimony as this from the martyred church gave the verdict of history, The blood of the saints became the seed of the kingdom. — the Editor

Possibility thinking can turn persecution into opportunities — for healing, for forgiveness, for compassion. — Robert Schuller

Reading and conversation may furnish us with many ideas of men and things, yet it is our meditation that must form our judgment. —Isaac Watts