Jensens survey of the old testament adam 325
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Scriptures, but the philosophers and false
religionists
rejected that revelation and
posited their own answers. Some books of
the New Testament, such as Ephesians and
Colossians, were written partly with those
philosophers in mind, and the appeal was to
accept God’s full revelation by His Son Jesus
Christ (see Eph. 3:1-13; Col. 2:2-3,8).
Among the leading philosophers and
religionists of the period were:
(1 ) Plato (427-347 B.C.) — This world is
only a shadow of eternal realities.
( 2 ) Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) — Reality
resides in individual things themselves.
(3) Zeno (c. 300 B.C.), founder of the Stoics
— Live according to nature.
( 4 ) Epicurus (c. 300 B.C), founder of the
Epicureans — Pursue pleasure.
Exercise: Read Colossians 2:4-23 and
observe the different things Paul writes
about —
a. false philosophy
b. false doctrines
c. Christ, and truth about Him
3 . Roman background. The Roman
background of the New Testament is mainly
political and social. The status of the Roman
Empire from its birth (eighth century B.C.) to
the time of Christ can be represented by the
two words expansion and peace:
Unity and political stability of the Roman
Empire at the time of Christ’s birth was one
of the bright aspects of the Roman
background of the New Testament. Of this
Erich Sauer writes, “Never before or since in
history has there been an empire that has
united in itself all the civilized peoples of its
time as did the Roman.”18
The Greek in uence had not died away,
however. Sauer writes, “Although the
Romans were the military and political
masters of the world, culturally they were
conquered by the Greeks….”19 The Roman
Empire was like a reservoir of the Hellenistic
culture, which had spread throughout the
Mediterranean world from the time of
Alexander the Great.
Some of the characteristics of the Roman
background are briefly noted here:
a. World Centralization. The uni er was
the emperor, the ruler of the Mediterranean
world. Worship of the emperor was
inevitable, and so religious clash with
Christianity was unavoidable. As an
example, Paul was executed by Nero (reign:
A.D. 54-68), and John was exiled on the
Island of Patmos (Rev. 1:9) during
Domitian’s reign (A.D. 81-96).20
b. World Communication. The highways
and sea lanes of the Roman Empire made
world tra c possible, and when the time
came for the missionary journeys of the
early Christians the cities were easily
accessible. (See Maps N, O, and ? of Paul’s
missionary journeys, pp. 220, 222, 225.)
The Roman system of roads and bridges
also helped expedite mail deliveries between
cities.
c. World Peace. Although the reigns of
some emperors were marred periodically by
times of war (such as Augustus, who ruled
from 30 B.C. to A.D. 14), the Roman period
was a time of peace. That gave rise to the
s l o g a n Pax Romana. The bene t of
