Day 330

Daniel 2:24–3:30; 1 Peter 4:7–5:14; Psalm 119:81-96; Proverbs 28:15-16

TODAY WE CONCLUDED the apostle Peter’s first letter, in which endurance was a recurring theme. We’ve spent plenty of time discussing the fact that many of the letters in the New Testament were written to marginalized believers who were trying to avoid persecution. Let’s take a brief moment to more clearly define what this looked like.

During the earlier years of the church, it was not illegal to be a Christian in the Roman Empire. Roman society and culture were polytheistic —they believed in many gods. For them, gods were everywhere, and they were involved in all manner of activity. People could worship whatever gods or goddesses they wanted, but it was expected that the gods of the empire —the ones who had made Rome great —were to be worshiped by all. The Christians’ refusal to do this immediately made them stand out. Jewish people also refused to worship the gods of the empire, but they were tolerated because they were following a very ancient religion. For a time, Christianity was perceived as a sect of the Jewish faith, but as Jews denounced the message of Jesus and Gentiles came flooding into the faith, Christians came under pressure to conform to the culture or be seen as anti-Roman.

This helps us understand why we see the theme of endurance so prevalently in the letters of encouragement that were being passed around the churches —letters like 1 Peter that would eventually become a treasured part of the New Testament. This is also why there was so much instruction on how to embrace a posture of endurance and how to practically live it among the harsh realities of bigotry and slander. The early believers were in a true struggle with stereotyping, and their only weapon was to rise above the noise and let their lives speak louder than the accusations, no matter what happened.

This begs an important question, though. Exactly what was being said about these brothers and sisters by people who did not understand the gospel or embrace the idea of a singular God and His Son?

Although there aren’t many writings from antiquity that have survived, we find a description of the mischaracterization of Christians in the book Octavius, written by the early apologist Minucius Felix, around a century after the Gospel of John:

They know one another by secret marks and insignia, and they love one another almost before they know one another. Everywhere also there is mingled among them a certain religion of lust, and they call one another promiscuously brothers and sisters, that even a not unusual debauchery may by the intervention of that sacred name become incestuous . . . I hear that they adore the head of an ass, that basest of creatures, consecrated by I know not what silly persuasion, —a worthy and appropriate religion for such manners. Some say that they worship the virilia of their pontiff and priest, and adore the nature, as it were, of their common parent. I know not whether these things are false; certainly suspicion is applicable to secret and nocturnal rites; and he who explains their ceremonies by reference to a man punished by extreme suffering for his wickedness, and to the deadly wood of the cross, appropriates fitting altars for reprobate and wicked men, that they may worship what they deserve.*

Consider for a moment what your response might be if this were the perception of your culture toward your faith. If you were a nonbeliever, how quickly would you be racing to sign up for this religion? If you had put your faith in Jesus and knew that the distortions were utterly false, how could you respond?

Endurance.

Having a better understanding of these challenges, consider Peter’s statements about endurance from our reading today. This theme will carry us through the end of the year, and now we know why. Few of us have needed to endure as the early believers did. However, had they not stayed true, we likely wouldn’t be here. Our faith was handed down to us by the few who chose to stay true. And we are called to do the same. Invite the Holy Spirit to speak into the areas of life where endurance is the only way forward. We’re not alone or abandoned. We’re all in this together. And if we will endure, we will surely overcome.

MEDITATION:

All your commands are trustworthy. Protect me from those who hunt me down without cause. They almost finished me off, but I refused to abandon your commandments.