Roman Influence on the Birth of Christianity

Who Did Jesus Curse – Praise?



  • The primary source of Jewish resistance to Roman authority was the religious culture firmly embedded in their beliefs developed over many centuries.

Regarding the Jewish Religious Order:

  • Jesus publicly and frequently criticized Jewish religious authority:

    • Those who copied the holy manuscripts – the scribes.[1]

    • Those who studied and maintained the only written form of the Jewish faith and the Mosaic Law.[2]

    • Those who guided the faith of the Jewish masses – the chief priests.[3]

    • The Pharisees[4]

    • The Sadducees[5]

    • And when an unknown number of people (a few, all?) from Jewish communities expressed skepticism over Jesus’ works, Matthew 11:21-24 quotes Jesus as saying:

    Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Beht-sai-da!  And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.

  • All of the above, including Jewish elders, are documented numerous times (too many to list here) as being highly critical of Jesus – even seeking his death. The Gospel of John extends this dislike to Jews in general.

  • Jesus’ criticism of the Jewish religious order would have been consistent with Roman goals of breaking down competition to their authority.

Regarding Roman Authority:

  • In one of only two written accounts where Jesus makes reference to Roman authority, Jesus states, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s".[6]

  • In the second account (Matthew 8:10-13, Luke 7:9), Jesus publicly announces that a Roman centurion has the greatest faith in all of Israel.

  • In turn, Roman centurions refer to Jesus as “Lord”[7] and in another case as “[a or the] Son of God.”[8]

  • Jesus is never documented criticizing Roman authority and Roman authority is never documented (in the New Testament) being critical of Jesus


[1] Matthew 15:1-7 23:2-3 23:13-29, Mark 12:38-40, Luke 20:46

[2] Luke 11:45-47 11:52

[3] Matthew 21:23 21:31

[4] Matthew 15:1-7 16:6 16:11-12 23:2-3 23:13-29, Mark 8:15, Luke 11:42-44 12:1

[5] Matthew 16:6 16:11-12 22:23-29

[6] Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17, Luke 20:25

[7] Matthew 8:8, Luke 7:6

[8] Matthew 27:54, Mark 15:39



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WHO DID JESUS CURSE-PRAISE



Taxes to Rome



Submissiveness to Oppression


John the Baptist


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Roman Soldiers at the Tomb



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