In The Shadow Of The Empire

The area of Asia Minor was a huge melting pot of ethnicities and also one of the first areas to flourish with converts to the new religion of Christianity. It was also part of the expansive Roman Empire, at the height of its glory, and was therefore subject to Roman law and Roman customs.

Living in the shadow of the Empire would prove a difficult tension for Christians to navigate. No longer giving allegiance to Caesar as ‘Lord of the earth’ but instead confessing that this title belonged to Jesus Christ, how were they to behave as people in the world but not of it?

As citizens of heaven, did the laws of Rome no longer apply to them?

And, as people of the kingdom, how were they to live out the values of the kingdom in the society around them? Were they justified in using force to make the kingdoms of this world the kingdom of the Lord and Christ?

These are all important questions, not just for those in the first-century church but for every generation of Christians who have come after them.

How should Christians conduct themselves, living in the shadow of the Empire?

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