THE CHURCH, JUDAISM

AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE

BRO. CHRISTIAN FELIX D. MANZANO
ROMAN LAW AND THE PAX ROMANA
THE HISTORY OF ROMAN LAW
• ROMAN LAW HAS A HISTORY NEARLY AS OLD AS ROME ITSELF. IN THE EARLY
DAYS OF THE REPUBLIC, ROMAN LAW WAS HELD IN THE MINDS AND
MEMORIES OF ROME'S JUDGES AND MAGISTRATES. SUCH A SYSTEM WAS
PRIME FOR ABUSE. A MAGISTRATE COULD FORGET OR EVEN CHANGE LAWS ON
A WHIM, AND THERE WAS NO WAY TO QUESTION HIM. AND, SINCE
MAGISTRATES WERE ARISTOCRATS (OR PATRICIANS, AS THE ROMANS CALLED
THEM), THE COMMON PEOPLE, OR PLEBS, HAD LITTLE HOPE OF FINDING
JUSTICE IN SUCH A SYSTEM.
THE THREE BRANCHES OF ROMAN LAW
• CIVIL LAW WAS THE LAW OF ROME AND ITS CITIZENS. THESE LAWS ENUMERATED THE RIGHTS AND
OBLIGATIONS OF ROMAN CITIZENSHIP. IT INCLUDED STATUTES OF THE SENATE, DECREES OF THE
EMPEROR, THE EDICTS OF PRAETORS, AND OF COURSE, CUSTOMS OLDER THAN ROME ITSELF.
• THE LAW OF PEOPLES WAS A LATER DEVELOPMENT THAT CAME ABOUT AS THE ROMANS RUSHED TO
PROVIDE LAWS FOR THE PEOPLES THEY'D CONQUERED. UNLIKE CIVIL LAW, WHICH WAS ONLY
INTENDED FOR ROMAN CITIZENS, THE LAW OF PEOPLES APPLIED TO ALL PEOPLE, REGARDLESS OF
NATIONALITY. 
• WHILE THE ROMANS WERE DEVELOPING THEIR CIVIL AND PEOPLE'S LAWS, A SEPARATE, MORE
PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPT OF LAW BEGAN TO DEVELOP. THIS WAS A LAW FOR ALL PEOPLE AND FOR
ALL TIME. UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE STOICS, THE ROMANS GRADUALLY CAME TO THE
CONCLUSION THAT THE WHOLE UNIVERSE OBEYED A RATIONAL NATURAL ORDER AND THAT THIS
ORDER WAS JUST AND RIGHT. THE ROMANS CALLED THIS ORDER NATURAL LAW. 
• THE PAX ROMANA IS A ROUGHLY 200-YEAR-LONG TIMESPAN OF ROMAN
HISTORY WHICH IS IDENTIFIED AS A PERIOD AND GOLDEN AGE OF INCREASED
AS WELL AS SUSTAINED ROMAN IMPERIALISM, ORDER, PROSPEROUS STABILITY,
HEGEMONIAL POWER AND EXPANSION, DESPITE A NUMBER OF REVOLTS, WARS
AND CONTINUING COMPETITION WITH PARTHIA.
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC
• WAS THE ERA OF CLASSICAL ROMAN CIVILIZATION, LED BY THE ROMAN PEOPLE,
BEGINNING WITH THE OVERTHROW OF THE ROMAN KINGDOM, TRADITIONALLY
DATED TO 509 BC, AND ENDING IN 27 BC WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE
ROMAN EMPIRE. 
JUDAISM IN THE 1ST CENTURY
• JUDAISM, AS THE JEWISH RELIGION CAME TO BE KNOWN IN THE 1ST
CENTURY CE, WAS BASED ON ANCIENT ISRAELITE RELIGION, SHORN OF
MANY OF ITS CANAANITE CHARACTERISTICS BUT WITH THE ADDITION OF
IMPORTANT FEATURES FROM BABYLONIA AND PERSIA. THE JEWS
DIFFERED FROM OTHER PEOPLE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD BECAUSE THEY
BELIEVED THAT THERE WAS ONLY ONE GOD. LIKE OTHER PEOPLE, THEY
WORSHIPPED THEIR GOD WITH ANIMAL SACRIFICES OFFERED AT A
TEMPLE, BUT, UNLIKE OTHERS, THEY HAD ONLY ONE TEMPLE, WHICH
WAS IN JERUSALEM.
THE ROMAN’S VIEW OF THE CHURCH DURING
THE APOSTOLIC
• CHRISTIANITY PERIOD
IN ANCIENT ROME WAS A DANGEROUS VENTURE. RELIGION
WAS VERY IMPORTANT TO THE ROMANS. WITHIN THE ROMAN EMPIRE,
CHRISTIANITY WAS BANNED AND CHRISTIANS WERE PUNISHED FOR MANY
YEARS. FEEDING CHRISTIANS TO THE LIONS WAS SEEN AS ENTERTAINMENT
IN ANCIENT ROME.
• THE MESSAGE OF CHRISTIANITY WAS SPREAD AROUND THE ROMAN EMPIRE
BY ST. PAUL WHO FOUNDED CHRISTIAN CHURCHES IN ASIA MINOR AND
GREECE. EVENTUALLY, HE TOOK HIS TEACHINGS TO ROME ITSELF.
EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN ANCIENT ROME
• THE EARLY CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY IN ANCIENT ROME FACED MANY
DIFFICULTIES. THE FIRST CONVERTS WERE USUALLY THE POOR AND SLAVES
AS THEY HAD A GREAT DEAL TO GAIN FROM THE CHRISTIANS BEING
SUCCESSFUL. IF THEY WERE CAUGHT, THEY FACED DEATH FOR FAILING TO
WORSHIP THE EMPEROR. IT WAS NOT UNCOMMON FOR EMPERORS TO TURN
THE PEOPLE AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS WHEN ROME WAS FACED WITH
DIFFICULTIES. IN AD 64, PART OF ROME WAS BURNED DOWN. THE EMPEROR
NERO BLAMED THE CHRISTIANS AND THE PEOPLE TURNED ON THEM.
ARRESTS AND EXECUTIONS FOLLOWED.
THE DANGERS OF CHRISTIANITY IN ANCIENT
ROME
• THE DANGERS FACED BY THE CHRISTIANS IN ROME MEANT THAT THEY HAD
TO MEET IN SECRET. THEY USUALLY USED UNDERGROUND TOMBS AS THESE
WERE LITERALLY OUT OF SIGHT. ROME HAD A LARGE NUMBER OF POOR
PEOPLE WITHIN ITS POPULATION AND CHRISTIANITY CONTINUED TO GROW.
IN AD 313, THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE MADE CHRISTIANITY LEGAL AND
FOR THE FIRST TIME, THEY WERE ALLOWED TO OPENLY WORSHIP.
CHURCHES WERE QUICKLY BUILT NOT JUST IN ROME BUT THROUGHOUT THE
EMPIRE. IN AD 391, THE WORSHIP OF OTHER GODS WAS MADE ILLEGAL.