Jul 15, 2007

Pliny the Younger on Christians

In A.D. 112, the Roman governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor, Pliny the Younger, wrote Emperor Trajan for advice on the practice of killing Christians. It seems that Pliny didn't quite have the stomach to kill all those accused of being Christians, and wanted to know if his new policy of leniency was acceptable.

Pliny wrote that the Christians in his province "were in the habit of meeting on certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verse a hymn to Christ as to a god, and bound themselves to a solemn oath, not to do any wicked deeds..."

Pliny explained that it was his practice to make those accused of Christianity to bow down to the statues of Trajan and "curse Christ, which a genuine Christian cannot be induced to do." If those accused of being Christians agreed to do these things, Pliny let them go, no matter the original accusations brought against them.

So what does this prove (if anything) about Christianity?

For one, Pliny confirms that there were Christians who believed Christ to be "as a god" as early as AD 112. Common sense would agree that Christians believed this earlier than AD 112, for it had to take some time to get to Pliny's notice and for him to feel compelled to even pay this religion attention - let alone start executing its adherents.

Thus, we can conclude that Pliny was dealing with a situation that was in full swing -- Christians refusing to acknowledge the Roman emperor as god, but instead worshipping a man called "Christ." (This was likely related to the "mischevious superstition" referred to by Roman historian Suetonius - see our previous blog).

So what, you ask?

Well, this proves that belief in Jesus' divinity goes back WAY before the Council of Nicaea in the 4th century AD (sorry, Dan Brown). In fact, it places belief in Jesus' divinity in the FIRST CENTURY!

Again, we are assuming - rather safely, I might add - that, if Pliny was executing people for embracing Jesus' divinity in 112 AD, it had to be the result of a religion or movement that began BEFORE that. But even if one stubbornly refuses to accept that assumption, all one has to do is point to the Roman historian Suetonius who confirms the presence of Christians in Rome as early as the late 40s AD and their willingness to die for their beliefs as early as 64 AD. Case closed.

It is absurd to say that Jesus' followers didn't embrace his divinity in the first century. There is strong, non-biblical evidence to demonstrate that there were first and second century people who believed Jesus was God and were willing to die for that belief.