The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (199 page)

⁹³
Eusebius,
Eccl. Hist.
3.20.8—9; see Clement,
Quis div. salv.
42; Jerome,
De Viris illustribus
9.

⁹⁴
Robinson,
Redating,
222—23; Gentry,
Before Jerusalem Fell,
102—4; B. Newman, “The Fallacy of the Domitian Hypothesis,”
NTS
10 (1963): 135—36; A. A. Bell, “The Date of John's Apocalypse: The Evidence of Some Roman Historians Reconsidered,”
NTS
25 (1978): 93-102; Wilson, “Problem of the Domitianic Date,” 587-605.

⁹⁵
Robinson,
Redating,
221.

⁹⁶
Swete,
Revelation,
xcix; Charles,
Revelation of St. John,
1:xci; Collins,
Crisis and Catharsis,
56; Thompson,
Book of Revelation,
15.

⁹⁷
Hort,
Apocalypse of St. John,
xx; see Robinson,
Redating,
221.

⁹⁸
See Collins,
Crisis and Catharsis,
54.

⁹⁹
The island was about 30 miles in circumference according to Pliny the Elder,
Nat.
4.12.23,
69;
Strabo,
Geog.
10.5.13; see Thucydides,
Peloponnesian War
3.33.3.

¹⁰⁰
Pliny the Elder,
Nat.
4.12.69; Strabo,
Geog.
10.5.14.

¹⁰¹
Aune,
Revelation 1—5, 77;
Smalley,
Revelation to John,
50; Boxall,
Revelation,
86.

¹⁰²
Boxall,
Revelation,
85. Against Keener,
Revelation,
83; C. H. Talbert,
The Apocalypse: A Reading of the Revelation of John
(Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994), 3; J. N. Sanders, “St. John on Patmos,”
NTS
9 (1963): 75-85; Swete,
Revelation,
12; Charles,
Revelation of St. John,
vols. 1, 2.

¹⁰³
See Aune,
Revelation 1—5,
77-78; Boxall,
Revelation,
86.

¹⁰⁴
Every occurrence of
dia
in the accusative case in Revelation expresses cause or reason (1:9; 2:3; 4:11;
6:9;
7:15; 12:11-12; 13:14; 17:7; 18:8,10,15; 20:4).

¹⁰⁵
See
6:9;
12:17; 20:4. Against Beckwith,
Apocalypse of John,
434; Charles,
Revelation of St. John,
1.22; Aune,
Revelation 1-5,
81-82.

¹⁰⁶
BDAG,
s.v. "
θλίψις,
" 457.

¹⁰⁷
The inference is that John was there as a result of judicial condemnation. Smalley,
Revelation to John,
50; Swete,
Revelation,
50.

¹⁰⁸
Plutarch,
Exil.
12; Juvenal,
Sat.
1.73; 4.563; 10.170; Tacitus,
Ann.
1.53; 3.68-59; 4.13,30; 13.43; Suetonius, Aug. 19;
Cal.
14-15;
Galb.
10.

¹⁰⁹
Dig.
48.13.3; 48.14.1; 48.22.6; 48.22.14.3; 48.22.15; 48.22.7.2; Tacitus,
Ann.
14.50; 15.71; Pliny,
Ep.
10.56. See J. Crook,
Law and Life of Rome
(Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1967), 272—73; Aune,
Revelation 1—5, 79.

¹¹⁰
A. N. Sherwin-White,
Roman Society and the Roman Law in the New Testament
(London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1963; repr. Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2004), 21, n. 1.

¹¹¹
Crook,
Law and Life of Rome,
272.

¹¹²
See Dig.
47.11-22; cf. A. N. Sherwin-White, “The Early Persecutions and Roman Law Again,”
JTS
3 (1952): 205.

¹¹³
Dig.
48.22.7.17; cf. Sherwin-White,
Roman Society and the Roman Law, 2.

¹¹⁴
Dig.
48.19.2.1. Although the governor could not deport a criminal, the city prefect retained that legal right.

¹¹⁵
Tertullian,
Praescr.
36; see Jerome,
De Viris illustribus
9. Against W. M. Ramsay,
The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia and Their Place in the Plan of the Apocalypse
(London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1904), 85.

¹¹⁶
Caird,
Revelation of St. John,
22—23, affirmed by Hemer,
Letters to the Seven Churches,
28; Smalley,
Revelation to John,
50-51; Boxall,
Revelation,
85.

¹¹⁷
The road connecting the cities formed a horseshoe-shaped circuit, and each city could be reached within a day or two by foot. See deSilva,
Lntroduction,
895.

¹¹⁸
P. L. Mayo,
“Those Who Call Themselves Jews”: The Church and Judaism in the Apocalypse of John,
PTMS 60 (Eugene: Pickwick, 2006), 51—76; A. J. Beagley,
The “Sitz im Leben” of the Apocalypse, with Particular Reference to the Role of the Church's Enemies,
BZNW 50 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1987); P. Borgen, “Polemic in the Book of Revelation,” in
Anti-Semitism and Early Christianity,
ed. C. A. Evans and D. A. Hagner (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 199—211; M. R. J. Bredin, “The Synagogue of Satan Accusation in Revelation 2:9,”
BTB
28/4 (1999): 160-64; Slater, “Social Setting,” 240; A. Y. Collins, “Vilification and Self-Definition in the Book of Revelation,”
HTR
79 (1986): 308-20; id.,
Crisis and Catharsis,
85-87.

¹¹⁹
On suffering in poverty brought about by their faith, see Hemer,
Letters to the Seven Churches,
68; Charles,
Revelation of St. John,
1.56; Caird,
Revelation of St. John,
35; Roloff,
Revelation,
48; cf. 4QpPSa 1.1-10; 2.10-11.

¹²⁰
J. Lambrecht (“Jewish Slander: A Note on Revelation 2,9-10,”
ETL
75 [1999]: 421-29) saw this slander from Jews as stemming from legal proceedings in Smyrna. For a discussion of the bringing of a charge by an accuser in Roman jurisprudence, see “Accusatio,” in A. Berger,
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law,
Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 43 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1953), 340.

¹²¹
NT examples of Jews instigating legal action against Christians include Acts 13:5—12,50; 18:13—17; 22:30; 23:25—30; 24:1—22; 25:1,7—27; 26:1—7. For examples of general Jewish hostility against Christians, see Acts 7:1—8:3; 9:1—9; Gal 1:13-14; 1 Thess 2:14-16; cf.
The Martyrdom of Polycarp
(12:2-3; 13:1); Justin Martyr
(Dial.
16.4; 47.4; 93.4; 95.4; 96.2; 108.3;110.5; 131.2; 133.6; 137.2); Tertullian
(Scorp.
10.10;
Praescr.
26.6); and Eusebius
(Eccl. Hist.
5.16.12).

¹²²
Beale,
Book of Revelation,
8, 240; Ford,
Revelation,
393; S. Applebaum, “The Legal Status of the Jewish Communities in the Diaspora,” in
The Jewish People in the First Century,
CRINT 1, ed. M. de Jonge and S. Safrai (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1974), 420—63; T. Rajak,
Jewish Rights in the Greek Cities Under Roman Rule: A New Approach,
Approaches to Ancient Judaism 5 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1985), 19—35; P. Trebilco,
Jewish Communities in Asia Minor,
SNTSMS
69
(Cambridge: University Press, 1991), 167—85; and Price,
Rituals and Power,
220—21; cf. Josephus,
Apion
2.6; Philo,
Legat.
349—67.

¹²³
See J. J. O'Rourke, “Roman Law and the Early Church,” 179. For more on the relationship between the church and the synagogue, see Aune,
Revelation 1—5,
168—72; Borgen, “Polemic in the Book of Revelation,” 199—211; W. Horn, “Zwischen der Synagoge des Satans und dem neuen Jerusalem: Die christlich-jüdische Standortbestimmung in der Apokalypse des Johannes,”
ZRGG
46 (1994): 143—62. Cf. S. J. Friesen, “Sarcasm in Revelation 2—3: Churches, Christians, True Jews, and Satanic Synagogues,” in
The Reality of Apocalypse: Rhetoric and Politics in the Book of Revelation,
SBLSymS 39, ed. D. L. Barr (Atlanta: SBL, 2006), 127—46; P. Duff, “The ‘Synagogue of Satan’: Crisis Mongering and the Apocalypse of John,” in
Reality of the Apocalypse,
147-68. Cf. Justin,
Dial.
16.4; 47.4; 93.4; 95.4; 96.2; 108.3; 133.6; 137.2.

¹²⁴
S. J. Friesen (“Satan's Throne, Imperial Cults and the Social Settings of Revelation,”
JSNTS
27 [2005]: 351—73) implausibly rejected the notion that “Satan's throne” refers to Pergamum as the seat of Roman power or of the imperial cult in the province of Asia.

¹²⁵
According to Aune
(Revelation 1—5,
183), the Roman proconsul resided in Pergamon; cf. Caird,
Revelation of St. John,
38.

¹²⁶
The term
rhomphaia
(“sword”) may refer to the judicial right of
iusgladii,
symbolized as a sword, giving the proconsul the right to inflict capital punishment (Rom 13:4). See
Dig.
2.1.3; Berger, “Ius gladii,”
EDRL
529; Ramsay,
Letters to the Seven
Churches, 292—93; Caird,
Revelation of St. John,
38; Mounce,
Book of Revelation, 96;
Hemer,
Letters to the Seven Churches,
85; Beale,
Book of Revelation,
247; Keener,
Revelation,
122. The term
thronos
(“throne”), as used elsewhere in the NT, denotes an official seat where a king or judge conducted court (Matt 19:28; Luke 1:23,52; see Smalley,
Revelation to John,
68; Swete,
Revelation,
34). Occasionally,
thronos
is used for a judge's bench (Aune,
Revelation 1—5,
183; see Plutarch,
Praec. ger. reipubl.
807b).

¹²⁷
For more on the rise and history of the imperial cult, see J. Ferguson,
The Religions of the Roman Empire
(London: Thames & Hudson, 1970), 88-98; D. L. Jones, “Christianity and the Roman Imperial Cult,”
ANRW II.23.2, Principat,
ed. H. Temporini and W. Haase (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1980), 1024—54; D. Fish wick, “The Development of Provincial Ruler Worship in the “Western Roman Empire,”
ANRW II.
16.2 (1978): 1201-53; id.,
The Imperial Cult in the Latin West: Studies in the Ruler Cult of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire,
EROER 108/2 (Leiden: Brill, 1991); R. M. Novak,
Christianity and the Roman Empire: Background Texts
(Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 2001), 267—72; P. A. Harland, “Imperial Cults Within Local Cultural Life: Associations in Roman Asia,”
ZAG
17 (2003): 85-107.

¹²⁸
Friesen,
Imperial Cults,
25, 27.

¹²⁹
Ibid., 36-38. So Tacitus,
Annals
4.15.

¹³⁰
Ibid., 44-46.

¹³¹
Price,
Rituals and Power,
135. For an excellent map locating imperial temples in Asia Minor, see M. Wilson,
Charts on the Book of Revelation: Literary, Historical, and Theological Perspectives
(Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2007), 115.

¹³²
Price,
Rituals and Power,
16, 29-31.

¹³³
On the religious nature of the imperial cult, see H. W. Pleket, “An Aspect of the Emperor Cult: Imperial Mysteries,”
HTR
58 (1965): 331—47; F. Millar, “The Imperial Cult and the Persecutions,” in
Le Culte des Souverains dans L'Empire Romain
(Genève: Fondation Hardt, 1973), 145-75; Harland, “Imperial Cults Within Local Cultural Life,” 87-90, 93-103. For scholars marginalizing the religious nature of the imperial cult, see P. Harland, “Honours and Worship: Emperors, Imperial Cults and Associations at Ephesus,”
SR
25 (1996): 334, n. 4.

¹³⁴
Harland, “Honours and Worship,” 328—29; S. J. Friesen,
Twice Neokoros: Ephesus, Asia and the Cult of the Flavian Imperial Family
(Leiden: Brill, 1993), 146. Against Price
(Rituals and Power,
233), who argued for a “clear distinction between human and divine honours” and contended that the emperor might have been slotted into the intermediate category of hero.

¹³⁵
Price,
Rituals and Power,
170—206. Compare Friesen
(Imperial Cults,
50), who noted that archaeologists have discovered the remains of a colossal statue of either Domitian or Titus. Based on the size of the head, left forearm, and left big toe, this statue must have towered above worshippers.

¹³⁶
S. J. Scherrer, “Signs and Wonders in the Imperial Cult: A New Look at a Roman Religious Institution in the Light of Rev 13:13-15,”
JBL
103 (1984): 605. So Suetonius,
Gaius,
52.

¹³⁷
Millar, “Imperial Cult and the Persecutions,” 147—48.

¹³⁸
See Klauck, “Sendschreiben nach Pergamon,” 157—71; D. A. deSilva, “The ‘Image of the Beast’ and the Christians in Asia Minor: Escalation of Sectarian Tension in Revelation 13,”
TrinJ
12 NS (1991): 185—208; J. W. van Henten, “Dragon Myth and Imperial Ideology in Revelation 12—13,”
SBL Seminar Papers
33 (1994): 496—515; Borgen, “Emperor Worship and Persecution,” 493—509; Giesen,
Studien zur Johannesapokalypse,
100—213; H. J. de Jonge, “The Apocalypse of John and the Imperial Cult,” in
KYKEON: Studies in Honour of H. S. Versnel,
ed. H. F. J. Horstmanshoff et al. (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 127—41; L. J. L. Peerbolte, “To Worship the Beast: The Revelation to John and the Imperial Cult in Asia Minor,” in
Zwischen den Reichen: Neues Testament und Römische Herrschaft,
TANZ 36, ed. K. Berger (Tübingen: A. Francke, 2002), 239—59; G. Biguzzi, “Ephesus, Its Artemision, Its Temple to the Flavian Emperors, and Idolatry in Revelation,”
NovT 40
(1998): 276-90; and S. J. Friesen, “Myth and Symbolic Resistance in Revelation 13,”
JBL
123 (2004): 287-311.

¹³⁹
See deSilva, “Image of the Beast,” 197-201.

¹⁴⁰
Dio Cassius,
Hist.
59.24.4; Philo,
Leg.
116; Aune,
Revelation 6-16,
741.

¹⁴¹
See Jones, “Christianity and the Roman Imperial Cult,”1024; Biguzzi, “Ephesus,” 277—79.

¹⁴²
See
6:9;
18:24; 20:4. Against Millar (“Imperial Cult and the Persecutions,” 164—65), who contended that the imperial cult only played a minor role in the persecution of Christians. For a critique of Millar, see de Jonge, “Apocalypse of John and the Imperial Cult,” 127—41.