Relationships and Community on Emperors

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Begging to Stay

Author

Keywords

During his time as commander in the Roman army, Caesar Augustus (who would become the first Roman Emperor) had to relieve a soldier from duty for bad behavior. The man begged to remain in military ser...

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Sleeping Well

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor, had quite the sharp wit. After hearing about a Roman nobleman who had passed away with enormous debts (which were kept private throughout his lifetime), he se...

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Haters of Humanity?

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 8:1-3, 2 Timothy 3:12, 1 Peter 4:12-16, Matthew 5:10-12, Luke 6:41-42, Genesis 3:8-19, Genesis 39:6-20, Job 2:11-13, Job 42:7-9

Most of us are aware of various persecutions that took place during the first few centuries of the church’s existence. One particularly brutal local persecution took place during the reign of Nero, wh...

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It Goes Without Saying

Author

E. Randolph Richards and Richard James

Keywords

Scripture

John 14:27, Matthew 2:2, Revelation 19:16, John 18:36-37, Revelation 17:14, Zechariah 9:9, Isaiah 9:6, Psalm 24:7-10, Colossians 1:15-20, Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-40, John 12:12-16

In a culture, the most important things usually go without being said. We Westerners don’t talk all the time about being individualists or about the importance of efficiency or why we prefer youth ove...

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Adoption in the Ancient World

Author

Kelley Nikondeha

Keywords

Adoption

Adoption was clearly not a foreign concept in the Greco-Roman world. But it’s important to note how differently Paul and his communities would have heard that word! Our contemporary concept of adoptin...

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The Emperor and the Whipping Boy

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 19:16, Matthew 2:2, John 18:36-37, Revelation 17:14, Zechariah 9:9, Isaiah 9:6, Psalm 24:7-10, Colossians 1:15-20, Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-40, Mark 11:1-11, John 12:12-16

In 1987 director Bernardo Bertolucci released the film The Last Emperor to raving reviews. It was based on the autobiography of the last living emperor of the Manchu dynasty in China, Henry Aisin-Gior...

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Author

Napoleon Bonaparte

Keywords

Scripture

John 18:36, Matthew 5:43-44, Philippians 2:6-8, Isaiah 9:6-7, John 13:3-5, Luke 23:34

I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded ...

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Author

Lesslie Newbigin

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The Church has outlasted many occupants of Caesar’s throne and will outlast more, for the truth entrusted to her is the truth of God.

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Author

John Ortberg

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Legacy

Normally, if someone's legacy will outlast their life, it's apparent when they die. On the day when Alexander the Great, or Caesar Augustus, or Napoleon, or Socrates, or Muhammad died, their r...

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Author

N. T. Wright

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The real enemy, after all, was not Rome but the powers of evil that stood behind human arrogance and violence…. [On the cross] the kingdom of God triumphed over the kingdoms of this world by refusing ...

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Commanding the Waves

Author

Source Unknown

Keywords

In the years 1014-1035 there ruled over England a Danish king named Canute. King Canute tired of hearing his retainers flatter him with extravagant praises of his greatness, power and invincibility. H...

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Not Until After My Death

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 45:1-15, Matthew 18:21-35, Ephesians 4:32, Romans 5:10, Mark 11:25, Colossians 3:13, Matthew 5:44

Frederick William I was a king of Prussia in the early 18th century. Personality-wise, he was described as exacting, frugal and austere. He was known to beat his children when they disappointed him. H...

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Author

Victor Hugo

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“This light of history is pitiless; it has a strange and divine quality that, luminous as it is, and precisely because it is luminous, often casts a shadow just where we saw a radiance; out of the sam...

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An Eye for an Eye

Author

James S. Hewett

Keywords

Scripture

James 2:13, Matthew 5:7, Zechariah 7:9-10, Proverbs 21:3, Micah 6:8

Zaleusus flourished as king of the ancient Greek Locrians in about 500 B.C. His government over the Locrians was severe but just. In one of his decrees he forbade the use of wine unless it were prescr...

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Author

Will Durant

Keywords

Scripture

Ezekiel 36:26-27 , 1 Samuel 16:7, Jeremiah 31:33 , Matthew 23:25-26, Romans 12:2, Psalm 51:10

Caesar hoped to reform men by changing institutions, and laws; Christ wished to remake institutions, and lesson laws by changing men.

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Lord of Lords

Author

Asheritah Ciuciu

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 17:14, Matthew 8:25-27, Mark 10:21-22, John 11:25-26, Luke 6:46-48, Isaiah 32:1-2

Though lords still exist today in some parts of the world, the term is used mostly as an honorary badge, so it’s easy to forget what the term even means. Throughout history, lords were rulers who had ...

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Author

Deanna A. Thompson

Keywords

To call the community in Corinth “the body of Christ” that proclaims Jesus as Lord, then, counters a culture that proclaims that Caesar is lord, where Caesar is seen as ruler and head of the body. Onc...

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In the early fifth century, even as Rome

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 23:2, Daniel 3:16-18, 2 Chronicles 24:20-21, Matthew 5:9-10, Romans 12:19-21 , Psalm 82:3-4

In the early fifth century, even as Rome had officially embraced Christianity, the brutal spectacle of gladiatorial combat continued in the Colosseum, drawing massive crowds. One day, a Christian herm...

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Author

George Whitefield

Keywords

Thus was the King and the Lord of glory judged by man's judgment, when manifest in flesh: far be it from any of his ministers to expect better treatment.

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A Son That Ruled All of Greece

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

At one point in his career, Themistocles was overheard saying that his young son ruled all of Greece. When his talking companion asked him to explain, he said, “Athens holds sway over all Greece; I do...

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A King's Calling

Author

Steve Brown

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 6:8, Matthew 25:21, 1 Samuel 15:22, Philippians 2:14-15, Romans 12:1

In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria grew tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch. He made application to Prior Richard at a local monastery, asking to be accepted as a ...

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The Faithfulness of a Few

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 28:20, Revelation 2:10, Matthew 5:10-12, Matthew 10:22, 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, 1 Peter 4:12-14, Romans 8:35-37, John 15:18-20, Psalm 31:23, Matthew 25:21, 1 Corinthians 4:2, 1 Timothy 6:12, Matthew 24:45-46

Pliny, a Roman Governor serving around 112 AD, faced a challenging situation regarding Christianity. Many Church historians believe that by his time, it had become illegal to profess the Christian fai...

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Jealous Juno

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 9:6-7, Hebrews 1:1-3, Colossians 1:15-17, Philippians 2:6-8, John 3:16-17, John 1:1-4, Luke 1:30-35

In the ancient world, a place where the veil between the earthly and spiritual was easily pierced, rumors and gossip about great leaders being born of the gods, especially amongst royals, was somewhat...

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Dying for His Subjects

Author

Charles Colson

Keywords

Scripture

John 15:13, Isaiah 53:5, Philippians 2:8-11, Romans 5:8, Hebrews 12:28, Revelation 17:14, Revelation 19:16

When I was in Moscow in 1990 preaching at the Moscow Baptist Church, just blocks from the Kremlin, I told a packed crowd of worshipers that all through human history, as far back as recorded time and ...

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Judaism in Jesus’ Day

Author

William H. Marty

Keywords

Scripture

1 Kings 12:1–24, Nehemiah 1:1–11 , Daniel 3:1–30, Luke 4:16–30, Mark 12:13–17, Acts 25:26

In addition to worship in the temple, Jews met in synagogues for prayer and for reading the Scriptures. Jesus and Paul taught in synagogues. Jesus was executed by crucifixion, a Roman method of punish...

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When Rulers Refuse to Listen

Author

Adam S. McHugh

Keywords

Scripture

1 Kings 12:6-16 , 2 Chronicles 24:17-22 , Jeremiah 36:20-31 , Luke 23:1-25, Acts 7:51-60 , Psalm 2:1-12

The kings Of history are rewarded with many impressive descriptors: majestic, exalted, glorious, sovereign. Men and women bow before such heights of nobility; even the eyes of wealth and status fall t...

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Author

Melvin M. Newland

Keywords

In times of war conquerors would ride in chariots or upon prancing stallions. But in times of peace, the king would ride a colt to symbolize that peace prevailed. So, for Jesus to ride into Jerusalem ...

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Author

Dallas Willard

Keywords

The Kingdom of God

Scripture

Colossians 3:17, Romans 12:2, John 15:4-5, Matthew 5:14-16, 2 Corinthians 5:20, Acts 1:8

This impotence of “systems” is a main reason why Jesus did not send his students out to start governments or even churches as we know them today, which always strongly convey some elements of a human ...

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These Impious Galileans

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 22:37-39, Matthew 25:35-40, Luke 3:11, Ephesians 5:2, Acts 2:42-47, James 2:14-17, Galatians 2:10, Psalm 72:12-14

A passage often referred to in order to describe the sacrificial, countercultural quality of the early church comes to us interestingly enough, from one of its strongest critics, known later to histor...

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Author

Lord Acton

Keywords

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

relationships and community on Emperors

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