“And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him…
Then came to him the mother of Zebedees children with her sons…She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said…Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.” (Matthew 20:17-23)
Those who merge their identity in YHVH’s Savior’s death and resurrection to spiritual life have the same purpose in this life – to bear witness of transformation using the eternal truth in scripture regarding personal freedom from sin’s destruction in this life and resurrection to eternal life to come.
Trust me, even as a secular psychiatric provider I can assure you that people do not like hearing that they, themselves – not society or their partner or their mother – are responsible for their misery, and that they themselves need to change in order to fix their problems.
- “If the world hate you,
- ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
- If ye were of the world, the world would love his own:
- but because ye are not of the world…therefore the world hateth you…
- If they have persecuted me,
- they will also persecute you;
- if they have kept my saying,
- they will keep yours also.
But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know [identify with] NOT him that sent me.” (John 15:18-21)
It was their Christ-likeness in dying to provide redemption that spread the Gospel through the known world.
Condensed from John 21:
“The third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead. Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas…again the second time…the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him…Verily, verily, I say unto thee…when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me [to the death by crucifixion for fear of which which you denied me three times.]
Nero…reigned from A.D. 54-68…following the Great Fire of Rome in A.D. 64…people suspected that Nero started the fire himself, so he pointed the accusing finger at Christians.
Historian Philip Schaff says that “Their Jewish origin, their indifference to politics and public affairs, their abhorrence of heathen customs, were construed into an ‘odium generis humani’ (hatred of the human race), and this made an attempt on their part to destroy the city sufficiently plausible to justify a verdict of guilty.” Schaff says that “there began a carnival of blood such as even heathen Rome never saw before or since….A ‘vast multitude’ of Christians was put to death in the most shocking manner.” Some were crucified, some sewn up in animal skins and thrown to the dogs, some were covered in pitch, nailed to wooden posts, and burned as torches.
It was in the fallout of this that Peter and Paul gave their lives for their Savior, probably within a year of each other…They were killed because they claimed to be eyewitnesses of Christ’s death and resurrection.
The table gives the most common tradition for each of the Twelve, for Matthias, who replaced Judas, and for Paul, and the earliest writing that reports it. Only the entries for Judas and James son of Zebedee come from Scripture.
| Apostle | Where tradition sends him | How he died | Earliest source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter | Asia Minor, Rome | Crucified in Rome, head downward | 1 Clement 5 (late 1st century); Acts of Peter (late 2nd century) |
| Andrew | Scythia, Greece | Crucified at Patras | Acts of Andrew (late 2nd century); Origen |
| James son of Zebedee | Jerusalem | Killed with the sword, AD 44 | Acts 12:2 |
| John | Asia Minor (Ephesus) | Old age | Irenaeus (late 2nd century) |
| Philip | Phrygia | Buried at Hierapolis; crucified in later legend | Polycrates (about 190) |
| Bartholomew | India, Armenia | Flayed and beheaded in Armenia | Later tradition |
| Matthew | Judea, “Ethiopia” | Unknown; accounts disagree | Heracleon (2nd century) says he was not martyred |
| Thomas | Parthia, India | Speared by four soldiers | Acts of Thomas (early 3rd century) |
| James son of Alphaeus | Judea, Gaza, Egypt | Crucified in Egypt (Orthodox tradition) | Later tradition |
| Jude (Thaddaeus) | Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia | Martyred in Persia or Armenia | Later tradition |
| Simon the Zealot | Persia, Black Sea | Martyred; sawn apart or crucified | Later tradition |
| Judas Iscariot | None | Hanged himself | Matthew 27:5; Acts 1:18 |
| Matthias | Judea, Black Sea coast | Stoned and beheaded, or crucified | Later tradition |
| Paul | Asia Minor, Greece, Rome | Beheaded in Rome | 1 Clement 5; Tertullian (about 200) |
But prizing personal advantage over the salvation of souls, many Christians bent the rules to fit in with their surroundings.
Barely two decades after YHVH’s death and resurrection, the apostle Paul wrote that many believers were already “turning away . . . to a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6). He wrote that he was forced to contend with “false apostles, deceitful workers” who were fraudulently “transforming themselves into apostles of Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:13). One of the major problems he had to deal with was “false brethren” (2 Corinthians 11:26).
By late in the first century, as we see from 3 John 9-10, conditions had grown so dire that false ministers openly refused to receive representatives of the apostle John and were excommunicating true Christians from the Church!
It wasn’t long before true servants of God became a marginalized and scattered minority among those calling themselves Christian. A very different religion, now compromised with many concepts and practices rooted in ancient paganism (such mixing of religious beliefs being known as syncretism, common in the Roman Empire at the time), took hold and transformed the faith founded by Jesus Christ.
Emperor Trajan ruled from A.D. 98-117…Persecution was especially bad in Syria and Palestine during Trajan’s reign. In 107 he went to Antioch and demanded that everyone sacrifice to the gods. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch and pupil of the apostle John, refused and was martyred by being thrown to wild animals. Ignatius wrote this to Polycarp, another disciple of John, on his way to Rome: “Let the fire, the gallows, the wild beasts, the breaking of bones, the pulling asunder of members, the bruising of my whole body, and the torments of the devil and hell itself come upon me, so that I may win Christ Jesus [quoting Paul.”
By the second century, faithful members of the Church, Christ’s “little flock” (Luke 12:32), had largely been scattered by waves of deadly persecution. They held firmly to the biblical truth about Jesus Christ and God the Father, though they were persecuted by those who professed Christianity but were in reality teaching “another Jesus” and a “different gospel” (2 Corinthians 11:4; Galatians 1:6-9).
Marcion rejected the theology of the Old Testament entirely and regarded the God depicted there as an inferior being. In the Antithesis, he claimed the theology of the Old Testament was incompatible with the teaching of Jesus regarding God and morality…[and] refused to accept Yahweh, the deity described in the Old Testament, as the “Heavenly Father” proclaimed by Jesus.
Marcion concluded that the Old Testament god was…a mere tribal god of the Jewish people, while Jesus preached of a God marked by compassion, love, and mercy.
Marcion’s opinion is antithetical to Moses, Jesus’ and Paul’s words.
Moses:
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life.” (Deuteronomy 30)
Jesus:
“And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love / cleave to the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” (Mark 12:28-34)
The gruesome death of the early Christians…is one of the greatest gifts God ever gave to the Church by answering the question “How can you be sure of the resurrection of Christ?”
ALL followers of YHVH’s Savior are called to witness of the resurrection of Christ through our faith that we too will be resurrected. The greatest evidence of our faith in resurrection to a higher quality of life is our willingness to give up the lesser, though admittedly valued, benefits of this life, to be despised, rejected by family and friends, to lose our self-importance to identify with YHVH and his Savior, even to die if called to follow in that path.
“Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And…became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him…to become the sons of God…we are the children of God:…if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Hebrews 5:7-8, John 1 :12, Romans 8:16-18)
“I would ye should understand, brethren, that…unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.” (Philippians 1:12-30)
“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an [even just one] ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the [Gentile] churches. (Revelation 2:9-11)
