Page 37 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final
P. 37

The Time Had Fully Come


                    Emperor worship became increasingly prominent in the empire with
                    the passage of time. Cairns states that “Emperor worship, which made
                    its appearance early in the Christian Era, made an appeal to people only
                    as a means of making the concept of the Roman Empire tangible” (41).

                    Religion and Government

                       In  the  Roman  Empire,  religion  and  government  could  not  be
                    separated. There was widespread pessimism because of the influence
                    of astrologers, magicians, and leaders of a variety of mystery religions.
                    Immorality was rampant among the Romans. The list of vices to which
                    Paul refers in Galatians 5:19 is a sad indictment of the true condition of
                    the times. Kealy comments further in this regard:


                           It was a time of immense riches and incredible luxury on the part
                           of a few, and even ordinary citizens, freed from strenuous work
                           by the slave population, were pampered by the state with free
                           gifts of food and such cruel entertainment as the circus, where
                           gladiators fought to the death. Family life was often neglected
                           and  divorce  was  easy  and  common,  as  confirmed  by  Seneca:
                          “Women were married to be divorced and divorced to be married.”
                           Children, particularly girls and the weakborn, were exposed to
                           die. It is not surprising to read that fourteen of the first fifteen
                           Roman emperors were homosexuals. (21)


                       The  practice  of  slavery  gave  rise  to  cruelty  and  sexual  license.
                    Ferguson  notes:  “All  kinds  of  immoralities  were  associated  with  the
                    gods. Not only was prostitution a recognized institution, but through
                    the influence of the fertility cults of Asia Minor, Syria, and Phoenicia it
                    became a part of the religious rites at certain temples” (64).


                       It was into this Roman spiritual vacuum that the gospel of hope was
                    declared in the fullness of time. Von Schubert observes:


                           In the end, the cult of the emperor in Rome was really to give place
                           to the worship of the King in heaven, but this could not happen
                           until men’s views of religions in every class of society had been
                           revolutionized, and what Paul says about the time being fulfilled,
                           can be held to be true especially in this connection. (7)



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