Scriptures, but the philosophers and false religionists rejected that revelation and posited their own answers Some books of the New Testament, such as Ephesians and Colossians, were written partly with those philosophers in mind, and the appeal was to accept God’s full revelation by His Son Jesus Christ (see Eph 3:1-13; Col 2:2-3,8) Among the leading philosophers and religionists of the period were: (1 ) Plato (427-347 B.C.) — This world is only a shadow of eternal realities ( ) Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) — Reality resides in individual things themselves (3) Zeno (c 300 B.C.), founder of the Stoics — Live according to nature ( ) Epicurus (c 300 B.C), founder of the Epicureans — Pursue pleasure Exercise: Read Colossians 2:4-23 and observe the different things Paul writes about — a false philosophy b false doctrines c Christ, and truth about Him Roman background The Roman background of the New Testament is mainly political and social The status of the Roman Empire from its birth (eighth century B.C.) to the time of Christ can be represented by the two words expansion and peace: Unity and political stability of the Roman Empire at the time of Christ’s birth was one of the bright aspects of the Roman background of the New Testament Of this Erich Sauer writes, “Never before or since in history has there been an empire that has united in itself all the civilized peoples of its time as did the Roman.”18 The Greek in uence had not died away, however Sauer writes, “Although the Romans were the military and political masters of the world, culturally they were conquered by the Greeks….”19 The Roman Empire was like a reservoir of the Hellenistic culture, which had spread throughout the Mediterranean world from the time of Alexander the Great Some of the characteristics of the Roman background are briefly noted here: a World Centralization The uni er was the emperor, the ruler of the Mediterranean world Worship of the emperor was inevitable, and so religious clash with Christianity was unavoidable As an example, Paul was executed by Nero (reign: A.D 54-68), and John was exiled on the Island of Patmos (Rev 1:9) during Domitian’s reign (A.D 81-96).20 b World Communication The highways and sea lanes of the Roman Empire made world tra c possible, and when the time came for the missionary journeys of the early Christians the cities were easily accessible (See Maps N, O, and ? of Paul’s missionary journeys, pp 220, 222, 225.) The Roman system of roads and bridges also helped expedite mail deliveries between cities c World Peace Although the reigns of some emperors were marred periodically by times of war (such as Augustus, who ruled from 30 B.C to A.D 14), the Roman period was a time of peace That gave rise to the s l o g a n Pax Romana The bene t of ... Roman Empire at the time of Christ’s birth was one of the bright aspects of the Roman background of the New Testament Of this Erich Sauer writes, “Never before or since in history has there been an... Great Some of the characteristics of the Roman background are briefly noted here: a World Centralization The uni er was the emperor, the ruler of the Mediterranean world Worship of the emperor... culturally they were conquered by the Greeks….”19 The Roman Empire was like a reservoir of the Hellenistic culture, which had spread throughout the Mediterranean world from the time of Alexander the