THE CHURCH IN ROME
IN THE FIRST CENTURY

iii

MCMXCIX

iv

THE BAMPTON LECTURES

FOR 1913

v

THE CHURCH IN ROME
IN THE FIRST CENTURY

AN EXAMINATION OF VARIOUS CONTROVERTED QUESTIONS

RELATING TO ITS HISTORY, CHRONOLOGY, LITERATURE AND
TRADITIONS

EIGHT LECTURES

PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
IN THE
YEAR 1913

ON THE FOUNDATION OF THE LATE REV. JOHN BAMPTON,
M.A.
CANON OF SALISBURY

BY

GEORGE EDMUNDSON, M.A.

LATE FELLOW AND TUTOR OF BRASENOSE COLLEGE,

VICAR OF ST. SAVIOUR, UPPER CHELSEA

LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.

39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON

NEW YORK, BOMBAY AND CALCUTTA

1913

CAROLO BULLER HEBERDEN
D.C.L.
AUL. REG. ET
COLL. AEN. NAS. PRINCIPALI
ACAD. OXON. VICECANCELLARIO
AMICITIAE
PROBATAE
TESTIMONIUM
D. D. D.
OLIM PER DECENNIUM COLLEGA

ii

Table of
Contents

Lecture
I

Lecture
II

Lecture
III

Lecture
IV

Lecture
V

Lecture
VI

Lecture
VII

Lecture
VIII

SYNOPSIS
OF CONTENTS

LECTURE
I

Character of the theme—The Rome of Claudius and of
Nero—Intercourse—Population—Slavery—The ‘Freedman’ Class—Alien
admixture—The Jewish Colony and its history—Its privileges and
characteristics—Judaism attractive—Proselytes and ‘God-fearers’—The
Synagogues—Soil prepared for Christianity—The Laureolus—The Jews
expelled by Claudius—Aquila and Prisca at Corinth—Their antecedents and
position—Their close intercourse with St. Paul—St. Paul at Ephesus—His
Journey to Greece—He writes to the Roman Church from Corinth—The Epistle
to the Romans: an Apologia—St. Paul’s proposed visit to Rome—Three
groups of Roman Christians addressed—The impelling motive of the
Epistle—The Judaeo-Christians at Rome—The Salutations of Chap. xvi,
1-23—Genuineness of the passage—Criticism dealt with—The Church in the
house of Prisca and Aquila—Was this Ecclesia Domestica existent
before 57 A.D.?—The Apostles Andronicus and Junias—The households
of Aristobulus and Narcissus—The auto-biographic passage Chap. xv. 14-29—‘Another man’s foundation’—Was the
other man St. Peter?

1–29

LECTURE
II

The Lukan authorship of the Acts—Fragmentary
character of the narrative—The Acts written before 62 A.D.—The closing verses of the Acts—The Day of
Pentecost—The sojourning Romans—The Twelve at Jerusalem—The Hellenists and
St. Stephen—Consequences of St. Stephen’s martyrdom—Activity of St. Peter
—The vision at Joppa—Conversion of Cornelius—Missionaries at
Antioch—Barnabas sent to Antioch—He seeks Saul—The name
Christiani—Herod Agrippa persecutes the Church—St. Peter escapes
from prison—St. James and the Brethren—Value of tradition—Oral
tradition—Early Christian written records—Their destruction—Apocryphal
‘Acts’—Criteria of authenticity—Evidence for St. Peter’s martyrdom at
Rome—‘Ascension of Isaiah’—Clement of Rome—Ignatius—Dionysius
x of Corinth—Irenaeus—The Episcopal lists—Eusebius
of Caesarea—Jerome—The Petrine tradition universally accepted in East and
West alike—Archaeological evidence—Portraits—Sepulchral
inscriptions—Mosaics—Frescoes—The Petrine ‘legends’ based on fact—The
Preaching of Peter—Local memories—St. Peter at Rome—The envoy of the
Twelve—Precedents of Samaria and Antioch—Analogy of
circumstances

30–58

LECTURE
III

St. Peter encounters Simon Magus at Rome—Eusebius
on the story of Simon Magus—His visit to Rome in Claudius’ reign, and
success—Weighty evidence of Justin Martyr, of Irenaeus and Hippolytus—The
theories of Baur and Lipsius untenable—Vogue of Oriental cults and
teachers at Rome—John Mark Peter’s interpreter—Origin of St. Mark’s
Gospel—Its date—Jerome’s version of the Petrine tradition—His sources of
information—Relations with Pope Damasus—The Hieronymian tradition and that
of the Liberian Catalogue—The differences between them—Chronological
difficulties and discrepancies—Attempted solution—The Antiochean narrative
[ Acts xi. and xii.] examined—Barnabas and Paul bear
alms to Jerusalem, 46 A.D.—They meet Peter on his return from Rome—Peter
makes Antioch the missionary centre of his work, 47–54 A.D.—Peter with Barnabas at Corinth, 54
A.D.—Testimony of the First Epistle to the
Corinthians—Accession of Nero—Peter and Barnabas journey to Italy—Evidence
of Bamabas’ missionary activity in Rome and North Italy—No rivalry between
St. Peter and St. Paul at Corinth—Paul’s delay in visiting Rome due to
Peter’s presence there, 54–56 A.D.—First organisation of the Roman Church—The trial
of Julia Pomponia Graecina—Inscription in the crypt of
Lucina

59–86

LECTURE
IV

St. Paul’s visit to Jerusalem, Pentecost, 57
A.D., and captivity at Caesarea—Character of the
administration of Felix—Accuracy and trustworthiness of the Lukan
narrative—St. Paul’s financial resources—Indulgent treatment of St. Paul
by Felix—Influence of Drusilla—Recall of Felix—Elymas or Etoimos—Attitude
of Festus—St. Paul’s appeal to Caesar—His motives in appealing —St. Paul’s
journey from Puteoli to Rome—He is delivered in charge to the
Stratopedarch—The favours accorded to him—St. Paul invites the
Jewish leaders to meet him—His interviews with the chiefs of the
Synagogues—The Apostle’s appeal to the Jews is fruitless—The Epistles of
the First Captivity—The earlier group—Colossians, Ephesians,
Philemon—Their tone cheerful—Release expected—Many friends surround the
Apostlexi—Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, at Alexandria—His
visit to Rome and mission to Colossae—The Epistle to the
Philippians—Changed situation—Friends absent—Issue of trial in doubt but
Paul hopeful—The letter of a friend to friends—Discords at Philippi—The
‘true yoke-fellow’—Clement—Caesar’s household—St. Paul is set at
liberty—Probable course of the
trial

87–114

LECTURE
V

A High-Priestly embassy in Rome—Growth of hostility
between Jew and Christian—The Christians accused of anarchism and secret
crimes—St. Peter’s last visit to Rome in 63 A.D.—The First Epistle of St. Peter—Its genuineness—The
Epistle written at Rome—Its literary indebtedness to other New Testament
writings—St. Peter acquainted with the Epistles to the Romans and
Ephesians—Mark and Silvanus with Peter at Rome—The great fire of July 19,
64 A.D.—Rumour attributes the fire to Nero—Steps taken by
Nero to efface the rumour—The Pisonian conspiracy and its suppression—The
charges brought against the Christians—The Tacitean account of their
sufferings—Character of the Neronian persecution—The personal act of
Nero—Tigellinus, the active agent of Nero’s cruelty—The Christians not
implicated in the burning of Rome—Origin of the charge of
incendiarism—Apocalyptic utterances—Tigellinus and Apollonius of Tyana: a
parallel—Atheism, Thyestean feasts, Oedipodean intercourse—Hatred of the
human race, ‘Institutum Neronianum’—‘Crimina adhaerentia Nomini’—Christian
contemporary evidence—The spectacle in the Vatican Gardens —The arrest of
the great multitude, end of April, 65 A.D.—Comparison of evidence from Tacitus, Suetonius and
Orosius fixes the date—Persecution in the Provinces

115–144

LECTURE
VI

Deaths of St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome—Their
tombs piously preserved—They were not martyred on the same day—Manner of
their deaths—How the mistake as to a common date arose —Statement of
Prudentius—The ‘Quo Vadis?’ story examined —St. Peter’s crucifixion
in the early summer of 65 A.D.—The Epistle to the Hebrews—Addressed to
Judaeo-Christians at Rome—Internal and external evidence for this—The
Epistle never received as Pauline in Rome or the West—Tertullian names
Barnabas as the author—Barnabas well qualified to write this Epistle—Sent
to Rome, as an eirenicon—The personal references support the
Barnabean hypothesis—The Pastoral Epistles—St. Paul’s second imprisonment
at Rome—His sense of desertion—His death, 67 A.D.—The Apocalypse written in 70 A.D.—Statements of
Irenaeus and Origen considered—Eusebius’ use of his xiiauthorities—Evidence of
Victorinus and Jerome—The book reflects contemporary history—Neronian
Persecution—Events of 69 A.D.—Burning of the Capitol—Domitian in power, Jan. to
June, 70 A.D.—Nerva Consul, 71 A.D.—Temple of Jerusalem still standing—The Number of
the Beast—Nero Caesar—The Apocalypse, a Neronian document—Nero is
Anti-Christ—The Nero legend—Armageddon—Impressions of an
eye-witness—Earthquakes and convulsions of nature—The islands of Patmos
and Thera

145–179

LECTURE
VII

The First Century Episcopal Succession at Rome—The
Jewish Synagoge and the Christian Ecclesia—The Official Ministry in
the early Church—Duties and position of episcopi—Pastors and
Stewards with cure of souls—They form an inner Presbyterate—Its president
The Bishop—Apostles, Prophets, Teachers and their functions—The
Didache an untrustworthy authority for the First Century—The
genuine Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians—Not written in 96
A.D. but in beginning of 70 A.D.—The recent examples of our own time—The Neronian
persecution fresh in memory—The sudden and successive troubles and
calamities of 69 A.D.—Internal evidence of the Epistle to its early
date—Church Organisation—Christology—New Testament Quotations—The Daily
Sacrifice at Jerusalem had not ceased—The Corinthian
dissensions—Predisposing circumstances, 66–68 A.D.—Reference to the Phoenix—Episcopal
succession—Apostolical regulations—The disturbers of the peace at Corinth
rebuked—Force of the word ἀρχαίαν—The bearers of the Epistle to Corinth—No allusion
to Clement as the writer—Authoritative position of Clement in 96
A.D.—The Epistle belongs to an earlier time—Written by
him as secretary to the Presbyterate—Interesting inscription

180–205

LECTURE
VIII

Attitude of the Flavian emperors to the
Christians—A quarter of a century of moderation—Titus personally
hostile—‘The Shepherd’ of Hernias: a Flavian writing—Blunder of the
Muratorian Fragmentist—The notice in the ‘Liberian Catalogue’—The
Muratorian and Liberian statements derived from a common
source—Hermas confused with the presbyter Pastor—Patristic testimony
supports the early date—Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian—Unity
of ‘The Shepherd’—It contains a real life story—Hermas a contemporary of
Clement of Rome—Harnack’s views discussed—The book in three parts, but the
period covered by it short—Hermas’ references to the Neronian
persecution—To the organisation of the Church—Its primitive
character—Signs of an evolutionary movement—Contentions
xiiiabout precedence—Growth
of a Monarchical Episcopate—The persecution of Domitian—In its origin
fiscal—The didrachma tax—Many Christians of high position
suffer—Flavius Clemens put to death—His wife Flavia Domitilla
banished—Flavius Sabinus, father and son—Flavius Clemens the Consul and
Clemens the bishop—A third contemporary Clemens—M. Arrecinus Clemens is
Consul 94 A.D.—He is put to death by his relative Domitian—The
two Flavia Dornitillas—The ‘Acts of Nereus and Achilles’—Plautilla the
sister of Clemens the Consul—Relationship between the Flavian and
Arrecinian families —Is Clement the bishop brother of Arrecinus
Clemens?—The death of M. Acilius Glabrio—The Acilian Crypt in the cemetery
of Priscilla—Conclusion

206–237

APPENDICES

Chronological Statement Note A.

239–241

Aquila and
Prisca or Priscill Note B.
a

242–3

The Pudens Legend Note C.

244–249

The Family Connexion of Clement the Bishop Note D.

250–258

The Tombs of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Note
E.  Paul

259–272

The Cemeteries of Priscilla and
Domitilla Note F.

273–282

Index

283

Index of Scripture References