Transcript The Grandeur That Was Rome

New Testament Survey
Class #2
The Gentile World
the glory that was Greece
the grandeur that was Rome
To Helen
Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicean barks of yore
That gently, o’er a perfumed sea,
The weary way-worn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.
On desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
To the glory that was Greece,
And the grandeur that was Rome.
- Edgar Allen Poe
Emphasis on Beauty
• Helen and
Homer’s Illiad
• Art, Architecture,
Drama, Athletic
competition
• 1 Cor 9:24-25
Emphasis on Truth
• Philosophy & the Big 3
• Science, Physics,
Math, Geometry,
Medicine, History,
Ethics, Politics
• Acts 17:16-21
• 1 Cor 1:18-25
• Alexander the Great
(photo by Andrew Dunn)
• Impact of Greek
culture on the Jews
• Acts 18:24-25
(Apollos)
• Universality of the
Greek Language
(John 19:20)
• NT written in Greek
Grandeur that was Rome
Pax Romana (27BC – 180 AD)
• Religion in the
Roman Empire
• Greek gods
• Acts 19:23-28
• Greek Philosophy
– Epicureans
(pleasure)
– Stoics (reason)
– Cynics
(nonconformity)
– Platonists
(ideals)
Temple of Artemis
(photo by Zee Prime @ cs.wickipedia)
• Mystery religions
Moral conditions in the Roman Empire
Example of the
Emperors
Divorce, abortion
& infanticide
Greeks and
homosexuality
Roman stage &
debauchery
Roman arena &
violence
Rom 1:18-32
Conclusion
The Roman Empire was a place full of people in
desperate need of good news and mercy in a
society with a universal language, political
stability and good transportation across a large
area of many nationalities.
. . . at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
-Rom 5:6