Persecution

Persecution in scripture is hostility directed against a person because of fidelity to God — against the prophets sent to call Israel back, against the Servant whose word and work made him a target, against Jesus himself, and against the church that bears his name. It is named, anticipated, lamented, and read as a vocation. The canon does not present it as accidental misfortune. The persecutors are most often the religious community itself; the cause is the speech that finds no place in them; the persecuted are commanded to bless rather than curse; and the final verdict is reserved for the One who judges righteously. For a wider canvas of related themes see also Suffering, Afflictions and Adversities, and Cross.

The Prophets Were Persecuted

The pattern Hebrews summarizes was first written in the histories. Jezebel "cut off the prophets of Yahweh" so that Obadiah hid a hundred of them in caves and fed them by fifty (1 Ki 18:4). When Elijah confronted her, the message that followed was direct: "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don't make your soul as the soul of one of them by tomorrow about this time" (1 Ki 19:2), and Elijah arose and went for his soul (1 Ki 19:3). Micaiah, who refused to soften the word, was struck on the cheek by a court prophet, then handed back to the king with the order, "Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace" (1 Ki 22:24, 27). Asa was angry with the seer who reproved him, "and put him in the prison-house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing" (2 Chr 16:10). Zechariah son of Jehoiada, "the Spirit of God came upon" him in the temple and he warned the people; in answer "they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of Yahweh" (2 Chr 24:20-21). His dying words asked Yahweh to look at it and require it (2 Chr 24:22).

Jeremiah suffered the most extended catalogue. Pashhur the priest "struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin" (Jer 20:2). The princes "were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison" (Jer 37:15). When that was not enough, "they took Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king's son … and Jeremiah sank in the mire" (Jer 38:6). Out of this experience comes Jeremiah's prayer in his own voice: "O Yahweh, you know; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; don't take me away in your long-suffering: know that for the sake of your [Speech] I have suffered reproach" (Jer 15:15); "Let them be put to shame who persecute me, but don't let me be put to shame; let them be dismayed, but don't let me be dismayed" (Jer 17:18). Lamentations gives the same picture from inside the dungeon: "They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me" (Lam 3:53). And among the prophets killed in Jeremiah's day stands a single named martyr — Uriah the son of Shemaiah, who prophesied "according to all the words of Jeremiah," fled into Egypt when Jehoiakim sought to put him to death, was extradited, and was killed by the king "with the sword" and his body cast "into the graves of the common people" (Jer 26:20-23).

The writer to the Hebrews collects the prophet-tradition into a single roll: "others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn apart, they were slain with the sword: they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves, and the holes of the earth" (Heb 11:36-38). James, by way of pastoral counsel, names the same roll: "Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord" (Jas 5:10).

Other Righteous Sufferers

Not only prophets are persecuted in scripture. Joseph was thrown by his master into "the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were bound" for refusing what was offered him (Gen 39:20). The three young men in Babylon were bound and "cast … into the burning fiery furnace" for not bowing to the image (Dan 3:20-23); Daniel was cast "into the den of lions" for praying when prayer was forbidden (Dan 6:16). Hebrews 11 reads both events as faith's record: by faith they "stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword" (Heb 11:33-34). Moses too is in the catalogue, "choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt" (Heb 11:25-26).

The Psalter supplies the standing voice in which persecuted saints address Yahweh. "O Yahweh my God, in you I take refuge: Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me" (Ps 7:1). "For I have heard the defaming of many, Terror on every side: While they took counsel together against me, They devised to take away my soul. But I trusted in you, O Yahweh: I said, You are my God. My times are in your hand: Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me" (Ps 31:13-15). "For the enemy has persecuted my soul; He has struck my life down to the ground: He has made me to dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead" (Ps 143:3). The Lamentations refrain says it of the people: "Our pursuers are on our necks: We are weary, and have no rest" (Lam 5:5).

Psalm 119 makes persecution the cost of fidelity to the law itself. "All your commandments are faithful: They persecute me wrongfully; help me" (Ps 119:86). "Many are my persecutors and my adversaries; [Yet] I have not swerved from your testimonies" (Ps 119:157). "Princes have persecuted me without a cause; But my heart stands in awe of your words" (Ps 119:161). And: "I am small and despised; [Yet] I don't forget your precepts" (Ps 119:141). Persecution and obedience here are bound to each other; the second is the cause of the first, and the first does not break the second.

The Servant and the Sufferings of Christ

The Servant Song III gives the figure that the Gospels apply. "I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I did not hide my face from shame and spitting" (Isa 50:6). And Isaiah 53: "He was despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief … as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we did not esteem him" (Isa 53:3); "He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn't open his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he didn't open his mouth" (Isa 53:7); "By oppression and judgment he was taken away" (Isa 53:8); "although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth" (Isa 53:9). Psalm 69 supplies the inward register: "You know my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor: My adversaries are all before you. Reproach has broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: And I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none" (Ps 69:19-20).

The Gospels narrate the same. The first attempt on Jesus' life is at his own synagogue: "they rose up, and cast him forth out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong" (Lk 4:29). The Sabbath healings read as an offense: "And for this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did these things on the Sabbath" (Jn 5:16). His itinerary thereafter is governed by lethal intent: "Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him" (Jn 7:1). The cause is named in his own voice: "you⁺ seek to kill me, because my speech has no place in you⁺" (Jn 8:37). The attempts continue into Jerusalem — "they sought again to take him: and he went forth out of their hand" (Jn 10:39) — until at the high priest's court "one of the attendants standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, Do you answer the high priest so?" Jesus answered: "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why do you strike me?" (Jn 18:22-23).

The scourging follows. "Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and arrayed him in a purple garment; and they came to him, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! And they struck him with their hands" (Jn 19:1-3). 1 Peter reads this scene as the standing pattern for those who suffer wrongfully: "Christ also suffered for you⁺, leaving you⁺ an example, that you⁺ should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, did not threaten; but delivered [himself] to him who judges righteously" (1 Pet 2:21-23).

John the Baptist

Inside the Gospels the most detailed prophet-execution narrative belongs to John the Baptist. "Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold on John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; for he had married her. For John said to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. And Herodias set herself against him, and desired to kill him" (Mk 6:17-19). The opportunity came at a banquet: "right away the king sent forth a soldier of his guard, and commanded to bring his head: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother" (Mk 6:27-28). The pattern is the old one — a prophet rebukes a king, a queen wants him dead, the prison and the sword finish the matter.

Christ's Indictment of His Generation

Jesus reads the canonical span as a single line. "Woe to you⁺! For you⁺ build the tombs of the prophets, and your⁺ fathers killed them. So you⁺ are witnesses and give your⁺ approval to the works of your⁺ fathers: for they killed them, and you⁺ build [their tombs]. Therefore the wisdom of God also said, I will send to them prophets and apostles; and [some] of them they will kill and persecute; that the blood of all the prophets, having been shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary" (Lk 11:47-51). The Zachariah named is the one stoned in the temple court at Joash's command (2 Chr 24:21); the Abel named is the first of those whom a brother killed for accepted worship. Between them stand all the prophets, sent and killed.

Persecution Predicted for the Church

What was true of master and prophets is told ahead of time as the lot of disciples. "If the world hates you⁺, you⁺ know that it has hated me before [it hated] you⁺ … Remember the saying that I spoke to you⁺, A slave is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you⁺; if they kept my speech, they will keep yours⁺ also. But all these things they will do to you⁺ for my name's sake, because they don't know him who sent me" (Jn 15:18-21). The mechanism is named with painful precision: "They will put you⁺ out of the synagogues: yes, the hour comes, that whoever kills you⁺ will think that he offers service to God" (Jn 16:2). Synagogue expulsion is already at work in Jesus' lifetime — the parents of the man born blind speak guardedly "because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man should confess him [to be] Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue" (Jn 9:22).

Luke's prediction extends the venues. "Before all these things, they will lay their hands on you⁺, and will persecute you⁺, delivering you⁺ up to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you⁺ before kings and governors for my name's sake. It will turn out to you⁺ for a testimony" (Lk 21:12-13). Jesus then assigns the response: "Settle it therefore in your⁺ hearts, not to meditate beforehand how to answer: for I will give you⁺ a mouth and wisdom, which all your⁺ adversaries will not be able to withstand or to gainsay" (Lk 21:14-15). The cost is named: "you⁺ will be delivered up even by parents, and brothers, and kinsfolk, and friends; and [some] of you⁺ they will cause to be put to death. And you⁺ will be hated of all men for my name's sake" (Lk 21:16-17). And the limit: "not a hair of your⁺ head will perish. In your⁺ patience you⁺ win your⁺ souls" (Lk 21:18-19).

The Lukan beatitude makes the sequence a benediction. "Blessed are you⁺, when men will hate you⁺, And when they will separate you⁺ [from their company], And reproach you⁺, And cast out your⁺ name as evil, For the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day, and leap [for joy]: For look, your⁺ reward is great in heaven; For in the same manner their fathers did to the prophets" (Lk 6:22-23). The prophets' lot becomes the disciples' lot, and the same word — "Rejoice" — is set on it.

The disciple's response is regulated. "Love your⁺ enemies, do good to those who hate you⁺, bless those who curse you⁺, pray for those who despitefully use you⁺. To him who strikes you on the [one] cheek offer also the other; and from him who takes away your cloak don't withhold your coat also" (Lk 6:27-29). Persecution does not authorize retaliation. Paul writes the same out as apostolic practice: "being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat" (1 Cor 4:12-13).

Paul's Catalogue

Paul is the only persecutor whose conversion the New Testament narrates as a settled fact, and he is honest about the prior life: "you⁺ have heard of my manner of life in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and made havoc of it" (Gal 1:13). What follows in his letters is the inverse — the persecuted apostle.

The first-person catalogues are the densest persecution material in the Pauline corpus. From 1 Corinthians 4: "God has set forth us the apostles last of all, as men doomed to death: for we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you⁺ are wise in Christ … you⁺ have glory, but we have dishonor. Even to this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place; and we toil, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things, even until now" (1 Cor 4:9-13). From 2 Corinthians 4: "[we are] pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not to despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake" (2 Cor 4:8-11). From 2 Corinthians 11: "in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times I received forty [stripes] less one. Thrice I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck … in cold and nakedness" (2 Cor 11:23-27). And the verdict: "I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions and distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor 12:10).

The prison letters convert the chains into ministry. "I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you⁺ Gentiles" (Eph 3:1); "I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak" (Eph 6:20); "my bonds became manifest in Christ throughout the whole Praetorian Guard, and to all the rest; and … most of the brothers in the Lord, being confident through my bonds, are more abundantly bold to speak the word without fear" (Phil 1:13-14); "praying for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds" (Col 4:3); "Remember my bonds" (Col 4:18). To Timothy he writes from a final imprisonment: "don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but suffer hardship with the good news according to the power of God" (2 Tim 1:8); Onesiphorus "often refreshed me, and wasn't ashamed of my chain" (2 Tim 1:16); "I suffer hardship to bonds, as a criminal; but the word of God is not bound" (2 Tim 2:9). And finally a maxim: "all who would live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Tim 3:12) — set after his recall of "what persecutions I endured: and out of them all the Lord delivered me" (2 Tim 3:11). [ABSOLUTE]

Paul's typology generalizes the pattern. "As then he who was born after the flesh persecuted him [that was born] after the Spirit, so also it is now" (Gal 4:29). And he traces the cause in his own opponents' behavior: "As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they compel you⁺ to be circumcised; only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ" (Gal 6:12). His own credential is the body itself: "From now on let no man trouble me; for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus" (Gal 6:17).

Suffering for the Church, with the Church

Paul reads his own persecution as ordered to the believers' good. "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your⁺ sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church" (Col 1:24). And the consolation is reciprocal: "as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ. But whether we are afflicted, it is for your⁺ comfort and salvation … and our hope for you⁺ is steadfast; knowing that, as you⁺ are partners of the sufferings, so also are you⁺ of the comfort" (2 Cor 1:5-7). The believers' own suffering is granted: "to you⁺ it has been granted in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer in his behalf: having the same conflict which you⁺ saw in me, and now hear to be in me" (Phil 1:29-30). The aspiration that runs alongside it is fellowship: "that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death" (Phil 3:10). Joint-heirship is set on the same condition: "if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified with [him]" (Rom 8:17). And so the maxim — "if we endure, we will also reign with him" (2 Tim 2:12).

The Thessalonian letters are the earliest extant pastoral writing about a persecuted church. "You⁺, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus: for you⁺ also suffered the same things of your⁺ own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews; who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove out us, and do not please God, and are contrary to all men" (1 Thes 2:14-15) [ABSOLUTE]. And later: "we ourselves glory in you⁺ in the churches of God for your⁺ patience and faith in all your⁺ persecutions and in the afflictions which you⁺ endure; [which is] a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God; to the end that you⁺ may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you⁺ also suffer: since it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to those who afflict you⁺, and to you⁺ who are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven" (2 Thes 1:4-7). Persecution and the kingdom are folded into the same sentence.

Hebrews and the Reproach Outside the Camp

Hebrews encourages a community that has endured a recent wave. "Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after you⁺ were enlightened, you⁺ endured a great conflict of sufferings; partly, being made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, becoming partners with those who were so used. For you⁺ both had compassion on those who were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your⁺ possessions" (Heb 10:32-34). The line of comparison is Jesus: "Consider him who has endured such opposing of sinners against himself, that you⁺ do not wax weary, fainting in your⁺ souls. You⁺ have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin" (Heb 12:3-4). The summons is to bear what he bore: "Let us therefore go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach" (Heb 13:13). And the pastoral instruction completes the loop: "Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them; those who are ill-treated, as being yourselves also in the body" (Heb 13:3).

Peter's Theology of Suffering as a Christian

The first Petrine epistle is the New Testament's most concentrated pastoral instruction on persecution. The frame is Christ as example: "this is acceptable, if for conscience toward God a man endures griefs, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when you⁺ sin, and are buffeted [for it], you⁺ will take it patiently? But if, when you⁺ do good, and suffer [for it], you⁺ will take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For hereunto were you⁺ called: because Christ also suffered for you⁺, leaving you⁺ an example" (1 Pet 2:19-21). The benediction follows: "Even if you⁺ should suffer for righteousness' sake, blessed [are you⁺]: and don't be afraid of their fear, neither be troubled" (1 Pet 3:14). The conduct is gentle but definite: "[being] ready always to give answer to every man who asks you⁺ a reason concerning the hope that is in you⁺, yet with meekness and fear, having a good conscience; that, in what you⁺ are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your⁺ good manner of life in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that you⁺ suffer for doing good than for doing evil" (1 Pet 3:15-17).

The "fiery trial" passage names the sharing explicitly: "Beloved, don't think it strange concerning the fiery trial among you⁺, which comes on you⁺ to prove you⁺, as though a strange thing happened to you⁺: but insomuch as you⁺ share in Christ's sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also you⁺ may rejoice with exceeding joy. If you⁺ are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed [are you⁺]; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you⁺" (1 Pet 4:12-14). The discipline is precise: "let none of you⁺ suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or as a meddler in other men's matters: but if [a man suffers] as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this respect" (1 Pet 4:15-16). And the entrustment: "let them also that suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator" (1 Pet 4:19).

The final Petrine word reads the persecutor as adversary and reads the duration as bounded. "Be sober, be watchful: your⁺ adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: whom withstand steadfast in your⁺ faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished among your⁺ brotherhood in the world. And the God of all grace, who called you⁺ to his eternal glory in Christ, after you⁺ have suffered a little while, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, [and] firmly set [you⁺]" (1 Pet 5:8-10). The brotherhood is worldwide; the suffering is "a little while"; the outcome is restoration.

Romans 8 and the Citation of Psalm 44

Romans 8 reads the persecuted church as inseparable from Christ's love. "Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written, For your sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter" (Rom 8:35-36). The citation is from Psalm 44, where Israel under defeat asks why; Paul converts the asking into the fixed pattern that no longer separates from love.

The Persecuted in Revelation

Revelation gives the final canonical accent. John writes from exile: "I John, your⁺ brother and copartner with you⁺ in the tribulation and kingdom and patience [which are] in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the Speech of God and the testimony of Jesus" (Rev 1:9). To the church at Smyrna the prediction is plain: "Don't at all fear the things which you are about to suffer: look, the devil is about to cast some of you⁺ into prison, that you⁺ may be tried; and you⁺ will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Rev 2:10). To Pergamum the standing memory is a named martyr: "you hold fast my name, and did not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas my witness, the faithful one, who was killed among you⁺, where Satan dwells" (Rev 2:13).

The fifth seal opens on those killed for the same reason. "I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Speech of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Sovereign Yahweh, Holy and True, do you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And there was given to each of them a white robe; and it was said to them, that they should rest yet for a little time, until their fellow slaves also and their brothers, who should be killed even as they were, should have fulfilled [their course]" (Rev 6:9-11). The "How long" of the persecuted in Psalms is now spoken from beneath the altar, and the answer is not denial but waiting and a robe.

The vision of thrones answers the question. "I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the Speech of God, and such as did not worship the beast, neither his image, and did not receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (Rev 20:4). The persecuted reign — by the same logic Paul stated in 2 Tim 2:12. Persecution does not have the last word in scripture; it has the next-to-last, and the verdict that follows it is reserved for the One who suffered first.