The conditions in Asia Minor during the reign of Nero (54-68 AD) and before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD do not fit this picture. Until the end of Nero's reign and the fall of Jerusalem, persecution arose primarily from the Jews who tried to stir up Gentiles crowds against those who proclaimed Christ (Acts 13:50; 14:2; 17:13). While it is true that emperors from the very beginning took divine names, that temples were built in many eastern cities in honor of Augustus, there is no evidence that Christians were asked to give divine honors to the emperor before 70 AD. Nero's persecution was limited to Rome, and he did not accuse Christians in Rome of impiety but of arson. Furthermore, Paul's epistles show an emphasis on converts leaving their pagan lifestyles, but he is more concerned that they not be seduced by Judaizers than by Jezebels seeking luxuries and social status in a pagan world.
Revelation's picture of conditions in Asia Minor is more appropriate for the reign of Domitian (81-96 AD). During his reign, Domitian became obsessed with his divinity and required that he always be referred to in writing and speech as "our Lord and God."[10] Domitian executed Flavius Clemens and banished his wife Flavia Domitilla on the charge of "atheism, a charge on which many others who drifted into Jewish ways were condemned."[11] This was the same charge brought against many Christians who died for their faith, and Christian tradition held that Domitilla was a Christian,[12] though her husband was not. While it cannot be proven that Domitian pressed this charge in the provinces, provincial authorities may have used the precedent to bring the charge against Christians at the time Revelation was written. Hence, the death of Antipas in connection with the throne of Satan (worship of the emperor) appears to be closer to the time of Domitian than the time of Nero. In 111 AD, approximately fifteen years after the reign of Domitian, Pliny wrote to Emperor Trajan from northern Asia Minor, noting that he attempted to get those accused of being Christians to repeat "an invocation to the gods" and offer "religious rites with wine and incense before your statue."[13] In 155 AD, approximately sixty years after the reign of Domitian, Polycarp, an aged bishop in Smyrna, was martyred because he refused to say, "Caesar is Lord," and offer incense to him.[14]
Domitian's policies affected Christians in other ways. During his reign, Domitian extended a tax Vespasian had imposed on all Jews (men, women, and children) throughout the empire as a way for them to show their loyalty to the empire. Domitian extended the tax, which initially paid for reconstruction of the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter, to those who concealed their Jewish origins and to Gentiles who had adopted Jewish customs.[15] This extension would have included Christians. Jewish Christians appeared to be trying to avoid the tax or showing loyalty to the empire by adopting Christianity. Gentile Christians appeared to adopt Jewish customs without paying the tax. Domitian's policy became an occasion for many false accusations against people, including Christians. An inscription on a coin indicates that Emperor Nerva (96-98 AD) rescinded Domitian's extension of the tax to end those false accusations.[16] About the same time that Nerva rescinded the tax on groups which may have included Christians, Papias says that Nerva permitted the Apostle John to return to Ephesus from Patmos.[17]
Not only was Domitian's reign a time of increased economic hardship and pressure to give divine honors to the emperor, it was a time when large numbers of Gentiles had become Christians. Unlike the Jewish Christians and God-fearing Gentiles of earlier decades for whom pagan social status and luxuries had little allure, these Gentile Christians were more easily seduced by the opportunities and luxuries available in the pagan world. For this reason, the false teachers described in Revelation are not Judaizers, but false prophets like Balaam and Jezebel who advocated compromise with pagan culture.
[10] Suetonius, The Lives of the Twelve Caesars; Domitian, xiii.
[11] Dio Cassius, Roman History 67, 14.
[12] Eusebius, Church History III, xviii, 5. Eusebius says Domitilla was a niece of Flavius Clemens.
[13] Pliny, Letters 10.96 (a letter to Trajan).
[14] The Letter of the Smyrneans on the Martyrdom of Polycarp, viii.
[15] Suetonius: The Lives of the Twelve Caesars; Domitian, xii.
[16] Marius Heemstra, The Fiscus Judaicus and the Parting of Ways (Tubington, Germany: Siebeck Mohr, 2010), 69 ff.
[17] Michael William Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, Updated ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 573.
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