Before Jerusalem Fell
by Kenneth L. Gentry by Kenneth L. Gentry
Additional Ext+mal Witnesses 95 also known for his five volume Against Marcion, his Agaimt Praxea-s (in which he developed the doctrine of the Trinity), and other lesser works. His era briefly overlaps that of Irenaeus. The statement of Tertullian that is of significance to our inquiry is found in his Excluswn of Heretics. It strongly suggests that John’s banishment occurred at the same time Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom. In his Against Jovinianunz, Jerome certainly understood Tertullian to state that John was banished by Nero.w And it is diflicult today to read Tertullian’s statement and not come to such a conclusion. Tertullian’s comment is as follows: But if thou art near to Italy, thou hast Rome, where we also have an authority close at hand. What an happy Church is that! on which the Apostles poured out all their doctrine, with their blood: where Peter had a like Passion with the Lord; where Paul bath for his crown the same death with John; where the Apostle John was plunged into boiling oil, and suffered nothing, and was afterwards banished to an island.45 Not only is this reference compellingly suggestive of at least Tertullian’s acceptance of the fact, but there are converging lines of evidence that deepen our conviction that Tertullian did in fact mean what has been suggested. Hort found it noteworthy that when Tertullian speaks of Domitian’s evil in the fifth chapter of his Apolog,Y, he does not mention anything about John’s banishment or suffering under him.% Of course, such an ex silentio is not of the highest order of argument. Yet Hort’s observation becomes especially remarkable in light of the prior Tertullianic statement, which unites the three Apostles under the Neronic persecution. All of this becomes all the more intriguing when even Eusebius follows suit in his Evangelical Dern.onstration (3:5). Hort noted that Eusebius “groups in a single 44. Jerome, Agfsimt Jouinianwn 1:26. See Swete, Revelation, p. c. Robinson says: ‘
96 BEFORE JERUSALEM FELL sentence Peter’s crucifixion at Rome, Paul’s beheading, and John’s banishment to an island.”47 The sentence in question read: KcM’ Ii%.poG 62 dm’ ‘Pc@q< KCYTa K@Cd~G cmavpoikczl, llafiM< m \ &ror&@ral, ‘I@awq< TE VI@ zrapa&60zal. Stuart initially granted Tertullian to be a Domitianic reference, but later consideration persuaded him otherwise: “Now it strikes me, that Tertullian plainly means to class Peter, Paul, and John together, as having suffered at nearly the same time and under the same emperor. I concede that this is not a construction absolutely necessary; but I submit it to the candid, whether it is not the most probable.”w In a similar vein, historian Herbert B. Workman in his classic study, Persecution in tb Early Church, draws the following conclusions from the Tertullianic evidence: “St. John’s banishment to Patmos was itself a result of the great persecution of Nero. Hard labour for life in the mines and quarries of certain islands, especially Sardinia, formed one of the commonest punishments for Christians. . . . He lived through the horrors of two great persecutions, and died quietly in extreme old age at Ephesus.”49 Furthermore, it would seem that Tertullian’s reference to an attempted oil martyrdom ofJohn is quite plausible historically. This is due to the very nature of the Neronic persecution of Christians in A.D. 64. Roman historian Tacitus describes the gruesome scene – a scene so evilly horrific that, even though Tacitus disparaged Christians as “detested for their abominable crimes,”5° he was moved to sympathy for the Christians by Nero’s actions: “And their death was aggravated with mockeries, insomuch that, wrapped in the hides of wild beasts, they were tom to pieces by dogs, or fastened to crosses to be set on fire, that when the darkness fell they might be burned to illuminate the night. . . . Whence it came about that, though the 47. Ibid., p. xvii. See also Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, A Commentary, Crttzkal and Explanatory, on the Old and New Tatarnenti, 2 vols. (Harttiord: Scranton, n.d.) 2:548. 48. Stuart, Apoca~pse 1 :284n. 49. Herbert B. Workman, Persecution in th Ear~ Church (Oxford: Oflord University Press, [1906] 1980), pp. 18, 19. 50. In this reference Tacitus apparently reflects the current suspicion that Christians engaged in lewd, promiscuous “love feasts” (the early Agape Feast), had cannibalistic services (the Lord’s Supper being the blood and body of Christ), and worshiped the head of an ass.
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Additional Ext+mal Witnesses 95<br />
also known for his five volume Against Marcion, his Agaimt Praxea-s (in<br />
which he developed the doctrine of the Trinity), and other lesser<br />
works. His era briefly overlaps that of Irenaeus.<br />
The statement of Tertullian that is of significance to our inquiry<br />
is found in his Excluswn of Heretics. It strongly suggests that John’s<br />
banishment occurred at the same time Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom.<br />
In his Against Jovinianunz, Jerome certainly understood Tertullian<br />
to state that John was banished by Nero.w And it is diflicult<br />
today to read Tertullian’s statement and not come to such a conclusion.<br />
Tertullian’s comment is as follows:<br />
But if thou art near to Italy, thou hast Rome, where we also have an<br />
authority close at hand. What an happy Church is that! on which the<br />
Apostles poured out all their doctrine, with their blood: where Peter<br />
had a like Passion with the Lord; where Paul bath for his crown the<br />
same death with John; where the Apostle John was plunged into<br />
boiling oil, and suffered nothing, and was afterwards banished to an<br />
island.45<br />
Not only is this reference compellingly suggestive of at least<br />
Tertullian’s acceptance of the fact, but there are converging lines of<br />
evidence that deepen our conviction that Tertullian did in fact mean<br />
what has been suggested. Hort found it noteworthy that when Tertullian<br />
speaks of Domitian’s evil in the fifth chapter of his Apolog,Y, he<br />
does not mention anything about John’s banishment or suffering<br />
under him.% Of course, such an ex silentio is not of the highest order<br />
of argument. Yet Hort’s observation becomes especially remarkable<br />
in light of the prior Tertullianic statement, which unites the three<br />
Apostles under the Neronic persecution. All of this becomes all the<br />
more intriguing when even Eusebius follows suit in his Evangelical<br />
Dern.onstration (3:5). Hort noted that Eusebius “groups in a single<br />
44. Jerome, Agfsimt Jouinianwn 1:26. See Swete, Revelation, p. c. Robinson says: ‘
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