Just as he had often told his disciples (Matthew 14:27; 17:6-7; 28:10), the very first thing Jesus told the church in Smyrna was don’t be afraid of anything they were about to face in his name (Revelation 2:10). There was no need for fear, because Jesus revealed himself as “the first and the last” (Revelation 2:8), so their enemies cannot do anything to them that Jesus doesn’t first allow (Isaiah 41:1-4). Moreover, he intends to show them he is with them and will help them, and, not only so, but even in their tribulation they will be successful in preaching the Gospel (Isaiah 44:1-6). No weapon formed against them will prevail, and in the end, they will judge those who judge them (Isaiah 54:17).
We need to remember that the Devil[1] or the being called by that name has no face; he cannot, of and by himself, hurt anyone. Rather, he works through men. Men have faces, through which they can be identified, and they can hurt us physically and through words that slander us and the Gospel. This is what Jesus told believers in Smyrna to be aware of but not to fear, because, although these men work the will of the enemy, they are unable to do anything the Lord doesn’t allow (Isaiah 41:1-4). Nevertheless, some of the believers would be cast into prison to ascertain the quality of their trust in Jesus. Men do things like this in the hope they would be able to break down those who resist them, and bring them under the power of their will. Jesus told his disciples at Smyrna not to be afraid.
Peter tells us in 1Peter 2:12 that some folks were slandering believers, saying they were evildoers. The identity of the slanderers is hinted at in this same verse, in that gentiles would glorify God in the day of visitation. The day of visitation refers to the day of the coming of Christ (1Peter 1:5, 7), which meant the day of judgment upon Jerusalem and the Temple (cp. Matthew 26:64) in 70 AD. In other words, believers were predicting the coming of Jesus in judgment against Jerusalem. Unbelieving Jews of the Diaspora were telling gentiles in their local communities that the Gospel was nothing more than slander against the Jewish nation, implying the Jewish nation was disloyal to Rome. Therefore, believers were called evildoers, trying to instigate trouble between Rome and the Jews. One needs to understand that an evildoer (G2555) wasn’t merely a nasty person that folks simply avoided or shunned. An evildoer (G2555) was a wicked person, who needed to be punished by the authorities (1Peter 2:14; 4:15). Jesus was brought to Pilate under the charge of his being an evildoer (malefactor – G2555; John 18:30). Therefore, it was a very serious matter to be slandered as an evildoer. The ones doing so were trying to have the believers beaten, imprisoned or even executed by the gentile authorities.
Unbelieving Jews were saying they had no other king but Caesar (cp. John 19:15), so they may have accused believing Jews before gentiles authorities that, because Christians were loyal to Jesus, whom they called Lord (cp. Luke 23:2; John 19:12), they were the ones who were disloyal to Caesar. Moreover, the fact that Jesus and his disciples considered believers their “brothers and sisters” (cp. Matthew 12:48-49) could have been twisted to indicate believers were anti-family, which would have been an abomination to the gentiles.
Finally, later gentile writings indicate they thought Christians were cannibals who engaged in a secrete rite of eating the flesh of children:
“Now the story about the initiation of young novices is as much to be detested as it is well known. An infant covered over with meal, that it may deceive the unwary, is placed before him who is to be stained with their rites: this infant is slain by the young pupil, who has been urged on as if to harmless blows on the surface of the meal, with dark and secret wounds. Thirstily – O horror! they lick up its blood; eagerly they divide its limbs. By this victim they are pledged together; with this consciousness of wickedness they are covenanted to mutual silence” (emphasis mine).[2]
We need to keep in mind that a worldwide reputation of any kind took a lot of time to develop in the ancient world. It isn’t like one could hear about these things on the Nightly News, as might be possible today. If this understanding is logical and valid, the reputation Christians had later, needed to have been developed much earlier, perhaps during these very days when believers were slandered by the Jewish authorities in Asia at the instigation of the authorities in Jerusalem. For example, what the Jews said in Galatia affected the temper and emotional behavior of the gentiles and their rulers (cp. Acts 14:2, 19)? Something was said that caused men, who not long before were willing to worship Paul and Barnabas, to suddenly turn against them and even tried to kill Paul.
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[1] The word Devil is Scripture comes from the Greek word diabolos (G1228) meaning false accuser or slanderer.
[2] Minucius Felix, Octavius, R. E. Wallis, trans. in The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, N. Y.: The Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887), Vol. 4, pp. 177-178.
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