Who was Nero?

At this time Rome was ruled by possibly the most wicked man this world has ever seen. Nero had murdered his brother, his sister, his two wives, and his mother. His hands were red with the blood of assassination and murder. His morals were such as we may not describe. To his many misdeeds he added the burning of Rome, and then laid the blame on the Christians.

When we are in the power of an absolute autocrat it is a matter of the highest importance to know what his character is. For instance, the character of Nero—tyrannical, capricious, murderous, lustful, vindictive—made it a fearful thing to be in his power, as witness the Christians, swathed in waxed cerements, lighted as torches to illuminate the pagan festivities, or thrown to the lions in the Colosseum, “… butchered To make a Roman holiday.”

The first wave of general persecution which broke over the church, shewed itself in the year 64, when Nero had ruled the Roman empire, with tolerable humanity, for about nine years. The murder of his own mother, and his brutal indifference after the perpetration of that unnatural crime, shewed but too plainly his native disposition, and prepared the people for what they might expect at his hands. Alas! their gloomiest apprehensions were more than realised.

In the very nature of things rulers are appointed to carry on appropriate government, and so we have kings and those in authority. In the hands of such, great powers are placed and their responsibility is similarly great. Whatever their title may be, Emperor, King, Queen, President, Chief, etc., we are exhorted to pray for such. Think of the great power and responsibility resting on the President of the United States of America, or the President of the Soviet Union of States, or the rulers of India, China, etc. Whether in our judgment rulers are good or bad, our privilege is to pray for all alike. As a matter of fact in the early days of the church’s history on earth the very cruellest and most lustful of the Roman Emperors, Nero, was on the throne, the vile murderer of his own mother and wife, the persecutor of the Christian community.

At last Paul entered Rome. What must have been his feelings as he passed through the most magnificent capital of the whole world! Nero, a monster of lust and cruelty, a murderer of his own mother, and wife, sat on the throne, and to him he had appealed. Arriving at Rome he was handed by the courteous Julius to the Captain of the guard, the praetorian prefect, whose official duty it was to keep in custody all accused persons who had to be tried by Caesar.

We make bold to say that no servant of Christ ever had such a record as the Apostle Paul. One marvels at the energizing grace of the Spirit of God that led him to such unending toil, and to endure such privations and face such dangers, undaunted by incessant persecution, and to glory in his infirmities to the very end, when he had martyrdom staring him in the face under Nero, the cruellest of Roman Emperors, that monster of iniquity, of lust and self-indulgence, the murderer of his own wife and mother. From his prison in Rome at the very end of his life Paul could write, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice” (Phil. 4:4). What a testimony! What a triumph!

But a time of persecution from without was coming upon the church, which the Lord in grace permitted, that those who were approved (the faithful, though feeble ones among them) might be made manifest. This persecution commenced in the reign and at the instigation of the pagan emperor Nero, and was the first of ten general persecutions, which continued, with but few interruptions, for nearly three centuries.

Title given to the Roman Emperors after Augustus Caesar, named in Luke 2:1. In Acts 25:21, 25 the Augustus or Caesar at that time was Nero.

The common title given to succeeding Roman emperors, adopted from the name of Julius Caesar. Matt. 22:17, 21; Mark 12:14, 16, 17; Luke 2:1; John 19:12, 15; Acts 25:8, 21; Phil. 4:22; etc. The history of the New Testament fell under the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.

The more generous even of the pagans pitied the martyrs. Tacitus, the historian of the age, while he had not one good word for the Christians, remarked, that people could but pity those who were thus put to death, not for the public good, but to serve the purpose of a cruel tyrant like Nero.

This same historian says, "Nero falsely accused and punished most grievously certain people, hated for their wickedness, which the common sort called Christians. The author of that name was Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius, was put to death under Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea. And their dangerous superstition, suppressed for a time, burst forth again, not only through Judea, where it first began, but in this city also . . . . an infinite number were convicted, not so much for setting the town on fire, as for the hatred of all men against them. Thus Christians became a sect everywhere spoken against, and wickedness was attributed to them because they could not be understood."