Was Jesus really a threat to the Romans that the Bible makes him out to be?

Answer 1

No. Read Tacitus (a Roman pagan historian who wrote at around 70 ad). The Roman pagans thought that Christians and Jews were a bit odd, but they didn't view them as a major threat. However, Constantine saw that monotheism was gaining ground, and he also noticed that the system was particularly easy to understand. This led to the idea that it would help him solidify power - and it worked. Sort of. He had to make concessions, and in doing so he made Saints out of pagan gods, and therefore kept paganism alive and well.

Answer 2

The Bible doesn't really make Jesus out to be a threat to the Romans. He was a threat to the Jews, and the Jews needed the Romans to get rid of him.

Pontius Pilate seemed more annoyed than anything else by the whole ordeal, and King Herod just laughed him off.

Answer 3

Secular Judaism at the time expected the Messiah to come as a literal king and politcal ruler. In fact, Jesus was directly descended from King David and, had Rome not been in charge, he would have been the legal political ruler of Israel. There was also a prevailing belief among the jews that the Messiah would also be a great military leader who would free them from oppression and destroy their enemies (ie Rome). It's very likely that they confused the scriptural references between the first and second comings of the Messiah.

When Jesus came, he came as a spiritual leader coming to free Israel from spiritual bondage. He was no real threat to Rome or to the rule of any of the monarchs or governors of the time. However, since so many jews believed in the political/military Messiah, when word of the Messiah's coming reached the local rulers (I assume you're referring to Herod, who had all the babies killed), they would definitely have reacted out of fear.

On the flip side (playing devil's advocate), it's easily arguable that Christianity is what destroyed the Roman Empire, so in a way, yes, Jesus was a threat, but not in the way they expected.

Answer 4

Not really, more the other way around. However, there were (are) four prophesies of the messiah, one of them being that messiah would be a victorious King of the Jew's who would cleanse Israel of foreign oppressors. In this sense the Romans were weary of political unrest. Some argue that Jesus, being the promised hidden King of David's line, was confused and uncertain of which one he was destined to fulfill but in the end opted for the role as scapegoat.
I recommend Robert Graves books on the times: " I, Claudius" and " King Jesus"

Answer 5

If Jesus Christ had said to the Romans, "I am a prophet; I have come to the Jews like so many prophets before me have come to the Jews," he would not have had a problem with the Romans. Nor the Jews, probably.
However, the Romans were told that Jesus Christ was a King Messiah, which the Jews had been expecting.
The moral of the story is: the Jews had false expectations. They had grandiose expectations. They could not accept Jesus Christ for what he was....they wanted him to be something more.
This is why Jesus Christ opened his ministry to the Gentiles; "you cannot put new wine into old skins," he told his apostles.

Answer 6

Jesus was not a threat to the Romans at all. Actually, the Romans didn't give a damn about him. They saw him as just another looney prophet. Jesus was a threat to the religious leaders in power, though, because he questioned their authority and showed them up for the hypocrites they were. This is what got Jesus in all that trouble and which led to his crucifixion.

Answer 7

It wasn't just Jesus. It was the whole Jewish community that was problematic for the Romans. The Romans were always concerned about the unrest that could be fomented there in Palestine. It's been documented that Pontius Pilate was known for brutally putting down rebellions, resulting in him eventually being recalled to Rome around 36 CE.

Then there was the whole business of the Temple destruction -- aka the "Seige of Jerusalem" -- by the Romans in 70 CE. It showed just how seriously bad relations had gotten between the Jews and Romans.

Answer 8

A man that had the power to turn water into wine. This was a huge threat to the Romans. At the time the Romans had a Monopoly over the wine industry. With Jesus coming around doing this for free, it's easy to see how he made a few enemy's.

Answer 9

I think Jesus was more of a threat to his own people the Jews, than he was to the Romans.

Answer 10

He was a threat to the jewish religious leadership and the jews were a threat to the romans.....so much so that the romans later(in 70AD) went in and destroyed jerusalem and killed a million jews and sent another 2 million to egypt as slaves. It was the jewish religious leadership that wanted Christ dead. Pontius Pilate just went along with their wishes because he didn't want to deal with an uprising. The jews hated the romans and they were always a threat to them.