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The Ancient World Behind the Text: Ideas
The customs, offices and ideas a first reader knew without being told, what each meant then, and the nearest thing you already know.
Friendship, and the friend of Caesar
The ancient world prized friendship: loyalty to the death, goods held in common, secrets shared. The same word covered a patron and his dependents, and friend of Caesar was a title a governor could not afford to lose.
A real friend keeps your secrets, stands by you when it costs him, and treats what he has as yours. Greeks and Romans wrote whole books about friendship and praised dying for a friend as the noblest thing a person could do. Friends were meant to share everything, including what was on their minds, and that was what set a friend apart from a servant. But friend was also the polite word for political ties: a powerful man called his dependents his friends, and a governor who was a friend of Caesar owed the emperor his loyalty.
Ancient literature held up several ideals of friendship (Keener). A friend was loyal, sometimes to the death. Friends were equals who shared all they owned. A friend could be trusted with every confidence, and that closeness set a friend apart from a servant. Greeks prized laying down one's life for one's friends as the greatest act of friendship. Later rabbis gave it no special value, and Rabbi Akiba argued that one's own life came first. That friends hold all things in common was a commonly cited ideal. Philo contrasted being God's friends with being his servants. Scripture calls Abraham God's friend (2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8) and has God speak with Moses face to face. Friendship could also be political. Kings and lesser patrons called the dependents they supported their friends, and these lesser friends owed honor in return for favors. Friend of the king had been an office at Greek and Near Eastern courts, including Israel's from David to Herod the Great. Friend of the emperor was an official title with political weight, given in this period to clients of Sejanus. Josephus tells how a young Seleucid king made the high priest Jonathan "his friend and confederate." In Pilate's case the ESV Study Bible takes friend as a technical term for a client of Caesar, and the CSB Study Bible calls it a semiformal status of imperial favor. In Greek culture friendship was proved by sacrifice. Offering one's eyes for someone was a known figure of speech for great sacrifice. Moralists warned that flatterers did not care for their hearers' good.
An analogy: the word partner, which can mean the person you share your life with or the firm that keeps you on retainer. Ancient friendship stretched the same way, from the closest bond there is to a political debt.
Because friends shared their minds and slaves did not, Jesus calling his disciples friends rather than slaves in John 15:15 takes them into his confidence. James 2:23 recalls that Abraham was called God's friend. Friendship also meant favors owed, which is why a governor told he would be no friend of Caesar had reason to be afraid.
Not a contract for paid services. A firm on retainer is paid and can be dropped by either side. An ancient patron's friend owed public honor and loyalty for favors received, the bond was known to everyone, and losing a powerful friend could end a career.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-19-1-16\/","n":"John 19:1-16, Flogged, mocked, and no friend of Caesar","s":"Pilate has Jesus flogged, the soldiers crown him with thorns and hail him as king, and Pilate shows him to the crowd. Warned that releasing him makes Pilate no friend of Caesar, he sits on the judgment seat at the Stone Pavement and hands him over.","r":"John 19:1-16"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2corinthians-7-2-16\/","n":"2 Corinthians 7:2-16, Titus arrives and the letter that hurt","s":"In Macedonia Paul is comforted by Titus's arrival and his news that the Corinthians grieved over Paul's harsh letter in a way that led to repentance, and that they received Titus with fear and trembling.","r":"2 Corinthians 7:2-16"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2corinthians-8-1-15\/","n":"2 Corinthians 8:1-15, The Macedonians' giving and the manna","s":"Paul holds up the generosity of the poor Macedonian churches, appeals to Christ who became poor, and asks the Corinthians to finish their gift so that there may be equality, as there was with the manna in the wilderness.","r":"2 Corinthians 8:1-15"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/galatians-4-12-20\/","n":"Galatians 4:12-20, Welcomed as an angel of God","s":"Paul appeals to the Galatians as friends, reminding them that when he first preached to them in bodily weakness they did not scorn him but welcomed him as an angel of God, and asks whether he has now become their enemy by telling them the truth.","r":"Galatians 4:12-20"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/philippians-1-1-11\/","n":"Philippians 1:1-11, A letter between friends, and a partnership in the gospel","s":"Paul and Timothy greet the believers at Philippi with their overseers and deacons, thank God for their partnership in the gospel from the first day, and pray that their love will grow until the day of Christ.","r":"Philippians 1:1-11"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/philemon-1-7\/","n":"Philemon 1-7, The church in Philemon's house","s":"Paul, a prisoner, and Timothy write to Philemon, to Apphia and Archippus, and to the church that meets in Philemon's house, and Paul thanks God for Philemon's love and faith, his partnership, and the way he has refreshed the hearts of God's people.","r":"Philemon 1-7"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/james-3-1-4-10\/","n":"James 3:1-4:10, The tongue on fire, zeal and wars","s":"James warns would-be teachers that the tongue is a small fire set alight by hell, contrasts bitter envy and selfish ambition with the peaceable wisdom from above, traces fights and quarrels to desires at war within, calls friendship with the world enmity with God, and tells his readers to resist the devil.","r":"James 3:1-4:10"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/3john-9-15\/","n":"3 John 9-15, Diotrephes and Demetrius","s":"The elder wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, eager to be first, refuses to receive him; he spreads malicious talk, refuses to welcome the brothers and puts out of the church those who do. Gaius is not to imitate evil. Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone, and the elder adds his own testimony; he hopes to come soon and talk face to face.","r":"3 John 9-15"}
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on John 15:12-13, 15:14-15 and 19:12
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on John 15:13, 15:14, 15:15, 16:15 and 19:12, and on James 2:23
- ESV Study Bible, study note on John 19:12
- CSB Study Bible, note on John 19:12
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 13.5.4, trans. William Whiston
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Galatians 4:12, 4:15 and 4:16-17
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Galatians 4:12-20, 4:15 and 4:16
