Tag Archives: Nero

An Open Invitation

February 11, 2026 Tom Vander Well 3 Comments

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.

Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
1 Peter 2:13-14, 17 (NIV)

I have for many years had a recurring brainstorm that returns every four years or so like the spring rains on the fields of Iowa. Every four years potential Presidential candidates from all political persuasions pass through Iowa for months in anticipation of the Iowa caucuses.

What if we invited them for dinner? We’d extend an invite to every one of them who passes through town. Just the candidate (and perhaps spouse) breaking bread and sharing a meal with just me and Wendy here in our dining room. Nothing fancy. No press. Just a meal and a private chat.

I think we’d learn a lot, not just about the candidate’s views, but the candidates themselves. Wendy and I have long held the position that we may not agree with a candidate’s politics, but we’d be willing to host any candidate – no matter their party or lack thereof – for a nice meal and respectful conversation. (For the record, I am not affiliated with any political party)

Today’s chapter is a head-on collision of Kingdom of God posture in human empire territory where the kingdoms of this world rule. Jesus’ counter-cultural kingdom ethic is on full display through the very man He once called ‘the rock..

First we have to understand the context of Peter’s letter which was written sometime around 60-64 A.D. Peter also references being in “Babylon” in his personal greetings (5:13). ‘Babylon’ was code for Rome.

Why does Peter use code? It is a time of rising hostility toward Christians. The storm clouds are gathering, and within a few short years Nero will unleash brutal persecution. It’s one of the reasons that the letter is being written in the first place. Referencing Rome as “Babylon” served multiple metaphorical purposes:

It protects believers if the letter is intercepted.
It frames Rome theologically: not merely a city, but an empire embodying exile and oppression.
It reminds Jewish believers of the first exile under literal Babylon.

And who is on the throne? Nero. That Nero. Corrupt. The one who will famously fiddle while Rome burns, then blame who? Christians.

Nero was volatile, self-indulgent, increasingly paranoid—and within a few years would unleash brutal violence against Christians.

Peter is not naïve. He knows who sits on the throne.

Which makes his instruction feel less like polite civic advice and more like defiant kingdom theology. Peter doesn’t tell believers to “burn it down.” He says, “honor (literally choose in your hearts to attach worth to him) the Emperor.”

Peter’s logic runs like this:

You are aliens and strangers (2:11).
Your loyalty is to Christ.
Therefore you are free.
Therefore you do not need to grasp for power.
Therefore you can show honor—even to flawed rulers.

This isn’t endorsement.
It’s witness.

The early Christians were not passive. They were faithful. And faithfulness sometimes meant suffering rather than seizing power.

Peter is not baptizing Nero.
He’s refusing to let Nero define conduct for followers of Jesus.

For me as a disciple of Jesus, this lands like a dagger in the heart of modern outrage culture: God through Peter commands honor in a world where the emperor will kill him. And Nero will have Peter crucified just a few years after this letter is written, the words of the risen Jesus echoing in his soul…

“Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”
John 21:18 (NIV)

As I meditate on these things in the quiet this morning, I find that God’s demand that I honor governing authorities is not a demand that I agree with them, approve of them, sanctify them, or remain silent about injustice. The demand is that I refuse to dehumanize them. In a culture that delights in contempt, Peter commands dignity.

That was radical under Nero.

It may be more radical now.

Which brings me back to my recurrent brewing brainstorm. If any candidates thinking about a run in 2028 find themselves coming through Pella on their Iowa Caucus tour, let Wendy and me know. You have an open invitation for dinner and a chat.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Chapter-a-Day

Darkness & Chains

October 9, 2025 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.
2 Timothy 1:15 (NIV)

I have a stack of letters from my college and young adult years. My friend Dave and I became pen pals during those years. It wasn’t something we consciously intended to do. He was still a senior in high school and I was a freshman in college. I told Dave to write me sometime. This was 1984. There was no internet or email. Cell phones were over a decade away from becoming a thing. Long distance phone calls were expensive. Snail mail was the go-to channel of communication for poor students like me.

When I got a letter from Dave, I immediately wrote him back. Then he wrote me back, and we never stopped. Dave went on to study and teach in France. The stack of letters and postcards I have from him in those years number into the hundreds.

Without the immediacy of digital communication, there was a lot that could happen in life between letters. I remember times in which I poured my heart onto the page knowing that Dave would not read it for a week or more and it would be another week or more before I got his response. It was a very different reality.

That reality is evident between Paul’s first letter to Timothy that we finished yesterday and his second letter we begin today. So much has happened between the two letters that it’s impossible to understand the full context of Paul’s words and emotions without knowing the events.

Paul had been a prisoner in Rome previous to the writing of 1 Timothy. He was arrested for creating a public disturbance in Jerusalem. He appealed his case to Caesar as was his right as a Roman Citizen. He sailed to Rome and lived under house arrest while awaiting trial. Eventually, he was released.

Whether his case was dismissed or he was released on furlough, we’ll never know. Paul began traveling and visiting the local gatherings of Jesus’ followers he’s established in various cities. That was the context of 1 Timothy as Paul instructed his young protégé and urged him to pray for all rulers and authorities, which included Roman Emperor Nero “that we may live quiet and peaceful lives.”

Sometimes our prayers don’t yield the results we desire, even for Paul.

Rome burned and the populace blamed Nero. Nero needed a political scapegoat to redirect the blame. He chose a pesky Jewish sect that had been on the rise and creating conversation across the empire. They were called Christians and they were an easy target. Nero blamed the burning of Rome on the Christians. He ordered the rounding up Christians that they might be tortured and executed in the most heinous of ways, and Rome had sadistically created many heinous forms of torture and execution.

Paul, the firebrand preacher who stirred things up wherever he went, was arrested. No house arrest this time. Paul was thrown into a deep, dark dungeon. He was chained to a wall in the dark. With the Romans arresting, torturing, and executing Christians, many followers decided that maybe they didn’t believe after all. Others distanced themselves from Paul, not wanting to get swept up in his wake and find themselves chained next to him in the dungeon.

Paul was alone in the dark in his chains. He felt abandoned. He knew that his time was short. There would be no dismissing of the charges this time. There would be no furlough. His execution is imminent. His second letter to Timothy is Paul’s final letter. It’s his swan song and his last will and testament.

In today’s opening chapter, Paul is torn in two directions. With his impending death, he knows that Timothy is going to find himself leading the gathering of believers in Ephesus without Paul’s tutelage. He wants to encourage Timothy and provide some final instructions before he dies. At the same time, Paul is desperate for Timothy’s company and wants Timothy to visit him.

Stay and lead well, or leave to be with Paul in Rome?

Yes. The opening of the letter expresses the inner conflict and emotions with which Paul was struggling in his dire circumstances.

There was no postal service in the Roman Empire. You had to find people to carry and deliver letters for you. As Timothy cracks open the letter to read it, there is the added emotion of knowing that Paul might have even been executed in the time it took for the letter to reach him. If he does leave Ephesus to visit Paul in Rome, will he even find Paul alive? Will he be thrown into prison and executed with Paul. Colleagues like Phygelus and Hermogenes had clearly decided that they’d rather not risk their own necks to be associated with Paul. Timothy was faced with the same dilemma.

Meditating on the depressing realities that Paul and all believers were facing under Nero’s persecution, I am once again reminded that life in this fallen world does not always turn out the way we’d hoped. Sometimes prayers for lives of peace and safety are answered with the violence of the kingdoms of this world. Not just for Paul in Rome, but for believers around the world today.

Believers in China and North Korea regularly find themselves at risk for persecution, imprisonment, torture, and execution. Christins in Nigeria are being rounded up and slaughtered. It is estimated that 52,000 Christians have been killed by Muslim militants since 2009. Five million people have been displaced because of persecution against Christians.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself grateful for the peace, the quiet, and the safety with which I can currently pursue my faith and my life. I’m whispering a prayer for those who, like Paul, lie in darkness and chains. Those who feel alone and abandoned in their persecution. Those who face the possibility of being tortured or executed this day because of their faith in Jesus.

Lord, have mercy.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

“An Appeal to Heaven”

October 2, 2025 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
1 Timothy 2:1-2 (NIV)

In 1775, the American British Colonies were preparing for open war with Mother England. George Washington commissioned six schooners with the task of harassing British supply ships. They became known as “Washington’s Cruisers.” It was America’s first navy.

Betsy Ross had yet to stitch the stars and stripes as an official flag of the United States, and Washington’s Cruisers wanted a banner to sail under. The sailors turned to English philosopher, John Locke, who argued that when people live under tyranny and no appeal can be made to an earthly judge there is still “an appeal to heaven” that can be made. They stitched the words on a white flag with a pine tree representing the American pines that England tyrannically mandated could only be used for masts on British ships.

In today’s chapter, Paul urges his protégé and all the believers in Ephesus to make an appeal to heaven for “kings and all those in authority.” It must be noted that Paul’s command to pray for “all” in authority included the one man who was the highest human authority in the Roman Empire at the time: Emperor Nero. Paul had already been imprisoned in Rome once waiting for his appeal to Caesar to make its way up the docket. In a few years from the writing of this letter Paul will be imprisoned again. His appeal to Nero will never be realized and Nero will have Paul executed.

Paul, however, remains laser focused on his appeal to heaven. Paul appealed to Caesar back in Acts 25 knowing that, if successful, he would have an opportunity to share his story and Jesus’ message with the most powerful human authority on earth. Paul’s eyes were fixed on Jesus, and bringing God’s Kingdom to earth. His rights as a Roman citizen technically afforded him an opportunity to be ushered into Caesar’s throne room, and since the charges against him were rooted in his faith in Jesus and the riot it caused among his Jewish brethren, Paul would naturally have to testify regarding his faith as part of the trial. Paul is dying for the chance to share Jesus with Nero. In fact, the attempt will ultimately cost him his earthly life.

But that’s still a few years in the future. As he writes Timothy, he urges that everyone pray for all in authority, including the dreaded and debauched Emperor Nero who has murdered some of his own family members and had sex with others. Nero, who will cover Christians in pitch and burn them alive on stakes as entertainment and illumination for the orgy in his garden.

Pray for him.

When there is no other appeal to be made on earth, there is still an appeal to heaven.

In the quiet this morning, I can’t escape the current realities of our political divide, political hatred, political violence, political vengeance, and political retribution. I stand in the tension and have watched it on both sides of the political spectrum as it has progressively escalated in both camps over the past decade.

And so, Paul reminds me this morning along with Timothy. It doesn’t matter how dreaded and debauched, how deceptive and dastardly, I am called to make an appeal to heaven for “all those in authority.” Ultimately, God is the final appeal. So, I might as well make that appeal today.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

To Be Continued….

October 30, 2018 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him.
Acts 28:30 (NIV)

It’s always frustrating when a television series that I love comes to an untimely end. There have been a number of shows over the years that I wish had continued. What makes it even more frustrating when a smart, intelligent show gets cancelled is all of the mindless schlock that seems to perpetuate itself for decades.

As an amateur writer, I’m always fascinated how the writers and producers handle a show’s storyline once they know the show has been cancelled. Many shows are written from the beginning to contain multiple story lines or “arcs.” This allows for there to be a sense of closure after one season, or a part of a season, while leaving other story arcs open to lead into future seasons. So, what happens when the writing team is told that they only have two episodes to wrap things up for good?

I’ve observed that some try to wrap up all of the loose ends, which leaves things feeling clunky, because not all of the story arcs have been fully fleshed out. Some introduce a tragic end to the protagonist which allows for a reason that the series has ended. Much like the untimely end of a loved one in real life, this option leaves viewers grieving for what “might have been.” Sometimes the writers simply let the series end without ever trying to give viewers closure. This, in turn, reminds me of Wendy.

Wendy has always been an avid reader. She tells me that when she was a young girl she never wanted to put a book down in the middle because she was afraid the story would go on without her. Instead of “to be continued” the next time she picked up the book, she feared that the story wouldn’t wait for her.

I mention this because in today’s final chapter of the book of Acts we find Paul arriving in Rome to wait for his trial with the Roman Emperor, Nero. The tension of the story has been building as Paul appeals his case to Caesar and makes an epic journey, including shipwreck, to Rome. In this final chapter, Luke tells us that Paul rented his own place, was allowed to live a relatively free existence with his Centurion guard. He met with the local Jewish population. He “welcomed all” who came to see him and continued to proclaim the Message of Jesus.

And then it ends, as if the show suddenly got cancelled. Luke simply leaves the storyline there, and we must assume that his historical narrative, penned for a man named Theophilus, was wrapped up and sent off at this point. Luke leaves the rest of the story open because it hadn’t happened yet.

The rest of Paul’s story is left for us to piece together from the writings of early Christians and Roman historians. In July 64 AD the “Great Fire of Rome” broke out for six days. According to the Roman historian, Tacitus, only four of Rome’s 14 districts escaped damage. Nero blamed the fire on Christians and immediately set out to persecute them. It is documented that Nero had both Paul and Peter executed, which is consistent with his persecution of Jesus’ followers. The exact dates and the specifics surrounding the events and executions were not well documented at the time.

In the quiet this morning I’m smiling as I think of a young, curly-haired Wendy, with her nose in a book, convinced that the story will go on without her. Indeed, as the story of Acts comes to an abrupt, even unsatisfying end, I’m meditating on the fact that the story did go on. We know that Paul was executed and that the Message of Jesus continued to spread despite horrific persecution. The story continued, and continues to this day. Having taken up the mantel of faith in my youth, I am a part of the same story; Just a wayfaring stranger traveling through this particular story arc, in this particular chapter, during this particular point in the epic.

I only hope that I to play my part as faithfully and as well as those in Acts who led the way.

Have a great day, my friend.

Chapter-a-Day

Trial by Fire

December 17, 2013 Tom Vander Well 8 Comments

You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. 2 Timothy 1:15-16 (NIV)

When Paul writes his second letter to his young protege, Timothy, he is in prison for the second time in Rome. The first imprisonment was five years earlier. Paul had used his Roman citizenship to appeal his arrest to Caesar and had been afforded a rather comfortable arrangement in which he was under house arrest in a rented house. He was released in 62 A.D. but was imprisoned again four years later. Now it was a completely different story. The political climate had radically changed.

Two years after Paul’s release from his House Arrest in Rome, the city of Rome was destroyed by the Great Fire of Rome. The city burned for days and countless people were dead. Ten of the fourteen Roman districts were destroyed. Many accused Emporer Nero of setting the fire himself in order to clear land for his palatial complex. Rumor spread that Nero himself played his lyre and performed on stage, unconcerned, while the city burned. His approval ratings plummeted, and he did what all politicians do when they don’t want to face up to their own failings: find someone to attack and deflect the blame. In Nero’s case, he blamed Christians. Roman historians say that Nero fed Christians to wild dogs and crucified others. He also had Christian dipped into oil, then burned alive to provide light for his garden at night.

When Paul was imprisoned in Rome once again in 66 A.D., Nero’s persecution of Christians was well underway. The fact that Paul was a Roman citizen no longer provided political protection. Paul was an outspoken follower and proponent of Jesus, and that trumped the clout of citizenship as Rome daily tried to rebuild itself out of the ashes. There would be no comfortable house arrest. This time, Paul was thrown into a deep Roman dungeon to rot and suffer.

Now read the verses above once more. Can you imagine why others were abandoning, Paul? He was a pariah. At best, anyone associated with Paul could likely face being thrown into the dungeon with Paul for being a fellow Christian. At worst, they could be put on the schedule to be a human candle in Nero’s garden. Paul is feeling lonely and abandoned. The only person who appeared willing to associate with Paul was Onesiphorus from Ephesus who sought Paul out in his dungeon on a trip to Rome.

I found it interesting that Paul refers to “shame” multiple times in today’s chapter. He encourages Timothy not to be ashamed of following Jesus. Paul is not ashamed of his chains or suffering for his faith in Jesus, but he obviously feels the shame and abandonment of those he considered friends but abandoned him. He’s thankful that Onesiphorus was not ashamed of associating with him.

Today, I’m thinking about the relative ease with which I can be a follower of Jesus. Yes, there are times of being unfairly labeled, misunderstood, and politically skewered. But seriously, some of that is the direct result of the foolish and misguided words, attitudes and actions of Christians themselves. I can easily forgive that and I’m not really suffering in any tangible way. When your life is on the line, it is a true test of what you really believe. What would I be willing to suffer and die for? Would I have been Hermogenes keeping a comfortable distance, or would I have been Onesiphorus throwing caution to the wind to visit and show a little love to Paul?

I’d like to boast that I would be Onesiphorus, but in my heart I know that I have never been tested like that. My honest answer: I pray I would not be ashamed like Paul and Onesiphorus, but I confess that until my very life is on the line, I’m not sure I can say with certainty. I enter my day grateful to live in peace and freedom with blessing beyond measure.