Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

The dictionary definition of sedition is "conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch."

In the Old Testament, the activity of the exiled inhabitants of Judea who had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple constructed during the reign of Solomon (which had been formerly devastated when Jerusalem had fallen to the Babylonians) was characterized as "sedition" by the enemies of Israel now living in that region, as well as by King Artaxerxes of Persia, in Ezra 4:15 and Ezra 4:19.

In the New Testament, the crime of which Barabbas was accused is characterized as sedition in the King James Version translation of Luke 23:19 and Luke 23:25. Paul's actions were also characterized as sedition by the prosecutor Tertullus in Paul's trial before the Roman governor Felix, as recounted in Acts 24. (The allegation of sedition as used in both those cases would have been against the Roman Empire.)

Of course, such accusations could be either true or false, or be defined differently, depending on the perspective of the speaker or writer using the word. What might have been regarded as sedition by the enemies or opponents of Christianity would not have been considered as such by the Christian believers or missionaries themselves.

January 12 2021 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report