ABSTRACT
The Roman authorities did not take action against the disciples of Jesus at Jerusalem. Judaism enjoyed an exceptional position in the empire. One of the points which interests the reader most closely is the right possessed by the Jewish communities to exercise discipline over their own members, even over those who possessed the privileges of Roman citizenship provided of course they wished to remain Jews. From the time of Paul's trial and the fire of Rome, although the empire did not sharply define its attitude, it felt that Christianity was not a national religion with which it would be possible to accommodate itself as it had done with Judaism. The Christians of Jerusalem in the same way thought that Paul was devoting himself to a systematic campaign in the diaspora to persuade Jews to give up the Mosaic customs and to stop circumcising their children.
