Question 1

What was daily life like in Bible times?

Accepted Answer

Most people in first-century Israel were subsistence farmers, fishermen, or tradespeople living in small villages of a few hundred. Daily life revolved around the agricultural calendar, religious festivals, and the local synagogue. Houses were typically one or two rooms shared with extended family, meals were communal, and life expectancy was short — making the gospel’s emphasis on hospitality, community, and hope deeply resonant.

Question 2

Why did Jews hate Samaritans?

Accepted Answer

The hostility between Jews and Samaritans went back nearly 700 years, rooted in the Assyrian conquest (722 BC) when northern Israelites intermarried with foreign settlers. Samaritans had their own version of the Torah and worshipped on Mount Gerizim instead of Jerusalem, which Jews considered heretical. This is why Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10) and his conversation with the Samaritan woman (John 4) were so culturally shocking — he intentionally chose the most despised group as a moral example.

Question 3

What did Jesus mean by ‘turn the other cheek’?

Accepted Answer

In first-century culture, a backhanded slap on the right cheek was a deliberate insult signaling social inferiority — masters slapped slaves this way. By offering the left cheek, the victim forced the attacker to use an open hand, treating them as an equal. Walter Wink and other scholars argue Jesus was teaching nonviolent resistance that exposes injustice without escalating violence — neither fighting back nor passively submitting.

Question 4

Who were the Pharisees and Sadducees?

Accepted Answer

The Pharisees were a popular religious movement focused on applying the Torah to everyday life, including oral traditions; they believed in resurrection, angels, and the afterlife. The Sadducees were a smaller, wealthier priestly class tied to the Temple who accepted only the written Torah and rejected resurrection. Jesus clashed with both — challenging the Pharisees’ legalism and the Sadducees’ compromised political power — while sharing some theological ground with the Pharisees.

Question 5

What was the role of women in biblical times?

Accepted Answer

First-century Jewish and Greco-Roman women generally couldn’t testify in court, owned little property, and were excluded from formal religious learning. Against this backdrop, Jesus’ inclusion of women — teaching Mary at his feet (Luke 10), choosing women as the first resurrection witnesses, and accepting their financial support (Luke 8) — was culturally radical. Paul’s letters likewise name women as deacons, apostles, and house-church leaders (Romans 16), reflecting the early church’s countercultural elevation of women.

Question 6

Why is the Roman Empire important to the Bible?

Accepted Answer

Rome ruled Israel during Jesus’ life and the early church’s formation, providing the political backdrop for the entire New Testament. Roman roads, common Greek (koine), and the relative stability of the Pax Romana enabled the rapid spread of Christianity. At the same time, Roman occupation, taxation, and the imperial cult created the tensions that shaped Jesus’ crucifixion and the persecution of early Christians.

Question 7

What was the temple in Jerusalem?

Accepted Answer

The Jerusalem Temple was the religious, economic, and national center of Jewish life — the only place where sacrifices could legitimately be offered. Herod’s expanded version, completed in Jesus’ lifetime, was one of the architectural wonders of the ancient world. Its destruction by Rome in 70 AD permanently transformed Judaism and gave new urgency to Jesus’ claim that he himself was the true temple (John 2:19-21).

Question 8

Why were tax collectors so hated?

Accepted Answer

Tax collectors in first-century Israel worked for the occupying Roman government, collecting tariffs and tribute from their own people. The system invited corruption — collectors typically extracted more than was owed and pocketed the difference — making them seen as both traitors and thieves. Jesus’ choice to befriend tax collectors like Matthew and Zacchaeus, and to use one as a hero in a parable (Luke 18), was a deliberate provocation against social and religious boundaries.

The World Behind the Words

Did You Know?

Deep Dives6

The Gospel Hidden in Narnia

Biblical Marriage Was Nothing Like You Think

Rome Ran Everything (And Everyone Hated It)

Why Everyone Hated Tax Collectors (It Wasn't Just the Taxes)

What Actually Happened at the Temple (And Why Jesus Flipped)

The Jewish Holidays That Explain Everything Jesus Did