Why did the Romans persecute and martyr Christians?
The Roman government persecuted Christians because it respected ancient religions, including Judaism, whose roots reached into antiquity. Christianity, however, appeared new—an upstart movement centered on one man—so Rome felt no compunction about putting it to death and martyring its adherents.
Les explains that the Roman Empire came down hard on Christianity even though it did not bother Judaism. Rome actually guaranteed safe arrival of offerings to the temple from any section of the empire, so it had no problem with the Jews' religion and protected it. But with Christianity, they tried to stamp it out. Les says the answer is that Romans had due respect for any ancient religion, whether pagan or whatever. Since the Jews' religion went back into antiquity, Rome held it in high regard. Christianity, by contrast, was something new—more or less an upstart movement from this one man—so they had no compunctions about putting it to death and martyring those adhering to it. He also notes that there was tremendous opposition from Satan throughout, and the pagan background was trying to stamp out this new idea. The context then moves to 1 Corinthians, written from Ephesus on the western coast of what is today Turkey.