The church with which the evangelist John was associated found itself in great danger. Expulsion from the synagogues exposed them to the threat of the Roman authorities.
Formation And Struggles: The Birth of the Church AD 33-200, by Veselin Kesich
In the early 60s AD, James, the “brother of the Lord” and head of the Jerusalem church was stoned to death. Peter and Paul were both martyred in the mid-60s. in 66 AD, a Jewish revolt broke out against Roman occupation.
James was accused of transgressing the law by Ananias, the high priest; Clement of Rome, writing around 95 AD, would write that Peter was crucified likely in 64 AD – perhaps in the wave of Christians killed by Nero, taking the fall for the great fire; Paul was likely beheaded, in approximately 67 AD.
Nero would commit suicide in the next year.
The loss of these leaders of the Christian community coincided with the devastation of war through the 60s. The Zealots would lead the revolt against Rome; Christians and some Pharisees refused to participate. Vespasian would move against Jerusalem in 69 AD, and his son Titus would complete the work – devastating the country and destroying the temple. Many Jews were taken from Judea as slaves.
The Romans destroyed the temple, but they did not outlaw the Jewish religion. Roman policy was never aimed at its destruction.
Palestine was important to Rome – a defense against the Parthians to the east, and protection for Egypt in the southwest. While expelled from Jerusalem, Johanan Ben Zakkai, a leader of the Pharisees who did not participate in the revolt, was allowed to establish a rabbinical school in Yavneh (Jamnia). It was through this school that the Palestinian Jews would come to redefine Judaism.......
The letter to the Hebrews is apparently written in the context of these struggles – Jewish Christians returning to Judaism and its sacrificial system due to the persecution and separation that resulted from adopting this Christian sect.
The Jewish Christians who were drifting away did not forsake Jesus, but saw him as no higher than an angel or Moses.
We see in Hebrews the effort taken to prove from Scripture that this is not the case – the Son is higher than the angels, and is superior to Moses; t is through the Son that the world was created.
Conclusion
In the aftermath of the second revolt, Jews were forbidden to return to Jerusalem, now renamed Aelia Capitolina. Relations fully deteriorated, with Christians refusing to participate in the second revolt. By the end of the second century, polemics between Christians and Jews intensified – the incarnation being the major point of contention.
Meanwhile, there were sects among the Christians – basically, what they believed about Jesus distinguished one group from another.
