Endnote 11 – Circumcision of Gentile Converts
Matthew otherwise refers in a number of places to the killing of Christians, but these references are generally too vague to allow us to draw any conclusions about the persecutors or the places of persecution. In the parable of the Royal Banquet, Matthew 22:3–6, however, we may well have a reference to the killing of, first, Israelite prophets and, second, Christian missionaries, since these are the likely identities of the groups of servants sent in the parable to the invited guests. Matthew therefore attests the same kind of persecution that Paul attests, with possible occasional killing added. John also once mentions the killing of Christians (John. 16:2), but the future orientation and the subjunctive mood of his statement make me much more skeptical than some about whether John actually knows of killings that have occurred.