During the middle third of the first Christian century, that is, between the crucifixion of Jesus, c. A.D. 33, and the outbreak of the first Jewish war, A.D. 66, the centre of Christianity acknowledged by all was constituted by the Jewish Christians in Palestine (Matt. 24: 16 with par.; Acts 15: 2; 1 Thess. 2: 14; Rom. 15: 26f; Acts 21: 18). Our understanding of the political attitude adopted by the church in the days of the apostles – including the question whether the disciples of Jesus had connections with Jewish zealotism – must depend on what can be observed about the relations of the Jewish Christians in Palestine with the Jewish authorities of the period. Because the country was controlled by the Romans, the Jewish establishment represented by the high priest and the Sanhedrin was supposed to maintain good relations with the Roman establishment represented by the prefect in Caesarea and the governor in Antioch, and indirectly with the princeps and senate of the empire. For the same reason the positive or negative relations between the Jewish Christians of the Holy Land and the Jewish rulers and leaders were of importance for the political attitude of the entire church during the apostolic period, A.D. 33–66.

The story of the passion told by the evangelists implies that Jesus was accused of two different crimes before the Sanhedrin and the prefect: (a) of false teaching and (b) of rebellion. Since the forensic context was in each case a different one, there had to be this double charge.