When in Egypt do as the Egyptians

Submitted by Alan Marsden on Sun, 03/06/2018 - 07:34

When in Rome, do as the Romans. This phrase means to live like the people among whom you find yourself. The picture above shows a Roman in Egypt doing as an Egyptian. It is from the Temple of Hathor, Dendera, and shows Roman emperor Trajan dressed as a traditional pharaoh. Unlike his adopted son Hadrian, he never visited Egypt as far as I can tell, and certainly never dressed in that manner. Yet he authorised this portrayal as a means of soothing Egyptian nationalist feeling: although a Roman, he looks and sounds Egyptian.

To the Corinthians, Paul writes:

and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

We need to be sensitive to people’s backgrounds and culture when we witness for Christ; by the same token, neither must we become ‘worldly’ to appeal to the world.

Photo credit: Ramy Romany. If you are a wondering, I too think it looks like he caught his skirt in a kitchen cupboard.