When Arnobius of Sicca wrote Against the Nations near the end of the third century, Christianity was still an illegal religion within the Roman Empire. The church did not yet possess legal protection, public buildings, or imperial favor. What it possessed instead was memory. Christian communities remembered the systematic, empire-wide enforcement of sacrifice under Emperor Decius (r. AD 249–251), which lasted for roughly eighteen months and forced believers publicly to choose between compliance and punishment. They also remembered the targeted measures that followed under Emperor Valerian (r. AD 253–260), which struck at bishops and clergy and confirmed that Christianity remained vulnerable to state power.
Even in the years when no universal persecution edict was in force, Christianity was not a protected religion. Enforcement depended on local officials. Public identification with the Christian name could still result in interrogation, trial, imprisonment, or execution. The absence of an imperial decree did not mean peace. It meant unpredictability.
This was the historical climate in which Arnobius wrote, and it explains why his work exists at all.
Our only explicit ancient explanation for the origin of Against the Nations comes from Jerome (c. AD 347–420), writing in On Illustrious Men.
“Arnobius, a rhetorician of Africa, wrote books Against the Nations which are extant. He was at first a most bitter opponent of the Christian religion, but afterward, having been converted to the faith, he was compelled by the bishop to write books against the pagans, in order to prove the sincerity of his conversion.”
— Jerome, On Illustrious Men 79
Jerome’s statement is restrained and factual. Arnobius had opposed Christianity. His conversion was recent. His sincerity was questioned. The response required of him was not a private confession or a quiet period of probation, but a public literary defense of the Christian faith.
Arnobius himself confirms both his recent conversion and the defensive purpose of his work.
“We are newly come, it is true, to the belief of this religion, and we defend it not because we are compelled by fear, but because we are convinced by truth.”
— Arnobius, Against the Nations 1.1
This establishes the posture of the entire work. Arnobius does not write as a bishop, not as a representative of imperial favor, and not as a settled authority within the church. He writes as a newcomer whose allegiance is being examined and whose public identification with Christianity is unmistakable.
The Accusations He Answers
Arnobius structures Against the Nations as a sustained response to pagan accusations that were already familiar to Christian communities. He does not begin with Scripture or theological exposition. He begins with blame.
“We are accused of causing public calamities, because we do not worship your gods. Earthquakes, famines, pestilences, wars, and every misfortune are laid at our door.”
— Against the Nations 1.1
Arnobius answers this charge historically rather than devotionally. He asks his readers to consider the record of Roman history itself.
“If the gods are angry because of us, why did disasters afflict the human race before the Christian name was ever heard? Why did cities fall, kingdoms perish, and nations suffer when your temples stood full and your sacrifices were unceasing?”
— Against the Nations 1.3
This line of argument recurs throughout the work. Arnobius insists that Rome’s own experience undermines the claim that traditional worship preserves social stability or divine favor.
“You cannot show that your gods protected you when you honored them most. Calamities were never absent when their worship was at its height.”
— Against the Nations 4.36
Christianity, in Arnobius’ telling, cannot reasonably be blamed for disasters that long predate its existence.
The Gods of Rome Under Scrutiny
A substantial portion of Against the Nations is devoted to examining the moral character of the pagan gods as they are portrayed in traditional stories and cultic practices. Arnobius does not argue from Christian revelation. He works within pagan categories and sources.
“You assign to the gods passions which you punish in men. They commit adultery, practice deceit, rage with anger, and are driven by envy.”
— Against the Nations 3.3
He presses the logical difficulty this creates.
“If these actions are shameful in human beings, how can they be honorable in gods? Or if they are honorable in gods, why are they punished in men?”
— Against the Nations 3.5
Arnobius also rejects the accusation that Christians are atheists.
“We do not deny the existence of the divine. We deny that your statues, your stories, and your rites represent it.”
— Against the Nations 6.1
For Arnobius, the issue is not whether the divine exists, but whether pagan worship accurately understands or honors it.
Idols and the Logic of Worship
Arnobius devotes sustained attention to the practice of image worship. His critique is not aimed at craftsmanship but at coherence.
“You worship things which you yourselves have made. You shape them, you adorn them, you repair them. If they fall, you lift them up. If they decay, you restore them.”
— Against the Nations 6.6
He draws the implication directly.
“If they are gods, why do they need protection? If they are helpless, why are they worshiped?”
— Against the Nations 6.7
Worship, Arnobius insists, must correspond to the nature of the object worshiped. To treat dependent objects as divine is to misunderstand both divinity and devotion.
Sacrifice and the Nature of the Divine
Arnobius also challenges the assumption that the divine requires material offerings.
“What need has the divine nature of blood, smoke, or the slaughter of animals? Hunger belongs to bodies, not to gods.”
— Against the Nations 7.3
He argues that sacrifice diminishes rather than honors the divine.
“To suppose that the gods delight in the death of living creatures is not piety but insult.”
— Against the Nations 7.5
Christians and Civic Life
Arnobius addresses directly the claim that Christians are socially destructive.
“We are said to be enemies of the state, despisers of laws, and foes of public order.”
— Against the Nations 4.36
His response appeals to observable behavior.
“We obey the laws, honor magistrates, pay taxes, and pray for the emperors, even though we are hated by them.”
— Against the Nations 4.36
Christian refusal of sacrifice, in Arnobius’ account, is not rebellion. It is a boundary of worship.
Christianity and Coercion
Arnobius repeatedly insists that Christianity spreads without force.
“We do not conquer by arms, nor do we compel belief by threats. We persuade by speaking.”
— Against the Nations 2.64
He reinforces the point.
“No one is forced to join us. We invite. We persuade. If a man is unwilling, he is free to depart.”
— Against the Nations 2.65
In a world where Christians possessed no coercive power, this claim functioned as historical observation rather than idealized aspiration.
Moral Transformation as Public Evidence
Arnobius returns frequently to the moral effects of Christian belief.
“Men who were once savage have become gentle. Those who lived for plunder now give freely. Those who were ruled by lust now practice self-control.”
— Against the Nations 2.1
He contrasts this with philosophical instruction.
“Philosophers speak nobly of virtue, but they leave men unchanged. We do not merely speak. We live.”
— Against the Nations 2.15
These claims are empirical. Arnobius invites evaluation rather than blind assent.
A Theological Limitation in Arnobius’ Thought
While Against the Nations is historically invaluable, it is not theologically complete. Arnobius holds a view of the human soul that later Christian theology would reject.
Arnobius does not assume that the human soul is inherently immortal. Instead, he argues that immortality is something granted through Christ.
“The soul is not immortal by nature, but is capable of receiving immortality if it comes to know God.”
— Against the Nations 2.14
Elsewhere he states:
“Souls are not born with the power of living forever, but they may obtain it through the kindness of Christ.”
— Against the Nations 2.62
This view reflects Arnobius’ philosophical background more than settled Christian teaching. By the early fourth century, most Christian writers affirmed that the soul continues after death regardless of faith, while insisting that true life and blessed immortality belong to the redeemed.
Arnobius’ position is therefore best understood as a doctrinal weakness in an otherwise powerful apologetic. It also reinforces his status as a recent convert rather than a mature theologian.
Why Arnobius Matters
Arnobius writes before Emperor Constantine (r. AD 306–337) and before legal toleration. He writes as a recent convert. He writes because conversion required demonstration and because public allegiance still carried real consequences.
Against the Nations exists because Christianity was visible enough to be accused and resilient enough to answer.
Arnobius does not explain why Christianity would eventually triumph. He explains why it endured.
That makes his work one of the most revealing documents from the years just before the Great Persecution under Emperor Diocletian (r. AD 284–305).
Living the Bible 