having good behavior among the nations, so in that which they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.
They speak against you as evil-doers ...  Already, despite the fact of the first great Roman persecution being yet a little while in the future, there were widespread antagonisms vented against Christians in the form of every kind of slander and reproach.  Why?  The Christians were the noblest, purest and most lovable people ever to appear on earth, and yet they were hated.  Why?  "Christianity by its very essence opposed the vanities of paganism at every turn."[32] Like ancient Noah, the very purity of their behavior "condemned the world"  (Hebrews 11:7), and that was reason enough for the world's hatred.  There was a double source of hatred for Christians, their model demeanor being one, and their also being widely confused with the Jews another.  The Jews themselves were hated and expelled from Rome in apostolic times, and many vile slanders against them were circulated in connection with such displacements.  Many of the people identified Christianity as a form of Judaism and therefore transferred to them the existing hatred of the Jews.  Regarding the nature of slanders against the church, Barclay pointed out that: