Book Two: CHAPTER I--The Church in Jerusalem

CHAPTER I

 

The Church in Jerusalem

 

 

c. 33 C.E.                Matthew and John’s Gospels preserve a tradition that the inner-circle of the Jesus movement spent a period of time in Galilee after the resurrection experience; nevertheless, it is clear that very early on in the life of the post-crucifixion/post-resurrection movement, a thriving community formed and was centered in Jerusalem. The word that they chose to describe themselves, and each successive community that formed after them, was ekklesia, which is translated into English as “church.” This self-designation used by the early-Christian movement was derived from biblical literature. It was the term used in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures) as the designation for the gathered community of Israel. The Christians who adopted this term clearly understood themselves as Israel. There apparently was some debate as to what this actually signified, ranging from simply being included into the ongoing story of Israel to declaring that the old Israel had been superceded by the new Christian community, which was the authentic Israel. The potential differences in how the self-designation of ekklesia was to be understood by the Christian community demonstrates that from the very beginning the Christian movement was rife with debate.

 

                        In fact, the designation of “movement” that has been used many times to describe both the activities of Jesus and his followers is an imprecise term that denotes a sense of unity and purpose that were not present in either situation. To speak of Jesus’ activities as a movement implies some plan, purpose and goal that he was moving toward. People of faith and theologians may declare that this was the case, but an historian will most likely conclude that both Jesus and the early-church became a part of something that took on a life of its own, and it was not so much directed and planned, as much as it was an organic growth out of the various factions and forces located within that so-called “movement.” Two such factions within the early-Christian community located in Jerusalem were the Palestinian Jews and the Hellenistic Jews.

 

                        In spite of the idealized vision of the Jerusalem community provided in the Book of Acts (2:42-47; 4:32-35), chapter six of Acts reflects the historical reality that tensions quickly surfaced among the Hellenistic and non-Hellenistic Jews in the Christian community. The Hellenistic Jews in this case were most likely diaspora Jews who moved back into Palestine, bringing with them the Greek language and thought patterns that they would have shared with those living outside of Judea. They also may have been those who were indigenous to Palestine and Judea, but who had become influenced and who were more open to Hellenistic ideas and culture. Regardless of who they were, the controversy that had developed had the potential of tearing apart the nascent Christian community.

 

                        The life of the Jerusalem community was centered around the teaching and preaching of Jesus’ surviving inner-circle, known as the Twelve or Apostles. The word apostle literally means “one who is sent out,” designating a person authorized to relay a message or to carry out the instructions of the one who is the sender. The criteria for Apostolic leadership in the Jerusalem community were that a person must have been with Jesus from the time of his baptism by John and must have been a witness to the resurrection. The fact that the number twelve became institutionalized rather quickly in the life of the church is reflected in the narrative concerning finding a replacement for Judas, who killed himself after his betrayal of Jesus. Thus, the Palestinian Jews possessed a monopoly of Apostolic authority in the early-Christian community.

 

                        Hellenistic Jews in the Jerusalem church quickly sensed the Palestinian bias in leadership and in administrative functions and complained that they were being discriminated against. They felt that the Palestinian leadership and administrators were ignoring the needs of the Hellenistic Jews in favor of other Palestinian Jews. The argument stated in the Book of Acts had to do with the distribution of bread to Hellenistic widows. It seems clear though that the quarrel concerning bread was tied to a larger argument which threatened the unity of the early church. The Twelve, to their credit, sidestepped a crisis that could have made Christianity merely another Palestinian, Jewish sect. As a means of combating the potential discrimination against the Hellenistic Jews, the Twelve Palestinian Apostles allowed the Hellenistic Jews of the Jerusalem church to choose seven of their number to oversee the redistribution of bread (and presumably other goods) to Hellenistic Jews.

 

                        The fact that the Palestinian Twelve so readily yielded to the grievances of the Hellenistic Jews represents that there was a significant cultural gulf between the two groups that made the potentiality of discrimination not only possible, but likely. Yet, it is unlikely that they foresaw what the Hellenistic Seven would become. Their commission in chapter six of Acts was simply to oversee the redistribution of bread to Hellenistic widows; yet, the Book of Acts never depicts them engaging in that activity, nor any other administrative task. The chosen Seven immediately began to behave as an Hellenistic parallel to the Palestinian Twelve. In essence, the Palestinian Apostles, who had been with Jesus from the beginning of his movement and who claimed that they witnessed his return from the grave, created the existence of Hellenistic Apostles, who may not have met the original Apostolic qualifications (Paul being a classic example).

 

                        The appearance of the Hellenistic Seven, who preached and taught in and around Jerusalem much as the original Palestinian Twelve did, evoked the hostility of the Palestinian Jewish leadership of Jerusalem. The Palestinian Apostles had run up against the Jewish leadership of Jerusalem, but upon examination, the Jewish leadership found little that was contrary to orthodox, Palestinian Judaism. The Twelve Apostles continued to observed the Torah and attend Temple worship on a regular basis. The only prickly point was the Apostles’ teaching that Jesus was the promised Messiah and that he had been raised from the dead. Yet, even this thorny point only provoked the occasional obligatory lashing. The teaching of the Hellenistic Seven, however, provoked the full-scale persecution of the Seven in particular, and Hellenistic Jewish Christians in general.

 

                        The persecution of the Hellenistic Jewish Christians by the Jewish leadership of Jerusalem is further evidence of the cultural gulf between Hellenists and Palestinian Judaism. The Palestinian response also confirms the gulf. The Palestinian Jewish leadership placed the persecution of the Hellenistic Jewish Christians under the authority of Paul, a Hellenistic Jew who was also a Pharisee. The Palestinian leadership chose a Hellenistic Jew to stamp out the heresies of other Hellenistic Jews. Just as the early church apparently believed that Hellenists could best deal with the problems of other Hellenists, so too did the Jewish leadership of Jerusalem.

 

                        The attempts to stamp out the new Hellenistic Jewish heresy only resulted in its spread outside of Jerusalem and Judea. Some of the Hellenistic Jewish Christians (as represented by Stephen in the Book of Acts) were killed during this period, but most survived and fled from Jerusalem, founding new Christian communities in the process. The Palestinian Twelve remained in Jerusalem, apparently unharmed and unmolested, making it clear that the “Christians” that Paul was chasing after were only the Hellenistic variety. 

 

                        The new Christian communities sprang up wherever the Hellenistic Jewish Christians settled. Suddenly there were churches in Samaria, Cyprus, and Syria. When word of their existence percolated back to the Twelve Palestinian Apostles in Jerusalem, they sent delegates to approve of the work conducted by the Hellenistic Apostles. The spread of Christianity beyond Jerusalem was not due to the evangelizing efforts of the Twelve Apostles, but resulted from the myriad of unnamed, Hellenistic Jewish Christians fleeing persecution. Nevertheless, rather than establishing independent churches, the Hellenistic Apostles accepted that the new communities were extensions of the Jerusalem community, and therefore, under the ultimate authority of the Twelve Apostles.

 

                        The new Christian communities focused on attracting other Hellenistic Jews into the Christian movement. In addition to converting Hellenistic Jews to Christianity, the Hellenistic Apostles also began to attract Gentiles as well. The Gentiles who were attracted to the new movement were of a particular category, known by Jews as “God-Fearers.” God-Fearer was the designation used to identify a group of Gentiles throughout the Greco-Roman world who were attracted to the ethical-monotheism of Judaism. They often practiced the Torah and attended services at the local synagogue. As a result, they became well versed in the Scripture and theology of the Old Testament. Yet, in spite of the fact that God-Fearers were Gentiles who attempted to live like Jews, they were excluded from full membership into the Jewish community. There may have been a level of ethnic bias against these Gentiles on the part of Jewish communities, but the major impediment that prevented God-Fearers from becoming authentically Jewish was their resistance to being circumcised, a practice that was considered barbaric by most Gentiles in the Greco-Roman world. 

 

                        As Christianity was spreading among Hellenistic Jews and God-Fearers, persecution against the new movement trickled down to Palestinian adherents as well. James, the son of Zebedee, one of the original Twelve, was killed by Herod Agrippa in 41 C.E. Peter was also arrested around the same time, but Herod Agrippa died before any severe punishment could befall him. Leadership of the Jerusalem church had found its way to James, said to be the brother of Jesus, who exercised a great deal of authority within the community even though he was not a follower of Jesus during his movement. This James was killed by the Temple priests in 62 C.E. Leadership of the Jerusalem church then passed to Simeon, another relative of Jesus. By this time, however, the authority of the Jerusalem church was waning. 

 

                        By the time that persecution found its way to the Palestinian leadership of the Jerusalem church, Christianity was beginning to abandon much of its Jewish roots. The progression of the movement, which had previously extended to Hellenistic Jews and God-Fearers, began to attract Gentiles in general. These nonspecific Gentiles quickly outnumbered Jewish Christians of both the Hellenistic and Palestinian varieties. Even the God-Fearers, the Gentiles who were influenced by Judaism, were outnumbered by the new group of Gentiles joining the Christian movement. With the change in demographics came a change in geography. Antioch of Syria, the third largest city in the Roman Empire, was replacing Jerusalem as the center of Christian life.

 

                        By the time of the First Jewish Revolt in 66 C.E., even Palestinian Jewish Christians had abandoned Jerusalem in favor of the city of Pella. Palestinian Jewish Christianity would return to Jerusalem in the 2nd century C.E., but it would become increasingly isolated from the dominant Gentile Christianity that neither understood it nor tolerated it. Palestinian expressions of Christianity would survive until the 4th century when it would be branded a heretical sect of the faith before disappearing from history.