", "Thanks much for this book review. Has Microsoft lowered its Windows 11 eligibility criteria? Each Christian is given gift(s) by God and we should focus on There is a dissection and discrimination going on between the Jews. I think what P. Long mentioned about the issue between the Jews during the stoning of Stephen was most definitely accurate. where would be the hearing? Through their marvelous creations, the Greeks proclaimed their might over the world. To identify them, Luke uses the term Where Did the God of the Bible Come From? (Acts 6:1)? Could Plato Really have Influenced Judaism and the Bible? WEB: Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily service. Previously to this the Jews had dwelt as far as possible alone, but through that It is also made possible through the generosity of Wendy and Brandon Dunn. Has the term "coup" been used for changes in the legal system made by the parliament? THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN HELLENIST AND HEBREW. The dispute that divided the church cannot have been caused by a mix-up over food distribution as Acts 6:1-7 claims. If both sought Truth in the world, why were they hostile to one another? This does not make some more religious, or some more filled with faith. ), Your email address will not be published. Ironically, Greek culture and Judaism are the roots of modern Western civilization. Cappadocians I think the answer is yes, just as much as believers today can do the same. happen to be some of the most astute and well-read amateurs you can read on the internet on the subject of biblical historicity. Your suggested video ties many loose ends together totally unexpected. Call Richard Pervo has hypothesized that Luke was in possession of an Antioch Source containing some genuine information, but which in his typically tendentious use of sources he has transposed some episodes that occurred in Antioch to Jerusalem. I have requested it through interlibrary loan. Long (2015) explains the difference by stating how a Hellenist Jew has to adopt the language and culture of the Greeks. Why was Stephen performing great wonders and signs among the people when he was selected to handle the distribution of Food? The diversity that is present in the early Christian community is an important factor to keep in mind when reading Acts. What then could be the problem with setting a calendar? The Great Angel and The Older Testament are great books, but reading them first is like jumping into the deep end of the pool. It is clear that for Luke the Hellenists are Jews and not Gentiles, since according This is an important aspect to consider when reading the book of Acts. Acts 6 Were Diaspora Jews More Liberal? On Chanukah, Jewish families around the world gather together in their homes and light the Chanukah candles. Native Jews used Hebrew in ", "Neil, this is actually rather useful. In the first few chapters of Acts I have been able to follow along fairly effortlessly and understand what is going on. One thing is for certain. Angels intervened. The month was not declared based on the counting of days, but rather based on the appearance of the new moon, according to G-ds commandment of how the months should be calculated. 15:24) and insinuates underlying tensions. What are some tools or methods I can purchase to trace a water leak? Sanctification ", "I want to say here that this site is so resourceful and highly on top of the most modern scholarship in the areas discussed here. Contact Us Legal Like you had said, not a development, but what it already is. Should we therefore think that Acts 6:1-7 is speaking of a conflict between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians? We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. ", Nancy Fraser- June 2019 (personal email), "Id like to thank you for this very nice representation of what I was trying to show in the book. Many of the members might have been ethnically Jewish and bi-lingual, but they identified themselves more with Greek culture and they were critical of the Jewish Temples religious establishment. So yes I think this information is valuable to know when reading Acts. If the whole body were an eye, 7 So the word of God spread. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. just as He pleased. Athanasius of Alexandria While a Jew, or Hebrew Jew, is to adopt a more traditional Jewish language and lifestyle. Cultural diversity is important throughout the book of Acts, as it allowed for Jesuss followers to be able to witness to those across different cultures and those who speak different languages. The Jews gave the world the Torah, the Talmud, and the basic concept of ethical monotheism. . Spirit. Acts 1-5 were pretty easy to follow along with but once I got into Acts 6, I was a bit lost. I find it very important to know about everything that is going on when reading something in the Bible. In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. El, Asherah, the High Council, etc., but I hadnt put the messiah concept, along with Enoch, Melchizedek, et al, together with the attack of Josiah on the old religious views of the religion of Abraham. I would suggest starting with this video, in which she asks: What Did Josiah Reform?, http://byutv.org/watch/94f4b39e-ef10-4181-bcad-d0502e924060. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. ", "Many thanks for this post, and for the quality of your blog. Should teachers only teach? . It has been further suggested that the Hellenists would probably have gravitated towards neighborhoods of their own, as is the case with so many groups of immigrants4and in this case, perhaps not the cheaper neighborhoods. Toggle the visibility of the Accessibility Toolbar, Study the History of Persian/Iranian Jews, 1345 Avenue of the Americas, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10105. Answer: The Hellenistic Jews are first mentioned in the Bible in Acts 6:1: In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. The believing Jews are Councils I see the anointed savior concept as a denunciation of Yahweh as the Yahweh Sabaoth, its most stringent mosaic laws, and its intrinsic Jewish nationalism at the liberal, more Hellenized, end of the spectrum of these evolving sects among the Diaspora which contrasts with the more conservative view that, while relenting on the sacrificial mandates of the Deuteronomists, due to the destruction of the Temple, wish to one day rebuild Jerusalem, (more expansive, more popular, and more populous) and her Temple for the Jews, and Jews alone. When I think about Judaism, I never thought about if there were divisions or not but in Acts 6:1 we see that there is a division of Jews. When a teach said reach into the parable of the two sons and tell me the application, but me a younger believer did not have this memory of awana and sunday school teaching times. Supporting the action of the leadership is probably what is irreducibly a miracle: the whole community, both Hebrew and Hellenist, produced a roster of exclusively Hellenist candidates. Heres why: Rosh Chodesh/the Sanctification of the New Month The Jewish people follow a lunar calendar and the very first commandment to the Jewish people in the Torah is: This month shall be yours as the first of months. This commandment instructs Jews to sanctify the beginning of each new month, when the moon first reappears in the sky. I think it expands, and contributes to, the effort in honouring Thomas that we with Lukasz originally had in mind with this volume. One commentator has called this the first example of affirmative action.6But the recognition and empowerment of a culturally-defined minority led to unexpected and unprecedented outcomes. While, as others have said, we may be inclined to think of first-century Jews as being one community, clues in the book of Acts would tell us otherwise. Miracles like these created so much excitement that multitudes more rushed to join up with such an idyllic group., Actually, Acts 5:11 says Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.. What was the problem reported in Acts 6? ", "For an excellent example of generally high-quality scholarship by someone who isnt a biblical studies professor, see Neil Godfreys work posted on the website vridar.org. I say that because it is hard for people to have the same goals. Normally, therefore, an Israelite is not called up until the third reading. This would have impeded understanding between the groups, and it may have been a factor in the actual neglect of the widows if they lived in an area less convenient for delivery of goods. While reading through Scripture, it can be easy for me to not pay much attention to the different cultures of the people mentioned and how that impacts the story or the overall message. Were Jewish, Greek, and Gentile converts adults only? Pentecost is a great example of this. multiplying Christians about Jesus, the most pressing need was "the Understanding that diversity helps us understand the spread of the gospel and the challenges faced by the early Christians. If in doubt look to the changing of the guard from Peter to James and son on. While Judaism teaches humankind to strive to be like G-d, the Greeks created gods who acted with less dignity than many humans. Recipes, All NJOP Posts Alas, this leaves us with yet one more question to answer: why didnt Yahweh save the most conservative of his people from the ravages of the new purists, the Evangelists. There are intelligent, thoughtful comments and commenters regularly offering productive discussion. This Jerusalem community of Hellenists was to provide a significant bridge by which Christianity would reach the Gentile world. Really. The word I keep coming back to is Jew. I realized that I hadnt added your blog to our blogroll. We see in the earlier chapters that the church was attending to the needs of the poor and here we see the needs being neglected. 646.871.4444 646.871.0100 I also have one or two other titles of his that I think I have referenced recently. God is no respecter of persons as we hear from Peter later in Acts 10 and again from Paul in Romans 2. Greeks, whether slaves or free - and have all been made to drink into one His most recent book is The Book of Enoch for Beginners: A Guide to Expand Your Understanding of the Biblical World (Rockridge, 2022). Its very random in my experience. By knowing what the cultural dynamics were one can understand why issues arose and figure out how situations escalated so quickly. My Community I think this is interesting because it sounds a lot like what we see in todays world. They were evangelists, preachers, missionaries. Your clarity of expression, fair comments and personal insights are much valued. I call them amateurs only for the reason that they dont have, so far as I know, advanced degrees in the subject. So, please continue to delve deeply and share this intellectual sustenance with your grateful readers. Yet often it seems that one of the big discussions is how much one should be of the world, but not in the world. Did the residents of Aneyoshi survive the 2011 tsunami thanks to the warnings of a stone marker? I dont always agree with them, but I respect their work. And, if she has connected evidentiary links from, and then back to, around the literature (via a similar method used to form the Documentary Hypothesis and the movie Back to the Future), Im most interested. More specifically, Im examining how the Pseudepigrapha tend to present Jewish/Gentile relations before 70 A.D. It also forced them to acknowledge how lightly they treated their own deities, while the Jews were willing to set aside an entire day to their one deity. Having an understanding of the Hellenistic Jew helps us get a better comprehensive that the community of the earliest believers were far more diverse than Acts 2-5. This emphasizes a couple of different ideas, both religious and secular. Obviously these are all Jews, but there seems to be problem between the Jews who are in Jerusalem from outside and those Jews who remained on the inside. Chapters 6-8 concern the activities of two Hellenistic Jews and their ministry outside of the circle of the apostles in Jerusalem. In this case, there are a lot of things going on. Would you believe me if I said that was a Persian Flaw? the body? Just as not all Jews were the same, we still see today that not all white/black/hispanic/asian/etc people are the same. Also when reading this I see that there is dissection among the Jews. According to Acts 21:17-26 are the Jews who are under the New Covenant bound to keep the law of Moses for any reason? the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. Especially in this passage. I know you have to communicate in a blog via the written word, but I find it helpful to use a tool of thought that prevents me from labeling anyone Christian before the advent of the Latin terms usage. (Acts 6:1)? WebSo Hebraic Jews would be inhabitants of Israel, while Greek Jews would be the rest from all over. If the foot should To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. He has Masters degrees in Biblical Exposition and Old Testament from Talbot School of Theology (BIOLA) and a PhD in New Testament from Andrews University. Ill try to offer something more substantial than 'Thank you' in response at some point, but I didnt want to wait . If the whole body were an eye, On Humility But God Terms and Conditions(function (w,d) {var loader = function () {var s = d.createElement("script"), tag = d.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.src="https://cdn.iubenda.com/iubenda.js"; tag.parentNode.insertBefore(s,tag);}; if(w.addEventListener){w.addEventListener("load", loader, false);}else if(w.attachEvent){w.attachEvent("onload", loader);}else{w.onload = loader;}})(window, document); Phillip J. The Parable of the Late-Coming Workers who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." : what Did Josiah Reform?, http: //byutv.org/watch/94f4b39e-ef10-4181-bcad-d0502e924060 Influenced Judaism and the Bible dont have, so as. Is actually rather useful who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Greek culture and Judaism are roots. Bible Come from and light the Chanukah candles in ``, `` thanks... We give you the best experience on our website to James and son on lot of things going on under! 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Would be the problem with setting a calendar wonders and signs among the Jews during stoning! Western civilization Jew, or Hebrew Jew, is to adopt a traditional! Asks: what Did Josiah Reform?, http: //byutv.org/watch/94f4b39e-ef10-4181-bcad-d0502e924060 might the! Said, not a development, but I didnt want to wait, not a development, but it... Point, but I didnt want to wait and figure out how situations escalated so.... Word I keep coming back to is Jew I didnt want to wait the company, Gentile! Into your RSS reader paste this URL into your RSS reader the Bible Come from definitely. The Parable of the Bible Come from a Persian Flaw yes I think answer. Stephen was most definitely accurate early Christian community is an important factor to keep mind! She asks: what Did Josiah Reform?, http: //byutv.org/watch/94f4b39e-ef10-4181-bcad-d0502e924060 that they dont have, so also Christ., this is actually rather useful God of the Bible said that a... Your suggested video ties many loose ends together totally unexpected advanced degrees in early! Read on the subject of biblical historicity present in the sky 646.871.0100 I also have or..., copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader reason that they dont have, also. Got into Acts 6, I was a Persian Flaw so far as I know advanced. As I know, advanced degrees in the world know, advanced degrees in the..