Beyond Jerusalem

Stephan described the temple as “made with hands” [cheiropoietos], a phrase known to those in the Hellenistic world who opposed idolatry. The Jews in diaspora used the same word to condemn paganism. By applying this expression to the temple, Stephan identified the place as an idol, for “the most high does not dwell in houses made with hands” (Acts 7:48).

Formation And Struggles: The Birth of the Church Ad 33-200, by Veselin Kesich

You could say that Stephan, the leader of the Jewish Christian Hellenists (Greek-speaking Jews), really upset the Sadducees. He was accused of blasphemous words against the law and the temple. They would later accuse Paul of the same thing. James, the brother of Jesus, was stoned to death in about 62 AD at the instigation of the high priest Ananos – and not at the demand of the people.

The accusation against James and the others was that they had transgressed the law.

Stephan faced opposition by Greek-speaking Jews from the entire region: Cyrenians and Alexandrians, as well as those from Cilicia and Asia (being today’s Asia Minor). His main opponents were probably the ones from Cilicia and Asia. It was the same faction that would attack Paul twenty-five years later.

Stephan attacked the temple in a very radical manner.

For the Jews, the temple was the house of God, and Jerusalem was the holy city. It was the temple authorities that led the forces who stoned Stephan to death. Paul was one of these, as we know.

The Jewish Christian Hellenists, after the episode with Stephan, could no longer stay in Jerusalem. The city was open to them as long as they maintained the dietary laws, circumcision, and participated in the temple. After Stephans, the temple was closed to them.

Of course, this expulsion only fueled their missionary journey. It was perhaps one of the earliest causes of an expansion of the Church outside of Jerusalem proper. These Jewish Hellenists were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria – to Gaza, Caesarea, and other cities of the coastal plain. Philip proclaimed Christ to these, and he could have done so only by knowing Greek.

The expansion of the Christian movement from 30 – 35 AD was phenomenal. There were Christians in Damascus even before the expulsion of the Hellenist Jews from Jerusalem. There were Christian communities in Galilee.

Kesich does not offer an answer to the question of how and why regarding this expansion outside of lands immediate to Palestine, but I think a clue is found in the book of Acts:

Acts 2: 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.

41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.

Three thousand Greek-speaking Jewish souls from every nation under heaven eventually returned home. This apparently very shortly after Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension.

Before Paul’s conversion, a group of Christian missionaries may have founded the church in Antioch…

Fruit of some subset of the three thousand, perhaps. In addition to local Jews, they would attract a considerable number of Gentiles into this community. the church in Jerusalem did not try to stop this mixed-ethnic gathering, instead sending Barnabas to aid them. The objective was to ensure a shared faith.

While the persecution of the Hellenists was conducted by the temple authorities, that of the Hebrew Christians was initiated by King Agrippa (AD 41-44), the grandson of Herod.

He had James, the brother of John, killed in 42 AD, and it was his father, Herod Antipas, who beheaded John the Baptist. In Acts 12, we see that Peter was one of those taken to prison. The angel of the Lord freed him, and Peter then left the city “and went to another place.” He would return around 50 AD for an apostolic conference, the well-known Jerusalem Council.

We see both the Hellenist Jews and the Hebrew Jews, through their persecution and expulsion, would become missionaries, making disciples of every nation.

Jesus’s brothers (a word that holds a wide variety of meanings) did not, at first believe Him. They would become missionaries – likely to Nazareth, and perhaps to as far away as Damascus. They were known as those who belonged to the master. Eusebius would write, citing a second century historian, that these brothers of Jesus led the whole church by virtue of being martyrs and relatives of the Lord.

Then there were the apostles – those who witnessed Jesus post-resurrection, a group that would widen well beyond the twelve (eleven of twelve of whom only became apostles after the resurrection). Peter, of course, has already been mentioned.

Paul, in a unique way, witnessed the post-resurrection Christ. He would claim a place equal to the twelve. He was entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised just as Peter was entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised.

There seems to be no precedent in Judaism for this idea of an “apostle.” There is a similar rabbinical institution, but it seems to have appeared either after Christ’s apostles or been formed independently from Christ’s example. In any case, the “apostles” were not added to – you either witnessed the post-resurrection Christ or you didn’t.

Some have tried to connect this institution of “apostle” to a similar practice in Gnosticism, but in the latter case this had not developed until the second century.

Except for Peter, there is little known about the missionary activity of the twelve (although every traditional Church has claim to one or more of the twelve).

The first attempt to preach the message of Jesus in Greek to the diaspora Jews in Jerusalem inevitably led to the introduction and development of a new theological terminology.

The question that was of utmost importance and struggle – a question that would take a few centuries to sort out – was simply: who do you say that I am? Jesus often call God “Father,” He willed what the Father willed; in His teaching and life He perfectly expressed the will of God. He was the beloved son of the owner of the vineyard, the last one to be killed by the tenants.

The bilingual Christian church identified and confessed him as “Son of God.”

Kesich identifies I Thessalonians as the earliest New Testament book, and in it Paul uses the title Son of God. He wasn’t the first missionary to do so, instead using a title already established. Even before Paul, early Christians attributed the sovereignty of God to the risen Christ.

Creedal statements were developed, rooted in the resurrection. This Jesus whom they knew and who was crucified, God raised up and made Him both Lord and Christ, exalted at the right hand as Ruler and Savior.

We see something of a creedal statement in Paul’s introduction to his letter to the Romans:

Romans 1: 1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God 2 which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

Many other early creedal statements and confessions of faith can be found in the epistles. There is the personified wisdom found even in Proverbs. This personified wisdom was there from before the beginning:

Proverbs 3: 19 The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens; 20 By His knowledge the depths were broken up, and clouds drop down the dew.

Proverbs 8: 22 “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. 23 I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth.”

This wisdom is the source of life:

Proverbs 8: 35 “For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the Lord; 36 But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; all those who hate me love death.”

Conclusion

Christological reflection and formulation belong to the very life and dynamic of the Christian community from its beginning. … The church had started with these Christological formulations and continued developing them.

Who do you say that I am? While formulating an answer took centuries, the seeds of the answer were there from the beginning.

There was no sign of Christological division in this expanding church – no difference between the “Hebrews” and the “Hellenists,” Jews all yet divided by language and geography. They all proclaimed that Jesus was Christ, the Son of God, and Lord.

The crucified Jesus and the risen Lord were one and the same person.