THE CONVERSION OF THE HELLENISTIC JEWS AND
PROSELYTES.
Up to the present time the Church of Jerusalem has practically been
only a little Galilean colony. The friends of Jesus in Jerusalem and
its vicinity, such as Lazarus, Martha and Mary of Bethany, Joseph of
Arimathea and Nicodemus, had disappeared from the scene. Only the
Galilean group gathered around the twelve apostles remained, compact
and active; and meanwhile these zealous apostles were indefatigable
in the work of preaching. Subsequently, after the fall of Jerusalem,
and in places distant from Judea, it was reported that the sermons
of the apostles had been delivered in public places and before large
assemblages.[6.1] The authorities who had put Jesus to death would not
permit the revival of such stories. The proselytism of the faithful
was chiefly carried on by means of pointed conversations, during which
their hearty earnestness was gradually communicated to others.[6.2]
They preached under the portico of Solomon to audiences limited in
number, but on whom they produced a most marked effect; their sermons
consisted chiefly in such quotations from the Old Testament as would
support their theory that Christ was the Messiah.[6.3] Their reasoning,
though subtle, was weak; but the entire exegesis of the Jews at that
time was of the same character, and the deductions drawn from the Bible
by the doctors of the Mischna are no more convincing.
Still more feeble was the proof derived from pretended prodigies, which
they brought forward in support of their arguments. It is impossible
to doubt that the apostles believed that they possessed the power of
performing miracles, which were acknowledged as the tokens of every
Divine mission.[6.4] St. Paul, by far the ablest mind of the primitive
Christian school, believed in miracles.[6.5] It was deemed certain that
Jesus had performed them, and it was but natural to suppose that the
series of Divine manifestations was to continue. Indeed thaumaturgy was
a privilege of the apostles until the end of the first century.[6.6]
The miracles of the apostles were of the same nature as those of Jesus;
and consisted principally, though not exclusively, in the healing of
the sick and the exorcising of demons.[6.7] It was maintained that even
their shadow sufficed to bring about these marvellous cures.[6.8] These
wonders were deemed direct gifts of the Holy Ghost, and held the same
rank as the gifts of learning, of preaching, and of prophecy.[6.9] In
the third century the Church believed herself possessed of the same
privileges, and claimed as a permanent right the power of healing
the sick, of driving out devils, and of predicting the future.[6.10]
The ignorance of the people encouraged these pretensions. Do we not
see in our day persons honest enough, but lacking in scientific
intelligence, similarly deceived by the chimera of magnetism and other
illusions?[6.11]
It is not by these _naïve_ errors, nor by the meagre discourses found
in the _Acts_, that we must form our opinion of the means of conversion
employed by the founders of Christianity. The private conversations of
these good and earnest men, the reflection of the words of Jesus in
their discourses, and above all, their piety and gentleness, formed
the real power of their preaching. Their communistic life also had its
attractions. Their house was like a _hospice_, where all the poor and
forsaken found a refuge and an asylum.
Among the first who attached himself to the young society was a
Cypriote called Joseph Hallevi, or the Levite, who, like many others,
sold his land and laid the money at the feet of the disciples. He was
an intelligent and devoted man, and a facile speaker. The apostles soon
attached him to their band, and called him _Bar-naba_, which means
the "son of prophecy," or "of preaching."[6.12] He was numbered among
the prophets, that is to say, inspired preachers;[6.13] and later we
shall see him playing an important part. After St. Paul, he was the
most active missionary of the first century. A certain Mnason was
converted about the same time.[6.14] Cyprus was marked by many Jewish
characteristics.[6.15] Barnabas and Mnason were undoubtedly of the
Jewish race;[6.16] and the intimate and prolonged relations of Barnabas
with the Church of Jerusalem give us reason to believe that he was
familiar with the Syro-Chaldaic tongue.
A conversion almost equally as important as that of Barnabas, was that
of a certain John, who bore the Roman surname of Marcus. He was cousin
to Barnabas, and was a circumcised Jew.[6.17] His mother, Mary, a
woman in easy circumstances, was also converted, and her residence was
frequently visited by the apostles.[6.18] These two conversions appear
to have been the work of Peter,[6.19] who was very intimate with both
mother and son, and considered himself at home in their house.[6.20]
Admitting the hypothesis that John-Mark was not identical with the
true or supposed author of the second Gospel,[6.21] he yet played a
prominent part, accompanying at a later period Paul and Barnabas, and
probably Peter himself, on their apostolic journeys.
The fire thus kindled spread rapidly. The most celebrated men of the
apostolic age were gained to the cause in two or three years almost
simultaneously. It was a second Christian generation, parallel to that
which had been formed five or six years previously on the shores of
Lake Tiberias. This second generation, not having seen Jesus, could not
equal the first in authority, but surpassed it in activity and in the
ardor for distant missions. One of the best known of these new adepts
was Stephanus or Stephen, who before his conversion was probably only
a simple proselyte.[6.22] He was a man full of fervor and passion,
his faith was very strong, and he was believed to be endowed with
all the gifts of the Spirit.[6.23] Philip, who, like Stephen, was a
zealous deacon and evangelist, joined the community at about the same
time,[6.24] and was often confounded with the apostle of the same
name.[6.25] Finally, at this epoch, Andronicus and Junia[6.26] were
converted. They were probably husband and wife, who, like Aquila and
Priscilla at a later date, were the very model of an apostolic couple,
thoroughly devoted to the missionary cause. They were of Israelitish
blood, and enjoyed the warm friendship of the apostles.[6.27]
Although the new converts were all Jews by religion, when touched by
grace, they belonged to two very different classes of Jews. Some were
"Hebrews,"{6.28} or Jews of Palestine, speaking Hebrew, or rather
_Aramaic_, and reading the Bible in the Hebrew text. The others were
"Hellenists," or Jews speaking Greek, and reading the Bible in that
tongue. These last were further subdivided into two classes--the
one being of Jewish blood; the other proselytes, or people of
non-Israelitish origin, affiliated in different degrees to Judaism.
The Hellenists, who almost all came from Syria, Asia Minor, Egypt, or
Cyrene,[6.29] inhabited a separate quarter of Jerusalem, where they
had their distinctive synagogues, thus forming little communities by
themselves. There were a large number of these private synagogues[6.30]
in Jerusalem, and in them the word of Jesus found a soil prepared for
its reception.
The primitive nucleus of the Church was exclusively composed of
"Hebrews;" and the Aramaic dialect, which was the language of Jesus,
was the only one in use: but during the second or third year after the
death of Jesus, Greek was introduced into the little community, and
soon became the dominant tongue. Through their daily communication
with these new brethren, Peter, John, James, Jude, and the Galilean
disciples in general, learned Greek very easily, especially as they
probably knew something of it beforehand. An incident soon to be
mentioned shows that this diversity of language created at first some
division in the community, and that the two fractions could not always
readily agree.[6.31] After the ruin of Jerusalem, we shall see the
"Hebrews" retire beyond the Jordan, to the heights of Lake Tiberias,
and form a separate Church, which had its individual history. But
in the meantime it does not appear that the diversity of language
seriously affected the Church. The Orientals learn new languages very
easily, and in the towns every one speaks two or three dialects. It is
probable that the leading Galilean apostles acquired the use of the
Greek{6.32} so far that they used it in preference to the Syro-Chaldaic
whenever the majority of their listeners understood it. It was evident
that the dialect of Palestine must be abandoned by those who dreamed of
a wide-spread propaganda. A provincial _patois_ which was written with
difficulty[6.33] and only in use in Syria, was palpably insufficient
for such an undertaking. Greek, on the contrary, was almost a necessity
to Christianity. It was the universal language of the age, at least
around the eastern basin of the Mediterranean; and it was especially
the language of the Jews dispersed throughout the Roman empire. Then,
as now, the Jews adopted with facility the idioms of the countries
they inhabited. They were by no means purists, and this explains
why the Greek used by the primitive Christians was so corrupt. Even
the best educated Jews pronounced the classic language badly.[6.34]
Their phraseology was always founded on the Syriac. They never freed
themselves from the effect of the corrupt dialects, which dated from
the Macedonian conquests.[6.35]
The conversions to Christianity soon became much more numerous among
the "Hellenists" than among the "Hebrews." The old Jews of Jerusalem
found little attraction in a provincial sect but poorly versed in the
only science appreciated by a Pharisee--the science of the law.{6.36}
The relations of the little Church towards Judaism, like Jesus himself,
were rather equivocal. But every religious or political party has an
innate force which rules it, and, despite of itself, compels it to
travel in its orbit. The first Christians, however great their apparent
respect for Judaism, were, in reality, only Jews by their birth or by
their outward customs. The true spirit of the sect had disappeared.
The Talmud germinated in official Judaism, and Christianity had no
affinity with the Talmud school. This is why Christianity found special
favor among those nominal adherents of Judaism who were the least
Jewish. Rigid orthodoxy did not incline towards the Christian sect;
and it was the new-comers, people scarcely catechized, who had not
been to the great schools, and were ignorant of the holy language,
who lent a willing ear to the apostles and their disciples. Viewed
rather contemptuously by the aristocracy of Jerusalem, these _parvenus_
of Judaism were not without their revenge. Young and newly formed
parties always have less respect for tradition than older members of
communities, and are more susceptible to the charms of novelty.
These classes, little subjected to the doctors of the law, were also
it seems the most credulous. Credulity is not a characteristic of the
Talmudic Jew. The credulous Jew, fond of the marvellous, was not the
Jew of Jerusalem, but the Hellenist Jew; who was at the same time very
religious and very ignorant, and consequently very superstitious.
Neither the half incredulous Sadducee, nor the rigorous Pharisee, would
be much affected by the theories popular in the apostolic circle.
But the Judæus Apella, of whom the epicurean Horace wrote,[6.37] was
ready to give in his adhesion. Social questions, besides, particularly
interested those who received no benefit from the opulence enjoyed by
Jerusalem as the locality of the temple and other central institutions
of the nation; and it was by a recognition of the needs to which in
this day modern socialism seeks to respond, that the new sect laid the
solid foundation of its mighty future.