Emergence of the Church

The emergence of the early church found itself positioned in the context of Judaic culture within a pluralistic society under Roman rule. Within the Judaic culture there were several sects of Judaism including Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots and Essenes. Scholars’ debate whether or not there were more or less, but there was clearly no standardized group of Judaic practitioners.[1] Each sect found its authentication in the Torah, but a broad distinctive of differing views of what constituted authoritative scripture and appropriate Temple worship divided the groups.[2]

            Justo L. González asserts that the cultural context of the early church was clearly established within this locale of Judaism and their traditions. The early community of Christ-followers considered themselves to be intrinsically part of the Jewish culture. González explains,

The earliest Christians did not consider themselves followers of a new religion. All their lives they had been Jews and they still were. This was true of Peter and the twelve, of the seven and of Paul. Their faith was not a denial of Judaism, but rather the conviction that the Messianic age had finally arrived. . . . The earliest Christians did not reject Judaism, but were convinced that their faith was the fulfillment of the age-long expectation of a Messiah.[3]

Christianity emerged into a specific culture at precise time and place.[4] Cultural context is a vital consideration in the birth or beginning of the early Christian church within the culture of Palestinian Judaism. The first Christians were of Jewish persuasion, but some of them were from the Diaspora and are referred to as Hellenistic Jews.[5] Christian Historian Charles Freeman elaborates, “. . . Jewish communities that had successfully negotiated a status for themselves within the wider empire. . . . When Greek culture was dominant in the eastern Mediterranean, some ‘Hellenisation’ . . . was inevitable.”[6] The Judaic cultural environment was the seedbed for the early church. González explains, “. . . the church was never disconnected from the world around it. The first Christians were first century Jews, and it was as such that they heard and received the message.”[7] The earliest form of Christian church was established and contained within Judaism.

The early indicators of culture are evidenced in the practices and strategies of the early Hebrew church found in the book of Acts. Acts 2:42-47 is the narrative of the early church as it formulated in the Judaic culture,

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.[8]

The practices and strategies evident in the reference indicate a continuation, or at least continuity with Jesus’ modeled practices and strategies.

There does not appear to be any distinctions made between ethos (cultures) in the text, but it is noted that this early form of church in Jerusalem is contained within the Judaic context.[9] Keener expresses concern that the language of the reference in Acts uses the language reflecting that of the Pythagoreans concept of a utopian society.[10] Luke Timothy Johnson and Daniel J. Harrington, Distinguished New Testament Scholars, explain that there “is an unmistakable allusion to the Hellenistic topos concerning friendship, that ‘friends hold all things in common.’ The proverb itself is widely distributed and was a feature of utopian visions of society.”[11] This particular portion of scripture has led to the idealization of the early church as a utopian and communal society (some compare it an ideal socialist or communist society). Luke’s account appears to be attempting to image a pattern of continuing and consistent behavior in the early church. Ray S. Anderson informs, “The church at Jerusalem began to take shape even prior to Pentecost based on the felt need for continuity and the constitution of a central point of authority and control.”[12] The narrative imagery in Acts does present more information, a fuller picture of the cultural angst at work in the background in what follows the utopian communal account. We will look further into this cultural angst in the following blogs.

---

[1] D. R. W. Wood and I. Howard Marshall, New Bible Dictionary (InterVarsity Press, 1996).

[2] Murphy, Early Judaism, 213–244.

[3] Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity (Prince Press, 1999).

[4] Ibid.

[5] Charles Freeman, A New History of Early Christianity (Yale University Press, 2009).

[6] Ibid.

[7] González, The Story of Christianity.

[8] Acts 2:42-47.

[9] Flemming, Contextualization in the New Testament, 30.

[10] Keener asserts, “The Greek language Luke uses here is language that Pythagoreans and others used for the ideal, utopian community. Those who have argued that the early church made a mistake in 2:44–45 are thus reading their own views into the Bible, not hearing Luke’s message, because Luke portrays this radical lifestyle as the result of the outpouring of the Spirit. Some Jewish groups, like the group that lived at Qumran, followed the Pythagorean model and turned all their possessions over to the leaders of the community so they could all withdraw from society. That is hardly the case here, although the economic sharing is no less radical. The early Christians acknowledge that Jesus owns both them and their property (cf. 4:32); they sell off property to meet needs as they arise (4:34–35) and open their homes as meeting places for fellow Christians (2:46). These actions do not reflect an ascetic ideal, as in some Greek and Jewish sects, but instead the practice of radically valuing people over possessions. Such behavior reportedly continued among Christians well into the second century, and it was long ridiculed by pagans until pagan values finally overwhelmed the church,” Keener and Press, The IVP Bible Background Commentary, Acts 2:42.

[11] Luke Timothy Johnson and Daniel J. Harrington, The Acts of the Apostles (Liturgical Press, 1992), 58–59.

[12] Anderson, An Emergent Theology for Emerging Churches, 23.