Monotheistic Judaism of the First Century – Part Three

Monotheistic Judaism of the First Century – Part Three

In arguing against the theories of “Zeitgeist, the Movie”, I have been presenting a three-part series of posts relating to the first century Jewish culture from which Christianity was birthed. This is the final part of that series. Though I have not directly countered specific points in the movie in these posts, I have established a historical case to demonstrate that first-century monotheistic Judaism was not doctrinally influenced by the cultural worship of various pagan deities.

Devotion to Jesus Emerged from Jewish Monotheism

The earliest Christians’ devotion to Jesus should be understood as emanating from first-century Jewish Monotheism.[1] In 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul applauds the church in Thessalonica for her commendable faith and discusses these believers’ conversion from the worship of pagan idols to “serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath” (v.9b – 10). This stark contrast between the pagan gods and the one true God (also in association with Jesus) is also seen in 1 Corinthians 8. In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul warns believers not to knowingly partake in food that has been offered to pagan idols. According to Hurtado, “Paul is pointing out the sharp distinction between the Gentile polytheistic environment of the Gentiles and the exclusivist monotheistic stance; look at the language used ‘idols’ versus ‘a living and true God.’”[2] Paul uses the term, eidōlothyta, “things offered to idols,” which is clearly a contemptuous characterization of the pagan’s offering.[3] This disdain of all other deities lines up with the exclusivism of first-century Judaism.[4]

In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul further demonstrates the exclusivity of Judaism by admonishing believers to “flee from idolatry.”[5] His language takes on a stronger contempt for the polytheistic environment of the Roman gods. Paul compares the partaking of pagan rituals as participating with ‘demons.’ He emphatically demands that a believer participating in drinking from the cup of the Lord, cannot also drink from the cup of demons. Clearly, Paul is demonstrating that, although he was raised in a polytheistic culture (Tarsus), and would have been aware of the mystery-religion culture of his time, he emphatically refused to adopt or allow any of the pagan practices into his monotheistic view of God or into the fellowship, at all.[6] “Essentially, Paul directs his converts to shun any overtly pagan religious activity and practice, and he does so in the strongest kind of terms.”[7]

Conditions in the Early Church: Ritual, Law, and Paul

The early church apparently struggled with adherence to the rituals (including the Temple cult), customs, and other traditions of their Judaism.[8] In Acts 21, the news of Paul’s preaching reaches the church in Jerusalem. The report on Paul’s mission work is that he is misleading full Jewish converts by instructing them not to observe the Judaic rituals in obedience to the Law. Upon Paul’s arrival in Jerusalem, James and the brethren required Paul to answer for his instruction.[9] The brethren “demanded that because of this suspicion he undergo the usual purity probe in the Temple and that four oath-bound penitents be called in.”[10] Paul accepted their demands, however when numerous of the Diaspora[11] saw Paul in the temple, they grew furious and sought to lynch him because he: “(1) allegedly agitated against the law and Temple cult, hence, preached apostasy toward the law (among Jews!) and because he (2) had brought a non-circumcised (Trophimus) into the Temple (which Luke disputes).”[12] An exclusivist, ritualistic environment is clearly demonstrated in this passage, even among the Christian believers, as evidenced in James’ request of an explanation for Paul’s ‘defiant’ teachings towards the rituals of the Law. Obviously, the early believers still identified themselves with the rituals and practices of Judaism.

Further, in the second chapter of the book of Galatians, Paul confronts Peter for alleged hypocrisy in dealing with Jewish versus Gentile believers. Paul’s accusation is founded on Peter’s actions of eating with the Gentiles and then drawing away from them when the brethren associated with James arrived. The word used by Paul to describe Peter, kategnōsmenos, is translated “clearly in the wrong.”[13] The main problem was most likely Peter’s adherence to the Jewish food-laws that forbade social interaction between Jew and Gentile.[14] In this passage, again, we have an example of an early believer (another one of the leaders of the Christian Church) struggling with issues arising from a strong adherence to their Jewish faith. As has previously been shown, this first century Jewish faith entailed a strict adherence to the one true God and abhorred the pagan deities. Therefore, it is an illegitimate argument to say that these Jewish men allowed Hellenistic pagan religion influences to guide any formation of their Christology.

CONCLUSION

From the historical evidence, a picture emerges of first-century Judaism that is adamantly monotheistic and, in its core doctrine, immune to the influences of the Hellenized culture surrounding it. The Jewish separatist attitude is noted in their Scriptures, their religious practices, and in the writings of foreigners. Emerging from this first-century Judaism are the earliest followers of Christ, who then become leaders of this fledgling faith. These leaders evidence their adherence to a strict monotheistic Judaism in their writings (Galatians 1; 1 Corinthians 8, 10; 1 Thessalonians 1) and in their struggles deciding to maintain or free themselves from the Jewish rituals of the Law and Temple cult (Acts 21, 22; Galatians 2). These are not men who are readily adapting the influence of pagan mysteries to exalt Jesus into an apotheosis figure or mold him into a pagan religious pattern of a dying and rising god. Rather, these are men grappling with their own exclusively monotheistic past, while incorporating Jesus into their understanding of the one true God; who alone is worthy of the act of worship. As stated by Joan E. Taylor, in her article, The Phenomenon of Early Jewish-Christianity: Reality or Scholarly Invention?, “The Jewish-Christians of the first century would not have considered themselves to be combining two religions, for they never accepted that Christianity was anything but the proper flowering of Judaism.”[15]
Thus, the influence of Roman Hellenism, though a cultural reality, to be sure, did not however touch the ultimate tenet of first-century Judaism or Christianity: monotheism.

MJ

Footnotes

[1] Hurtado, Larry. How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? Historical Questions about Earliest Devotion to Jesus. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans Publishing Company: 2005. pg. 42.
[2] Ibid. pg. 43. See also: Grant, Robert M. Gods and the One God. Philadelphia, The Westminster Press: 1986. pp. 46-49.
[3] Ibid. pg. 44.
[4] Ibid.
[5] 1 Corinthians 10:14
[6] Hooke, S.H., “Christianity and the Mystery Religions,” Vol. 1, Judaism and Christianity. W.O.E. Osterley, ed. New York, KTAV Publishing House: 1969. pg.241.
[7] Hurtado. pg. 44.
[8] Weber, Max. Ancient Judaism. Glencoe, The Free Press: 1952. pg.421.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Jewish believers who lived in the areas surrounding Jerusalem as a result of the exilic period in Jewish history.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Cole, R. Alan. Galatians. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans: 1984. pg. 74.
[14] Ibid. pg. 77.
[15] Taylor , Joan E. “The Phenomenon of Early Jewish-Christianity: Reality or Scholarly Invention?” Vigiliae Christianae, Vol. 44, No. 4. (Dec., 1990), pg. 315.
To receive a full bibliography from this three part series, please email me with “bibliography” in the subject line.
© Mary Jo Sharp 2007
Flawed Theory in Zeitgeist, the Movie

Flawed Theory in Zeitgeist, the Movie

According to the makers of “Zeitgeist, the Movie,” the worship of Jesus is explainable as another outcrop of apotheosis (human figure exalted to divine status and therefore worthy of worship), as just another divine figure in the “religious cafeteria”[1] of the first century pantheon of gods, or perhaps a product of astrology. But is this explanation reconcilable to the actual historical and demographical evidence of first century Palestine and of the earliest surviving Christian writings? No. The earliest demonstration of the “cultic” worship of Jesus is by Second-Temple Jewish believers.[2] Though, as will be shown, this is an extremely important piece of Christianity’s development, “Zeitgeist, the Movie” completely ignores this fact.

The Second-Temple Jewish believers were unquestionably influenced culturally by the Hellenism brought from the Roman occupation of their lands.[3] But what historians must do is look at exactly how these Jewish believers were influenced, and in what areas of life. One area in which they were influenced was language. There are Greek copies of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint; clearly demonstrating that some of the Jewish people spoke/read Greek. However, it does not follow that these people were therefore influenced in religious practice. This kind of conclusion requires more specific evidence.

What we do know about Second-Temple Jewish believers is that their devotion to the “One God” stuck out amongst the menagerie of pagan deities surrounding them. The Jewish adherence to God’s uniqueness can be seen in various non-rabbinic texts of the Jewish provenance: Sibylline Oracles (3.11-12, 545-61; cf. 4.27-32; 5.172-76; 493-500), Letter of Aristeas (132-38), Wisdom of Solomon, (13-15), and references in Philo and Josephus.[4] The First Book of Maccabees also describes Jewish devotion to the One God specifically with regard to the Hellenistic influences (1 Maccabees 2:15-26). From the Old Testament, worship of any other gods was established as detestable and vile. “If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed,” as found in Deuteronomy 8:19. Also, in Deuteronomy 13: 6-9, “If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’ (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people.” So what can be inferred from these evidences is the believers of Second-Temple Judaism not only disallowed influences of the pagan religions on their belief structure, but also vehemently opposed this activity.

The young Christian movement, located entirely within Second-Temple Judaism, associated Jesus with worship of and devotion to the One God; while at the same time showing disdain for worship of the multiple deities of the Roman environment. The earliest writings of Christianity (c. A.D. 50-60) by the apostle Paul demonstrate this very idea. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul describes his praise of the new believers for their conversion “to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, who he raised from the dead – Jesus who rescues us from the wrath that is coming” (1:9-10). Also, in 1 Corinthians 8 through 10, Paul addresses the Gentiles with regard to leaving behind their pagan religious practices. He advises them to completely shun any former pagan practices in light of their conversion to the one true God (through Jesus Christ).

The idea of abandoning all other deities was uncommon and dissimilar to the pagan mystery religions. The apotheosis stories and other pagan deities cannot show the same devotion to worship of one God. The earliest Christian writings disdain these very religions for their practices and establish a totally new kind of “theology”; namely, Jesus was to be identified and worshiped as the one, true God, not supplanting God, but as a part of God’s identity. The makers of “Zeitgeist, the Movie” need to satisfy the question of why the earliest Christians, who were Second-Temple Jewish believers, would create a theology influenced by the pagan deities in light of the historical evidence that these people abhorred pagan worship and deities. Speculation and surface similarities of worship practices will not suffice to explain the historical Jewish faith or the Christian sect that developed from Judaism in the first century.

MJ

[1] Hurtado, Larry. How Did Jesus Become a God? Historical Questions about Earliest Devotion to Jesus. Cambridge, Eerdmans Publishing Company: 2005, Pg. 25
[2] The name “Second Temple Judaism” has become popular in more modern scholarship to describe the religion of the Jewish people who practiced their faith in the time frame of the rebuilding of Solomon’s temple to at least the time of the destruction of this second temple in AD 70.
[3] For further study: Martin Hengel. Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in Their Encounter in Palestine During the Early Hellenistic Period. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2003.
[4] Hurtado. How Did Jesus Become a God? Pg.118
© Mary Jo Sharp 2007