In this chapter I will introduce you to the ancient
countries around the Mediterranean Sea. It was there that the earliest
Christian communities were founded. The area is known as the Graeco-Roman
world. Becoming familiar with this cultural domain is very helpful. Not only
will it enlighten our study of the Acts of the Apostles and St. Paul’s
letters, it will also help us read the Gospels with greater depth.
For the Gospels were not written with Palestinian Jews in mind.
Yes, Jesus spoke to Galileans and to crowds of people in Jerusalem. His audience was composed of Palestinian Jews. Not so for the Gospels. They addressed other people: the Hellenists who inhabited the Mediterranean towns and cities. In the next chapter we will consider more in detail what kind of people these Hellenists were. Here we will look at the countries they lived in and will ask the question: Why is knowing this audience so important for understanding the Gospel?
Palestine, the land in which Jesus lived and worked, was only a small country. In the year 63 BC the Roman General Pompey took Jerusalem and integrated it into the Roman province of Syria. In this way Palestine became a small part of what is known as the Graeco-Roman Empire: Roman because of Rome’s military control; Graeco-Roman because Greek culture pervaded the area.
During the first century AD the empire comprised power all the countries around the Mediterranean Sea. The Emperor Augustus (27 BC - 14 AD) had established peace and law everywhere. Rome’s political and military strength unified and subdued all the small kingdoms, states and republics that formed its provinces. In each of these provinces the Roman Emperor had appointed a governor, who was called ‘legatus’ or ‘proconsul’ or ‘procurator’ according to various shades of position. The Emperor’s governor did not interfere in the internal rule of the province. The ‘home ministry’ was generally left to the subdued nation itself. The governor’s task comprised public order, the collecting of imperial taxes, maintaining the occupying army, pronouncing judgment over life and death.
Rome was undoubtedly the political nerve-centre culture of the empire. But Rome could not claim to be the heart of the empire’s culture. It is the Greek cities with their ancient record of arts, sciences, philosophies and literature that exercised the greatest influence in the cultural sphere. Just as Rome’s political strength unified the empire, so this Hellenistic culture had conquered and penetrated all the civilised provinces. Even in Rome Greek was the language of the intellectuals; teachers were imported from Greece (usually slaves); Greek arts (architecture, sculpture, literature, etc. ) were imitated and further developed, and so were Greek sciences (astronomy, mathematics, philosophy). The international language was not Latin, but a kind of popular Greek, called ‘koinê’. It is in this language that the whole New Testament has come down to us!
This predominance of Greek culture had begun with Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia. His armies conquered Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), the Persian Empire (present-day Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran), Palestine and Egypt. When Alexander died in the year 333 BC, the Greek Empire split into two kingdoms under two of Alexander’s previous generals. Ptolemaos took Egypt, and his dynasty, the Ptolemaids, put their capital at Alexandria. Seleucos and his dynasty, the Seleucids, ruled the other kingdom under the name ‘Syria’ from Antioch. For three hundred years, until their defeat by the Romans, the Greeks controlled the Middle East. The Greek culture they introduced remained the dominant culture even after the Romans had imposed their political rule.
Another network spanned the Graeco-Roman settlers countries, a web of contacts that greatly helped the spread of Christianity. As far back as the Babylonian exile, and certainly starting from the time of the Syrian persecutions, many Jews had settled in towns of Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, Egypt and Africa. These Jews kept up their religious beliefs and practices and so formed small communities or cells in the pagan world.
Jews who lived outside Palestine received the name: ‘people of the diaspora’.(2)
Jewish communities could be found in all major cities. Their significance can be gauged from simple statistics: even before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, Diaspora Jews easily outnumbered Palestinian Jews. In fact, by the middle of the 1st century AD there were more than 5 million Diaspora Jews. And though these looked to Palestine as the centre of their religious and cultural life, they possessed their own Greek version of the Sacred Scriptures,(3) built their own synagogues, developed their own theology and followed their own legal and spiritual practices.
In God’s providence all three factors mentioned above greatly contributed to the efficient spread of the Gospel. Roman domination ensured the political stability that encouraged rapid communication. Hellenistic culture was to provide the foundation on which Christ’s teaching could be easily understood and accepted. The Jewish communities in the Diaspora served as stepping-stones to the pagan cities.
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The heart of Hellenistic culture lay in Greece. Paul, that great apostle of the Hellenists, realised that sooner or later the message should be taken to Greece. When he dreamed that a Greek implored him: ‘Come over and help us!’, Paul took the plunge and sailed from Troas in Asia Minor to Neapolis in the Greek province of Macedonia. (4)
Paul’s first contacts with Greece were only partly successful. He founded a small Christian community in Philippi, but soon he and his companions were arrested and forced to leave the city. (5) The same happened in Thessalonica, the capital of Macedonia, and the neighbouring town Berea. (6) Paul tried to preach in Athens, but met with little response. (7) It was only in Corinth that he made a real impact and this, we can be sure, delighted Paul. (8) For Corinth was the greatest trade centre in Greece, the hub where all land and sea routes came together.
We possess a wealth of information about ancient Corinth. This derives both from archeological excavations (9) and from numerous descriptions in Greek and Latin manuscripts. (10) In 146 BC Corinth had been completely destroyed by Rome. Its walls had been demolished and the city left derelict for almost a century. But when Julius Ceasar in 44 BC ordered it to be re- built as a Roman colony, it soon regained its former splendour. The reason is clear: Corinth possessed unique advantages through its location.
It was difficult to travel overland in Greece because of rugged mountains in all its provinces. Transport moved by sea, but here too there were problems. Ships trying to sail around the southern part of Greece faced a perilous journey along 50 miles of shallow sea and steep cliffs. A quirk of nature seemed to provide an answer. The Aegean sea (the sea between Greece and Asia Minor) is separated from the Adriatic Sea (the sea facing Italy) by a small tongue of land known as the Isthmus which lies just north of Corinth (see the illustration on the next page). By crossing the six-mile wide strip of flat land one could avoid the precarious sea trip along the Peloponnesian coast.
For centuries the Greeks had planned to dig a canal that would join both seas. The plan never materialised. Instead, two other links were provided. A paved road was built, called the diolkos, over which small ships could be transported from the one sea to the other. The ships were hoisted onto wooden platforms that stood on rollers. These were then hauled by oxen to the other coast. Since such contraptions could not pass each other on the narrow road, signals ensured that the road was only used in one direction at a time.
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The DIOLCOS was a paved road that connected both
seas. Small ships were transported along this road on wooden platforms that
rolled on wheels.
Like the well-known Olympic Games there were
Isthmian Games held every second year at Isthmia. |
Another link was even simpler. Passengers and cargo would be unloaded at one harbour, taken by land to the harbour on the other coast and then re-embarked on another ship. Corinth controlled both harbours: Cenchreae on the Aegean side, Lechaeum on the Adriatic. The road between the harbours ran right through Corinth. It furnished unlimited opportunities for employment and trade. It brought in a steady flow of transit tax. As if this was not enough, the land around Corinth yielded good crops. (11)
The city was world famous for its manufacture of bronze vessels. Many Romans prized their ‘Corinthian bronzes’ as their greatest art treasures. Moreover, once every two years athletes from all over Greece came together to compete in the Isthmian Games which were held not far from Corinth. The city provided food, lodging and entertainment; its temple of Aphrodite was reputed to give work to a thousand temple prostitutes. For all these reasons Corinth was not only a natural crossroads of the Greek world, but its largest centre of commerce and leisure.
The second-century writer Aelius Aristides praises Corinth for this central role. ‘Corinth is like a route and passage for all humankind, wherever one wants to travel. It is also a common city for all Greeks, indeed, as it were a metropolis and mother in this respect. For there is no place where one can rest as on a mother’s lap with more pleasure and enjoyment. Such is the relaxation, refuge and safety for all who come to it’. (12) What he forgot to mention is that Corinth’s services were rendered by an unremembered labour force of low-paid workers and slaves.
In Corinth Paul met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus. He and his wife Priscilla had recently come from Rome because Emperor Claudius had banned all Jews from Rome. Paul visited them and, seeing that they were tentmakers by profession like himself, he stayed with them and joined their shop.(Acts 18,1-3)
Like Paul, Aquila hailed from Asia Minor. Pontus lies close to Tarsus where Paul had been born. Though Aquila and Priscilla had been expelled from Rome, (13) they had presumably been allowed to sell up and take their capital with them. With this they could set up shop in a residential quarter of Corinth. They invited Paul to stay with them and share in the work. After all, Paul plied the same trade and must have been acquainted with Aquila’s Pontus.
(In Corinth) Paul held discussions in the Jewish synagogue every Sabbath, trying to convert both Jews and Hellenists. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself full time to preaching the message, testifying to the Jews: ‘Jesus is the promised Messiah!’ But they opposed him and called him names. Eventually Paul shook his clothes in protest against them and said: ‘Your blood be upon your own heads! Don’t blame me. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’ (Acts 18,4-6.)
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The pattern of events described has a familiar ring. Wherever Paul preached, he always contacted the Jews first. Some would listen, others would not. It would be a signal for Paul to give more time to the Hellenists.
The dramatic gesture of symbolically tearing his clothes expressed sadness. (14) The phrase: ‘Your blood be upon your head’, meant: ‘You yourself are responsible for the consequences of your action’. (15) Prophets have a duty to announce God’s Word; but if people do not listen, they have to move on. As Jesus had said: ‘If some family or town does not receive you and refuses to listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them!’ (16)
Paul walked out of the synagogue and went to stay in the house of a Gentile who was called Titius Justus. The man was a God-fearer. (17) His house adjoined the synagogue. The leader of the synagogue, Crispus, with all his household believed in the Lord. And many other Corinthians listened to Paul, believed and were baptised.(Acts 18,7-8)
One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision. He said: ‘Do not be afraid. Keep on speaking. Don’t hold back. No one will be able to harm you. For many people in this city belong to me.’ So Paul continued to preach the word of God there for a year and a half. (Acts 18, 9-11)
Many fascinating details of this story could be taken up for further analysis. I would like to draw your attention to one of them: the variety of social rank among the Christians of Corinth. Aquila and Priscilla belonged to the independent, working middle class. Titius Justus was probably a rich man. The Jew Crispus may also have been quite prosperous. When Crispus’ whole ‘household’ became Christian, it included his wife and children, and his personal slaves and their families. In a few verses we thus find allusion to a wide range of people. Greeks and Romans, Jews and non-Jews, rich and poor, all of them Hellenistic city people, were the recipients of the Good News.
Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, Romans, Ephesians, Thessalonians and Philippians leave no doubt about what kind of people were reading them: Hellenists! What we tend to forget is that the whole of the New Testament was written for them, including the four Gospels.
Many people mistakenly think that the Gospels were written for the same audience to whom Jesus preached his message. This is decidedly not the case. Whereas Jesus presented his teaching to the Aramaic country folk of Palestine, the evangelists presented the same message to the hellenised city dwellers of the Graeco-Roman Empire.
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Once we realise that Gospel passages were written down with, say, the people of Caesarea, Antioch, Alexandria, Ephesus and Corinth in mind, their teaching takes on a new complexion. Do we not read in John’s Gospel that Christ had other sheep, outside the Jewish sheepfold? ‘I must lead them too’, Jesus had said. ‘They too will listen to my voice’. (18) We can be sure he was referring here to future Christians among Hellenists. (19)
These urbanised Christians, just like city dwellers of today, lived cheek by jowl with neighbours of every language, race and social class. Among them were considerate and kind people, but also cheats, crooks and thugs. Consider, for example, Jesus’ statement that we should love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. ‘In this way’, Jesus had said, ‘you will become true children of your heavenly Father who causes his sun to rise on bad and good people alike, and makes his rain fall on dishonest as much as on honest people’. (20)
Jesus had spoken to farmers in Galilee. His words received a new application in the crowded hellenistic cities. Now city-dwellers were urged to be even-handed in their daily encounters. It is even possible that Matthew composed the Sermon on the Mount (21) from Jesus’ teachings to offer a Christian alternative to the selfish and competitive style of urban living.
In order to grasp an author’s message, we must have some understanding of the audience addressed. It means that we should be familiar with the author’s contemporaries, with the kind of life they lived, their interests and concerns, their customs and the language they spoke. That is why, in order to get to grasp Jesus’ words, we rightly study the situation in Palestine, which was Jesus’ environment. (22) But this principle also applies to the evangelists. They were authors in their own right.
In our anxiety to do justice to Jesus, we are inclined to forget the people for whom Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote. Their audience was distinct and specific. (23)
Does this imply levels of meaning in the Gospels? It does! When we throw a stone into a lake or a pond of water, we see ripples move outwards from the point of impact in ever widening circles. Jesus’ teaching reached ever wider audiences in the same way.
Jesus spoke to relatively small groups of people, first in Galilee, then in Samaria and Judea. After his death and resurrection, his followers carried the message to all the countries of the Graeco-Roman empire. The audience had now become international and included people of all races and social classes. In our own day and age, after so many centuries, the message reaches us, people who are even more diverse and urbanised than the inhabitants of Syria and Asia Minor.
For we, too, are an audience of the New Testament message. It was God’s intention that the inspired words should eventually enlighten and encourage all people, including us. When we read a passage from Paul’s letters or from the Gospels, when we understand its literal meaning and apply it to our own situation, God speaks to us here and now. This is the applied meaning, the final fruit of the text for us.
1. Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians from Ephesus. Please, read the last chapter of that letter, 1 Corinthians 16,1- 24, and check whether you can locate the places mentioned: Galatia, Jerusalem, Macedonia, Ephesus, Achaia and Asia (Minor).
In the same passage, what strikes you about Paul’s relationship to his Christian communities?
2. On one occasion in the same letter, 1 Corinthians 9,24-27, Paul draws extensively on imagery taken from athletics: running the race in the stadium, obtaining the prize, the wreath that withers, disciplining one’s body ....
Why would all this have a special appeal to the Corinthian congregation?
3. Luke must have known the story of Jesus’ encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman who was, no doubt, a Hellenist (Matthew 15,21-28; Mark 7,24-30). Why did he omit the story from his Gospel?
Could it be for the same reason that Luke omits Jesus’ original injunction to the Apostles: ‘Do not go to any Gentile territory or enter any Samaritan town’ (Matthew 10,5)?
4. In New Testament texts there are three stages of meaning:
(i) the stage of Jesus’ words and actions;
(ii) the stage of teaching by the apostles and evangelists;
(iii) the stage of God speaking to us.
Can you show that at each of these stages the prevailing context plays a part in shaping the relevance and meaning of a text?
1. Among Hellenists are grouped not only the real Greeks (‘Hellên’ = ‘Greek’), but also people from other nations who had imbibed Greek culture and blended it with their own. ‘Hellenistic’ is the umbrella name for all these cultures influenced by the Greeks.
2. Diaspora means ‘dispersion’ and derives from Old Testament texts such as Deuteronomy 30,4 and Isaiah 49,6. It gradually became a fixed term (see 2 Maccabees 1,27; John 7,35; etc.).
3. This was known as the Septuagint, a version produced in Alexandria during the third century BC.
| 4. Acts 16,6-10. | 5. Acts 16,11-40. | 6. Acts 17,1-15. | 7. Acts 17,16 - 18,1. | 8. Acts 18,1-11. |
9. The results of the excavations have been published by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in 27 volumes; Princeton 1929 - 1975. See also: R.L.SCRANTON, Corinth, Princeton 1951; J.WISEMAN, The Land of the Ancient Corinthians, Goteburg 1978.
10. The texts have been published in: J.MURPHY-O’CONNOR, St.Paul’s Corinth, Collegeville 1990.
11. Our word for currants, dried grapes, drives from the old phrase ‘raisins of Coraunte’ (= Corinth), in English first mentioned in the Middle Ages.
12. AELIUS ARISTIDES, Orations 46,24; J.MURPHY- O’CONNOR, o.c. p. 116.
13. Under Claudius, see more about this on page 86 below.
| 14. See Numbers 14,6; Matthew 26,65. | 15. See Leviticus 20,9-16; 2 Samuel 1,16. | 16. Matthew 10,14. |
17. Like Cornelius and his family in Caesarea; see page 125.
| 18. John 10,16. | 19. See also John 4,35-38; 7,35; 12,20-22. | 20. Matthew 5,44-45. | 21. Matthew 5-7. |
22. The WALKING ON WATER course My Galilee, My people devotes much attention to Jesus’ immediate audience: the Galilleans. The course presents their land, the language they spoke the social and political conditions they had to endure.
23. The formation of the Gospels from Jesus’ teaching through oral traditions into written texts is explained in the WALKING ON WATER course Together in My Name.
