God-fearer
Encyclopedia
A God-fearer or Godfearer was a class of non-Jewish (gentile
) sympathizer to Second Temple Judaism
mentioned in the Christian New Testament
and other contemporary sources such as synagogue
inscriptions in Diaspora
Hellenistic Judaism
. The concept has precedents in the proselytes of the Hebrew Bible
.
, on the basis that Genesis records Noah distinguishing "clean" and "unclean" foods
before the covenant of circumcision with Abraham and the regulations of the Law of Moses
.
The word may also be related to terms in other languages such as Neo-Persian Tarsàkàn
inscriptions in Aphrodisias
. Judging from the distinctions in the Book of Acts it is thought that they did not become full Proselytes to Judaism, which some rabbis claimed required circumcision, though the evidence across the centuries varies widely and the meaning of the term may have included all kinds of sympathetic Gentiles, proselytes or not. There are also around 300 text references 4th C BCE - 3rd C CE to a sect of Hypsistarians some of whom practised the Sabbath
and which many scholars see as sympathizers with Judaism related to God fearers.
without becoming total converts
, and are referred to in the Christian New Testament
's Book of Acts, which describes the Apostolic Age
of the 1st century
.
would require adherence to all of the Laws of Moses
, which includes various prohibitions (kashrut
, circumcision
, Sabbath
observance etc.) which were generally unattractive to would-be gentile (largely Greek) converts. The rite of circumcision was especially unpopular in Classical civilization because it was the custom to spend an hour a day or so exercising in the nude in the gym
nasium and males did not want to be seen in public deprived of their foreskin
s.
The message of St. Paul, (see Paul of Tarsus and Judaism
), stressed that faith
in Jesus constituted a new covenant
with God, a covenant
which essentially provides a 'free gift
' of salvation
from the harsh edicts of the Mosaic law, see also Christian liberty. The Law of Moses was considered therefore to have little relevance to the Pauline Christian community, (see Pauline passages supporting antinomianism), as the sacrifice of the Christ was seen as a liberation from the demand that a person follow the Law without deviation, see also Abrogation of Old Covenant laws
. This message was taken up by the God-fearers, who already represented a sizable group of people. In Paul's message of salvation through faith as opposed to works, the God-fearers found an essentially Jewish group to which they could belong without the necessity of their accepting Jewish Law. Aside from earning Paul's group a wide following, this view was generalized in the eventual conclusion that converts to Christianity need not first accept all Jewish Law, (see Apostolic Decree), a fact which was indispensable to the popularity of the early Christian movement and which would eventually lead to the distinction between Judaism and Christianity as two separate religions.
Gentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
) sympathizer to Second Temple Judaism
Second Temple Judaism
Second Temple Judaism refers to the religion of Judaism during the Second Temple period, between the construction of the second Jewish temple in Jerusalem in 515 BCE, and its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE This period witnessed major historical upheavals and significant religious changes that...
mentioned in the Christian New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
and other contemporary sources such as synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
inscriptions in Diaspora
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
Hellenistic Judaism
Hellenistic Judaism
Hellenistic Judaism was a movement which existed in the Jewish diaspora that sought to establish a Hebraic-Jewish religious tradition within the culture and language of Hellenism...
. The concept has precedents in the proselytes of the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
.
Hebrew Bible
In the Hebrew Bible there is some recognition of monotheistic non-Jewish worship as being to the same God. This forms the category of yir'ei Hashem (God-fearers, cf. Psalm 115:11). This was developed in later rabbinical writings into the concept of uncircumcised Noahides, Gentiles following the "seven laws" which rabbinical writings assigned to NoahNoah
Noah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...
, on the basis that Genesis records Noah distinguishing "clean" and "unclean" foods
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
before the covenant of circumcision with Abraham and the regulations of the Law of Moses
Law of Moses
The Law of Moses is a term first found in Joshua 8:31-32 where Joshua writes the words of "the Law of Moses" on the altar at Mount Ebal. The text continues "And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law."...
.
Original Greek terms
There are various Greek forms of this term:- the adjective theosebes
- the adjective theophobes (Greek θεοφοβείς)
- the phrase "fearers of God" (φοβουμενοι τον θεον)
The word may also be related to terms in other languages such as Neo-Persian Tarsàkàn
In inscriptions, texts and papyri
The terms are found in synagogueSynagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
inscriptions in Aphrodisias
Aphrodisias
Aphrodisias was a small city in Caria, on the southwest coast of Asia Minor. Its site is located near the modern village of Geyre, Turkey, about 230 km from İzmir....
. Judging from the distinctions in the Book of Acts it is thought that they did not become full Proselytes to Judaism, which some rabbis claimed required circumcision, though the evidence across the centuries varies widely and the meaning of the term may have included all kinds of sympathetic Gentiles, proselytes or not. There are also around 300 text references 4th C BCE - 3rd C CE to a sect of Hypsistarians some of whom practised the Sabbath
Sabbath
Sabbath in Christianity is a weekly day of rest or religious observance, derived from the Biblical Sabbath.Seventh-day Sabbath observance, i.e. resting from labor from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, is practiced by seventh-day Sabbatarians...
and which many scholars see as sympathizers with Judaism related to God fearers.
In the New Testament
Godfearers is used of those who attached themselves in varying degrees to JudaismJudaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
without becoming total converts
Conversion to Judaism
Conversion to Judaism is a formal act undertaken by a non-Jewish person who wishes to be recognised as a full member of the Jewish community. A Jewish conversion is both a religious act and an expression of association with the Jewish people...
, and are referred to in the Christian New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
's Book of Acts, which describes the Apostolic Age
Apostolic Age
The Apostolic Age of the history of Christianity is traditionally the period of the Twelve Apostles, dating from the Crucifixion of Jesus and the Great Commission in Jerusalem until the death of John the Apostle in Anatolia...
of the 1st century
Christianity in the 1st century
The earliest followers of Jesus composed an apocalyptic, Jewish sect, which historians refer to as Jewish Christianity. The Apostles and others following the Great Commission's decree to spread the teachings of Jesus to "all nations," had great success spreading the religion to gentiles. Peter,...
.
Theological significance of the Godfearers
God-fearers (or 'Fearers of God') are considered to be of significant importance to the popularity of the Early Christian movement. They represented a group of gentiles who shared religious ideas with Jews, to one degree or another. However, they were not converts, but a separate gentile community, engaged in Judaic religious ideas and practices. Noahidism would be a modern parallel. Actual conversionConversion to Judaism
Conversion to Judaism is a formal act undertaken by a non-Jewish person who wishes to be recognised as a full member of the Jewish community. A Jewish conversion is both a religious act and an expression of association with the Jewish people...
would require adherence to all of the Laws of Moses
613 mitzvot
The 613 commandments is a numbering of the statements and principles of law, ethics, and spiritual practice contained in the Torah or Five Books of Moses...
, which includes various prohibitions (kashrut
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
, circumcision
Circumcision in the Bible
Religious male circumcision generally occurs shortly after birth, during childhood or around puberty as part of a rite of passage. Circumcision is most prevalent in Muslim countries and Israel, and is most prevalent in the Jewish and Muslim faiths, although also common in the United States, the...
, Sabbath
Biblical Sabbath
Sabbath in the Bible is usually a weekly day of rest and time of worship. The Sabbath is first mentioned in the Genesis creation narrative. The seventh day is there set aside as a day of rest—the Sabbath. It is observed differently in Judaism and Christianity and informs a similar occasion in...
observance etc.) which were generally unattractive to would-be gentile (largely Greek) converts. The rite of circumcision was especially unpopular in Classical civilization because it was the custom to spend an hour a day or so exercising in the nude in the gym
Gym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
nasium and males did not want to be seen in public deprived of their foreskin
Foreskin
In male human anatomy, the foreskin is a generally retractable double-layered fold of skin and mucous membrane that covers the glans penis and protects the urinary meatus when the penis is not erect...
s.
The message of St. Paul, (see Paul of Tarsus and Judaism
Paul of Tarsus and Judaism
The relationship between Paul of Tarsus and Second Temple Judaism continues to be the subject of much scholarly research, as it is thought that Paul played an important role in the relationship between Christianity and Judaism as a whole...
), stressed that faith
Faith in Christianity
Faith, in Christianity, has been most commonly defined by the biblical formulation in the Letter to the Hebrews as "'the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen". Most of the definitions in the history of Christian theology have followed this biblical formulation...
in Jesus constituted a new covenant
New Covenant
The New Covenant is a concept originally derived from the Hebrew Bible. The term "New Covenant" is used in the Bible to refer to an epochal relationship of restoration and peace following a period of trial and judgment...
with God, a covenant
Covenant (biblical)
A biblical covenant is an agreement found in the Bible between God and His people in which God makes specific promises and demands. It is the customary word used to translate the Hebrew word berith. It it is used in the Tanakh 286 times . All Abrahamic religions consider the Biblical covenant...
which essentially provides a 'free gift
Free gift
A free gift is one for which the giver is not trying to get something in return, or one which does not cost the giver, such as when it is discount on resulting sales.-In 19th Century Saloons:...
' of salvation
Salvation
Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
from the harsh edicts of the Mosaic law, see also Christian liberty. The Law of Moses was considered therefore to have little relevance to the Pauline Christian community, (see Pauline passages supporting antinomianism), as the sacrifice of the Christ was seen as a liberation from the demand that a person follow the Law without deviation, see also Abrogation of Old Covenant laws
Abrogation of Old Covenant laws
While many Christian theology systems reflect the view that at least some Mosaic laws have been set aside under the New Covenant, there are some theology systems that view the entire Mosaic or Old Covenant as abrogated in that all of the Mosaic laws are set aside for the Law of Christ...
. This message was taken up by the God-fearers, who already represented a sizable group of people. In Paul's message of salvation through faith as opposed to works, the God-fearers found an essentially Jewish group to which they could belong without the necessity of their accepting Jewish Law. Aside from earning Paul's group a wide following, this view was generalized in the eventual conclusion that converts to Christianity need not first accept all Jewish Law, (see Apostolic Decree), a fact which was indispensable to the popularity of the early Christian movement and which would eventually lead to the distinction between Judaism and Christianity as two separate religions.
See also
- Fear of God (religion)Fear of God (religion)The fear of God or fear of the is an attitude to religious practice advocated primarily in the Abrahamic religions. Since the term "of God" is singular, rather than plural "of the gods," the term implies monotheism.-Judaism:...
- Ger toshavGer toshavGer toshav , is a term used in Judaism to refer to a gentile who is a "resident alien", that is, one who lives in a Jewish state and has certain protections under Jewish law, and is considered a righteous gentile .-Definition:...
- Early ChristianityEarly ChristianityEarly Christianity is generally considered as Christianity before 325. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians records that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included James, Peter and John....
- Council of JerusalemCouncil of JerusalemThe Council of Jerusalem is a name applied by historians and theologians to an Early Christian council that was held in Jerusalem and dated to around the year 50. It is considered by Catholics and Orthodox to be a prototype and forerunner of the later Ecumenical Councils...
- Pauline ChristianityPauline ChristianityPauline Christianity is a term used to refer to the Christianity associated with the beliefs and doctrines espoused by Paul of Tarsus through his writings. Most of orthodox Christianity relies heavily on these teachings and considers them to be amplifications and explanations of the teachings of...
- AntinomianismAntinomianismAntinomianism is defined as holding that, under the gospel dispensation of grace, moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation....
- JudaizersJudaizersJudaizers is predominantly a Christian term, derived from the Greek verb ioudaïzō . This term is most widely known from the single use in the New Testament where Paul publicly challenges Peter for compelling Gentile believers to "judaize", also known as the Incident at Antioch.According to the...
- Biblical law in ChristianityBiblical law in ChristianityChristian views of the Old Covenant have been central to Christian theology and practice since the circumcision controversy in Early Christianity. There are differing views about the applicability of the Old Covenant among Christian denominations...
- Paul of Tarsus and JudaismPaul of Tarsus and JudaismThe relationship between Paul of Tarsus and Second Temple Judaism continues to be the subject of much scholarly research, as it is thought that Paul played an important role in the relationship between Christianity and Judaism as a whole...
- SabiansSabiansThe Sabians of Middle Eastern tradition were a monotheistic Abrahamic religious group mentioned three times in the Quran: "the Jews, the Sabians, and the Christians." In the Hadith they are nothing but converts to Islam, while their identity in later Islamic literature became a matter of...
External links
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Proselyte mentions "fearers of God"
- Jewish Encyclopedia: Fear of God
- Godfearers in the City of Love Biblical Archaeology Review