Chapter 2 part2 JUDAISM IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES
destroyed.
THEOLOGICAL FEATURES:
1. Monotheistic Yahwism - Jews believed in the
INSTITUTIONS OF JUDAISM:
one transcendent God.
- Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God,
the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD
your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your might. And these
words that I command you today shall be
on your heart”
2. Nationalism or election – Israel believed they
were chosen by God, leading to a sense of racial
superiority and prophetic rebuke.
3. Nomism - is the centrality of the law.
-The 16 law included the torah and especially
the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments), along
with the oral law (halakah). The oral law,
created by the Pharisees (and rejected by the
Sadducees), was a set of laws that helped
explicate the laws of the torah (Gen–Deut).
4. Covenant - the covenant in which God had
called Israel to be his people, and they were to
respond by living according to the law of the
covenant.
5. Eschatology (future hope) – Israel had an
intense sense of corporate and individual
eschatology, with a strong expectation of
individual resurrection and a strong anticipation
of a messiah.
6. Angelology and demonology - the real problem
SABBATH AND FEASTS:
of the world is not merely demons, but human
sin.
7. Apocalyptic themes and literature - increase of
interest in the coming of the kingdom, the
messiah, separatism, and judgment.
8. Missiological interest - Judaism was
increasingly seen as a religious option for
gentiles due to its monotheism and morality,
but the Jewish vision was not of proactive
evangelization, but of God's intervention and
the nations either coming to him or being
1. The Jerusalem Temple - The temple was built
on the stone where God created Adam,
Abraham bought Isaac for sacrifice, and Jacob
wrestled with an angel. It was known as the
Herodian temple and was one of the wonders of
the ancient world. The temple was a spiritual
symbol of God's presence with the Jews, but
God's glory had never filled the second temple.
-In the New Testament, Jesus becomes God's
temple into whom he pours his glory. Sacrifices
and tithes were offered there, and pilgrims
flooded there regularly. The temple was also
the political center of the nation, with the
Sanhedrin meeting in a hall in the temple courts
and the Romans watching over the edifice from
the Antonia Fortress. Jesus' clearing of the
temple was a challenge to Israel's religion,
economy, and political system.
2. Synagogue - origins of the synagogue (in Greek
synagg, or “gathering place”) are obscure.
-synagogues were established in homes, or
homes were altered to accommodate the
people. the synagogue was a lay institution run
by local elders.
-synagogues were where the common people
were educated; they were the schools of
Judaism and what kept Judaism alive after the
destruction of the temple.
1) Passover - also known as Nisan.
2) Feast of Unleavened Bread - Leaven is used of
false teaching, which spreads and infects like
yeast in bread. Unleavened bread is mentioned
in relation to Jesus’ death, which happened at
Passover.
3) Pentecost - term derived from the Greek for
fifty (pentkost). Described as the “Feast of
Harvest,” the “Feast of Firstfruits,” or the “Feast
of Weeks”
 - celebrated the grain harvest, the offering of
firstfruits covenant renewal, and the entry into
the promised land.
4) Feast of Trumpets - known to Jews today as
“Rosh Hashanah”. The name comes from the
use of the trumpet, or shofar, to announce the
beginning of the feast.
- The focus was repentance, and it represented
the beginning of the agricultural new year.
5) Day of Atonement - it was a day of fasting,
when the high priest would make fifteen
sacrifices, pray for the people, enter the holy of
holies to sprinkle blood on the altar, and release
a scapegoat into the wilderness to make
atonement for the nation’s sins.
6) Feast of Tabernacles - also called the “Feast of
Ingathering,” or the “Feast of Booths”
- it recalled when Israel lived in tents during
their wilderness wanderings.
7) Purim - “the Feast of Lots,” recalled Israel’s
salvation from Haman sometime during 473 BC.
Purim was characterized by celebration, not
sacrifice.
8) Hanukkah - “the Festival of 24 Hanukkah Lights
or Dedication,” recalled the Maccabean
cleansing of the temple after its defilement by
Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 164 BC. It was
celebrated for eight days from Kislev 25,
between November–December.
9) Nicanor - general of Antiochus IV Epiphanes
defeated by the Maccabees (161 BC). Nicanor
was celebrated a day before Purim.
THE SANHEDRIN - Jewish council (parliament) of
aristocrats, mainly Sadducees and priests, and the chief
priest—seventy-one members in all.
- Sanhedrin had unlimited civil authority over
Judea, except it could not decide on political
offenses and it could not enforce capital
punishment in Jesus’ time.
SYMBOLISM - Some of the key symbols of Jewish culture
are the Sabbath, circumcision, festivals, prayers, feasts,
and purity rituals.
IMPORTANT JEWISH PARTIES AND FEATURES:
1. SADDUCEES - “the nobles and the most
eminent citizens” and “the leading men”.
- Sadducees believed the law was to be
interpreted literally as it was written without
any explanatory tradition. They rejected the
belief in a messianic deliverer as this developed
in the period after the Pentateuch, especially in
the Prophets.
2. PHARISEES - name derives from the Hebrew for
“separate ones” and emphasizes their intense
commitment to the law and its strict
observance.
- They believed they were the true holy ones.
3. ZEALOTS (OR NATIONALISTS) - “You shall have
no other gods before me”
- enjoyed the support of the people and,
because they represented a direct threat to
Roman rule, they 29 were punished severely
when caught.
4. ESSENES (QUMRAN COMMUNITY) - Essenes
were characterized by an ascetic lifestyle, strict
adherence to the ritual laws, belief that the
temple and priesthood were completely defiled,
and the hope of a coming messiah. They may
have believed in two messiahs—one priestly
and one Davidic.
THE COMMON PEOPLE: “THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND”:
1) The Shema - “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God,
the LORD is one” (Deut 6:4). This guarded
against pluralism and enforced monotheism.
This was recited daily.
2) Covenant and election - This was the belief that
Israel was God’s chosen people, giving them a
privileged position in the world. This gave
 Israel’s people a strong sense of nationalism
and hope.
3) Anti-gentile sentiment - While the populace
was prepared to tolerate the gentiles for
economic gain, many despised the Romans and
longed for their defeat and destruction. The
prophetic hope, apocalyptic literature, and the
“golden” Maccabean period gave the Jews
hope. As God’s favored people, they believed in
and longed for their oppressors’ ultimate
subjugation and destruction.
4) The law (torah) and ritual practice - The
ordinary people lived in a general sense by the
law. The core boundary markers34 of Israel
included circumcision, Sabbath observance,
food laws, ritual purity, exclusive table
fellowship, and calendric observance.
5) Messianic hope - people dreamed of the day
the messiah would come on God’s behalf to put
things right. This redeemer was expected to be
a warrior-king figure who, with God on his side,
would redeem Israel from the oppression of the
Romans and gentiles. He would establish a
theocratic state centered on Jerusalem, the
temple, and the law.
THE SAMARITANS:
- Half Jews
- Had their own temple in Mount Gerizim
- Like the Sadducees, they rejected all but the
Torah in the scriptures
- The Samaritans worshipped the same God,
observed the sabbath and circumcision, the
law of Moses and Pentateuch and they
looked for messiah deliverer
- They were deeply despised by the Jews
OTHER FEATURES OF LIFE IN ISRAEL:
- Most people of the ancient world were
rural and agrarian
- Life was lived at a subsistence level; life
revolved around the harvest
- Personal health was of huge important
- Israel at the time of Jesus was highly
corporate; a corporate mindset
- Human identity was formed in the context
of family, genealogy and community.
(patriarchal)
- Reciprocity (patronage)
- Status in an honor-and-shame society
Chapter 3 THE GRECO-ROMAN CONTEXT OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT
HELLENISM:
- Hellenistic culture was strongly influential in
the Roman world
- The Romans loved the Greek culture. As
their influence spread and they superseded
Macedonian rule, they tended to retain the
Greek influence that was well established.
So, Koine Greek remained the lingua franca
throughout the Roman world; life was more
Greek than Roman.
THE CITY:
- The Greek world consisted of hundreds of
poleis (“city-states”). Each polis was fiercely
independent, with its own distinctive
internal political and religious structure
- The cities of the empire were located on
important roads and ports
- their space was afforded to public facilities,
their residential areas were densely
populated with most people in apartment
blocks, or insulae.
- In terms of mission, cities were more
strategic locations than villages because of
the ease of communication through a
common language and ongoing business
and political activity.
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS:
1) THE SYNAGOGUE - Synagogues were the
centers of Jewish political organization and,
as such, were recognized in the government
 structure of the cities. Synagogues were
called aedes sacrae, or “sacred buildings” in
Roman law.
2) THE HOUSEHOLD - the household (oikos)
differed greatly from the private picket-
fenced residences.
- The area around the impluvium (bath) is
the atrium where they probably held their
meetings, ate meals, and performed
baptisms.
3) VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS - voluntary
associations or collegia
- Rome tolerated these groups with
suspicion:
*Professional corporations or guilds, e.g.,
fisherman, fruit growers, ship owners
*Funerary societies (collegia tenuirum)
*Religious or cult societies (collegia
sodalicia)
GREEK RELIGION:
1) THE GODS – Greeks had an utterly different
view of the gods who are many (polytheism),
male and female, and were capricious (capable
of good and evil). These gods, through sexual
relationships, could produce more gods.
-the Greeks recognized three kinds of deity: (1)
Olympian gods, (2) chthonic (earth) gods, and
(3) heroes
*Mithras, the Sun-God
2) RITUALS – Greco-Roman world was
superstitious and governed by fear that the
wrath of the gods would be aroused
- pax deorum, “the peace of the gods.”
* Prayer - This involved various formulae to
ensure the gods were not offended so as to
bring judgment. Prayers were uttered with
public sacrifices, public ceremonies, and before
battle. Some Christian prayer would have taken
on similar Greco-Roman prayer forms.
*Sacrifice – slaughter of approved domestic
animals. Part of the animal was burned on the
altar and part was consumed by those making
the sacrifice. Animals were associated with
divinities.
*Festivals – festivals, called heortai, were
regular and important.
*Temples - offerings and dedications were
stored inside. Sacrifice and worship occurred
outside the temple. Temples were important
centers of city life, and they feature across the
New Testament such as a temple of Zeus in
Lystra
*Divination – the interpretation of signs or
messages from the gods—was important in
Greek religion. Methods of divination included
cleromancy (casting lots), ornithomancy
(observing bird flight), hieromancy (observing
animal sacrifice and organs), cledonomancy
(random omens or sounds), and oneiromancy
(dream interpretation). The diviner was the
mantis, which means “diviner,” “soothsayer,”
“seer,” and “prophet”
* Domestic Cults - It was ritually put out and
restarted each year to symbolize new birth and
life.
ROMAN RELIGION:
- PAX DEORUM: “PEACE WITH THE GODS” This involved
maintenance of peaceful relationships with the gods. It
was considered key to temporal prosperity (cf.
prosperity teaching) and success.
THE “MYSTERY” RELIGIONS:
- variety of ancient public and private cults that shared
certain features. “Mystery” comes from the Latin
mystes, which means “initiation.” Hence, these religions
had secret initiation rituals
- Oldest of the mystery cults, the Eleusinian Mysteries.
These initiations had three features:
*Dromena, “things acted out,” the enactment of the
cultic myth
*Legomena, “things spoken,” the oral presentation of
the cultic myth
*Deiknymena, “things shown,” the ritual presentation
of symbolic objects to the initiate
- The initiates who experienced the ritual were sure of
steria (salvation) in the sense of present health and
prosperity and a future blissful afterlife.
TRAVEL IN THE ROMAN WORLD:
1. ROADS AND HIGHWAYS – The highways were
initially used for military movement and later
for trade.
2. SEA ROUTES – This was critical, as the sea was
important for trade between Egypt, Rome, Tyre,
Caesarea, Ostia, and Pisidia Antioch.
3. POSTAL SERVICES - Because travel within the
empire was relatively easy, a regular postal
system could be established.
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION:
*UPPER CLASSES
1. Senatorial Class (senatores) – These were men
involved in the Roman Senate and their
families.
- The dominant group was the nobles (nobiles),
families who included at least one consul —the
highest level of the political pecking order, the
cursus honorum.
2. Equestrian Class – equestrians were often
involved in business dealings and business was
forbidden for senators
* LOWER CLASSES
1. Commons – This was a position of great status with
privileges including: protection from extreme forms of
punishment like crucifixion and torture; the right to
vote; attendance at games and theaters; exemption
from many taxes including the standard Roman tribute
and land tax, legal protection over property purchased,
inheritance, legal contracts, adoption, and marriage;
and the right of imperial appeal.
2. Freed People (liberti or libertini) – These were men
and women who had been slaves but bought their
freedom or had been liberated (manumission).
3. Slaves – People were born into slavery or sold into
slavery through war or piracy. They were the property
of their owners by law. They might be allowed to save
(peculium) to buy their freedom. Alternatively, their
masters might manumit (free) them.
4. Women - In the lower classes, women were
automatically members of their parents’ social class,
except with freedmen since only one generation could
be thus named
- aedile was the commissioner of public works and a
high-ranking public official belonging to the Roman
ruling class in a city
PATRONAGE:
- patronage was a critical way to maintain the allegiance
of the people.
1. PUBLIC PATRONAGE – involved a wealthy
patron becoming the protector and benefactor
of a group (e.g., a craftsman’s guild, a religious
association, or a city). It involved giving money
for infrastructure, public buildings, and
entertainment; it could involve protection and
advocacy.
2. PERSONAL PATRONAGE – giving assistance to
an individual in the lower classes through such
things as money, gifts, hospitality, legal
assistance, advice, or protection.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES OF GRECO-ROMAN SOCIETY:
1. HONOR AND SHAME – Honor was gained
through athletic or military prowess, brilliant
rhetoric, wealth, political and legal
maneuvering, and through demeaning or
removing opponents (enemies). Friendship was
important in enhancing one’s honor. The
converse of honor was shame. To fail to do
one’s duty brought shame on the person
 involved. This was in many cases a fate worse
than death.

2. SEXUAL IMMORALITY – Roman world was

liberal in terms of its sexual ethic. Marriage was
ideally “a life-long partnership, and a sharing of
civil and religious rights”

3. LIFE AFTER DEATH – The afterlife was believed

to be a disembodied existence.