»Hellenisten« in der Apostelgeschichte

In Acts, »Hellenists« are mentioned three times: a group of the Jerusalem church (6:1), Jewish opponents of Paul (9:29) and the pagan audience of Christian missionary preaching (11:20). The analysis of the verb hellenizein shows that hellenistes meant non-Greeks who spoke Greek. There were many hellenistai in antiquity, for example in Rome, Syria and Egypt. The main part of this work deals with epigraphical and literary sources that bear witness to Greek-speaking Jews in the Diaspora because of their appreciation of the Temple and Torah. When some of these »Hellenists« became adherents of Jesus, a conflict developed because of their criticism of the Temple (6:11-14). Their theology focused on the salvation through the death of Jesus (Rom 3:25-26) and its eschatological significance in contrast to the Temple (Mark 14:58).