TTJ 13.1 (2010): 3-18 ISSN 1598-7140 Diaspora in the New Testament and Its Impact on Christian Mission* Narry F. Santos Greenhills Christian Fellowship, Canada The Greek term diaspora (diaspora/) refers to the Jewish dispersion (i.e., to the scattering of Jews outside Palestine). It is also the technical name for all the nations outside of Palestine where Jewish people came to live.1 The Jewish dispersion began in the deportations by the Assyr- ians (722 BC) and Babylons (597 BC), and later spread throughout the Roman Empire to Egypt, Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. Thus, diaspora generally refers to the Jewish people living outside of Palestine.2 Since the original Jewish dispersion, the applicability of the term diaspora has been widened to address any religious or racial minority living in the territory of another religious or political society. In this paper, however, I will use the term diaspora to designate the Jewish dispersion in the New Testament period. The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, I seek to survey how diaspora is used in the New Testament. Second, I intend to discuss the diaspora realities in the New Testament period, especially in relation to the presence of synagogues, proselytes, and God-fearers in the book of Acts. Third, I wish to describe the impact of the Jewish diaspora (includ- ing Jewish Christian diaspora) to Christian missions. Use of Diaspora in the New Testament Times The term diaspora is found in the New Testament, the Septuagint, and extra-biblical literature produced during the biblical period. I will * This article is expanded from the original version in Narry S. Santos, “Survey of the Diaspora Occurrences in the Bible and of their Contexts in Chris- tian Missions,” in Scattered: The Filipino Global Presence, ed. L. Pantoja Jr., S. J. Tira, and E. Wan (Manila: LifeChange Publishing, 2004), 53-66. 1. D. J. Moo, The Letter of James (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 50. 2. H.-G. Link, “Glossary of Technical Terms,” in New International Diction- ary of New Testament Theology, vol. 1, ed. C. Brown (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1967), 55. 4 Torch Trinity Journal 13 (2010) briefly discuss the occurrences of diaspora in these different sources. In the New Testament, the verbal substantive, diaspora, commonly trans- lated as “scattered,” occurs only three times as shown in the following texts: 1) The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?” (John 7:35). 2) James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings (Jas 1:1). 3) Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia (1 Pet 1:1). The question that the Jews in Palestine raised in John 7:35 shows that they did not comprehend Jesus’ comment in verse 34, “You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.” The use of diaspora in the questions in verse 35 refers to the Jewish minority residing in the territories of other religions, in this case the Greek-speak- ing environment.3 The “Greeks” ( 3Ellhnaj) is a general reference to Gen- tiles (cf. Col 3:11).4 In James 1:1, James greets “the twelve tribes scattered among the nations” in his salutation. The mention of the “twelve tribes” can either refer to the literal twelve tribes of the nation of Israel or to the figurative “twelve tribes” who are the true people of God, thereby broadening the Jewish roots to include the church of James’s day. Although the figurative sense of Christians (both Jews and Gentiles) may be the possible reference of “the twelve tribes scattered among the nations,” it seems better to take the scholarly consensus that the expres- sion refers to the Jewish Christians who were scattered across the Roman Empire.5 The following references to Jewish institutions and practices contribute to the conclusion of a Jewish audience: 3. D. Sänger, “diaspora/,” in Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 1, ed. H. Balz and G. Scheider (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 1990), 311-312. 4. Although 3Ellhnaj may be used to refer to Greek-speaking Jews who resided in Jerusalem in territorially organized synagogues (e.g. John 12:20; Acts 6:1; 9:29; 11:20), non-Greeks (e.g., Mark 7:26), or to Greeks in whose territory the Jews live, the term, 3Ellhnaj, is better taken as a reference for Greeks or Gentiles in general. 5. M. Dibelius, A Commentary on the Epistle of James (Philadelphia: For- tress, 1976), 47, simply specifies the addressees as the diaspora Jewish Christian church and thus not Palestinian. Other scholars ventured to name the prove- Diaspora in the New Testament 5 1) The believers that James addressed met in a “synagogue” (Jas 2:2). 2) The believers shared the assumption that monotheism is a foundational belief (Jas 2:19). 3) The people believed that the law is central to God’s dealings with his people (Jas 1:21, 24-25; 2:8013; 4:11- 12). 4) The people understood the Old Testament imagery of the marriage relationship to indicate the nature of the relationship between God and his people (Jas 4:4). In 1 Peter 1:1, Peter describes his audience as “God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.” Like the use of James, the Petrine diaspora refers to the scat- tered communities outside Palestine. Particularly, Peter lists the Jewish Christians who lived in the Gentile regions of “Pontus, Galatia, Cappa- docia, Asia and Bithynia.” These localities used to refer to the northwest quadrant of Asia Minor bordering the Black Sea,6 an area in which Paul was not allowed to evangelize according to Luke’s report.7 In addition to a Jewish Christian audience, Peter addresses the Gentile Christians (1 Pet 1:14, 18; 2:9-10, 25; 3:6; 4:3-4). He even applies to them the catego- ries that directly relate to Jews.8 Thus, Peter’s use of diaspora can include the “communities of people living outside their native land, which is not Jerusalem or Palestine but the heavenly city.”9 These scattered commu- nance of the letter. J. Moffat, The General Epistles of James, Peter and Jude (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1928), 20, located the work in Egypt, due to its alleged wisdom affinities. B. Reicke, The Epistles of James, Peter and Jude (Garden City: Doubleday, 1964), 6; and S. Laws, A Commentary on the Epistle of James (New York: Harper and Row, 1980), 22-26, see similarities in the epistle to Hermas and argue for a Roman provenance. J. H. Ropes, A Critical and Exegetical Com- mentary of the Epistle of St. James (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1916), 49, places James in Caesarea of Palestine-Syria. Cf. P. Davids, Epistle of James. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 28-34. 6. P. Davids, The First Epistle of Peter (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), 7. 7. In Acts 16:6-10, Luke narrates that Paul established churches in the southern area of Galatia. Of course, later, Paul did so in the western province of Asia. 8. Peter describes the Gentile Christians who were “once not a people” and now are “the people of God” as “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy na- tion, a people belonging to God” (1 Pet 2:9-10). These descriptions were earlier given referring to Israel. 9. Davids, Peter, 46. 6 Torch Trinity Journal 13 (2010) nities were to view their lives on earth as temporary aliens, sojourners, pilgrims, and foreigners who belonged to heaven. So far, we have seen the three occurrences of the word diaspora as found in John 7:35, James 1:1, and 1 Peter 1:1. I will now discuss the verb form of diaspora, which is diaspeirō (diaspei/rw). This verb appears in only three instances in the New Testament. These three instances occur in the following verses (all found in Acts): 1) On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1b). 2) Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went (Acts 8:4). 3) Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews (Acts 11:19). In all three instances in Acts, diaspeirō relates to the scattering of the Christians of Hellenistic Jewish origin. In other words, the verb refers to the Greek-speaking Jewish Christians from the diaspora who were in areas where there was a non-Jewish majority (Acts 11:19) as well as in the area around Jerusalem and toward Samaria (Acts 8:1). The unique contribution of these verses in their use of diaspeirō is that those who were scattered served as essential contributors of the expansion of early Christianity (Acts 8:4-8, 40; 11:19-21). In the Greek translation (i.e., LXX, including the Apocrypha) of the Hebrew Old Testament, the technical term, diaspora, is found in a dozen passages (Deut 28:25; 30:4; Neh 1:9; Ps 146:2; Isa 49:6; Jer 13:14; 15:7; 34:17; Dan 12:2; Jdt 5:19; 2 Macc 1:27; and Ps. Sol. 8:34). They gener- ally refer to the “dispersion of the Jews among the Gentiles” or “the Jews as thus scattered.”10 The noun form, diaspora, is used in the Septuagint to refer to the exile of the scattered people of God among the Gentiles (Deut 28:25; 30:4; Ps 146:2; Isa 49:6; Jer 15:7; 34:17; 2 Macc 1:27; Jdt 5:19).