Raymond E. Brown, (Antioch and Rome).
Introduction, p. 1-9.

(Detailed summary)

Antioch and Rome were among the largest cities in the Roman Empire, with a predominantly pagan population, but with significant Jewish communities. Since the conquests of Alexander the Great (4th century BC), Hellenistic culture had become dominant. Of course, there were pockets of resistance to such acculturation among the Jews, but not to the point of distinguishing between Jewish and Hellenistic culture. What about the Christians?

Jesus preached in Galilee and Judea, so most of the people he reached were Jews. Similarly, his disciples first addressed their fellow Jews, first in Jerusalem and then in the communities of the diaspora. It was only later that missionaries began to convert pagans and make them believers in Jesus. Paul declared himself the apostle to the Gentiles. But it is a mistake to think that he was the only one to reach out to the Gentiles and that all converts shared his perspective, especially on the place of Jewish observances. In fact, in the first century, there were various views among Jewish Christians who converted pagans. Therefore, we cannot speak of a Jewish Christianity and a pagan Christianity, but, if we rely on the New Testament, we must distinguish at least four groups.

1. The first group consisted of Jewish Christians and their pagan converts who insisted on complete observance of Mosaic law, including circumcision. In other words, these ultra-conservatives believed that pagans who converted to Christianity must first become Jews before receiving the messianic blessings promised by Jesus. This is evidenced in the Book of Acts of the Apostles concerning Jewish Christians in Jerusalem whom Luke calls “the circumcised” (Acts 11:2) and describes as people from the sect of the Pharisees (Acts 15:5). Less diplomatically than Luke, Paul calls them “false brothers” (Gal 2:4). Through Paul, we learn that these strictly observant Jewish Christian missionaries were quite successful in Greece (Phil 1:15-17) and Asia Minor.

2. A second group included Jewish Christians and their pagan converts who did not insist on circumcision but required pagan converts to observe certain Jewish customs. They represented a moderately conservative form of Christianity. This was the case with James (the brother of the Lord and leader of the Church in Jerusalem) and Peter (the foremost of the twelve apostles). Chapter 2 of the Acts of the Apostles and chapter 2 of the Epistle to the Galatians give us an idea of their position. Among the Jewish observances that were required were dietary laws (Acts 15:20). This explains the intervention of James's followers in Antioch, who were surprised to see Peter eating at the same table as Christians of pagan origin; we can guess that the problem arose because Jewish dietary laws were not being observed. However, according to Acts 15:14-15, 19-29, did Peter not agree to require converts to observe these laws? We can imagine that Peter had accepted these requirements under pressure, in order to avoid conflict. In any case, we are faced with a group whose missionary work produced a different style of Christianity among both those of Jewish and pagan origin, a style that was less rigid than that of the first group described earlier, but less liberal with regard to Jewish law than that of the third group, which we will see below. This type of Christianity can be associated with the apostles of Jerusalem. Thus, the Gospel of Matthew can present a scene of sending out on mission to all nations (Mt 28:16-20), and the Didache, written around the year 100 and close to the Gospel of Matthew, is entitled: “The Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles through the Twelve Apostles.”

3. A third group comprised Jewish Christians and their pagan converts who did not insist on circumcision or require observance of dietary laws. Although Acts 15:22 suggests that Paul and Barnabas accepted James' position, Galatians 2:11-14 clearly states that Paul opposed the intervention of James' entourage regarding the pagans. In particular, he did not require Christians to abstain from food that had been offered to idols (1 Corinthians 8). It can also be said that the Jewish Christians who were associated with his missionary activity shared the same point of view. Moreover, this is probably why Paul quarreled with Barnabas and stopped working with him (Gal 2:13; Acts 15:39). We can therefore speak of a Jewish/pagan Christianity that was more liberal than that of James and Peter with regard to certain obligations of the Law.

   Because Paul asserted that believers are freed from the Law (Gal 3:10-13, 24-25), some biblical scholars have classified Paul as extremely liberal in terms of possible relationships with the Law. Such a classification is not justified, because Paul's attitude is rather ambiguous. First of all, the second part of several of his letters clearly shows that he expects Christians to live according to the Ten Commandments and the high standards of Jewish morality. Furthermore, according to the testimony of Acts 20:6, 16, Paul observed Jewish feasts such as Unleavened Bread and Weeks (Pentecost), as required by the Law. And according to Acts 21:26, Paul frequented the temple in Jerusalem like the Jewish Christian leaders. All of this suggests that Paul, if he had had a son, would probably have had him circumcised, while being convinced that this act had no impact on his salvation.

4. A fourth group comprised Jewish Christians and their pagan converts who did not insist on circumcision or require observance of dietary laws, and furthermore saw no lasting significance in Jewish worship and festivals. This group was more radical than Paul in its stance toward Judaism. The Hellenists (Acts 6:1-6) belonged to this group. Who were they? They were Jews who had been raised in a strongly Greek culture, to the point of speaking only Greek, a non-Semitic language. And according to Stephen's speech (Acts 7), they felt contempt for the temple in Jerusalem, where God did not dwell. A similar, even more radical attitude is found later in the Gospel of John, where the Law concerns only the Jews, and no longer the disciples of Jesus (Jn 10:34; 15:25), and where the Jewish feasts of the Sabbath, Passover, and Tabernacles have become foreign feasts (Jn 5:1, 9b; 6:4; 7:2). As for the temple, it will be destroyed and replaced by the body of Jesus (Jn 2:19-21). Similarly, the Epistle to the Hebrews sees Jesus replacing the Jewish high priests and sacrifices, and the Christian altar now located in heaven. We are now far from the vision of the Gentiles as a wild olive branch grafted onto the tree of Israel, as Paul speaks of (Romans 11:24). So it is not surprising to read in the writings of Luke, a great admirer of the Hellenist Stephen: “Know therefore that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen” (Acts 28:28). Thus, we have fairly strong evidence of a Jewish/pagan Christianity that broke radically with Judaism and became, in a sense, a new religion.

Within the spectrum of Jewish/pagan Christianity, there may have been greater variety in attitudes toward the Law than the four groups we have identified. But these are based on solidly verifiable data. And since these groups were intensely involved in missionary activity, this means that they were scattered throughout the Mediterranean basin. It also means that it is a mistake to think that Pauline Christianity was dominant there. Moreover, Paul himself tells us that he avoided going where others had preached (Romans 15:20; 2 Corinthians 10:15-16), and that even where he established churches, others came later to challenge his work. Thus, we know that a region such as Ephesus was evangelized by Priscilla and Aquila, friends of Paul, and by Paul himself three years later in the 50s (Acts 18-19:41). But according to Revelation and the Johannine Gospel and Epistles, which come from the same milieu, at the end of the first century we find four groups, each with their own house church.

This situation also applies to Antioch and Rome. So, in the very beginning, the first missionaries were Jews who believed in Jesus. Eventually, in these two cities, a large number of pagans converted, so that in the last third of the 1st century, the majority of Christians were of pagan origin. But for these two cities, we must avoid talking about Jewish Christianity or pagan Christianity without first specifying what type of Jewish/pagan Christianity we are talking about and challenging the idea that, since Paul visited these two cities, Pauline Christianity was dominant.