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The people of Judea referred to the Church of God as Yrxwnh+k (Ha-Notsrim), Mishnaic Hebrew for the Nazarenes, which became an early common designation by Jewish outsiders for the followers of Jesus, the rabbi from Nazareth. This designation survived as a designation for the Judeo-Christians, who constituted the main body of Jewish Christianity.
While the Church of God was referred to as the Nazarenes in various literary sources, there is no evidence suggesting that the Church or their leaders ever referred to themselves as Nazarenes.F1 On the contrary, in their writings the original apostles, and their immediate successors, consistently referred to their communityF2 as the Church of God. Correspondence of the period, as preserved in the New Testament as well as in noncanonical writings, such as the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians,F3 The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians,F4 The Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians,F5 and The Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians,F6 normally followed this convention.
Nevertheless, as the numbers, credibility, and influence of the Church of God grew, the rest of the Jewish community saw the followers of yrxwnh [Wvy (Yeshu�a Ha-Notsri) as the sect of the Nazarenes (see Acts 24:5, 14). Outsiders referred to them as "Nazarenes" in the Roman province of Judea and as "Christians" in the Hellenistic regions.
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F1Pritz investigated the historical implications of the first and second century Jewish Christian group known as the Nazarenes. His comprehensive review failed to disclose a single instance of Judeo-Christians referring to themselves as Nazarenes. See Ray A. Pritz, Nazarene Jewish Christianity (Pritz 1992). See also Ray Pritz "He Shall Be Called a Nazarene" in the Jerusalem Perspective (Pritz 1991:3-4).
F2The Scriptural term ajdelfovthta (adelph�teta) is actually brotherhood (I Peter 2:17). The members of the community, who regarded themselves as born from above as sons of God to be resurrected into the kingdom of God at the return of Jesus at the end of the age, were called aJdelfoiv (adelph�tes) meaning brethren (Romans 1:13; I Corinthians 1:10; II Corinthians 1:8). Christians were also called "holy ones", generally translated as saints (Acts 9:13, 9:32; 26:10; Romans 1:7; 8:27; I Corinthians 6:1-2; 14:33; II Corinthians 1:1; 8:4; 9:1; Ephesians 1:1) and "the elect" (Matthew 24:22, 24:24, 24:31; II Timothy 2:10; Titus 1:1; I Peter 1:1-2). At the Messiah�s return their community of faith was to become a "holy nation" and a "holy priesthood" (I Peter 2:5, 2:9 read together with Revelation 1:6; 20:6).
F3The prescript of the letter of First Clement, a noncanonical epistle attributed to Clement bishop of Rome ca. C.E. 96, identifies its origin as "The Church of God which sojourns in Rome" and its recipient as "the Church of God which sojourns in Corinth" "First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians," The Apostolic Fathers, I, Trans. Kirsopp (Lake 1970:9).
F4See prescript. "Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians," The Ante-Nicene Fathers, eds. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, American ed., Vol. I (Roberts and Donaldson 1987:33). Polycarp (ca. C.E. 69-155) was the Byzantine bishop (overseer) at Smyrna.
F5See prescript and Ch. X. "Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians," The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I (Roberts and Donaldson 1987:79, 85). Ignatius was a bishop from Antioch of Syria who authored several letters on route to the imperial capital in the custody of a Roman military guard. This epistle was written from Troas.
F6See Ch. XII. "Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians," The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I (Roberts and Donaldson 1987:79, 85). This epistle to the Church of God at Tralles was written at Smyrna. There, while being brought to Rome under military guard, Ignatius received a warm welcome from Polycarp and delegations from various Judeo-Christian congregations of Asia Minor.
Page last edited: 11/28/04 08:44 AM
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