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Ah, the politics and games that we human beings play! Dr Ian Elmer's commentary today well illustrates the fact that we have been playing these games since the birth of the Church. "My rules are better than your rules" and some arbiter has to be sent in to settle the differences. At times it was so vicious that some literally got killed. When we think of the terrorists who still think it is OK to bomb innocents in pursuit of their religious objectives we might wonder has human civilisation really advanced that far in 2000 years?

Breaking boundaries…

The Aramaic-speaking Apostles and their "Hebrew" supporters (Acts 6:1-6) were into maintaining boundaries — boundaries between the Jew and the Gentile (Acts 2:5, 10; 11:2-3; 21:20-21; cf. Gal 2:8); boundaries between the "circumcised" Christian convert and the "uncircumcised" (Acts 11:2-3); boundaries between the law-observant and the apostate (Acts 10:14; 21:21); boundaries between the ordained clergy and the unordained (Acts 6:2-4).

The Greek-speaking Hellenists and, later, Paul and Barnabas, were inspired to break down all such boundaries (11:20; 13:1). And all attempts on the part of the Apostles to arrest this wayward sect proved initially fruitless. Even their silence in the wake of the mob's martyrdom of the Hellenists' leader Stephen (Acts 6:7-8:1) failed to prevent the spread of the Law-free creed (Dunn, 1991: 71).

Further explicit evidence of the rift between the Hebrews and the Hellenists can be found in the subsequent narrative on the Samaritan mission in Acts (8:4-40). There is much in this section of Acts that may be pure Lukan invention. However, there are several points at which we might plausibly see a genuine historical reminiscence.

A genuine historical reminiscence…

First, there seems no reason to doubt Luke's claim that following the martyrdom of Stephen and the dispersal of the Hellenists, the Christian mission spread to Samaria and the regions around Caesarea under the aegis of Philip, another of the seven named as leaders of the Hellenists (Lüdemann, 1987:100-101).

Some scholars (e.g., Scobie, 1972; Coggin, 1982) have even argued for a direct Samaritan influence on the Stephen traditions; a theory that gains support from the manner in which Luke's account of Stephen's ministry, trial and death introduces Philip's mission amongst the towns and villages of Samaria (Acts 8:5-25).

Luke later draws on traditions concerning Philip in Acts 21:8, which place Philip at Caesarea where he resides with his four daughters and plays host to Paul during Paul's final visit to Jerusalem.

This Samaritan source theory has attracted little acceptance in scholarly circles. Still, it is well known that even prior to the rise of Christianity there were ongoing tensions between the Samaritans and the Jews of Judea and Galilee.

The issue at the heart of their dispute was the question of the centrality of the Jerusalem Temple. The Samaritans had in protest to the exclusivist claims of the devotees to the Jerusalem Temple built a competing tabernacle on Mount Gerizim in the fourth century B.C.E. John Hyrcanus in about 128 B.C.E. destroyed the Gerizim Temple.

The dispute continued long into the first century, as is clearly reflected in John 4:20 where a Samaritan woman points out to Jesus, "Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that where we must worship is in Jerusalem".

When we consider the significance of the Temple with regard to the ongoing conflict between the Samaritans and the Jews, it makes eminent sense that Luke should attribute the advent of the Samaritan mission to one of the Hellenists associated with Stephen, who were themselves persecuted as apostates and blasphemers. Who else would have been better suited to initiate the Samaritan mission than someone who had already begun to see devotion to Jesus apart from being a devout and strictly Law-observant Jew?

The stoning of St Stephen

Most remarkably, however, Luke plausibly indicates that Philip initiated the Samaritan mission without prior consultation with the apostolic authorities in Jerusalem (Hengel, 1983: 24-25). Luke implicitly suggests that such was Philip's success in Samaria that the Apostles in Jerusalem were caught by surprise, and he records that Peter and John were dispatched north on a tour of inspection to assess the situation (8:14-25).

Given the disastrous events of Stephen's martyrdom and the persecution of the Hellenists, any mission on the part of the disgraced Hellenists amongst the Samaritans would have been controversial. Moreover, it is entirely feasible that the Hebrew remnant of the Jerusalem church would have been keen to send someone to investigate.

Official "visitors" sent to investigate claims of heresy and apostasy…

Less credible however, is Luke's claim that the purpose of this tour was so that Peter and John could confirm the converts in Samaria with the gift of the Holy Spirit (Lüdemann, 1987:96-97, 99-100). Rather, it seems that what we have here is the first recorded example of a team of official "visitors" being sent to investigate claims of heresy and apostasy.

As J. D. G. Dunn has observed, the motif of the apostolic conferral of the Spirit on the Samaritan converts has probably been inserted by Luke to "make a point of maintaining a heilsgeschichtlich continuity between Jerusalem and the Samaritan expansion" (Dunn, 1991: 71).

Accordingly, the apostolic community in Jerusalem is seen to sanction the legitimacy of Philip's Samaritan mission. Viewing this as a creative editorial device on the part of Luke helps explain the curious anomaly of Philip's baptism without a conferral of the Spirit (8:15-16). In Luke's scheme, the Holy Spirit operates only when there is communion with the Jerusalem Apostles (cf. Acts 2:14; 10:44; 19:6).

If this story rests on any reliable historical information, it is more likely that Peter and John travelled to Samaria in the wake of Philip's endeavours in order to oppose his Samaritan mission, and to do so with the same vigour with which they opposed the Hellenists' independent mission in the Greek-speaking synagogues at Jerusalem.

After all, if the Hebrews were to accept the Hellenists' admission of Samaritans into the Jesus movement, the wider Jewish community in Jerusalem would have seen this as a sign of their disloyalty to the Jerusalem Temple; an attack against which, on Stephen's part, had already resulted in fatal consequences.

A repeated story in Church history…

This same sort of story would be repeated again and again throughout the history of the Church. Even here in Australia, we can think of at least one very similar situation that is being played out in Brisbane between the community at St Mary's in South Brisbane and more conservative sectors of the Church with the Archbishop of Brisbane cast in the role of peacemaker or arbiter.

Boundaries are always difficult to re-establish once they have been broken down. Such destruction is sometimes, and in some places, necessary. But there are always inherent dangers, and one can easily find oneself caught between two quite equally problematic options. The Hellenists' innovations would be proved a fruitful new avenue for the expansion of Christianity — but the Hebrews were probably right to sound a note of caution. The new Law-free creed did not spread without the loss of life, Stephen and, later, Paul to name but two.

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Bibliography and Further Reading:
For those who are looking for resources on Paul that are both reliable and readable, I can recommend the following:
J. Coggins, "The Samaritans and Acts", NTS 28 (1982), 423-434.
J. D. G. Dunn (1991), The Partings of the Ways between Christianity and Judaism and Their Significance for the Character of Christianity. London: SCM Press.
M. Hengel (1983), Between Jesus and Paul: Studies in the Earliest History of Christianity, tr. J. Bowden. London: SCM Press.
G. Lüdemann (1987), Early Christianity According to the Traditions in Acts: A Commentary. London: SCM Press.
C. H. H. Scobie, "The Origin and Development of Samaritan Christianity", NTS 19 (1972), 390-414.
Photo Credits:
The headline image of St Paul has been sourced from an icon which you will find at: www.airmaria.com. Clicking on the other images will take you to the original source.

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©2008 Ian Elmer

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