"THAT THE WORLD MAY KNOW..."

More than 3,800 years ago, God spoke to His servant Abraham: "Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you" (Genesis 13:17). From the outset, God's choice of a Hebrew nomad to begin His plan of salvation (which is still unfolding) was linked to the selection of a specific land where His redemptive work would take place. The nature of God's covenant relationship with His people demanded a place where their faith could be exercised and displayed to all nations so that the world would know of Yahweh, the true and faithful God. God showed the same care in preparing a land for His chosen people as He did in preparing a people to live in that land. For us to fully understand God's plan and purpose for His people, we must also understand the nature of the place He selected for them.

In the Old Testament, God promised to protect and provide for the Hebrews. He began by giving them Canaan—a beautiful, fertile land where God would shower His blessings upon them. To continue to possess this land, however, the Israelites had to live obediently before God. The Hebrew Scriptures repeatedly link Israel's obedience to God to the nation's possession of Canaan, just as they link its disobedience to the punishment of exile (Leviticus 18:24—28). When the Israelites were exiled from the Promised Land (2 Kings 18:11), they did not experience God's blessings. Only when they possessed the land did they know the fullness of God's promises.

By New Testament times, the Jewish people had been removed from their Promised Land by the Babylonians due to their failure to live obediently before God (Jeremiah 25:4-11). The exile lasted 70 years, but its impact upon God's people was astounding. New patterns of worship developed, and scribes and experts in God's law shaped a new commitment to be faithful to Him. The prophets predicted the appearance of a Messiah like King David who would revive the kingdom of the Hebrew people. But the Promised Land was now home to other cultural groups of people whose religious practices, moral values, and lifestyles conflicted with those of the Jews. Living as God's witnesses took on added difficulty as Greek, Roman, and Samaritan worldviews mingled with that of the Israelites. The Promised Land was divided between kings and governors usually under the authority of one foreign empire or another. But the mission of God's people did not change. They were still to live so that the world may know that our God is the true God. And the land continued to provide them opportunity to encounter the world that desperately needed to know this reality.

Terminology

The language of the Bible is bound by culture and time. Therefore, understanding the Scriptures involves more than knowing what the words mean. We need to understand those words from the perspective of the people who used them. The people God chose as His instruments—the people to whom He revealed Himself—were Hebrews living in the Near East. These people described their world and themselves in concrete terms. Their language was one of pictures, metaphors, and examples rather than ideas, definitions, and abstractions. Where we might describe God as omniscient or omnipresent (knowing everything and present everywhere), a Hebrew preferred: "The Lord is my Shepherd." Thus, the Bible is filled with concrete images from Hebrew culture: God is our Father and we are His children. God is the Potter and we are the clay, Jesus is the Lamb killed on Passover; Heaven is an oasis in the desert, and hell is the city sewage dump. The Last Judgment will be in the Eastern Gate of the heavenly Jerusalem and will include sheep and goats.If we are to understand the language God chose for the people of the Bible and for the text itself we must be familiar with the everyday images it employs.

Several terms are used to identify the land God promised to Abraham. The Old Testament refers to it as Canaan or Israel. The New Testament calls it Judea. After the Second Jewish Revolt (A.D. 132—135), it was known as Palestine. Each of these names resulted from historical events taking place in the land at the time they were coined.

Canaanis one of the earliest designations of the Promised Land. The word probably meant "purple," referring to the dye produced from the shells of murex shellfish along the coast of Phoenicia. In the ancient world, this famous dye was used to color garments worn by royalty. The word for the color eventually was used to refer to the people who produced the dye and purple cloth for trade. Hence, in the Bible, Canaanite refers to a "trader" or "merchant" (Zechariah 14:21), as well as to a person from the "land of purple," or Canaan. Originally the word applied only to the coast of Phoenicia; later, however, it applied to the whole region of Canaan. The Canaanite's religious perspective was quite different than that of God's people; he commanded his people to totally reject the worldview of their neighbors.

The Old Testament designation for the Promised Land derives from the patriarch Jacob, whom God renamed Israel (Genesis 32:28). His descendants were known as the children of Israel. After the Israelites conquered Canaanin the time of Joshua, the name of the people became the designation for the land itself (in the same way it had with the Canaanites). When the nation split following the death of Solomon, the name Israel was applied to the northern kingdom and its territory, while the southern land was called Judah. After the fall of the northern kingdom to the Assyrians in 722 B.C., the entire land was again called Israel.

The word Palestine comes from the people of the coastal plain, the Philistines. Though the Egyptians used Palestine long before the Roman period to refer to the land where the Philistines lived— Philistia—it was the Roman emperor Hadrian who popularized the term as part of his campaign to eliminate Jewish influence in the area (about one hundred years after Jesus' death).During New Testament times, the Promised Land was called Judea. Judea (which means "Jewish") technically referred to the land that had been the nation of Judah. Because of the influence the people of Judea had over the rest of the land, the land itself was called Judea. The Romans divided the land into several provinces, including Judea, Samaria, and Galilee (the three main divisions during Jesus' time); Gaulanitis, the Decapolis, and Perea (east of the Jordan River); and Idumaea (Edom) and Nabatea (in the south). These further divisions of Israel only add to the rich historical and cultural background God prepared for the coming of Jesus and the beginning of His church.

Today the names Israel and Palestine are often used to designate the land God gave to Abraham. Both terms are politically charged. Palestine is used by the Arabs living in the central part of the country, while Israelis used by the Jews to indicate the modern political State of Israel. In this study Israel is used in the biblical sense. This choice does not indicate a political statement regarding the current struggle in the Middle East, but instead is chosen to best reflect the biblical designation for the land.

God Reclaims His World

From the beginning God's plan was to reclaim his world. The Jewish people of the Bible had made God known to many of the nations of the world as people from those nations traveled through Israel. The Assyrian dispersion and the Babylonian exile spread God fearing Jewish people around the known world. Many of them returned to Jerusalem for the yearly feasts which God had commanded. God had prepared carefully and well for the next stage in his great plan of salvation. His people must now live so that the world may know in the entire world not just in one small place. If the arena had changed the mission had not. The people of God would reveal him to people in places like Rome, Athens, and the cities of Roman provinces like Syria and Macedonia. The most pagan of all provinces, Asia, would become a stronghold for the followers of God and the Messiah Jesus. They would serve him while the nations of the world watched and listened.

The land God chose for His people was on the crossroads of the world. A major trade route, the Via Maris, ran through it. God intended for the Israelites to take control of the cities along this route and thereby exert influence on the nations around them. The Promised Land was the arena within which God's people would serve Him faithfully as the world watched. Through their righteous living, the Hebrews would reveal the one true God, Yahweh, to the world. (They failed to complete this mission, however, because of their unfaithfulness.)

Western Christianity tends to spiritualize the application of the Promised Land as it is presented in the Bible. Instead of hearing God's call to live publicly and passionately to influence the culture around them, modern Christians view the application of the Promised Land as a distant, heavenly city, a glorious "Canaan" toward which we are traveling as we ignore the world around us. We are focused on the destination, not the journey. We have unconsciously separated our walk with God from our responsibility toward the world in which He has placed us. In one sense, our earthly experience is simply preparation for an eternity in the "promised land." Preoccupation with this idea, however, distorts the mission God has set for us. That mission is the same one He gave to the Israelites. We are to live obediently within the world so that through us, it may know that our God is the one true God.

Living by faith is not a vague, otherworldly experience; rather, it is being faithful to God right now, in the place and time He has put us. This truth is emphasized by God's choice of Canaan, a crossroads of the ancient world, as the Promised Land for the Israelites. God wants His people in the game, not on the bench.

The geography of Canaan shaped the culture of the people living there. Their settlements began near sources of water and food. Climate and raw materials shaped their choice of occupation, dress, weapons, diet, and even artistic expression. As their cities grew, they interacted politically. Trade developed, and trade routes were established.

Biblical writers assumed that their readers were familiar with Near Eastern geography. Today, unfortunately, many Christians do not have even a basic geographical knowledge of the region. This course is designed to address that problem. We will be studying the people and events of the Bible in their geographical and historical contexts. Once you know the who, what, and where of a Bible story, you will be better able to understand the why. In deepening your understanding of God's Word, you will be able to strengthen your relationship with Him.

Because God speaks to us through the Scriptures, studying them is a rewarding experience. The inspired human authors of the Bible, as well as those to whom the words were originally given, were Jews living in the Near East. God's words and actions spoke to them with such power, clarity, and purpose that they wrote them down and carefully preserved them as an authoritative body of literature.

God's use of human servants in revealing Himself resulted in writings that clearly bear the stamp of time and place. The message of the Scriptures is, of course, eternal and unchanging—but the circumstances and conditions of the people of the Bible are unique to their times. Consequently we most clearly understand God's truth when we know the cultural context within which He spoke and acted and the perception of the people with whom He communicated. This does not mean that God's revelation is unclear if we don't know the cultural context. Rather, by learning how to think and approach life as Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Esther, and Paul did, modern Christians will deepen their appreciation of God's Word. To fully apply the message of the Bible to our lives, we must enter the world of the Hebrews and familiarize ourselves with their culture.

Western Christianity tends to spiritualize the faith of the people as well as the land of the Bible. Modern Christians do not always do justice to God's desire that his people live faithfully for him in specific places influencing the cultures around them by their words and actions. Instead of seeing the places to which God called his people as crossroads from which to influence the world, we focus on the glorious destination to which we are traveling as we ignore the world around us. We are focused on the destination, not the journey. We have unconsciously separated our walk with God from our responsibility toward the world in which he has placed us. In one sense, our earthly experience is simply preparation for an eternity in the new "promised land." Preoccupation with this idea, however, distorts the mission God has set for us. That mission is the same one He gave to the Israelites. We are to live obediently within the world so that through us, it may know that our God is the one true God.

That is the purpose of this study. The events and characters of the life of Jesus and his early followers will be presented in their original settings. We will seek to better understand God's revealed mission for our lives hearing and seeing their lives and words in their original context.

"Go Into All the World"

From the beginning God's plan was to reclaim his world. The Jewish people of the Bible had made God known to many of the nations of the world as people from those nations traveled through Israel. The Assyrian dispersion and the Babylonian exile spread God fearing Jewish people around the known world. Many of them returned to Jerusalem for the yearly feasts which God had commanded. God had prepared carefully and well for the next stage in his great plan of salvation. His people must now live so that the world may know in the entire world not just in one small place. If the arena had changed the mission had not. The people of God would reveal him to people in places like Rome, Athens, and the cities of Roman provinces like Syria and Macedonia. The most pagan of all provinces, Asia, would become a stronghold for the followers of God and the Messiah Jesus. They would serve him while the nations of the world watched and listened.

It was in the region of Galilee that Jesus came to call several people as disciples.From the Jordan rift in the east to Mt. Carmel in the west, from Mt. Hermon in the north, to the Harod valley in the south, Galilee Assyria more was the most lush and fertile of the regions of the Promised Land.It is largely mountainous with few cities of any great size.It can be divided in to the upper Galilee where the mountains are high and rugged and the gentle hills of the lower Galilee.The Sea of Galilee, 700 feet below sea level, provides stunning contrast with the dark volcanic rock of the hills around.

This region had been emptied of its Jewish inhabitants by the ancient enemy Assyria more than 700 years before Jesus' time.When Jews began to return to their ancestral land few settled in this area initially as the prophets had noted (Isaiah 9:1-2).Following the Maccabee victory over the Seleucid Greeks increasing numbers of Jews predominantly from Babylon to the east began to settle again around the small fresh water lake from which Galilee took its name.The practiced their faith passionately in synagogues.Teachers, later called Rabbis sought out disciples to train them how to walk in the ways of the Lord.

The remains of the towns and villages of Galilee give evidence to the simple lifestyle of the Jewish people of the first century.Few were wealthy or poor.Most were hardworking people living comfortable lives as extended families.Their homes were plain and well built with rough cobblestone floors.The only public buildings were the synagogues used as community centers, schools and for worship which they referred to as "prayer.'Streets were normally unpaved and water was carried from springs or wells nearby.There were no sewers.Simple people committed to God, living simple but happy lives…that was first century Galilee.

Jesus, also an itinerant teacher called Rabbi, chose disciples too and showed them God's path in word and action.When their training was complete he sent them to make disciples of their own.Their destination was now much greater than the small province of Galilee.They were sent to the whole world.

The commission he gave them is one of the most well known passages in the Christian Testament:

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Matthew 28:16-20

This compelling command, which became the mission of the early believers was given on the mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee, in the setting where the Rabbi/Disciple model was most widely known.The word appears more than 250 times in the New Testament.Yet it sometimes appears that the Christian community of modern times struggles to hold on to the heart of Jesus words…"go and make disciples".Disciples are more than converts.Discipleship is more than an interest in learning the fundamentals of faith. Making disciples is not a course in a church or Christian College.It appears that progress toward discipleship is more a goal for the few than a passion for all followers for Jesus. The earliest followers of Jesus were disciples in the Eastern sense.They followed Jesus imitating his life, his teaching, and his method of making disciples.And the Christian faith exploded onto the world scene as ordinary people living for Jesus make great impact on the cultures in which they lived.

The triumph of the Christian faith is nowhere more striking or unexpected than in the Roman Provinces of Asia Minor, Galatia and Cappodoccia. Known for immorality in lifestyle and in religious practice, these regions became Christian within 150 years of Jesus ministry in Israel. The early missionary, Paul, (Saul in Hebrew) spent a great deal of time here and wrote several letters to the followers of Jesus in these provinces. Peter wrote his letters to the believers here, and John wrote Revelation (and his letters) to the churches of this area. The effectiveness of the early believers is amazing and raises a host of questions with great implications for our own world. There is evidence in Church history that Phillip, Thaddeus and Andrew; also Galilean disciples, came here too.How did Jesus prepare his followers for such a mission? What empowered them? What kind of commitments did they have to make to their mission? What did they do that had such an impact on the people of Asia? Some answers to these questions become clear when we study the stories of the disciples of Jesus, their disciples as well as other early believers as they live for Jesus in their historical context.

The ruins of the cities of the Roman provinces of Asia Minor, Galatia and Cappadocia from this time are stunning in contrast to the simple Galilean architecture.The people of these communities, largely gentile, were surrounded by great wealth and amazing architecture.Many were very wealthy, living in villas and impressive family estates.Their homes were elaborate, often decorated with mosaic floors, frescoed walls, and marble columns around peristyle courtyards. Others were extremely poor. There were many very large public buildings: theaters, temples, libraries, and gymnasia, baths and brothels.Streets were paved and lined with extensive shopping areas.Public fountains were everywhere bringing fresh water to every part of the community. Many homes had running water and every city had a covered sewer system... Wealthy pagan people who were very religious living in luxury and decadence…that was the first century Roman world.

It is most amazing that a few people from among the simple Galileans traveled to this sophisticated Hellenistic world, and by their words and the witness of their lives, introduced an almost total change in the beliefs and lifestyle of the cultured pagans.Scholars have suggested there were 80,000 or more followers of Jesus by the year 100 and by the year 250 A.D. Christians may have been the majority in the provinces of Galatia and Asia Minor.How was this possible?Ordinary, simple people changed the sophisticated cultured world?Only God's power can accomplish such a thing.That power of God worked through disciples…not the curious, the somewhat committed, not the ignorant pew sitters, or the part time followers…but disciples.Passionately and totally committed, not only to their beliefs but to being like their rabbi…disciples in the Jewish way.For that is God's way.

This study, and the one to follow, probes the Biblical stories of the disciples of Jesus and their disciples, in the historical and cultural settings in which they lived.For it was disciple that best describes their character and their mission. Jesus called the disciples as His Father had the prophets before him. And in the same unquestioning way the disciples followed and obeyed even to the ends of the earth.

Their Bible

The disciples of Jesus of today have the Scriptures…Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and Christian Testament (New Testament).It is sometimes easy to assume the early disciples simply had to hand out all or part of that Bible and the pagans could read for themselves and many would believe.That has happened often throughout history. But the community of Jesus expanded explosively before the New Testament was written as well as afterwards.These believers, not all of whom were Jewish, could use their Hebrew text, as John the Baptist, Paul, Peter, and Jesus himself had done, to present their message.Their lives became the gospel…the message of Jesus, grounded in the Hebrew Scriptures made alive by disciples who imitated Jesus.The relative ignorance or apathy concerning the Hebrew text coupled with the confidence that the New Testament is sufficient has led to a community of faith that has lost touch with its Biblical roots.Discipleship is part time and shallow…the natural state of anyone who becomes a member.And Scripture?That's why we hire professionals.But that was not discipleship in the first century.They were people of the Hebrew text and the Christian Text as it was written.And their lives were the text of the good news of Messiah Jesus.

Josephus, the Jewish Historian

The most important source of information about life at the time of Jesus comes from a Jewish historian who is known to history as Josephus Flavius. His extensive writings on first-century Israel's history, politics, culture, and religion are invaluable in helping us understand the setting in which God placed His people. Though Josephus's supposedly first-hand accounts, complete with commentary, are written by a man and therefore are subject to the bias any individual would have, archaeological and historical research have shown Josephus to be remarkably accurate in his descriptions of life during New Testament times.

Josephus was born into a wealthy family of priests shortly after Jesus was crucified about A.D. 38. Josephus's Hebrew name was Joseph Ben Mattathias. A brilliant young man, he studied under the leaders of several Jewish movements of his day, including the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. He was familiar with the Roman world, having spent time in Rome, and was impressed with the glory and might of the empire. He was fluent in Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew, the major languages of his day

As the First Jewish Revolt began (A.D. 66), Josephus was placed in charge of the Jewish resistance in Galilee. He surrendered to Vespasian, the Roman general, and boldly predicted that Vespasian would become the next emperor based on Josephus's interpretation of the prophecies of the Old Testament. Since Vespasian was superstitious and Josephus was a priest, Josephus's life was spared. When Vespasian became emperor, Josephus became a personal scribe to the family even taking their name, Flavius, and receiving Roman citizenship. Josephus spent the rest of his life writing the history of the Jewish people, focusing on the crucial years from 168 B.C. to A.D. 100, the period of the New Testament. Because he was hated by the patriotic Jews for being a traitor, and was suspected by the Romans because of his role in the Jewish revolt, Josephus wrote to justify himself and to present the Jewish people in the best possible light. Given those biases, his major works, The Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews, are vital sources for any student of the New Testament.

Josephus rarely mentions Jesus or the early church (several passages about Jesus was probably added by Christian writers long after Josephus's death). He did write extensively about the Herod family including descriptions of John the Baptist's execution, the death of Herod Agrippa, and other characters mentioned in the Bible. Ironically because they offer extensive background information, Josephus's writings are a key element in understanding Jesus, His message, and His ministry in first-century Israel. Josephus was another part of God's plan that everything should be complete for the coming of His Son.

Pliny

One of the most important sources of information about life in Asia Minorat the time of the early church comes from a Roman governor named Pliny. His letters, written to the emperor Trajan (98-117 AD) are a fascinating description of the relationship between the early believers and the pagan gentiles in the province of Asia Minor. Trajan had appointed Pliny to bring order to the area of Pontus (in Asia Minor) because riots and unrest due to local corruption. Pliny proceeded to ban all social, political, and religious organizations which created great suffering for the Christians who were not considered one of the legal religions. He noted that the superstition had spread throughout the province leaving ancient temples deserted. Pliny made clear that being a Christian was a capital offense. Many were accused and charged of this offense. Pliny offered them several chances to renounce their faith and then they were executed. In one letter to Trajan he asked what should be done to those who renounced their faith. Were they still criminals for their actions while they were members of the sect or was their rejection of Jesus sufficient? Trajan replied by making adherence to Christianity a capital offense though the believers were not to be sought out. In addition Pliny provides many insights into the view of the new faith held by the people of his time who were not Christians. Pliny's work provides helpful insights for understanding the stories and teaching of Scripture.