Temple Cult and Law in Early Christianity A Study in the Relationship between Jews and Christians in the Early Centuries1

Frances M. Young

doi:10.1017/S002868850000816X

Temple Cult and Law in Early Christianity A Study in the Relationship between Jews and Christians in the Early Centuries1

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2009

Frances M. Young

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Frances M. Young: Affiliation:
(Birmingham, England)

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Type: Short Studies
Information: New Testament Studies , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , April 1973 , pp. 325 - 338

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S002868850000816X [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1973

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^{page 325 note 1} This paper was originally prepared for the New Testament Seminar held under the auspices of the Extra-Mural Department of the University of Birmingham. I am grateful to the members of the seminar for the points raised in discussion.

^{page 325 note 2} Also under Julian the Apostate; see below.

^{page 325 note 3} See my dissertation, The use of sacrificial ideas in Greek Christian writers from the New Testament to John Chrysostom, submitted to the University of Cambridge for the Ph.D. degree in 1967, pp. 15 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 325 note 4} E.g. Maximum of Tyre, Dissertations XI; for further discussion and examples, see my dissertation.

^{page 325 note 5} According to Porphyry, sacrifice to God can only be offered by contact with him and transformation into his likeness, until άπάθεια of soul and θεωρία of God is achieved. De Abs. II. 34–9. See also Iamblichus, De Mysteriis v. 19. Porphyry's view can be exactly paralleled in the works of Clement of Alexandria. Strom. VII. 14, 31, 33. For further details and examples see my dissertation, and my paper, ‘The Idea of Sacrifice in Neoplatonic and Patristic texts’, in Studia Patristica XI. 285 ff. (Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, Berlin).Google Scholar

^{page 326 note 1} E.g. De Mysteriis v. 18–20, 24. In fact with Iamblichus, the Neoplatonists became the defenders of traditional paganism against Christianity, and found sophisticated rationalizations for all the ancient rites.

^{page 326 note 2} Frend, W. H. C., Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church (Oxford, 1965), p. 106Google Scholar and ch. 5 passim.

^{page 326 note 3} Origen, Contra Celsum v. 33–44; Julian, , Against the Galilaeans, Loeb ed. pp. 417, 402–4Google Scholar, 422, etc.

^{page 326 note 4} Harnack, A., The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries (E.T. London, 1908), pp. 266 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 326 note 5} C. Cels. IV. 31; v. 33, etc.

^{page 326 note 6} C. Cels. IV. 29; VII. 26. Cf. Hom. in Lev. X. 1; III. 5; IV. 10 etc. Also Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. v. 3–4; and Nyssen, Gregory, Cat. Orat. XVIII.Google Scholar

^{page 326 note 7} C. Cels. III. 81; VI. 4, 70; VII. 44, 46.

^{page 326 note 8} C. Cels. VIII. 17, 19.

^{page 326 note 9} Christ himself is the perfect sacrifice and the high priest of Christian offerings: C. Cels. 1. 69; III. 34; v. 4; VIII. 13, 26.

^{page 327 note 1} Little more than a century later, Julian reveals knowledge of these classic arguments, and in fact tried to undercut them by rebuilding the Temple. The attempt failed, thwarted by an earthquake. Gregory Nazianzen attributes this to providence and records with glec the numbers of repentant Jews who flocked into the church in fear of God's wrath (Orat. v. 3–4).

^{page 327 note 2} E.g. Amos iv and v; Micah vi. 6–8; Isaiah i. 10–17; etc.

^{page 327 note 3} Particularly interesting is the fact that the Psalms, that part of Hebrew literature most closely associated with the daily cultic worship of the Temple (Mowinckel, , The Psalms in Israel's worship (E.T. Oxford, 1962))Google Scholar, contain this strand of thought. Four Psalms almost reach the level of condemnation of sacrifice: 40, 50, 51 and 69. Others stress that morality is more important; e.g. 1, 15, 24, 119, etc.

^{page 327 note 4} E.g. Ecclus. XXXV. 1–3.

^{page 327 note 5} Montefiore, C. G. and Loewe, H., A Rabbinic Anthology, pp. 430–1, 323, 27, 25, 118–19Google Scholar, etc.

^{page 327 note 6} De Spec. Leg. 1. 257, 167 etc.; Sac. 84; Plant. 108, 126; Deus 7–8; Det. 20–1; cf. Josephus, C. Apionem II. 192.

^{page 327 note 7} For the following discussion, see Baumgarten, J. H., ‘Sacrifice and Worship among the Jewish sectaries of the Dead Sea Scrolls’, H. T. R. (1953)Google Scholar; Black, M., The Scrolls and Christian Origins (London, 1961), pp. 39 ff.Google Scholar; Yadin, Yigael, The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness (Oxford, 1962)Google Scholar; Vermes, G., The Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Harmondsworth, 1962)Google Scholar, Introduction.

^{page 328 note 1} Dodd, C. H., The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge, 1960)Google Scholar; and The Bible and the Greeks (London, 1935)Google Scholar; G. van Moorsel, The Mysteries of Hermes Trismegistus; Festugière, A. J., Personal Religion among the Greeks (Berkeley, 1954).Google Scholar

^{page 328 note 2} Asclepius 41; Corpus Hermeticum XII. 23; I. 31; XIII. 18; 21 ff.

^{page 328 note 3} Tertullian, Adversus Marcion is the classic reply, and most important source of evidence. Excerpts from Marcion's Antitheses collected by Harnack, , Texte und Untersuchungen… XLV (1924).Google Scholar

^{page 328 note 4} Frend, W. H. C., Martyrdom and Persecution, pp. 244–7Google Scholar. Eusebius, , H.E. IVGoogle Scholar. 7.7: ‘He (Basilides) taught that there was no objection to eating meat offered to idols, or to cheerfully forswearing the faith in times of persecution’. For the spiritualization of sacrifice see Ptolemaeus, , Epistle to Flora 5.10 (ed. Quispel, G., from Epiphanius, Panarion33. 3–8).Google Scholar

^{page 329 note 1} Ep. Diog. 1.

^{page 329 note 2} Ibid. 2.

^{page 329 note 3} Ibid. 3–4.

^{page 329 note 4} Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. 41. 1; 43.43), provides examples of this commonly held view.

^{page 329 note 5} Daniélou, J., A History of Early Christian Doctrine (London, 1964), 1, 35.Google Scholar

^{page 329 note 6} Ep. Barn. 13, 14, 15; 9, 10; 16.

^{page 329 note 7} Ibid. 2.

^{page 329 note 8} Ibid. 16.

^{page 329 note 9} Ibid. 7–8.

^{page 329 note 10} Ibid. 6.

^{page 330 note 1} Heb. iii. 7 – iv. 11; vi. 4–12; xiii. 9 ff. It is possible that each of these epistles was written to Jewish Christians who weresorely tempted to identify themselves with their fellow-countrymen in nationalist revolts, one prior to Bar-Cochba's rising in A.D. 132 (N.B. Ep. Barn. 16, which probably refers to the rumour that Hadrian intended to rebuild the Temple, c. A.D. 120) and the other prior to the war which culmiated in the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70. See Nairne, A., The Epistle of Priesthood (Edinburgh, 1913)Google Scholar and Commentary on Hebrews (Cambridge, 1917)Google Scholar. Moule, C. F. D. accepts this suggestion in The Birth of the New Testament (London, 1962), p. 44.Google Scholar

^{page 330 note 2} Daniélou, op. cit. p. 98. Detailed correspondences between the Ep. Barn. and Ep. Heb. were traced by a committee of the Oxford Society of Historical Theology and published in The New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers (Oxford, 1905).Google Scholar

^{page 330 note 3} See the early chapters of Romans; this I belive to be the correct interpretation.

^{page 330 note 4} ICor. ix. 20.

^{page 330 note 5} The controversial incident in Acts xxi shows that Paul’s Position was liable to misunderstanding, but confirms this view of his intentions. Paul agrees to go through a rite of purification in order to prove that he is a practising Jew, because James and the Jewish Chriatian community are disturbed about rumours to the effect that he was ‘teaching Jews in the Gentile-world to turn their backs on Moses, telling them to give up circumcising their children and following our way of life’. To sctotch this rumour Paul demonstrated his own loyalty to Jewish practices.

^{page 331 note 1} In spite of many attempts to show that the epistle implies another situation, I still accpect the traditional view of its purpose– that it was directed to Jewish Christians tempted to give up their new faith. See above.

^{page 331 note 2} ICor. v. 7.

^{page 331 note 3} See Barnard, L. W., ‘St Stephen and Alexandrian Christianity’, N. T. S. VII (1960), 35Google Scholar; he cites evidence indicating that Christians were excommunicated from Jewish synagogues about A.D. 85.

^{page 331 note 4} It is noticeable that historians of the persecutions stress this, whereas New Testament scholars tend to explain it away as ‘apologetic’; n.b. Frend, W. H. C., Martyrdom and Persecution, pp. 178 ff.Google Scholar, for example.

^{page 331 note 5} Martyrdom of Polycarp 12, 13, 17, 18.

^{page 331 note 6} W. H. C. Frend, op. cit. p. 20.

^{page 331 note 7} Eusebius, , H.E. IV. 15Google Scholar; v. 16 (quoting early documents). Justin, , Apology 1. 31Google Scholar; Dialogue 16. 1, 17. 1, 95. 4, 96. 2. Epistle to Diognetus 5; n.b. Frend, W. H. C., ‘The Persecutions; some links between Judaism and the Early Church’, J.E.H. IX (1958), 141–58Google Scholar; and opera cit.

^{page 331 note 8} Tertullian, , Scorpiace 10Google Scholar; cf. Ad Nationes 1. 14.

^{page 331 note 9} Frend, W. H. C., The Early Church (London, 1965), pp. 42 ff.Google Scholar; Martyrdom and Persecution, p. 164, Canfield, L. H., Early Persecutions of the Christians (1913)Google Scholar, ch. III. Munck, J., Christus und Israel (1956), p. 46Google Scholar, suggests that the Jews were trying to establish that Christians were not a Jewish sect but a new religion in Paul's trial.

^{page 332 note 1} Letters x. 96 and 97.

^{page 332 note 2} Acts xiii. 45; xiv. 2 ff., 19; xvii. 5–9, 13; xviii. 6, 12; xx. 3, 19; xxi. 27–end.

^{page 332 note 3} Barrett, C. K., Luke the Historian in Recent Study (London, 1961), p. 63.Google Scholar

^{page 332 note 4} IThess. ii. 15, 16.

^{page 332 note 5} IICor. xi. 24 ff.

^{page 332 note 6} Rom. xi. 11, 14. See Munck, J., Paul and the Salvation of Mankind (E.T. 1960), pp. 44 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 332 note 7} Rom. xi. 28.

^{page 332 note 8} n.b. Galatians, Romans, and NT passim. Ep. Barn., Justin, Dialogue, etc. It is hardly necessary to document such a clear fact.

^{page 333 note 1} E.g. Burkill, T. A., ‘The Trial of Jesus’, Vigiliae Christianae XII (1958), 1CrossRef Google Scholar ff.; Winter, Paul, The Trial of Jesus (Berlin, 1961), p. 24Google Scholar; ‘The Marcan Account of Jesus’ Trial by the Sanhedrin', J. T. S. N.S. XIV (1963), 101.Google Scholar

^{page 333 note 2} It is impossible to doubt that Luke–Acts shows signs of deliberate apologetic, though the extent to which this was the main purpose of the work has, in my view, been exaggerated.

^{page 333 note 3} So Caird, G. B., The Apostolic Age (London, 1955), p. 83.Google Scholar

^{page 333 note 4} Moore, G. F. in the Beginnings of Christianity (ed. Foakes-Jackson, and Luke, , 1920)Google Scholar points out that there was no coherent Messianic doctrine in Judaism until after A.D. 70 (pp. 346–62 of vol. 1). The corollary is that disputes between Jews and Christians were not in the first place centred on the Messianic claim, but on other issues. n.b. James, the head of the Jerusalem Church seems to have had the respect of orthodox Jews, in spite of being head of the Christian synagogue. As far as the Synoptic tradition is concerned, stories with a direct bearing on the Christological debate are not predominant. The birth-narratives are late. Other material, e.g. the Johannine thunderbolt, the temptation story, the pericope concerning David's son, the trial and passion narratives, seem to be either confessional material or to reflect internal debate rather than external controversy. Contrast the debates in John's gospel, especially chapter v.

^{page 334 note 1} E.g. Cullmann, O., Christology of the New Testament (E.T. 1959), pp. 133–4Google Scholar; Taylor, V., Names of Jesus (1953), p. 21Google Scholar; Bultmann, R., Theology of the New Testament (E.T. 1952), 1, 80.Google Scholar

^{page 334 note 2} Romans ii. 17 – iii. 20.

^{page 334 note 3} Acts xxi. 28.

^{page 334 note 4} Acts xxiii. 29.

^{page 334 note 5} Acts xxv. 8.

^{page 334 note 6} E.g. Acts xvii. 6–7.

^{page 334 note 7} Acts xviii. 13.

^{page 334 note 8} Acts vi. 13.

^{page 334 note 9} Acts vii.

^{page 335 note 1} Simon, Marcel, St Stephen and the Hellenists (1958), pp. 39 ff.Google Scholar; L. W. Barnard, art. cit.

^{page 335 note 2} See above p. 333 n. 4.

^{page 335 note 3} Matt. xxiii. 37–9; Luke xiii. 34–5. Compare Luke iv. 24 ff. and xxiv. 19 ff.; Acts vii. 52.

^{page 335 note 4} IThess. ii. 15.

^{page 335 note 5} E.g. Bultmann, R., History of the Synoptic Tradition (E.T. J. Marsh, Oxford, 1963)Google Scholar; Burkill, T. A., ‘The Trial of Jesus’, Vigiliae Christianae XII (1958), 1 ff.CrossRef Google Scholar; Winter, Paul, The Trial of Jesus (Berlin, 1961)CrossRef Google Scholar, ‘The Marcan Account of Jesus’ Trial by the Sanhedrin', J. T. S. N.S. XIV (1963), 94–102Google Scholar. Compare the defence of the trial by Kilpatrick, G. D., The Trial of Jesus (Oxford, 1953).Google Scholar

^{page 336 note 1} Mark xiv. 61–4.

^{page 336 note 2} Mark xiv. 58.

^{page 336 note 3} Mark xiv. 57, 59.

^{page 336 note 4} John ii. 18.

^{page 336 note 5} Matt. xxiii. 23. See Catchpole, D. R., ‘The Problem of the Historicity of the Sanhedrin Trial’, in Bammel, E., The Trial of Jesus, CambridgeGoogle Scholar Studies in honour of C. F. D. Moule (1970), for a summary defence of the traditional position that Jesus opposed the Pharisees, a position attacked by P. Winter etc.

^{page 336 note 6} Matt. ix. 13; xii. 3 ff.

^{page 336 note 7} Mark vii. 1–23; Matt. xxiii. 25–8.

^{page 336 note 8} Mark xii. 33–4.

^{page 336 note 9} Matt. v. 23–4.

^{page 337 note 1} Mark vii. 9–13.

^{page 337 note 2} Here I differ with McKelvey, R. J., The New Temple (Oxford, 1969)Google Scholar, ch. 5: ‘He saw that the Temple…had outlived its usefulness and was doomed to perish’ (p. 71).

^{page 337 note 3} Mark xi. 15–19; Matt. xxi. 12–13; Luke xix. 45–6; John ii. 13–17.

^{page 337 note 4} Matt. xxiii. 21.

^{page 337 note 5} Wellhausen, , Das Evangelium Marci (1909), on Mark xiii. 2, p. 99Google Scholar, and on Mark xiv. 58, pp. 123 ff.

^{page 337 note 6} Opera cit. on the trial of Jesus. n.b. the recent reconsideration of these issue in E. Bammel, op. cit., where furher references to recent literature will be found.

^{page 337 note 7} J. E. Allen, article in E. Bammel, op. cit.

^{page 338 note 1} Moule, C. F. D., The Birth of the New Testament (London, 1962)Google Scholar, brings this out forcibly.

^{page 338 note 2} n.b. Romans ix–xi; Munck, Johannes, Paul and the Salvation of Mankind (E.T. 1960).Google Scholar

^{page 338 note 3} E.g. some texts in Matthew; others emphasize the opposition to Jewish traditions.

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Temple Cult and Law in Early Christianity A Study in the Relationship between Jews and Christians in the Early Centuries1

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