(a) The Hellenists in Jerusalem. — The first time we liear of ' Hellenists ' is on the occasion of a quarrel between the two sections of the Christian community in Jerusalem, the 'Hellenists' com- plaining against the ' Hebrews ' that their widows were overlooked in the daily food-supply (Ac 6'). Here the term seems to point primarily to the diflerence of language, but we remark a feeling of solidarity, a certain party-spirit, among these Hellenists aa opposed to the Hebrews. The leaders of the community deal with the matter, and, in order to satisfy the complaining party, elect seven prominent men from among the Hellen- ists to take care of the food-supply. The first officials of the Christian Church — except the apostles — were thus Hellenists.
It was the Hellenists that occasioned the first struggle of Christianity with the Jewish authori- ties ; St. Stephen, one of the Seven, was accused of having spoken against the Temple and the Law, and by a sudden outbreak of popular hatred he was put to death (with no authorization on the part of the Romans). This was the signal for a general persecution of the Christians. Again, it was the Hellenists who spread the gospel, not only among the Samaritans (Philip the Deacon, Ac 8^"^^) but also among the Greeks in Antioch (Ac IP"). This is the beginning of the Gentile mission : the nameless men from Cyprus and Cyrene who are mentioned hei'e are the forerunners of St. Paul, in some sense the first apostles of the Gentiles, the founders of the Gentile Church. The beginnings were small, but the fact in itself is of great import- ance. Having seen the propaganda carried on by Jewish Hellenism among the Gentiles, we may readily understand the attitude of the Christian Hellenists. Their mission work was probably of rather an occasional kind, and they did not work systematically like St. Paul, but they were creative.
{b) St. Paul himself, the Apostle of the Gentiles, was not a Hellenist strictly speaking. Born in the Diaspora, at Tarsus in Cilicia, he was nevertheless
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'a Hebrew of Hebrews' (Ph 3^) ; he had Pharisaic surroundings, and was brought up in tlie spirit of the Palestinian Rabljis : he even went to Jerusalem to complete his Rabbinical education. In spite of his writing Greek and using the Greek Bible, he thinks in the way of a trained Palestinian Rabbi. After a missionary period of about 25 years, he was able to address the people of Jerusalem in their own Hebrew {i.e. Aramaic) language (Ac 21^" 22-). Whether Hellenism — apart from general culture — had any notable influence upon him is an open question. From time to time the Hellenism of St. Paul is spoken of as a prominent feature in early Christian history ; then again his predomin- antly Rabbinical training is insisted upon by another generation of scholars. The facts are that Hellen- ism, as we have seen, was in itself a mixture, which, in addition to the Greek element, included much that was Oriental ; the Rabbinical education also comprehended a good many Greek notions ; and the reasoning of the Jewish teachers was often very similar to the Stoic philosophy, as the popular Greek language of the Hellenistic peinod had a Semitic tinge. Parallels to most of the Pauline expressions may be adduced both from Rabbinical and from Greek Avriters, as was shown long ago by J. J. Wetstein (1751). It is, therefore, very diffi- cult to tell exactly how far the influence of Hellen- ism may be traced in St. Paul. The one thing which seems certain, however, is that he did not borrow consciously from the Mystery religions. He is afraid of the demoniac influences in these ; he tries to keep his faithful readers from any con- taminating participation in idol-worship : for this is the sphere where the demons exercise their influence (1 Co lO^'*^-). Whatever may be said about St. Pavil's indebtedness to the Mysteries — and a good deal has recently been said by Percy Gardner, R. Reitzenstein, and others — this must always be borne in mind.
(c) St. PatiVs companions. — There is, however, one point which has not hitherto received due attention. That is the fact that St. Paul's com- panions belonged more or less to the Hellenists, and that he may thus have been unconsciously subjected to the influence of Hellenistic notions. Barnabas the Levite came from Cyprus (Ac 4^®). Silas (Silvanus) also was evidently a Hellenist. Timothy was the son of a pagan father and a Jewish mother ; he had not been circumcised before St. Paul took him into his company (Ac ]6^^*)- Titus was a Greek (Gal 2^). ApoUos was a Hellenistic Jew, born and trained at Alexandria (Ac 18-^). Aquila and Priscilla were Jews from Rome, born in Pontus (Ac 18-). In none of these cases (except that of Apollos) can we make out exactly how far the Greek influence went ; but it is probable that most of the people referred to were much more Hellenistic in their training than St. Paul him- self, while Apollos was certainly an out-and-out Hellenist.
We see the difl'erence when we turn from St. Paul's letters to tlie Epistle to the Hebrews and the so-called Catholic Epistles. Hebrews certainly came from the pen of a Hellenist like Apollos : its language and style, its interpretation of the OT, its definition of faitli (11'), its psychology (cf. 214. 18 57. 14^ g^pg sufficient evidence of this. The same is proved for 1 Peter by the metaphorical language in l'^. 22 21, and the terminology taken over from the Mystery-cults (2- [ditt'erent from 1 Co 3", He 5'2- 13] p. 23 320. 2i)_ The language of Jude 12*- 1® points in the same direction. In 2 P 2'-^ a proverb is quoted which goes back to Heraclitus (P. Wendland, Sitzungsberiehte der Berliner Aka- demie, 1898, pt. xlix.), and the eschatology is partly Stoic (this letter we should perhaps call Hellenistic in the wider sense). The Epistle of James also is