Hellenists

We say, "Jesus will sort them out." And then it grows, it grows from little things.

I mean, imagine in Acts chapter six if they said Jesus will sort them out when they said there's murmuring between the widows of the Hellenists and the...

The disciples, the apostles did not say Jesus will sort them out.

They, they faced the issue.

Yeah.

So at some point, we have to tell ourselves the only thing we can do is to encourage people that are not- To be more steadfast so that they can qualify because I was eager to dilute our leadership team quickly because I don't want to be dealing with all that because it will build distrust.

The apostles immediately said, "These Greek-speaking, the Hellenists are Greek-speaking believers." Yeah.

These are widows that are neglected.

So they are going out and speaking to no one except Jews.

But there were some of them, men of Cyprus, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists, also preaching the Lord Jesus.

Now, here, here's the difference.

Hellenists, th- this is a cultural contextual situation here.

Hellenistic Jews were Jews, but they didn't follow Jewish customs, okay? So they were ethnically Jewish, but they, as far as how they lived their life, they were essentially Greek, okay? So you had a lot of Hellenist, uh, Hellenistic Jews, and then we see this at the beginning of Acts, um, where there's this whole issue about, like, who's gonna take care of the, the Hellenistic widows, because it's one of those things where they were almost seen as, as, like, second-class Jews [laughs] because they had adopted all these Greek customs.

Um, a lot of them would be s- would, uh, to become, like, part of Greek culture because the Greeks saw any sort of body, uh, you know...

Some of them would even be circumcised.

Like, there were, there were all sorts of things, um, and categories.

His disciples, after the resurrection, found themselves at the head of a Greek-speaking community.

The early church in Jerusalem was composed not only of Hebrews, but also of Grecians or Hellenists.

Acts chapter 6 verse 1.

The Hellenists were Greek-speaking Jews of the dispersion who were sojourning more or less permanently in the holy city.

The apostles seem to have entered upon their new functions without difficulty.

Some knowledge of Greek, no doubt, all of them brought with them from their Galilean homes, and their knowledge would be increased through practice.

The subject under discussion in Galatians was not Paul's life in general, but the relation between Paul and the original apostles.

Two, the preaching to Greeks.

This guy is trying to get in with us, uh, as if he's really a believer, but he's just trying to get in to arrest us and to catch us." Verse 27: "But Barnabas took him," took Saul, "and brought him to the apostles." So first it said he was trying to be with the disciples, and they did not believe him, but Barnabas, oh, this is a good man, he took Paul, brought him directly to the apostles, talking about the 12, and he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that he had spoken to Him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out, and he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists.

Remember, the Hellenists are Greek-speaking Jews, so they were Jewish people, but they were kind of a, a different culture, speaking Greek.

But they attempted to kill him, so [laughs] look, he...

Now he...

So I'll read right through some of these portions, which will be easy to do because of the message, the sermon that Stephen's gonna preach.

But coming out of chapter six now, the Hellenists, the Greek speaking Jewish widows were being neglected in the daily distribution from the church And they were complaining against the Hebrews because they felt like the Hebrews were the ones that were overlooking them.

And it was cultural.

It was what we would refer to today as more racism.

They were being added.

Now, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.

Notice it doesn't say because they said their widows were neglected.

It says because their widows were neglected.

So in other words, there was some distribution that was going on, likely from the church, from the body of Christ, the believing Jews under the apostles, because it's been telling us that people in the early church were selling the extra homes and lands that they had and bringing the proceeds to the apostles' feet, and the apostles were distributing to the people as they had needs, see? Well, notice here that widows were receiving some allotment, in what it says here is the daily distribution, daily, verse 1 says at the end.

Well, the Hellenists were complaining against the Hebrews.

Now, what does that mean? Well, they're all Jewish people at this point, by and large, from what we can tell.

They're all Jewish people because the Gentiles aren't opened up to really until we get to the 10th chapter of Acts.

You know, Philip walks up and he says, "Hey, what's this..." Ethiopian's reading the Bible.

He says, "Hey, what are you reading? Do you understand what you're reading?" He goes, "How can I unless someone teach me?" "Oh, let me help you out." Jumps in and starts teaching him the Word of God, okay? In Acts 11:19-30, the story of the Jewish believers who were scattered because of the persecution, making their way to Phoenicia, Cyprus, Antioch, and it says they spoke, "Some spoke only to the Jews," but then the text goes on to say, "But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists," those are the Gentiles, the nations, "also, preaching the Lord Yeshua, and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord." So people are turning to Christ, Gentiles.

Why did this happen? Well, Jewish rejection of the gospel and consequent persecution of the Christians launched Jewish Christians into the world with the gospel.

So in Yahweh's eternal purpose, the rejection of the gospel by the Jews works to the salvation of the Gentiles.

And I think the Spirit and the bride are still saying, "Come." And whosoever will, let them come and drink the water of life freely.

And so we keep carrying the gospel and we keep sharing and inviting people into the kingdom.

Uh, Gary Cole says, hey, Gary, "Today I think you said the Hellenists were Greeks.

Were they Greeks or Greek-speaking Jews who had adopted Greek culture, customs, and language?" [laughs] Well, [clears throat] either way, they're Greeks, okay? They adopted into that culture.

The majority of church members were Hebrew-speaking Jews.

However, Greek-speaking Jews, or Hellenists, the returning diaspora who came from other countries, also joined with the disciples.

These Hellenists began to complain that their widows were not getting the help they needed.

Whether or not this was the case, the disciples took their concern seriously, and with compassion and wisdom, took immediate action.

In verse 1, the noun, ministration, is from the Greek word diakonia, a derivative of the Greek verb diakoneo, which means to serve.

Trapezia, the Greek word used here, refers more specifically to a money changer's table.

This indicates that the responsibilities of these seven men probably included distributing money or provisions to those in need.

The men chosen for this task all had Greek names, indicating that they were Hellenists.

Verse 19, now those who are scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.

But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.

And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.

The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.