Grecians; Greeks

GRECIANS, GREEKS

i. Distinction of the Words.

1. Greek.—The name Ἐλλην, derived from a small tribe living in Thessaly, was extended to include all of Greek race, whether natives of Greece or of the Greek islands or colonies. This is the use in classical Greek, and it also appears in the NT, e.g. Act 18:17 (T^{R [Note: R Textus Receptus.]} ), ‘All the Greeks took Sosthenes,’ etc.; Rom 1:14 (the Greek division of mankind into Greeks and non-Greeks or Barbarians); perhaps also 1Co 1:22-23 (Schleusner). This meaning was widened by the Jews to include all non-Jews who lived as the Greeks, using their language and manners. Where Ἕλληνες are opposed to Jews, the primary reference is to a difference of religious worship (Grimm).

So in LXX Septuagint of Isa 9:10 where Ἕλληνες appears for ‘Philistines’; cf. also 2Ma 4:13; 2Ma 6:9. Thus the Jews divided mankind into Jews and Greeks, which corresponds to the division of Jews and Gentiles; cf. Act 14:1; Act 19:10, Rom 1:16; Rom 2:9-10; Rom 3:9; Rom 10:12, 1Co 10:32, Gal 3:28, Col 3:11. In this sense Titus was a Greek (Gal 2:3), and also the father of Timothy (Act 16:3). This use of the word was continued by the Christian Fathers, such as Justin Martyr, Tatian, and Athanasius.

2. Grecian.—Ἑλληνιστής (from Ἑλληνίζω), Authorized Version ‘Grecian,’ one who copies the customs and uses the language of the Greeks, received among the Jews the technical meaning of a Jew of the Dispersion, born outside Palestine and living among the Gentiles. These remained faithful to Judaism, but spoke Hellenistic Greek, the vernacular of daily life in the Gentile world. In the NT Ἑλληνιστής is opposed to Ἑβραῖος, a Palestinian Jew (see Trench, NT Synonyms); cf. Act 6:1. See J. H. Moulton, Gram. of N.T. Greek, ch. i.

ii. Greek Influence in Palestine.

1. Historical.—The conquests of Alexander the Great (b.c. 331) opened the East to Greek settlers. Numbers of his veterans settled in Syria, and Greek colonists were welcomed by his successors. Old towns (as Gaza, Askalon, Ashdod, and Samaria) were Hellenized, and new Greek towns (as Scythopolis, Pella, and Gerasa) were built. Alexander’s policy of Hellenizing his conquests was to a great extent successful, and a large section of the inhabitants of Palestine favoured Greek culture. It appeared likely that Hellenism would slowly conquer Judaism, and that the zealous adherents of the Mosaic law would become a minority in the nation. Had this happened, the blending of Greek culture with Judaism might have taken place on Palestinian soil as it did in Alexandria. Judaism, however, was saved through the injudicious action of Antiochus Epiphanes, who ruled Syria b.c. 175–164. In b.c. 168, Antiochus endeavoured to thoroughly Hellenize Judaea. He forbade the Jewish worship, and ordered sacrifices to be offered to heathen deities in the cities of Judaea. The penalty of disobedience was death (1Ma 1:41-57). This led to the rebellion of the Maccabees. During the troubled years which followed, the Jewish national party regained much of their lost ground. Hellenism was discouraged, and even persecuted. Subsequently Jewish patriotism took the form of zealous observance of the Law, and there resulted the strongly marked division between Jew and Greek which we find in the Gospels.

2. Extent of Greek influence in Palestine in the time of Christ.

(1) Greek districts.—The districts of Palestine which in the time of Christ were chiefly Jewish were Judaea, Galilee, and Peraea (Josephus BJ iii. 3; Schürer, HJ^{P [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.]} ii. i. 3 ff.). Close to these were districts predominantly Greek. The towns of Philistia had heathen temples. The whole seaboard of the Mediterranean was Greek except Joppa and Jamnia. On the north, heathen territory was reached in Caesarea Philippi, where there was a celebrated temple to Pan. On the east we find the Greek league of Decapolis (G. A. Smith, HGH^{L [Note: GHL Historical Geog. of Holy Land.]} p. 593). Even in central Palestine heathen temples existed at Samaria and Scythopolis. In the Greek cities athletic contests took place, and the usual amusements of the theatre and gymnasium were provided. Thus within a few miles of the scenes of the Saviour’s ministry there were Gentile cities with temples, society, and culture, fully Greek. But although Jesus went into the country districts of the Gentile portions of Palestine, we have no record of His entering any Greek cities. For instance, we do not know that He ever entered Tiberias, although frequently in that neighbourhood.

(2) Jewish districts.—Even in the Jewish districts of Palestine, Greek influence was distinctly felt. Foreign as the theatre and amphitheatre were to Jewish notions, they were built at Jerusalem by Herod the Great (Josephus Ant. xv. viii. 1), and they also existed at Jericho. Greek architecture found its way even into Herod’s Temple. Even in the most Jewish localities there must have been a considerable number of Gentiles. Commerce and civilization bear witness to strong Greek influence. The Greek language must have been understood by many, although Aramaic was the usual tongue. This linguistic influence is evident in several ways: (a) the Greek words which are transliterated into Hebrew in the Mishna; (b) the three languages in which the inscription on the cross was written; (c) the Greek names of some of the Apostles, as Philip and Andrew; (d) the NT writers’ use of the colloquial Greek as found on papyri; (e) the quotations from the LXX Septuagint in the NT. Hence Christ lived among a people which, although strongly Jewish, was greatly influenced by Gentile thought and civilization. (See Schürer, HJ^{P [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.]} ii. i. § 22; Edersheim, Life and Times, i. 84–92).

iii. Christ’s contact with the Greeks.—In two cases only do we find it explicitly stated that Greeks came to the Saviour. These are:

(1) The Syro-Phœnician woman (Mar 7:26).—The Saviour was either on Gentile ground (note the strongly supported reading διὰ Σιδῶνος, Mar 7:37) or very near it (so Edersheim). The woman was a native of the country, and is called a Greek, in the sense of not being a Jew, and she was a heathen. Legends of the woman’s life are to be found in Clem. Homilies, ii. 19.

(2) The Greeks who asked to see Jesus (Joh 12:20).—Some have considered that these Greeks were really Grecian Jews (properly Ἑλληνισταί) (so Calvin, Ewald, and others). But there seems no reason for thinking that the word ‘Greek’ is not used here, as commonly, as equivalent to ‘Gentile.’ Evidently they were also proselytes (Joh 12:20 ‘to worship’).

There are other cases in which Christ apparently came in contact with ‘Greeks,’ but without the term being used—(a) The healing of the demoniac (Mat 8:28-34, Mar 5:1-20, Luk 8:26-39). Notwithstanding the uncertainty in the name of the place, it was evidently on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, where the inhabitants were mainly Gentile (note Decapolis, Mar 5:20). The keeping of so large a herd of swine betokens the presence of a Gentile population. (b) The centurion whose servant was healed (Mat 8:5-13, Luk 7:1-10). That the centurion was not a Jew appears from Luk 7:5. (c) The healing of one deaf and dumb (Mar 7:31-37). This was in the Greek region of Decapolis.

iv. Christ and the Grecians.—The Dispersion of the Jews had compulsory and voluntary causes. Large numbers of Israelites had been carried away captive by the Assyrians and Babylonians; and Pompey had taken many Jewish captives to Rome. But a much larger dispersion was due to voluntary emigration. From the time of Alexander the Great, Jewish colonies were gradually formed in the great commercial centres. Thus large numbers of Jews were to be found in Alexandria, in Antioch, in all the important cities on the Mediterranean, and even in Bithynia and Pontus. These Grecian Jews were active representatives of Judaism among the Gentiles, and won large numbers of proselytes from heathenism.

The word ‘Grecian’ (Ἑλληνιστής) does not occur in the Gospels, although, owing to the attendance of non-Palestinian Jews at the feasts and the residence of many in Palestine, our Saviour must often have met with Grecians. One reference only occurs, Joh 7:35. The Jews wondered whether Christ would go to ‘the dispersed among the Gentiles’ (ἠ διασπορὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων), and, from working among these Hellenistic Jews, proceed to teach even the Greeks (Ἔλληνες). In this surmise they really anticipated the way in which Christianity found in the Grecian Jews a bridge by which it passed to the conquest of the Gentile world.

For the Greek language see Language of Christ.

Literature.—Grimm-Thayer, s.vv.; Schürer, HJ^{P [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.]} , Index, s.vv. ‘Greek influences,’ ‘Hellenism’; Edersheim, Life and Times, i. 17–30, 84–92; artt. ‘Grecians,’ ‘Greece,’ in vol. ii. of Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible , and ‘Diaspora’ in Ext. Vol.; art. ‘Hellenism’ in Encyc. Biblica; M‘Fadyen, art. ‘Hellenism’ in AJT^{h [Note: JTh American Journal of Theology.]} . x. 30.

F. E. Robinson.

grē´shanz, grēks: In the Old Testament the word “Grecians” occurs but once (Joel 3 (4):6). For references to Greece in the Old Testament see JAVAN. In the King James Version of the Old Testament Apocrypha “Grecians” and “Greeks” are used without distinction, e.g. 1 Macc 1:10; 6:2; 8:9; 2 Macc 4:15, 36. Thus, in 1 Macc 1:1, Alexander the Great is spoken of as king of Greece, and in 1 Macc 1:10 the Macedonian empire is called “the kingdom of the Greeks” (βασιλεία Ἑλλήνων, basileı́a Hellḗnōn). In 2 Macc 13:2 the army of Antiochus, king of Syria, is called “Grecian” (δύναμις Ἑλληνική, dúnamis Hellēnikḗ), and in 2 Macc 6:8 the “Greek cities” (πόλεις Ἑλληνίδες, póleis Hellēnı́des) are Macedonian colonies. Reference is made in 2 Macc 6:1 to an aged Athenian who was sent by Antiochus the king charged with the duty of Hellenizing the Jews; in 2 Macc 9:15 Antiochus vows that he will make the Jews equal to the Athenians; in 1 Macc 12 through 14, reference is made to negotiations of Jonathan, the high priest, with the Spartans, whom he calls brethren, seeking the renewal of a treaty of alliance and amity against the Syrians. With the spread of Greek power and influence, everything not specifically Jewish was called Greek; thus in 2 Macc 4:36; 11:2; 3 Macc 3:3, 1 the “Greeks” contrasted with the Jews are simply non-Jews, so called because of the prevalence of Greek institutions and culture, and “Greek” even came to be used in the sense of “anti-Jewish” (2 Macc 4:10, 15; 6:9; 11:24).

In Isa 9:12 the Septuagint reads τοὺς Ἕλληνας, toús Héllēnas, for פלשתּים, p^elishtı̄m, “Philistines”; but we are not therefore justified in assuming a racial connection between the Philistines and the Greeks. Further light on the ethnography of the Mediterranean basin may in time show that there was actually such a connection; but the rendering in question proves nothing, since “the oppressing sword” of Jer 46:16 and Jer 50:16 is likewise rendered in the Septuagint with “the sword of the Greeks” (μάχαιρα Ἑλληνική, máchaira Hellēnikḗ). In all these cases the translators were influenced by the conditions existing in their own day, and were certainly not disclosing obscure relations long forgotten and newly discovered.

In the New Testament, English Versions of the Bible attempts to distinguish between (Ἕλληνες, Héllēnes), which is rendered “Greeks,” and (Ἑλληνισταί, Hellēnistaı́), which is rendered “Grecians” or “Grecian Jews,” or in the Revised Version, margin “Hellenists,” e.g. Act 6:1; Act 9:29. These latter were Jews of the Dispersion, who spoke Greek (see HELLENISM; HELLENIST), as distinguished from Palestinian Jews; but since many of the latter also spoke Greek by preference, the distinction could in no sense be absolute. Indeed in Joh 7:35, “the Dispersion among (the Revised Version, margin, Greek “of”) the Greeks,” can hardly refer to any but “Grecian Jews” (Hellēnistai), although Hellēnes is used, and in Joh 12:20 the “Greeks” (Hellēnes) who went up to worship at the feast of the Passover were almost certainly “Grecian Jews” (Hellēnistai). Thus, while English Versions of the Bible consistently renders Hellēnes with “Greeks,” we are not by that rendering apprised of the real character of the people so designated. This difficulty is aggravated by the fact, already noted in connection with the Old Testament Apocrypha, that, in consequence of the spread of Hellenism, the term Hellēnes was applied not only to such as were of Hellenic descent, but also to all those who had appropriated the language of Greece, as the universal means of communication, and the ideals and customs collectively known as Hellenism. The latter were thus in the strict sense Hellenists, differing from the “Grecians” of English Versions of the Bible only in that they were not of Jewish descent. In other words, Hellēnes (except perhaps in Joh 7:35 and Joh 12:20, as noted above) is, in general, equivalent to tá éthnē, “Gentiles” (see GENTILES). The various readings of the manuscripts (and hence the difference between the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American)) in 1Co 1:23 well illustrate this. There is consequently much confusion, which it is quite impossible, with our limited knowledge of the facts in particular cases, to clear up. In general, it would seem probable that where “Greeks” are comprehensively contrasted with “Jews,” the reference is to “Gentiles,” as in Act 14:1; Act 17:4; Act 18:4; Act 19:10, Act 19:17; Act 20:21; Rom 1:16; Rom 10:12; 1Co 1:22-24 (the Revised Version (British and American) “Gentiles,” representing ἒθνεσιν, éthnesin; Gal 3:28; Col 3:11. In Mar 7:26 the woman of Tyre, called “a Greek (the Revised Version, margin “Gentile”) a Syrophoenician,” was clearly not of Hellenic descent. Whether Titus (Gal 2:3) and the father of Timothy; (Act 16:1, Act 16:3) were in the strict sense “Greeks,” we have no means of knowing. In Rom 1:14, “I am debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians,” there is an undoubted reference to Greeks strictly so called; possibly, though by no means certainly, the “Greeks” of Act 21:28, alluding to Trophimus the Ephesian (Act 21:29), are to be taken in the same sense. References to the Greek language occur in Joh 19:20 (Luk 23:38 is properly omitted in the Revised Version (British and American)); Act 21:37; Rev 9:11.

In Act 11:20 the manuscripts vary between Ἑλληνιστάς, Hellēnistás, and Ἕλληνας, Héllēnas (the King James Version “Grecians,” the Revised Version (British and American) “Greeks”), with the preponderance of authority in favor of the former; but even if one adopts the latter, it is not clear whether true Greeks or Gentiles are intended.

These two terms correspond respectively to the Greek words Ἑëëçíéóôáß and Ἔëëçíåò. The term Ἔëëçíåò is properly the name applied by the inhabitants of Greece to themselves, which the Romans rendered by the word Grœci (Eng. ‘Greeks’). In the NT the term is correctly used of those who are of Greek descent (Act_16:1; Act_18:4, Rom_1:14), although we also find it used as a general designation for all who do not belong to the Jewish race. Thus the foreigners who came desiring to see Jesus at the Passover are referred to as Greeks (Joh_12:20); so the Apostle Paul divides mankind into two classes when he says (Rom_10:12): ‘There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek’ (cf. Rom_1:16, Gal_3:28). In these passages the term is practically equivalent to ‘Gentile’ (q.v. [Note: quod vide, which see.] ). See also article Greece.

The term ‘Grecians’ (Ἑëëçíéóôáß), on the other hand (Act_6:1; Act_9:29), is applied to Greek-speaking Jews as opposed to the Jews of Palestine, who spoke Aramaic and are designated Hebrews. From the days of Alexander the Great onwards, large numbers of Jewish emigrants were to be found all over the known world. In Alexandria in particular a great number had settled, but in all the cities of the West, in all the centres of trade, Jews found a home. Many of these Jewish settlers acquired great wealth, and adopted Greek speech, manners, and customs. They read the Greek poets, and many of them studied Greek philosophy, while at the same time they adhered to the Jewish hopes and regarded Jerusalem as the centre of their life and worship. They were free from the narrowness and provincialism of the native Jews of Palestine, and the message of the Christian missionaries found much more willing hearers among this class than among the prejudiced and exclusive Palestine Jews.

A question of considerable interest has been raised regarding the proper reading in Act_11:20. Are we to read here ‘Grecians’ or ‘Greeks’? Were those to whom the men of Cyprus and Cyrene preached Jews or Gentiles, Grecians or Greeks? Internal evidence and the mass of manuscript authority seem to conflict. The reading ἙëëçíéóôÜò of TR [Note: Textus Receptus, Received Text.] is upheld by B D2 L and indirectly by à*, and has the support of almost all the cursives. It is also retained by Westcott-Hort’s Greek Testament . On the other hand, internal evidence seems to demand the reading Ἔëëçíåò of à3 A D, which is accepted by Scrivener, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, and the text of the Revised Version . Why call attention to the fact that the men of Cyprus and Cyrene preached to Grecians when that had already been done? If the writer intends to refer to a new departure in missionary enterprise, the context seems to demand the reading ‘Greeks’ (cf. F. H. A. Scrivener, Introd. to Criticism of NT4, 1894, ii. 370f.; for the other point of view see Westcott-Hort, Introd. to Gr. NT, 1882, Appendix p. 93f.).

W. F. Boyd.