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Acts reports a phenomena that is somewhat tough to come to grips with in it's reporting of early Christianity. Current estimates of the Jerusalem population around the time of Jesus run to around 50,000 people (Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus by Joachim Jeremias). Acts reports extremely large numbers of conversions in Jerusalem at the start of Christianity. A picture many people have is that the group in Jerusalem was somewhat small in number. I think the evidence may show otherwise. The evidence that we have would seem to indicate to me that the new Christian movment was actually quite popular at the outset. Consider the following:
Acts 2:41 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added.
2:47 praising God and having the good will of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved.
Acts 4:4 But many of those who had listened to the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.
5:12 Now many miraculous signs and wonders came about among the people through the hands of the apostles. By common consent they were all meeting together in Solomons Portico. 5:13 None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high honor. 5:14 More and more believers in the Lord were added to their number, crowds of both men and women.
5:26 Then the commander of the temple guard went with the officers and brought the apostleswithout the use of force (for they were afraid of being stoned by the people).
The apostles seem to have the throngs of people on their side. The openly practiced and taught in the Temple. Luke's numbers here may be a very rough estimate since just the incident of the conversion of 5,000 people alone would be about 10% of the Jerusalem population. Even if the numbers are a rough estimate, I think it's very likely that Luke is reporting/remembering accurately mass conversions to Jesus in the beginning.
The movment appears to have been large enough so that a dispute between Hellenistic and Hebraic Jews arose and new help had to be appointed to carry on daily tasks. This certainly would not have been the case had the group been small. This also appears to be the first 'crisis' the Church faced and effeciently handled.
6:1 Now in those days, when the disciples were growing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Greek-speaking Jews against the native Hebraic Jews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
Luke also gives information about the conversion of what we might think would be an unlikely crowd:
6:7 ... a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.
15:5 But some from the religious party of the Pharisees who had believed...
The real trouble for the earliest church wasn't the masses of Jews; their repeated touble encounters were with the Jerusalem elite - the leadership - the high priests and council. Consider too that Paul seems to be carrying out his persecution with the support of the council, not the masses. And even in the Jerusalem leadership the early church wasn't without supporters and sympathizers.
5:34 But a Pharisee whose name was Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the council
(also don't forget Nicodemus)
The killing of Stephen, James brother of John, and James brother of Jesus, were all done with at the hands of the leadership, not the masses. James himself seems to have been well respected among the people of Jerusalem. Upon his execution by the high priest Ananus, the people were angry enough to submit to the Roman governor to remove Ananus. Agrippa took the high priesthood away from Ananus.
So what happened to all of those who converted? If the christian movment was so popular among Jews at the beginning, what happened to them?
I suggest there was one major catalyst that cause many of the first believers to depart from the Christian movement - the inclusion of the Gentiles. It was with the inclusion of the Gentiles that we run to a sharp division between "the circumcision" and those who weren't (Acts 10:45, 11:1, 15:1-5, 16:3, 21:1). It was against this division that Paul rages against in Galatians and Phil 3:2-6, and speaks against in Romans, Eph 2, Titus 1:10, and Col 2-4. I think this is the catalyst that caused a shift in what Luke accurately says was a popular movement in the very beginning. The good times ceased to roll though when the Gentiles started converting. The problem that many had with the Gentiles wasn't that they wanted to convert, it's that they weren't circumcized.
I suggest that it's this catalyst that led to Christians eventually being expelled from the synagogue:
John 16:1 I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away. 16:2 They will put you out of the synagogue, yet a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God.
Acts 2:41 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added.
2:47 praising God and having the good will of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved.
Acts 4:4 But many of those who had listened to the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.
5:12 Now many miraculous signs and wonders came about among the people through the hands of the apostles. By common consent they were all meeting together in Solomons Portico. 5:13 None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high honor. 5:14 More and more believers in the Lord were added to their number, crowds of both men and women.
5:26 Then the commander of the temple guard went with the officers and brought the apostleswithout the use of force (for they were afraid of being stoned by the people).
The apostles seem to have the throngs of people on their side. The openly practiced and taught in the Temple. Luke's numbers here may be a very rough estimate since just the incident of the conversion of 5,000 people alone would be about 10% of the Jerusalem population. Even if the numbers are a rough estimate, I think it's very likely that Luke is reporting/remembering accurately mass conversions to Jesus in the beginning.
The movment appears to have been large enough so that a dispute between Hellenistic and Hebraic Jews arose and new help had to be appointed to carry on daily tasks. This certainly would not have been the case had the group been small. This also appears to be the first 'crisis' the Church faced and effeciently handled.
6:1 Now in those days, when the disciples were growing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Greek-speaking Jews against the native Hebraic Jews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
Luke also gives information about the conversion of what we might think would be an unlikely crowd:
6:7 ... a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.
15:5 But some from the religious party of the Pharisees who had believed...
The real trouble for the earliest church wasn't the masses of Jews; their repeated touble encounters were with the Jerusalem elite - the leadership - the high priests and council. Consider too that Paul seems to be carrying out his persecution with the support of the council, not the masses. And even in the Jerusalem leadership the early church wasn't without supporters and sympathizers.
5:34 But a Pharisee whose name was Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the council
(also don't forget Nicodemus)
The killing of Stephen, James brother of John, and James brother of Jesus, were all done with at the hands of the leadership, not the masses. James himself seems to have been well respected among the people of Jerusalem. Upon his execution by the high priest Ananus, the people were angry enough to submit to the Roman governor to remove Ananus. Agrippa took the high priesthood away from Ananus.
So what happened to all of those who converted? If the christian movment was so popular among Jews at the beginning, what happened to them?
I suggest there was one major catalyst that cause many of the first believers to depart from the Christian movement - the inclusion of the Gentiles. It was with the inclusion of the Gentiles that we run to a sharp division between "the circumcision" and those who weren't (Acts 10:45, 11:1, 15:1-5, 16:3, 21:1). It was against this division that Paul rages against in Galatians and Phil 3:2-6, and speaks against in Romans, Eph 2, Titus 1:10, and Col 2-4. I think this is the catalyst that caused a shift in what Luke accurately says was a popular movement in the very beginning. The good times ceased to roll though when the Gentiles started converting. The problem that many had with the Gentiles wasn't that they wanted to convert, it's that they weren't circumcized.
I suggest that it's this catalyst that led to Christians eventually being expelled from the synagogue:
John 16:1 I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away. 16:2 They will put you out of the synagogue, yet a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God.
