The earliest Jesus group in Jerusalem

Andries Van Aarde

doi:10.4102/ve.v25i2.295

Abstract

Church formation in the history of early Christianity emanated from the kerygma about Jesus after his death. The kerygma was based on memories of Jesus which were used in the Christian cult as both explanation and apology for the encountering of God through the traditions about the crucified, buried, resurrected, and ascended Jesus. The aim of the article is to argue that the term “the Twelve” served as a self-reference of the earliest Jesus group in Jerusalem. They regarded themselves as “apostles” and "prophets” of the “new Israel”, analogous to the twelve patriarchs in the Hebrew Scriptures. Reconstructing a trail from Jesus to the earliest group in Jerusalem to Paul, the article demonstrates a fundamental difference between Paul and the Jerusalem group. They understood the notion of “the Twelve” as exchangeable for “all of Israel”, represented by “all the apostles”. For Paul the concept “apostles” is an expansion of “the Twelve” in Jerusalem.

Highlights

Despite his centrality in Christian theology Jesus should not be seen as the founder of Christianity
Neither are the words “church” (e0kklhsi/a) or “christians”/ significations of self-expression used by all groups of the earliest Jesus followers in
The term “christianoi”/ is an example of stereotyping (Pilch 1997:119-125) used by Judeans and Romans to refer to Jesus followers in, for example, Syria3

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Despite his centrality in Christian theology Jesus should not be seen as the founder of Christianity. His vision, sayings and deeds constitute the foundational narrative of a religion that has become to be known as Christianity, he was not the “founder” of a cult. Christian literature used terms such as “pilars” to refer to people who fulfilled this formative role as “founder patrons” (cf Smith 2000:65-66; Martyn 1997:205). Neither are the words “church” (e0kklhsi/a) or “christians” (xristianoi)/ significations of self-expression used by all groups of the earliest Jesus followers in

Paper presented at the mini-conference “Continuity – Changes – Breaks

FROM JESUS TO PAUL VIA JERUSALEM

THE CIRCLE OF THE TWELVE

FINDINGS