Paul's Important Defense of God-Fearers

Why is Paul's defense of God-Fearers important when many have never heard of this group called God-Fearers? We believe it will become more evident when we understand the history of people from the nations/Gentiles who were joining the Jewish people in the worship of the one true God. We also believe many of the conflicts Paul was addressing in his letters were primarily concerning the requirements for God-Fearers in the first century. So, this is important when trying to understand Paul's writings and to NOT take them out of their cultural context.

First of all, since the beginning, starting with Father Abraham, there have been multitudes of people from the nations who have chosen to be a part of his family through the covenant God made with him.  We read in Genesis 12:3 where God promised Abraham that in him all the nations would be blessed:

“…and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (NKJV)

God commanded Abraham to place a sign of His eternal covenant on all males living within Abraham’s household.  These were servants and foreigners that were not of his flesh, as Abraham did not have children at this point.  One example is Abraham’s oldest servant, Eliezer of Damascus, who would inherit Abraham’s possessions and was put in charge of all of Abraham’s household (Genesis 15:2, 24:2). 

Abraham, being a righteous man, would have taught his servants the ways of God, as Genesis 26:5 states, “because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My Laws.” (Genesis 26:5)

God did not make a separate covenant with other nations.  So, the only way for someone from the nations to receive the blessings promised to Abraham, and receive salvation, was to be grafted into the Abrahamic Covenant. These were later called a God-Fearer, in Hebrew a Ger.

GER: PROSLYTES

In the Older Covenant, the Hebrew word “Ger” refers to those from the nations who joined themselves to Israel.  The word Ger was typically translated in modern Bibles as:  stranger, alien, or foreigner.   Here are a few excerpts from the first five books of the Bible that describe a Ger’s privileges and responsibilities while living in the land of Israel:

• One manner of law applied to them and Israelites

• Kept Passover

• Rested on the Shabbat

• Made offerings

• Fasted on Yom Kippur

• Ate from the gleanings of the field and vineyard, and olive trees

• Put to death like fellow Israelites if they “giveth any of his seed unto Molech”

• Stoned like Israelite if they “blasphemeth the name of the LORD”

• Cities shall be a refuge for them as well

• Judges must judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him

• Israel was told to love the stranger: “for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

• Ate of the tithes of thine increase the third year

• They gathered with the rest of Isreal publicly to hear, learn, and “fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law.”

There have been volumes written and debated on this subject.  However, we want to narrow our focus on the first century Ger called proselyte or God-Fearer in the New Covenant.

The first time the word Proselyte is used in the New Covenant is in Matthew 23:15 where Yeshua rebukes the scribes and Pharisees for their traveling to make “proselytes” just like them.  The next time the word appears is in Acts 6:5 and its plural usage in Acts 2:10 and Acts 13:43.

According to Professor Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Professor of Rabbinic Literature in the department of Jewish Philosophy and Talmud at Tel-Aviv University, the term “Proselytos” (Proselyte) is a:

“Jewish-Greek term for a ger that literally means “one who has arrived,” likely implying more than just “living among,” but “joining.” LXX uses this term for the vast majority of cases when ger refers to an outsider living among Israelites.”

We believe that the Proselytes mentioned in the Book of Acts kept all of God’s commandments, as well as, the “customs/traditions of the elders.” They were able to fully participate in the synagogue.  Today, they would go through a formal conversion process and we would call them “converts to Judaism.”  These individuals made a full commitment to be part of the community and were to be treated as equals.

GER: GOD-FEARERS

In the New Covenant, we see another type of people from the nations called God-Fearers who were generally described as devout or “those who fear God.”  This type of “fear of God” is not a negative or scary type of emotion.  Rather, it depicts a positive respect and honor for God.  In Acts 9: 31, the early congregations of Judea, Galilee, and Samaria were described as:

“walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.” (NKJV)

These people attached themselves to Israel and observed all of God’s written commandments. They did not consider the oral interpretations of the rabbis and scribes on “how to” observe the Torah as binding on them.  Historically, they attended the synagogues and worshiped at the Temple with the Jewish people where they practiced the same faith of the patriarchs and matriarchs.

We were given several accounts in the New Covenant where the Apostle Paul was teaching in Jewish synagogues and non-Jewish people from the nations were in attendance.  One event, described in Acts 13:16-47 occurred in Antioch; a city located in modern southeastern Turkey.  Our New Covenant example below refers to these people as “you who fear God.”

“After the reading of the Law and Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them…Then Paul stood up and motioning with his hand said, ‘Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen:…Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God…So, when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath…For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth” (NKJV)

In Acts 17:10-12, we find Paul in Berea, an ancient city in northern Greece, where non-Jews from that nation were attending the synagogue and Paul shared the good news about Yeshua’s (Hebrew for Jesus’) first coming:

“…When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.  These were more fair-minded…searched out the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.  Therefore, many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as the men." (NKJV)

We also find in Acts 18:7 where Paul enters a God-Fearer’s home that was adjacent to a synagogue in Corinth.  This occurred after the people of the synagogue had opposed Paul and his teaching:

“And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.”  (NKJV)

In the next verse, it states” “Then, Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord (Yeshua) with all his household.”

We find the most famous God-Fearer in the New Covenant in Acts 10:1, 34-35.  His name was Cornelius, who was divinely directed by an “angel of God” to send for the Apostle Peter:

“There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a Roman army officer in what was called the Italian Regiment. He was a devout man, a "God-Fearer," as was his whole household; he gave generously to help the Jewish poor and prayed regularly to God…Then Kefa (Peter) addressed them: ‘I now understand that God does not play favorites, but that whoever fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him, no matter what people he belongs to.’” (Complete Jewish Bible)

The example above is foundational to the understanding that those from the nations are accepted by God and were recognized by the Jewish Apostles.  Cornelius was:

• An Italian,

• A devout man,

• A God-Fearer,

• A generous giver to the Jewish poor,

• One who prayed regularly to God,

• One who did what was right, i.e., kept the commandments,

• “Well-spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews.” (Acts 10:22)

Again, it was clear from Peter’s statement that this Roman officer was a righteous man in his actions; keeping the guidelines and instructions that God gave in His Torah (Hebrew for Law). We want to do likewise today. 

From all of these verses, it is obvious these people from the nations were instructed to keep the commandments of God.  This is why they were allowed inside Jewish synagogues.  Although there is debate about on how much of God’s Torah applied to the God-Fearers; we know they were instructed in all of the writings of the Hebrew Bible.  They did not have a separate worship system.

In Acts 2, we see both Proselytes and God-Fearers (devout men) among those assembling for the festival of Shavuot (Hebrew for Pentecost), as commanded in Leviticus 23.  Yeshua’s disciples were also present and shared with them about Yeshua in Acts 2:5-10:

“And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven…Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes.” (NKJV)

Also, in Acts 15, there was a discussion and determination by the Apostles and the Elders in Jerusalem on how to treat the God-Fearers from the nations who believed in Yeshua and were following God’s commandments. These leaders addressed four essential categories that were based on Leviticus 18-20, which warns Israel to NOT take on the “detestable ways” of the nations. These are:

• Fornication (Leviticus 18)

• Idolatry (Leviticus 19-20)

• Blood Intake (Leviticus 19)

• Witchcraft (Leviticus 20)

Yeshua’s Apostles and followers were heeding the same warning given by God to ancient Israel NOT to mix God’s ways with the ways of the pagan nations.  These new believers from the nations were to put away or abstain from any detestable practices of their nations as a starting point for fellowship with Jewish believers.  Then, they would be accepted in the synagogues and could learn the rest of God’s Commandments.

We believe the above meeting in Acts 15 was prompted by events that occurred in the book of Galatians, chapter 2, where the Apostle Paul confronted Peter about “compelling Gentiles to live like Jews.”  Apparently, there were “false brethren” compelling these God-Fearers from the nations to become proselytes, to live under the law of man-made traditions, called “works of the law,” not God’s Law. (see our article titled Paul’s Letter to the Galatians) 

Many have used Paul's writings to develop a "Gentile-ized" view of what is required of Yeshua’s followers.  Today, many have developed a separate replacement system with different cultures and holidays. During Paul’s time as an Apostle of Yeshua, he fought two extremes, legalism and lawlessness in his letters.

We are still fighting these same battles today as we strive to not "add to" or "take away" from the Word of God.  Paul did not develop a new replacement system for people from the nations joining Israel.  Rather, he upheld God’s Law and Messiah’s example; allowing them time to learn as a part of God’s ONE family.

Paul informed the God-Fearers in his letter to the Ephesians 2:12-16:

"Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth - called the Uncircumcised by those who, merely because of an operation on their flesh, are called the Circumcised - at that time had no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Isra'el. You were foreigners to the Covenants embodying God's promise. You were in this world without hope and without God. But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah's blood. For he himself is our shalom - he has made us both ONE...He did this in order to create in union with himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make shalom, and in order to reconcile to God both in a single body by being executed on a stake as a criminal and thus in himself killing that enmity." (Complete Jewish Bible)

Also, in Ephesians 2:19:

“So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God's people and members of God's family.” (NKJV)

How many families do you count? ONE!  Obviously, Paul was NOT saying there are two separate groups, observing different commandments and special days.  Rather, he taught a continuation of what we see at the beginning with Abraham.  We read in Galatians 3:26-29:

“For in union with the Messiah, you are all children of God through this trusting faithfulness because as many of you as were immersed into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah, in whom there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor female; for in union with the Messiah Yeshua, you are all one. Also, if you belong to the Messiah, you are seed of Avraham and heirs according to the promise.” (Complete Jewish Bible)

This is amazing!  We are the children of Abraham, based on the promises given to our father Abraham and our faith in Messiah Yeshua.  There has always been ONE household that has ONE set of commandments for everyone who is within the Abrahamic Covenant.

We believe it is time for those who are from the nations to stop thinking of themselves as members of man-made denominations and start thinking of themselves as what God said they are, joint-heirs and fellow-citizens of Israel WITH the Jewish people.