By Elise M. Cormode
For: Prof.Terry Chaney
New Testament Introduction
Ozark Christian College
2 December 1992

There is a word that is used in both James 1:1 and I Peter 1:1 that is only used three times in the whole New Testament (Kistemaker, p. 7). The word is translated "scattered" from the Greek diaspora. The third usage is in John 7:35. The question to be approached is whether the same scattering is denoted in each passage. The reference in John 7:35 is quite clear. "The Jews said to one another, `Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?'" The scattering of the Jewish people is intended. Therefore, the concentration must be directed at James 1:1 and I Peter 1:1.

The word in question, diaspora, although translated in these passages "scattered," is actually a noun in the Greek (Carson, p. 415), therefore, more literally "the scattering." The verb form diaspeiro is used in Acts 8:1 and 11:19 in describing the Christians fleeing Jerusalem under Saul's persecution. Kistemaker calls these the "verbal parallel" of diaspora. The word itself is a compound word. Dia (a preposition) means "through" (among other things) and spora (a noun) means "sowing" (Zodhiates, p. 18). The picture is evidently pastoral, as a farmer scatters seed. Incidentally this is apparently the root of the Latin dispergere, the source of the English word "disperse" (American Heritage Dictionary, 2nd College ed. 1985). As in John 7:35, the word was commonly used in reference to Jews living outside Palestine. By extension, it also denoted the place where they lived (Carson, p. 415). Usage may be clarified to include only those Jews who maintained their "religious observances among the Gentiles" (Van Alstine, p. 962). It is regularly used thus in the LXX and in extrabiblical Jewish writings.

In using diaspora to refer to practicing Jews outside Palestine, one should be aware of the numbers involved. In concluding his remarks at the Jerusalem Council, James notes that, "Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times" (Acts 15:21). "Every city" is not an exaggeration. In a letter to Caligula, (quoted by Philo), Agrippa notes that "Jerusalem became the capital, not only of Judea, but of many other lands, on account of the colonies which it sent out from time to time into the bordering districts...Asia Minor...Europe ...the most important islands...[and] the countries beyond the Euphrates" (Van Alstine, p. 962). I Maccabees, Cicero, Strabo and Josephus all comment on the influence of the Diaspora on the rest of the Empire. Estimates of Jewish population range from four to seven million outside Palestine, with three million in the homeland and another million in the Eastern Dispora (Van Alstine, p. 962).

A few words should be said about the nature of the Jewish Dispora. First, the ultimate reason for exile given in the Old Testament was sin (cf. Jer. 9:16). In the case of the massive First Century scattering, there seem to be three direct causes: 1) forced deportation by various conquerors, 2) searching for greater security when Palestine became a buffer state between Ptolemaic and Seleucid factions, and 3) they were encouraged to help settle new Greek cities as a stabilizing influence (Van Alstine, p. 962). Second, the great numbers from this can be attributed to their abhorrence of infanticide, and extremely successful proselyting efforts (VA p. 963). Third, anti-Semitism was widespread, probably because they were non-conformists (V.A. pp 965, 966).

Now, John 7:35 obviously refers to this group of people; do James and Peter? In order to answer that question, each reference should be examined separately, and then compared.

Therefore, to begin with James, it should be noted that the address, "To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations" (1:1) is of little use in pursuing an exact audience (Carson, p. 415). There are three basic views of what is meant by the phrase. The most obvious conclusion is that it is a cyclical letter directed at Jewish Christians, since "the twelve tribes" is a common biblical reference to Israel (eg. Ex 24:4, Mt. 19:28, Lk 22:30, Ac 26:7, Rev 21:12). However, as Kistemaker points out it is not absolutely literal, the entire nation of Israel is not addressed, rather the letter is directed to representatives of the tribes, "who, because of Christ's work, are now the new Israel" (p. 6).

The Jewish flavor of the document is demonstrated in a number of ways. There is the unself-conscious mention of Old Testament law (1:25, 2:8-13) and the designation of their meeting place as a "synagogue" (2:2) (Carson, p. 415). In 4:4 James calls the audience an "adulterous people" because of their friendship with the world. The Greek literally reads "you adulteresses." This is an Old Testament figure of speech reflecting the covenant relationship of God to his people as a marriage (cf. Hosea). Other Jewish elements include the fact that there were no overseers mentioned (as in Acts, Philippians, Timothy and Titus) and the use of "elders" is remininscent of the term commonly used for Jewish leaders. These elders are to be called to pray over the sick (5:14), apparently a Jewish custom (Kistemaker, p. 7). Finally, there is the use of the term Kyriou Sabaoth in 5:4 translated "Lord of Hosts" or "Lord Almighty" (NIV). Sabaoth is a transliteration form Hebrew. The only other use in the New Testament is Roamns 9:29. The other ten places where the English reads "Lord Almighty" in Greek read pantoktrator which means "ruler of all things". This was the term used in the LXX to translate Sabaoth and sometimes Shaddai (Baker, p. 110). That is why it is interesting that Sabaoth is used here.

There are some who would regard this overwhelming Jewishness as evidence that James was actually a Jewish letter later "converted" by a Christain editor. Massebrian and Spitta were the first to suggest this, pointing also to "the extraordinary difficult grammatical problem offered by the Greek genetives in 2:1 (Easton, p.9), which they felt would be solved if the words "Jesus Christ" and "our" before Lord were recognized as Christian insertions. If that were the case, then the "twelve tribes scattered" in 1:1 would refer literally to the nation of Israel. Two major problems with this theory are that 2:14-26 presents an argument inconceivable in mainline Judaism. To them, faith without works was always barren (Easton, p. 10); and that by this time the "twelve tribes" as such no longer existed. Needless to say, this a minority view.

The other extreme in the interpretation of "the twelve tribes scattered" is to view it as purely metamorphical, an Old Testament application borrowed "to designate the church as the new covenant people of God" (Carson, p. 415), by equating Christians with those living away from the true home, also known as heaven. However, as Carson points out, the early date in the more Jewish flavour lean towards a more literal meaning of the diaspora (p. 415). Kistemaker suggests that there is no evidence for any Greek audience in James (p. 6). This may be overstated in light of the number of proselytes and "God-feareres" in first century Jewish communities. Regardless, the general agreement is that those "scattered" in James 1:1 refers to Jewish Christians most likely those recently scattered by the persecution in connection with Saul and the people they had converted who James felt some responsibility for (Gaebelein, p. 167-3).

Having concluded that diaspora in James 1:1 refers to Jewish Christians, whereas John 7:35 refers to the large scale diaspora of Jews in the Roman world, attention must now be focused on I Peter 1:1. Here again, diaspora is used in the address, "God's elect, strangers int eh world, scattered through..." Who are the "scattered" here? At first it would appear that Jewish Christians are again intended because of the use of the word which is used thus elsewhere in reference to Jews. Carson notes that this was indeed the assumption "in earlier days" especially because of Peter's commitment to work with Jews (Gal 2:9) (p.425). However, there are some other factors to be taken into account. First, it cannot be held that Peter never worked with Gentiles (Carson, p.425). In fact, Blum suggests that Peter may have evangelized the north and central provinces here named, while Paul evangelized the south and west provinces (p.212). Second, the text does not read in a particularly Jewish fashion as James does; at times it sounds quite to the contrary. 1:18 speaks of the recipients as being redeemed "from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers". This is difficult to square with the Old Testament system (Carson, p.425), unless the teachings of the Pharisees could be called "empty" (which is possible, but not probable in this context).

Therefore, most scholars agree that the churches addressed in I Peter were predominately Gentile, but undoubtedly had a core of Jewish believers since evangelization in the first century typically started in the synagogue. Diaspora then, is here used to indicate the status of the comtemporary church, perhaps with covenant overtones. As Horst said,

There is, in short, no real reason to assume the word diaspora is used in the same way in both James and I Peter.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barker, Kenneth L. "YAWH Sabaoth: 'The Lord Almighty'"

The NIV: The Making of a Contemporary Translation. Kenneth L. Barker, ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Academic Books (Zondervan Corporation), 1986.

Blum, Edwin A. "I Peter", The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Vol. 12 (Hebrews-Revelation). Frank E. Gaebelein, ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Regency Reference Library (Zondervan Corporation), 1981.

Burdick, Donald W. "James", The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Vol. 12 (Hebrews-Revelation). Frank E. Gaebelein, ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Regency Reference Library (Zondervan Corporation), 1981.

Carson, D.A., Moo, Douglas J., Morris, Leon. An Introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992.

Easton, Burton Scott. "The Epistle of James: Introduction and Exegesis", The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 12. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1957.

Goodnick, Edward W., and Kohlenberger, John R. III, eds. The NIV Exhaustive Concordance. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1990.

Gudem, Wayne A. The First Epistle of Peter: An Introduction and Commentary. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1988.

Kistemaker, Simon J. Exposition of the Epistle of James and the Epistles of John. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1986.

Van Alstine, G.A. "Dispersion", International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol 1. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ed. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979.

Zodhistes, Spiros. The Work of Faith. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1981.