Proselyte

Occurrences in Scripture

The Greek word prosēlytos appears four times in the New Testament.

• Matthew 23:15: Jesus rebukes the scribes and Pharisees, who "compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." The New Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Gaejeong) renders the word here as "church member" (gyoin).
• Acts 2:10: Among the crowd gathered in Jerusalem at Pentecost were "Jews and proselytes."
• Acts 6:5: The Jerusalem church chose seven men to oversee the distribution of relief. Among them was "Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch."
• Acts 13:43: After Paul and Barnabas preached in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch, "many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas."

Term and Background

Prosēlytos originally meant "one who has come near" or "one who has come over." The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, frequently used this word to render the Hebrew ger (stranger, sojourner). In the Old Testament, a ger was a foreigner residing in the land of Israel. The Law commands Israel not to mistreat such people but to love them (Leviticus 19:33–34). A circumcised sojourner could take part in the Passover (Exodus 12:48).

During the intertestamental period, the word came to denote a "convert" in the religious sense. According to later rabbinic literature, male converts are understood to have faced three requirements: receiving circumcision, undergoing ritual immersion in water for purification, and, while the Temple stood, offering a sacrifice. By contrast, Gentiles who attended the synagogue and worshiped God without being circumcised are commonly distinguished as "God-fearers." The centurion Cornelius (Acts 10:2) is often cited as an example.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

In the Old Testament, Gentiles were incorporated into Israel through circumcision and observance of the Law. In the early church, whether Gentiles could enter the church by faith alone, without circumcision, became a major point of controversy. The Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) decided not to impose circumcision on Gentile believers.

Paul states that in Christ there is no distinction between Jew and Greek (Galatians 3:26–29). Ephesians likewise declares that Gentile believers "are no more strangers and foreigners" (Ephesians 2:19). These passages reveal an understanding of community that differs from the path of conversion by "coming over" into Judaism. The selection of Nicolas, a former proselyte, as one of the seven is often read as showing that the church embraced people of differing backgrounds from the very beginning.

Interpretation and Debated Points

• Views differ on Matthew 23:15. Some scholars take it as evidence that the Judaism of the time actively sought converts. Others hold that evidence for large-scale missionary activity is lacking and that the verse refers to making Gentiles who already attended the synagogue into full proselytes.
• Interpreters are also divided over whether the "religious proselytes" of Acts 13:43 were full converts or God-fearing Gentiles.
• Ruth and Rahab are frequently presented as examples of proselytes in later Jewish tradition and in Christian preaching. The Old Testament text, however, does not call them "proselytes." Nor does the text state whether the Ethiopian eunuch was a proselyte.
• Some Church Fathers connected the Nicolaitans of Revelation 2 with the Nicolas of Acts 6:5. Assessments differed even among the Fathers, however, and the connection remains uncertain.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, "conversion" (gaejong) chiefly refers to a person who formerly followed another religion turning to Christianity. The "proselyte" of the biblical text differs from this in that it refers to a Gentile entering Judaism. In addition, because the New Korean Revised Version renders the word as "church member," "one who entered Judaism," and similar expressions, the Korean term for "proselyte" (gaejongja) itself seldom stands out to readers of the Korean Bible.