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Acts describes Gentile proselytes who join the Jewish community, a group also found in the Dead Sea Scroll 4Q267, which ranks priests, Levites, Israelites, and proselytes in order, showing that Gentile converts had a place in these Jewish communities.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
4Q267 9 v 10
Damascus Document
Dead Sea Scrolls, Sectarian and Community Texts
6 and are punished. [And the rule for the session of] all the camps: they shall all be enrolled by their names, 7 the priests first, [the Levites] second, and the sons of Israel 8 third. And they shall be written [by their names, each] after his brother: the priests 9 first, [the Levites second, the sons of] Israel third, 10 and the proselyte fourth. [So they shall sit, and so they shall be asked] about everything. And the priest who 11 is appointed at the head of the many shall be from thirty years old to sixty 12 years old, learned in [the Book of] Hagi and in all the judgments of the Torah, to speak them 13 according to their rule. And the [overseer who is over] all the camps shall be from thirty years old 14 to fifty [years old, master of every] secret of men [and of every tongue]
Date: 160–60 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Acts 13:43
New Testament
40 Watch out, then, that what is spoken about by the prophets does not happen to you: 41 ‘Look, you scoffers; be amazed and perish! For I am doing a work in your days, a work you would never believe, even if someone tells you.’” 42 As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people were urging them to speak about these things on the next Sabbath. 43 When the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and were persuading them to continue in the grace of God.
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Judaism - and also the Jewish-Christians - of the first century A.D. had thought of two possibilities for the Gentiles to be saved, so that they could go into the restored Israel in accordance with God’s plan for the end of times: (1) A traditional and simple one: Gentiles have to convert to Judaism, that is to say, they must become proselytes by means of circumcision and the observance of the complete Law: all the saved, Gentiles and Jews, must obey the Law. (2) A second system, also traditional but connected to a broader mental framework and with conceptions defended also by Judaism perhaps for centuries: Gentiles could be saved in a sort of second-class salvation, not being necessary for them to be fully converted to Judaism. It was only indispensable for them to fulfill the so called “Laws of Noah,” based on the alliance established by God with this patriarch and his lineage (Genesis 9:3–13). The most important of these precepts were: Not to blaspheme; not to adore false gods; not to commit sexual sins; not to kill; not to steal; not to eat meat together with its blood. Chapter 15 of Acts reveals to us the existence of a way of imagining the admission of Gentiles into a Jewish-Christian group that considered themselves to be the true Israel ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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