People Groups of New Testament Israel
All cultures have people groups that define how society functions. The Jewish people throughout history are no different.
People groups also change over time as cultures redefine and reorganize themselves due to political, religious, and cultural realties. Understanding how these groups function helps us to gain clarity on paradigms, politics, and relationships of any particular chapter in the history of a culture.
In the case of the New Testament, understanding how these people groups are defined helps us gain clarity on the teaching of Jesus, the Apostles, and the early church.
People Groups of the New Testament and Jesus' Time
The teachings of Jesus and the writings of the New Testament authors primarily reference the people groups of the Jewish culture at the time of Christ. These people groups can give us clues about the political, economic, social, and religious relationships in play during Jesus' earthly life. Although, there are several groups that will not be discussed here, we will cover the primary classifications that will help us better understand the principles taught by Jesus in his teachings and parables.
This article will identify and briefly describe people groups based on three characteristics:
- Religious Order
- Political Order
- Economic Order
- Social Order
Because Jewish life is religious life, these characteristics intertwine among the groups. A person's religious status cannot be separated from his political, economic, and social status. That differs from people groupings in the modern west. One can have a social status that is independent of political status, or an economic status that is not affected by his religious status. However, in New Testament Jewish culture, these characteristics overlap and are often dependent on one another.
In addition to these social characteristics, we often find that the local region where a person lived impacted their status among society.
For example, Samaritans had a low place on the social hierarchy of the New Testament Jewish culture because of their political and religious history and DNA. And the agricultural people had less power and influence than those living in the larger cities.
See the article on Types of Cities in the New Testament for an explanation on the following types of villages, towns, and cities.
- Agros
- Kome
- Polis
- Techos
History of the Political and Religious Status of the New Testament
Here is a brief outline of the people groups of the New Testament. Click on any of these groups to learn more. For a history leading up to the New Testament click here.
Prior to the time of the New Testament, there was dramatic cultural shifts that began to divide the people of Israel into various cultural classes. The power of Hellenism that had invaded the Jewish people first with the Greeks and then with the Romans brought with it tremendous development in four areas:
- Education
- Athletics
- Entertainment
- Healthcare
Those four critical issues were promised by Hellenism as it made its way across the known world. The primary dividing line between the following six groups of people was drawn based on each groups desire to adopt Hellenistic culture.
As Alexander the Great began his conquest to conquer the world, his good news (euangelion) was heralded by his followers and became a rally cry for the march across the known world.
For the first time in the history of mankind, the gods were no longer the center of the universe. No longer was man made in the image of the gods, but the gods were made in the image of man. The great philosopher, Pythagorus, around 500 BC said, "Man is the measure of all things."
This is the western culture that we, as Americans, now live in as well. Popular taglines and marketing Ú