The Christian church was launched by Jewish apostles who had walked with Jesus and fully embraced the gospel he taught. Jesus had appointed them to this task, commissioned them to serve as his witnesses to the entire world (Acts 1:8), and sent the gift of the Holy Spirit to empower them in his world-changing enterprise.
When persecution came to the growing church in Jerusalem, the Jewish Christians fanned out, to other parts of the Roman Empire. At first they assumed that their primary mission was to deliver the Good News to Israel, “that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all” (Acts 10:36).
Fairly quickly, God made it clear to the apostles and evangelists that God’s salvation and deliverance is for anyone who believes on the name of Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile. The price of admission is to simply acknowledge his Son as Lord, and believe in his resurrection from the dead (Rom. 10:9-10).
Despite lots of resistance then and now, there are always some from every people group who hear the message and are ready to believe it. Some of these souls are in a category called God-fearers. These were Gentiles who were drawn to the God of the Jews and Christians or had an unusual sympathy or affinity for God’s people.
Cornelius the centurion is a great example. He is described as a “devout man, and one that feared God with all his house.” He gave generously to the poor, and “prayed to God always” (Acts 10:1-2). God recognized his humility and openness. One day, and angel appeared to Cornelius and declared, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have not gone unnoticed by God!” (Acts 10:4). The angel instructed him to send for Peter, who was lodging nearby.
The Holy Spirit orchestrated a miraculous plan for Peter to understand that he was to visit Cornelius and his family and deliver the good news about Christ the Messiah. Before Peter even finished his speech, “the Holy Spirit fell upon all who had heard the message.” They spoke in tongues, prophesied, and were baptized into the faith. A God-fearing man was saved and transformed, with his entire household (Acts 10:44-48). What a wonderful story!
There are other occasions cited in Acts when God-fearers were so sympathetic toward the religious Jews that they joined them in persecuting the “followers of the Way.” In Pisidian Antioch, “the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region” (Acts 13:50). I guess it can go either way with God-fearers.
In this case, because they were not Jews, the God-fearers were better accepted and listened to by the secular authorities, so the Jewish leaders exploited them to pull others away from the God they claimed to reverence. Even so, as one sources states, “the fact that Christianity continued to grow and prosper suggests it was a fight they were losing.”1
Paul and Barnabas typically preached the word in synagogues before venturing out amongst the Gentiles. Some in those synagogues may have been proselytes, Gentiles who practiced the Jewish religion. Others were God-fearers, allowed to attend synagogue meetings, but not fully embracing Jewish law or doctrine.2
On one occasion Paul addressed his teaching to the “People of Israel, and…devout Gentiles who fear the God of Israel” (Acts 13:16). In his conclusion he said, “Brothers—you sons of Abraham, and also all of you devout Gentiles who fear the God of Israel—this salvation is for us!” (v. 26). It evidently was just as important to Paul—and to God—to acknowledge the God-fearers, those who might be hungrily seeking greater truth. Scripture tells us that “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 111:10). Through the preaching of the word these folks were starting to recognize the veracity of the gospel message.
Later, Luke recounts Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica, where after three weeks of preaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath, “some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men and quite a few prominent women” (Acts 17:4). With persistence and dedication, the apostles and defenders of the faith reached some Jews, some Gentiles, and some God-fearers.
As I focus in on the God-fearers in Scripture, I feel challenged me to look for them in my own life. These are people that have a hunger for God, however pagan, , religious, esoteric, syncretized, or simply muddled their concept may be.
If people say that they are not religious, but spiritual, this shouldn’t stop us from saying more about our God. Maybe they are God-fearers. They know that there is something or someone that is drawing them, and maybe God has assigned you or me to invite them to come closer.
I understand because I was one of these people. My father was a secular Jew, and my mother a disillusioned daughter of a Presbyterian minister who took my sister and me to a Unitarian Universalist Church. There was little in my upbringing that would have predicted that I become a true believer, disciple, and avid student of the Scriptures.
When I look back at the path that led me to my love for Jesus and his church, I recognize that I was a God-fearer! Something was drawing me (the Holy Spirit, I now know) to the God of the Bible, long before I had any understanding of religion. It was a spiritual thing, not a religious thing. When I put my trust in him, he made me truly spiritual by imparting his Spirit to me. Holy Spirit then began teaching me the deeper things.
If that could happen to me, I know it can happen to other God-fearers also. There are many out there, especially right now, who are feeling lost, troubled, and hopeless. Let’s find them and love them into the Kingdom.
