Several lines of evidence suggest that
Luke’s broad portrayal of recurring hostilities between the chief priests and
early Christians in Jerusalem is historically credible. First, as I argued
above, it is clear that many early Christians remained in Jerusalem in the
years following Jesus’ execution. One of the principal reasons for doing so
would have been to remain in close proximity to the temple, which would have
had the effect of bringing these early Christians into frequent contact with
the chief priests who presided over it.
Second, Josephus independently
corroborates Luke’s portrayal of the chief priests’ hostile attitude toward the
early Christian leadership, as he tells us that the high priest Ananus had
James, the brother of Jesus and the leader of the Jerusalem church, executed on
charges of transgression against the law (Ant. 20.200). Moreover, 1
Thessalonians reveals that some of the Jewish Christians in Judea had suffered
at the hands of “the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets.”
While the exact situation to which Paul is referring in 1 Thessalonians is unclear,
it does reveal a heightened level of animosity between at least some
non-Christian Jews and Jewish Christians in Judea.
Third, I argued in Chapter 4 that the
construction of Jewish temples alternative to that in Jerusalem was predicated
on conflict with its priesthood. As I will argue below, it is likely that the
formation of a Christian communal temple identity is dependent on similar
conflict with the Jerusalem priesthood.
These converging lines of evidence all
reveal the uneasy relationship between the chief priests and the early
Christians in Jerusalem. For my purposes, the particulars in Luke’s portrayal
of early Christian conflict with the chief priests need not be argued. It is
enough to note that Luke, in broad terms, has presented a historically
plausible account of the chief priests’ antipathy toward these Christians. (Timothy
Wardly, The Jerusalem Temple and Early Christianity [Wissenschaftliche
Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 291; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010],
194-96)
