Luke reports that some early followers of Jesus were referred to as members of a sect called “the Way” (o odos [ο οδος], Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22).1 The name likely comes from their description of themselves as following the way of the Lord or God (Acts 13:10; 18:25-26) or the Way of life or salvation (Acts 2:28; 16:17). Luke describes a Jew (Ioudaios) named Apollos “who had been instructed in the Way of the Lord.” After hearing him speak in the synagogue, Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18:18; Rom 16:3) took him aside and “expounded to him the Way of God more accurately” (18:25, 26). That Luke describes Apollos as a Jew well-informed about the scriptures but as needing further instruction (he knew only the baptism of John) suggests that his initial introduction to the “way of the Lord” was independent from the group represented by Priscilla and Aquila. Luke even has Paul claim to be a follower of the Way (24:14; cf. 13:10), describing him as a persecutor of the members of the sect (9:1-2) before his conversion (9:1-19). In short, Luke seems to suggest that the Way is a very early description of a nascent “Christian” movement growing out of Israelite traditions.2 That being the case, might there be some evidence in our earliest gospel (Mark) about this group?
I have elsewhere described Mark’s gospel narrative, which includes the gospel Jesus proclaimed (Mark 1:14-15a),3 as “the official ‘gospel’ statement of Mark’s church.” Mark’s gospel is “the proclamation of the public career, death, and resurrection of Jesus ‘in behalf of many’” (Mark 10:45).4 The question becomes does Mark reflect any awareness of an incipient movement or message, reflecting the brief reports in Acts?
Using the Way passages in Acts as background, there are several statements in Mark’s narrative that may reflect an awareness of the Way as a particular religious movement. Mark uses the same terminology as Luke to describe that religious lifestyle: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Mark 1:3; cf. Acts 13:10); Way of the Lord (Mark 1:3; Acts 18:25); Way of God (Mark 12:14; Acts 18:26). Mark has one story (12:13-17) in which the Judean religious authorities try to trap Jesus. The authorities describe him as “teaching the Way of God in accordance with truth” (12:14), presumably an ironic contrast with their own understanding of “the way of God.” While the authorities are insincere in the statement as the rest of the story shows, their statement does present a contrast between the Way (that is the religious lifestyle) taught by Jesus and that of the Jewish authorities.
Mark’s narrative begins with quotes from the Septuagint (Mal 3:1 and Isa 40:3). Mark changes the statement in Mal 3:1 from me to read thy: “Behold, I send forth my messenger, and he shall survey the way before me.” Mark 1:1: “Behold I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy Way. In Malachi the speaker is God referring to himself; in Mark the speaker is Mark referring to Jesus/the Lord. In Malachi the way is the way of the Law (Mal 1:8-9 LXX), but in Mark the Way is the “Way of the Lord,” Jesus (1:3).
Finally, Mark frequently uses the image of travel in the narrative in a literal sense, referring to people in travel mode as being in the road, or on their way to some destination (2:23; 4:4, 15; 6:8; 8:3, 27; 9:33, 34; 10:17, 32, 46, 52; 11:8). At least, one of these common expressions for travel could be metaphorical. There are already several other metaphorical uses of o odos in Mark (1:2, 3; 12:14). The story of Blind Bartimaeus seems be another instance of a metaphorical use.5 This use of o odos (10:52) turns the Bartimaeus story into an account of a lifestyle change. Jesus restores his blindness by saying “Go; your faith has made you well.” Bartimaeus did not leave, however, but followed him in the Way (10:52). The question is: might this be an allusion to the Way [of truth] taught by Jesus or is it a statement that Bartimaeus travelled along behind Jesus on the road for a bit?
How does it seem to you?
Professor Emeritus
Missouri State University
1J. McKenzie, Dictionary of the Bible (Macmillan, 1965), s.v. “the Way”: “This usage does not appear elsewhere and has no known antecedents.”
2Mackenzie, Dictionary, 924.
3Mark says Jesus proclaimed the following gospel: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near,” or “Time is up; God’s sovereign rule is about to begin!” “Repent and believe the gospel” (1:15b) is the response demanded by Mark’s community to the gospel Jesus proclaimed.
4Hedrick, “Parable and Kingdom. A Survey of the Evidence in Mark,” Perspectives in Religious Studies 27 (Spring 2000), 180-82 or Hedrick, Parabolic Figures or Narrative Fictions? Seminal Essays on the Stories of Jesus (Eugene, OR: Cascade. 2016), 27-30.
5See McKenzie, Dictionary, s.v. “Way,” for the metaphorical use of “way” in the Bible.
5 comments:
Hi Charlie, blessings to you and your family in the new year!
What would you say was the strongest evidence for a "Way Sect" outside of the later chapters of Acts? I never remember thinking that the use of "way" in the gospels was meant to designate a sub-message/group within the Christian movement.
Gene Stecher
Chambersburg, pa
The renewal of Israel, according to Isaiah 35, has the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, because the “Sacred Way” does not allow anyone “unclean” to pass along it (v.8). The disabled are not allowed to approach the altar because humans are made in the image of God, thus the blind profane the altar because physical defects are not in this image, one finds in Leviticus 21. Because of Bartimaeus’s trust, Jesus has made him whole, thus in the image of God, so he is able to “follow in the way.”
An aside: Another interesting key word, “epitimaō” (admonish/rebuke) is found in this pericope, but that is a different subject, except it seems to be a cognate of Timaeus (?). (Atimazō, a word I learned early in Homer is what sent me down that “rabbit hole.”)
One of Mark’s motifs is his use of “the way.” It wouldn’t surprise me if it was used to signify one’s group, because “path” or “way” in life is fairly common to several major religions, used as a metaphor in Hindu, Buddhist, Zen, Confucian and Taoist religions, aside from its use in Judaism and Christianity. Moving to the first century bce., “the way” figures prominently in “The Community Rule” of the Dead Sea Scrolls, where Isaiah 40.3 is also used. The Hebrew word (according to my concordance) is used figuratively in Tanakh as the “course of life,” as well as literally as a mode of action, like a journey or even a path(way). Here are some of the “ways” way is used in “The Community Rule:” “Ways of the world”, “Ways of the spirit”, “The perfect of way”, “The way of His delight”, “The way of wickedness”, “... the ways in which all of them shall walk... eat in common and bless in common and deliberate in common”, [He] “... shall impart true knowledge and righteous judgment to those who have chosen the Way”, “This is time for preparation of the way into the wilderness”, [He] “will direct my steps to the way.” In “The Community Rule,” “the way” is a major metaphor for this writing.
Dennis Dean Carpenter
Dahlonega, Ga.
Hi Gene,
According to Jack McKenzie there is no other evidence for this sect outside Acts. I offered my blog essay as possible confirmation. Did you think the evidence that I offered was convincing?
Charlie So far as I know that may be the only attempt to find secondary information.
Charlie
Hi Charlie,
I always appreciate your exceptional thoroughness. Regarding the Bartimaeus story, in that context "way" seems to represent all that Jesus' last journey to Jerusalem means in the mind of Mark. It seems to be a less graphic and less threatening way of saying 'deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me...save your life and lose it...lose your life for my sake and find it' (paraphrased) Mark 8:34-35
Gene Stecher
Chambersburg, Pa.
As a young believer many years ago, I was much influenced by the descriptions of the early Christian movement as "the way," but I never thought to outline all its occurrences as you have. Recently I have been reading Ritschl who was an influence on Rauschenbusch. Ritschl focused on the Kingdom of God as a "way of Christian living. This is another use of "way" in English: "a method, style, or manner of doing something." The Kingdom as Gospel, living as if it were real and present is "the way," and Taoism speaks similarly.
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