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Diaspora Occurrences in the Bible and Their Contexts in Missions

Introduction
The term diaspora refers to the Jewish dispersion (i.e., to the scattering of Jews outside Palestine). It is also the technical name for all the nations outside of Palestine where Jewish people had come to live. However, the applicability of the use of diaspora has been widened to any religious or racial minority living within the territory of another religious or political society.

In this article, the term diaspora will be used as a reference to the Jewish dispersion throughout the known world during the biblical period. The purpose of this article is twofold: (1) to survey how diaspora is used in the Bible and during biblical times and (2) to describe how Jewish diaspora (including Jewish Christian diaspora) is related to Christian missions.

Diaspora in the Bible and Biblical Times
The term diaspora is found in the New Testament, the LXX (or Septuagint), related Old Testament words, and extra-biblical literature during the biblical period.

“Diaspora” in the New Testament
The verbal substantive, diaspora, commonly translated as “scattered,” occurs only three times in the NT (John 7:35; James 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1). In John 7:35, the Jews in Palestine raised the questions, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?” Through these questions by the Jews, I see their use of diaspora (“scattered”) as a reference to the Jewish minority in the midst of other religions—in this case the Greek-speaking environment.

In James 1:1, James greeted “the twelve tribes scattered among the nations” in his salutation. The mention of the “twelve tribes” probably refers to the literal twelve tribes of the nation of Israel, although some scholars have seen the “twelve tribes” as a figurative reference to the true people of God (thus, broadening the Jewish roots to include the Church of James’ day).

In 1 Peter 1:1, Peter described his audience as “God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.” Like the use of James, the Petrine diaspora refers to the scattered communities outside Palestine. These scattered communities were to view their lives on earth as temporary (thus, as aliens, sojourners, pilgrims, or foreigners who belonged to heaven).

“Diaspeiro” in the New Testament
The verb form of diaspora is diaspeiro. This verb appears in only three instances in the NT (Acts 8:1b, 4; 11:19). In each instance, diaspeiro relates to the scattering of the Christians of Hellenistic Jewish origin (Greek-speaking Jewish Christians from the diaspora) in areas where there was a non-Jewish majority (Acts 11:19), but also in the area around Jerusalem and toward Samaria (Acts 8:1). The unique contribution of these verses in the use of diaspeiro is that those who were scattered served essential factors in the expansion of early Christianity or to missions (Acts 8:4-8, 40; 11:19-21).