(gr.: “that has come to join”).
Person of pagan origin, but converted to Judaism.
The Pharisees traveled sea and land to make a proselyte (Mt. 23:15).
The Latin poet Horace considers proselytism a characteristic of Judaism (Sat. 1:4, 142, 143). There were proselytes in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:10).
Nicholas, one of the seven deacons of the apostolic church, was a proselyte from Antioch (Acts 6:5), a city in which there were numerous followers of Judaism (Acts 8:27).
The royal family of Adiabena, east of the Euphrates, adopted the Jewish religion (Ant. 20:2, 4).
In Antioch of Pisidia, a large number of proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:43).
In rabbinism two categories of proselytes were distinguished:
(a) The proselytes of justice: they adhered to circumcision, baptism, offered sacrifices, and practiced integral Judaism.
(b) The less advanced proselytes of the gate followed the “seven precepts of Noah” (see NOAH), but did not submit to circumcision or to all the Jewish ordinances.
Note also that the NT uses the expressions “proselyte” and “God-fearing” (Acts 10:2; 13:43; 16:14; 18:7).
The proselytes, thus, were Gentiles who had given their adhesion to Judaism, while the “God-fearing” were those who, without having taken this step, faithfully frequented the synagogue.