Hellenists

HELLENISTS, THE, were the Jews who had lost their strict and exclusive spirit by constant intercourse with the Gentiles, who habitually spoke Greek, and who read the Septuagint. They were much better qualified for the larger views of the gospel than were their Jewish brethren who lived in Palestine and spoke the Hebrew language. In the A.V. the term is rendered "Grecians." Acts 6:1; Esth 9:29; Acts 11:20. They were not necessarily outside of Palestine. The class was formed by habits of thought quite as much as by language. The term must not be confounded with Hellens, who were native Greeks in religion as well as language