Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
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. V. " 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.
✦ Scripture References 3 references