Proselyte

A proselyte (Greek proselutos, from proserchomai, "to come to") was a Gentile convert to Judaism. The Old Testament provided for sojourners who wished to observe the Passover and required them to be circumcised first (Ex. 12:48). By the Second Temple period, two categories of Gentile adherents were recognized: full proselytes (who underwent circumcision, baptism, and sacrifice) and God-fearers (who worshipped at the synagogue without full conversion). The widespread Jewish diaspora created many proselytes and God-fearers across the Mediterranean world. These frequently became the first Gentile converts to Christianity (Acts 10:2; 13:43; 17:4). Jesus warned that the scribes and Pharisees "travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte" and then made him "twice as much a child of hell" as themselves (Matt. 23:15).