Gentiles
GENTILES
A name given by the Hebrews to all those that had not received the Law of Moses. Foreigners who embraced Judaism, they called proselytes. Since the promulgation of the gospel, the true religion has been extended to all nations; God, who had promised by his prophets to call the Gentiles to the faith, with a superabundance of grace, having fulfilled his promise; so that the Christian church is composed principally of Gentile converts, the Jews being too proud of their privileges to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Messiah and Redeemer. In the writings of Paul, the Gentiles are generally called Greeks, 1Ch 1:14,16 1Co 1:22,24 Gal 3:28 . So also in those of Luke, in the Mal 6:1 11:20 18:4. Paul is commonly called the apostle of the Gentiles, Gal 2:8 1Ti 2:7, because he preached Christ principally to them; whereas Peter, etc., preached generally to the Jews, and are called apostles of the circumcision, Gal 2:8 .
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Gentiles
( , the nations, as opposed to Israel, . The opposition comes out clearly in Luk 2:32, Act 26:17; Act 26:23, Rom 15:10. Cf. am and gym in Deu 26:18-19; Deu 32:43, Isa 42:6. In Rom 11:13; Rom 15:27; Rom 16:4, Gal 2:12; Gal 2:14, Eph 3:1 = Gentile Christians; but in 1Co 12:2, Eph 2:11; Eph 4:17, 1Th 4:5 St. Paul lays stress upon the moral separation of such from the (cf. Harnack, Expansion, i. 67, n. [Note: . note.] 1]. The Vulgate has gentes for , but nearly always Gentilis for []. This may have led our translators to render six times by Gentile [uniformly Greek, however, in Revised Version ]. When the Koine [vernacular and business Greek] became the international language, those Jews who spoke it began to apply the handy designation of Greeks to all non-Jews in order to distinguish them from themselves; hence the phrase came to be the colloquial equivalent of . But there are passages in the NT where appears to retain its proper national sense [Act 16:1; Act 16:3; Act 21:28, Rom 1:14, 1Co 1:22, Gal 2:3, Col 3:11; cf. Zahn, Introd. to NT, i. 373; Harnack, Acts of the Apostles, p. 5]).-Introductory.-The account of what occurred at Pisidian Antioch when St. Paul and Barnabas preached there the second time (Act 13:44 f.) may be taken as a short outline of the principal part of the history of the Apostolic Age. The Jews, filled with jealousy, contradict and rail at the preaching of the gospel. The two apostles then speak out boldly, and say: It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you. Seeing ye thrust it from you lo, we turn to the Gentiles. The Gentiles receive the word with joy, and many of them believe. The history of the Apostolic Age is mainly the history of how Christ was brought to the Gentile world, and how the Jewish nation hardened its heart more and more against the appeal of Christianity (Harnack, op. cit. p. xxx). Add another important feature to the history of this period-that the door which was set wide open for thy admission of the Gentiles into the Kingdom of God was kept wide open in spite of the attempt of a large section of the Judaeo-Christian Church to shut it-and the outline is complete.
1. The Gentiles and the purpose of God.-When we speak of Gods revealing Himself, we mean His opening mans eyes to such a sight of His nature and will as meets a universal want of mans spirit. We believe that, since mans history began, there has never been an age or a country in which the Father of spirits has not entered into close relation with His spiritual children. We agree with Justin Martyr when he says that the wise heathen lived in company with The Word, and that all that they have truly said is part of Christianity (Apol. i. 46, ii. 13). The revelation which most concerns us is the special one contained in the Holy Scriptures. In the OT, it disclosed certain fundamental principles which, when we study them in the light of Christianity, we perceive to have been also promises of a purpose of mercy for the whole world. One is the Unity of God. This implied that God should be the one object of worship to the whole human race. Another is His entering into successive covenants with men of various periods. This pointed to a progressive purpose which should finally be realized in His drawing all men unto Himself. Further, the announcement of His design of blessing all the families of the earth through that family which He chose to be the special depositary of His revealed will, was virtually His calling Abraham and his descendants to be fellow-workers with Himself in bringing all nations to love and obey Him. Those principles and promises, understood now in the light of the gospel, convey to us the assurance that the cause or the salvation of the Gentiles is to be found in the bosom and counsel of God.
2. The OT and the Gentiles.-When we turn our attention to the OT on its human side, we meet with a confusing variety of opinions respecting the Gentiles. There is no consistency of view, no authoritative standard of judgment whereby conflicting utterances may be reconciled; and the effect of this is often depressing to those readers who do not bear in mind that we have the treasure in earthen vessels, or that the instruments whom God employed in revealing His will were imperfect men. OT writers often speak of the Gentiles in the language of reprobation. In Psa 9:17 the gym are synonymous with the reshm, the wicked (cf. Deu 9:5); they are the am-nbhl, the foolish people, in Psa 74:18 (cf. Sir 50:26); they are the bennkhr, the strangers (in a hostile sense), whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood, in Psa 144:11 (contrast Zep 3:13). Israel is strictly prohibited from walking in their statutes, or following their idolatrous practices (ukkth hag-gym [Lev 18:3; Lev 20:23, 2Ki 17:8]).
The virtues of individual Gentiles, it is true, are often referred to with approval. The native chiefs of Canaan treat Abraham with respect; the Pharaoh who makes Joseph lord of his house calls him a man in whom the spirit of God is; the daughter of the Pharaoh of the oppression is moved with compassion at the sight of the child Moses, and brings him up as her son; Jethro receives Moses when an exile into his family, guides him in the desert, and instructs him in the art of governing; Rahab and Ruth take refuge under the wings of the God of Israel, and their names are in the regal genealogy; Ittai the Gittite cleaves to David, when almost all have forsaken him; the Queen of Sheba comes to hear the wisdom of Solomon; the Tyrian Hiram supplies him with materials when building the Temple, having been ever a lover of David; the widow of Zarephath, nearly destitute herself, feeds the famishing Elijah; and Naaman, the Syrian general, confesses his faith in the God of Elisha as the one true God; Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian slave, rescues Jeremiah from death, and is rewarded with a promise of personal immunity from danger; Job, an Arabian shaikh, is the lofty teacher of how to suffer and be strong; Cyrus the Persian Is the Lords anointed, and the deliverer of His people.
Nor is the fundamental principle of the unity of the human race (Genesis 1-11), or of Gods having made of one every nation of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth (Act 17:26), ever lost sight of by OT writers. He who brought up Israel from Egypt, Amos says (Amo 9:7), is the same God who brought the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir. But neither in this saying nor in the later one about all the nations over whom my name has been called (cf. Driver on Amo 9:12) does the prophet voice the belief that He who made all loveth all, or will admit all into the covenant of His grace.
Very little is taught by the pre-Exilic prophets as to the world being Israels mission-field, but much is said about Gods chastising the nations. In the great post-Exilic book of national consolation the proof of Jahwehs Godhead is followed by the proclamation of salvation to all mankind: Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth (Isa 45:22). When we read those words, and the Servant of the Lord Songs, with their bright outlook on the Gentile world, the expectation is raised that the missionary calling of Israel is about to be fulfilled. It is true that a beginning was made, but only by the Jews of the Dispersion. The home-Jews, led by Nehemiah, took the course of setting up an impenetrable fence between them and their nearest neighbours. E. G. Hirsch says that the necessities of the situation justified the narrower policy in this case (Jewish Encyclopedia v. 616a). But we cannot fall in with this view, when we think of the books of Job, Jonah, and Ruth-of the larger hope of the later Psalmists (Psalms 67, 87, 100, 117, 145), and the remarkable assertion of Malachi (Mal 1:11) that the name of God is honoured by the sincere worship offered to Him among the Gentiles from East to West.
From the Wisdom Literature the national feeling against Gentiles is almost entirely absent. But it is far otherwise with Jewish apocalyptic, the Book of Daniel and its numerous extra-canonical successors-far inferior to it in religious value-in which much true spiritual insight is mixed with carnal views and human passion. The noble Maccabaean struggle, which was contemporaneous with the rise of this class of literature, saved Israel from becoming hellenized; but it had the result also of intensifying the exclusiveness and intolerance of which Tacitus speaks (Hist. v. 5: adversus omnes alios hostile odium).
The teaching of the OT respecting the Gentiles may be characterized as hostile, hesitating, and hopeful by turns. It is to be observed that in many of its most liberal utterances a position of superiority is assigned to Israel. The Gentiles are still servants, not equals. In Isa 60:14 they come and bend at Israels feet as suppliants and vassals. Even in Isa 19:23-25, while Egypt and Assyria are admitted into covenant with God, Israel is still distinguished as His inheritance, His peculiar possession. His house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples (Isa 56:7), but it is Jewish feasts that the nations shall keep there (Zec 14:16-19), and they shall be joined to Israel by absorption, not by co-ordination (Isa 45:20-25, Jer 12:16, Zep 3:9, Zec 8:20-23). A great concession in the direction of equality is made in Isa 66:21, if it be Gentiles whom God is to take to minister in His sanctuary; but the promise may relate to Jews of the Dispersion. In the magnificent prophecy of Isa 2:2-4, Mic 4:1-4 the Temple-mountain is still the centre from which the laws of God go forth to the subjects of a kingdom of universal peace. But the material and spiritual elements in this prophecy are combined in a way that the Christian Church will not fully comprehend before the coming of a glory that shall be revealed.
3. Christ and the Gentiles.-Was there present to the mind of Christ, while accomplishing the work of Him that sent Him, a purpose of salvation that included the Gentiles? Did He look beyond the lost sheep of the house of Israel to other sheep far off from the mountains of Canaan, who had also to be sought and found? When Satan showed Him the kingdoms of the world, did He turn away from the sight of the world with the repugnance of a Jew of His time, or did the sight move Him to compassion, and enkindle a great hope in His heart? It is not easy to see how the Christian Church can cease believing that Christ had a purpose of mercy for the world, and the expectation of subduing it unto Himself, unless she is to revise her whole doctrine of the Person of her Lord. The day and the hour may be unknown to Christ as the Son, but the Fathers purpose of love for the world cannot be unknown; if He be the Son, He must have made that purpose His own.
It has been contended that although His preaching contained a vital love of God and men, which may be described as implicit universalism, the Gentile mission cannot have lain within the horizon of Jesus. It was the Spirit of Jesus that led His disciples to the universal mission, but He issued no positive command to them to undertake it (Harnack, Expansion, i. 40ff.). This conclusion is based upon an exhaustive, but biased, exposition of the relevant texts in the Synoptic Gospels, the Fourth being set aside with the frank avowal that it is saturated with statements of a directly universalistic character (p. 47). It is to be admitted that the view in question largely owes its air of credibility to that perplexing feature of the narrative of Acts-the delay of the original apostles in undertaking the Gentile mission. On this delay, which is one of the unsolved problems of Apostolic Christianity, something will be said later. At present, let us endeavour to appreciate the strength of our position by surveying its defences.
(1) As the fundamental principle of the unity of God implied that He was the God of all nations upon earth, so our Saviours calling Himself the Son of man expressed His universal relation to the human race. And if a reference to Dan 7:13 f. be admitted, His using the title also pointed to His coming Lordship over the world. There is thus an antecedent probability that Mat 28:18-20, which so well agrees with the meaning of the title, is a genuine utterance of the Risen Lord.
(2) He accepted the confession at Caesarea Philippi, Thou art the Christ, with an emotion of which we feel the glow every time we read Mat 16:16-17. It follows that, from the time when the Voice from heaven had proclaimed Him to be Gods Beloved Son, and from the beginning of His training of the Twelve, Jesus had been conscious of His right to the name in which all the hopes of the OT were gathered up (Encyclopaedia Biblica iii. 3063). The announcement of His Death and Resurrection which immediately followed showed what His being the true Messiah meant for Him, although His disciples were slow of heart to believe that it could mean what He said. The OT picture of the suffering Saviour, placed as it was side by side with that of the ruling descendant of David, became, as Ed. Knig says (Expositor, 8th ser., iv. [1912] 113, 118), dimmed in the centuries preceding His Advent. Christ relumined the whole picture by His suffering, and then by His being the first by the resurrection of the dead to proclaim light both to the people and to the Gentiles (Act 26:23).
(3) To His limiting the mission of the Twelve to Galilee and Judaea un His first sending them forth (Mat 10:5-6), we may apply the words of Isa 28:16 : He that believeth shall not make haste. It was consistent with the highest wisdom not to propel them into a wider field than the one in which, with the training they had hitherto received, they could labour with profit. His words, Go not into any way of the Gentiles, reveal His wisdom in another way. By giving His disciples this charge. He abstained from needlessly offending His fellow-countrymen, to whom it was His first object to commend the gospel. His hearts desire for them was that they might be saved; He called the season of His earthly activity among them the acceptable year of the Lord (Luk 4:19), and, after His departure to heaven, extended their opportunity of knowing the things which belonged unto their peace (cf. Luk 19:42) for forty years (cf. Heb 3:9; Heb 3:17). In the story of the Syrophnician, we hear Jesus first telling His disciples that He limited His own mission of healing, as He had previously limited theirs, to the afflicted in Israel; but in another moment we see Him recognizing in the illustrious faith with which a poor Gentile woman met His refusal of her petition the indication of His Fathers will that those limits should be transcended, and that His saving mercy should go forth to all, without distinction of race, who bad faith like hers to receive it. The words reported by St. Mark (Mar 7:27), Let the children first be filled, also suggest that Jesus had in view, when He spoke them, the Gentiles, who should not have long to wait before they too could come to His full table.
(4) If the Gospel of Mark was written at the latest in the sixth decade of the first century (Harnack, Date of the Acts, p. 126), and was known to both the other Synoptists in the same form and with the same contents as we have it now (Wellhausen, Einleitung, p. 57, quoted in Burkitt, Gospel Hist. and its Transmission, p. 64), it follows that the sayings, The gospel must first be preached unto all the nations and Wheresoever the gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world (Act 13:10; Act 14:9), were put on record in little more than twenty years after they were spoken. The Kingdom of God shall be taken away from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof, is, as Burkitt says (op. cit., p. 188), the motto, the special doctrine, of St. Matthews Gospel. This sentence occurs in one of the last parables of judgment (Mat 21:43), but other sayings reported before lead up to it, as: Many shall come from the east and west; The field is the world; The last shall be first, and the first last (Mat 8:11; Mat 13:38; Mat 20:16). From St. Lukes account of our Lords discourse at Nazareth it is clear that His hearers understood the references to the ministries of Elijah and Elisha as pointing to the admission of Gentiles into the Kingdom (Luk 4:28). In Luke, too, Samaritans are exhibited as excelling Jews in compassionate and grateful love (Luk 10:38; Luk 17:16). The value of his report of the commission given by our Lord to His disciples in the upper room (Luk 24:47-49), and repeated at the Ascension (Act 1:8), is heightened by the fact that it seems now to be established beyond question that both books of this [Lukes] great historical work were, written while St. Paul was still alive (Harnack, Date of the Acts, p. 124).
(5) Finally, as a historical account of certain incidents and crises in the life of Christ which showed Him to be the Son of God (Joh 20:31), the Fourth Gospel claims to have the authority of an eye-witness behind it. The truth of this claim has never been disproved. This Gospel is the crowning proof that there was present to the mind of our Lord from the beginning a purpose of salvation which comprehended the Gentile world. It clinches the argument, it is the keystone of the arch. For here Jesus calls Himself the light of the world, speaks of giving his flesh for the life of the world, and of sending his disciples into the world in like manner as the Father sent him into the world; to the woman at the well He speaks of the hour when, not the coming to God at the ancient sanctuaries, but the coming to the Father in spirit and truth, will be the mark of the sincere worshipper; He resides two days with the Samaritans; He proclaims to the leaders of the Jewish Church that He has other sheep, not of this fold, whom He must bring, and who will recognize in His voice that of their Shepherd; above all, on the eve of those sufferings whereby He was to enter into His glory, He beholds in certain Greeks desiring to see Him a prospect so satisfying to His heart that, in the exultation of His saving love, He cries: And I if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. The preservation of such sayings as these made the work of this Evangelist a gospel of consolation to the Gentile churches of Asia Minor at the close of the 1st cent.; and the assurance of the members of St. Johns immediate circle is now ours: We know that his witness is true (Joh 21:24).
4. Preparation of the Gentile world for Christ.-That Christ came into a world which God had slowly been preparing in the course of ages for His appearing was perceived by St. Paul and St. John, each from his own special point of view. St. Paul is thinking of Christ as the Redeemer from sin and its curse when he says that God sent forth his Son in the fulness of the time, and again, that Christ died for the ungodly in due season (Gal 4:4, Rom 5:6). St. John is thinking of Christ as the Incarnate Word when he says: There was the true light, even the light which lighteth every man coming into the world (Joh 1:9 Revised Version ; cf. Joh 6:33 translation by Gwatkin: [The Bread] is ever coming down, and over giving life unto the world). This fascinating subject also engaged the attention of many early Christian writers. Its interest has been heightened in our day by the fuller knowledge brought us by archaeological research and the study of comparative religion. Thus it is now more clearly seen that Christianity, as Pfleiderer said, came as the ripe fruit of ages of development in a soil that was already prepared (Early Christian Conception of Christ, 1905, p. 152).
(1) Philosophy.-The early Fathers often spoke of Greek philosophy as a or for Christ. Plato, whose Timus marks the transition from the polytheism of early Greek ages to monotheistic belief, exercised a profound influence on religious thought and speculation during the two or three centuries preceding our Saviours birth; and his teaching was still a living force, although, when St. Paul visited Athens, its Acropolis was still as full of idols as it could hold (Act 17:16 [Gwatkin]). The Epicureans and Stoics who encountered the Apostle on that occasion (Act 17:16) represented the two chief Schools of the period; and both Schools, the one by the gentle humanity of its teaching, the other by its moral earnestness, are justly regarded as having a place in the preparation for the Christian faith. The Stoic philosophy, with its watchwords Endure and Refrain, was that with which the Roman mind had most affinity; and its great teacher Seneca ( a.d. 65) commended self-discipline and self-renunciation as the true healing of the diseases of the soul, with a passion approaching that of the Christian preacher (Dill, Roman Society, 298, 321; cf. Tertullian, de Anima, xx: Seneca saepe noster: ).
(2) Religion.-The world, says Dill, was in the throes of a religious revolution, and eagerly in quest of some fresh vision of the Divine; and he has traced in his great work the rise and progress of that moral and spiritual movement which was setting steadily, and with growing momentum, towards purer conceptions of God, of mans relations to Him, and of the Life to come (op. cit., pp. 82, 585). The old Roman religion, which from the Second Punic War had been falling into decay, was revived by Augustus as the formal religion of the State, but could not retard the progress of this movement. People sought satisfaction for their religious cravings and emotions in the rites and mysteries of Eastern lands, which had little in common with old Roman religions sentiment; especially in the worship of Mithra, which, as recent investigation has shown, contained a moral element that made it a real help to a truer and purer life, till in the light of the higher and more effectual help to sanctification held out in Christ it too faded away and was forgotten.
(3) The Empire and social life.-The most signal illustration of the historical preparation of the Gentile world for Christ is seen in the vast extent and wonderful cohesion of the Roman Empire. Its political unity, though not of such a nature, as to lead in any marked degree to the recognition of human brotherhood, yet materially helped the diffusion of the message of the Cross and the Resurrection which made men conscious of a new fellowship with each other. Communication between the Imperial city and her officials at a distance was easy and rapid: sandy wastes, trackless mountains, and broad rivers presenting no barriers which she had not been able to overcome. The subject peoples enjoyed under the Romans peace, prosperity, and freedom; and just and upright governors were the rule and not the exception (Dill, p. 3). The good treatment which St. Paul received from Roman officials has often been commented upon; less frequently has it been noted that his missionary journeys were never impeded by military movements or interrupted by an outbreak of hostilities in any part of the Empire.
As to the state of society in Rome and the provinces, attention has been so concentrated upon its darker side, that what there was in it of virtue and praise (Php 4:8) has been unduly lost sight of. The lines of Arnolds well-known poem (Obermann Once More), in which he depicts the ennui, hardness, and impiety of the old Roman world (cf. Seneca, de Brev. Vit. xvi. tarde are horas queruntur transilire dies volunt), are oftener quoted than those in which he also does justice to the sense of void and unslaked thirst which led it to the gospel whereby hope lived again. The intense indignation at corruption and baseness that barbs the pen of a Juvenal or a Tacitus bears witness that in a considerable part of society a high standard of virtue still existed. Roman inscriptions, though they hold out no hope of a life beyond, testify to the affectionate regard in which family life was held. Household slavery had its compensations: masters often treated their slaves as humble friends, and felt that they had a moral duty towards them apart from the legal conventions of Rome (for instances, see Dill, p. 181f.). Many manumitted slaves rose to honourable positions in the service of the State (ib. p. 100). Still another kind of preparation for Christianity is found in the institution of the sodalitia or collegia, which were nurseries of the gentle charities and brotherliness which the young Church was able to teach with greater effect and with more Divine sanctions (ib. p. 271). Enough has been said to indicate the moral resources that lay still undeveloped in Roman society, waiting to be changed into the spiritual wealth of the Kingdom of God (Isa 60:5; Isa 60:11 Revised Version ).
5. The Gentile mission.-The call of Jesus, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest (Joh 4:35; cf. Mat 9:37-38), was not addressed to the disciples with reference to the coming to Him of the men of Sychar only. It had a wider bearing. At the great harvest festival of Pentecost, which followed the forty days during which He had manifested Himself to them as the Risen Lord, the Twelve made their first days ingathering of about 3,000 souls; and it was clearly foreshown to them by word and sign that those that were far off were to be made nigh (Act 2:3; Act 2:5; Act 2:11; Act 2:17; Act 2:39). We should have expected that the apostles, after having been so amply endowed and encouraged for the work of making disciples of all the nations, would have proceeded to adopt measures for entering upon that work. Their delay in undertaking the Gentile mission has been accounted for on the ground that the giving witness at Jerusalem of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and the piloting of the newly launched vessel of the Church, engrossed their attention. But when we study carefully the history of how the Gentile mission was started, we perceive that the Twelve, bold and resolute as the Spirit of Jesus had made them in the face of Jewish opposition, were far from being well qualified for immediately undertaking it. Their question at the Ascension (Act 1:6) showed that they did not share the wide outlook of Jesus; their mental horizon was still limited by their national feelings. They had, as the event proved, to count but loss much that at present appeared gain to them, before they could go out into the world and build a Church in which there should be no middle wall of partition. The terms on which Gentiles were to be received had not been explicitly laid down by Jesus in His parting commission: that He had given the apostles other important directions besides those which are recorded is an idea that we cannot entertain. He had made them fully acquainted with the nature of the work to be done, and had promised them the guidance of His Spirit. But the guidance of the Holy Spirit was not intended to supersede the use of their own understanding, or the knowledge that they were to gather from the teaching of events, as to the practical form which this new departure should take.
This is best illustrated by the case of Peter. The first thing that seems to have shaken his Jewish prejudices was the sight of what the grace of God effected among the Samaritans through the gospel (Act 8:14 f.); the next, the miraculous conversion of Saul the persecutor (Act 9:27-28). We may conjecture that to have time for meditation upon what the latter event meant for the Church was one purpose of Peters residence at Joppa; and there, while he gazed from the house-top over the waters of the Mediterranean, he received his singular vision, and heard the Voice that interpreted it, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. But, having baptized Cornelius and other Gentiles, he did not proceed a step further in the direction pointed out by the Voice which he had heard; the discouraging reception which his admitting a Gentile met with at Jerusalem may partly explain this. Philip the evangelists baptism of a Gentile had preceded Peters; we cannot help wondering whether some connecting link existed between Peters visit to Cornelius of Caesarea and Philips residence there (Act 8:38-40; Act 21:8).
As far as we can make out, it was not till eight years after Peters vision that some unknown Cypriote and Cyrenian Jews of the Dispersion took the momentous step of preaching the Lord Jesus to the Gentiles at Antioch (Act 11:20, where is the true reading). The Gentile mission is thus for ever bound up with the very name of Christians; for the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch (Act 11:26). We hear the decisive hour of this mission strike in Act 13:1-4 : these four verses are among the most important that St. Luke ever wrote.
The work in the third city of the Empire had been greatly blessed. The question was, Could it be extended? Ought the Christians of Antioch to make a serious effort to propagate the gospel in the lands beyond Syria, in Asia Minor and the islands? Barnabas and Saul were well aware that the Lord designed them for a wider mission than that in which they were now engaged; had the time for it arrived? They referred the matter to the congregation, hoping that an expression of the Divine will would be given through one of their gifted prophets. This hope was fulfilled. The Holy Ghost said: Separate unto me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. The way was then clear; uncertainty was at an end. Another meeting of the congregation was held, probably on the next Lords day, at which, with fasting and prayer, and by the laying on of hands-the already familiar and expressive sign of benediction-the two apostles were solemnly set apart for the mission; and, having been let go, or bidden God speed, by the whole congregation (; Ramsay, St. Paul, p. 67), they immediately set forth on their new enterprise. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, went down to Seleucia, and from thence they sailed to Cyprus (Barnabass island, to which he would naturally feel that missionary work was first of all due). The Creator-Spirit, who with His Divine breath called the Church into being at Pentecost, thus proclaimed Himself to be the Author of missions and the Patron of missionaries, signifying that their work of showing the things of Christ to all the nations upon earth was His work, and making their preaching of them effectual unto salvation in every part of the Empire. After this, St. Lukes principal object is to describe the triumphant progress of the gospel from Antioch to Rome.
It does not fall within the scope of this article to trace the history of the attempt made by a large section of the adherents of Judaistic Christianity to obstruct and even to wreck the Gentile mission. Before St. Pauls missionary labours were ended, it was evident, that this attempt had completely failed. The energetic remonstrance which he had addressed to St. Peter at Antioch on his withdrawing himself from table-fellowship with the Gentiles, and of which we may infer from 1Co 3:22 that St. Peter had acknowledged the justice, probably had an important effect in settling the question of Gentile rights. Fourteen or fifteen years later, St. Paul had the happiness of testifying to what his eyes had seen of the mystery of God now revealed, that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel (Eph 3:6). While Gentile Christianity increased, Judaistic Christianity decreased, and, after losing its local centre at Jerusalem, it became the shadow of a shade. In the striking words of Guthe (Encyclopaedia Biblica 2277), When Christianity and Judaism gradually separated, it was as if a mighty river had changed its bed: a feeble current still crept along the old channel, but the main, the perennial stream flowed elsewhere. (For the countries in which the Gentile mission had gained a footing before the close of the Apostolic Age, see Gwatkin, Early Church Hist. i. 113.)
Literature.-J. Adam, The Rel. Teachers of Greece, Edinburgh, 1908, pp. 2, 298, 373, The Vitality of Platonism, Cambridge, 1911, pp. 179, 186, 228; W. H. Bennett, Encyclopaedia Biblica 1679ff.; A. Bonus, Dict. of Christ and the Gospels i. 641f.; F. C Burkitt, The Gospel History and its Transmission, Edinburgh, 1906, p. 188; S. Dill, Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius, London, 1904; S. R. Driver, Joel and Amos, Cambridge, 1897, p. 223; Expository Times xx. [1908-09] 304; A. E. Garvie, Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) v. 323; Thayer Grimms Gr.-Eng. Lexicon of the NT, tr. Thayer , s.vv. , ; H. Guthe, Encyclopaedia Biblica 2277; H. M. Gwatkin, Early Church History to a.d. 313, London, 1909, i. 1-114; A. Harnack, Expansion of Christianity, Eng. translation , do. 1904-05, i. 1-85, The Acts of the Apostles, do. 1909, pp. xxx, 51. Date of the Acts, do. 1911, pp. 124. 126; W. J. Henderson, Dict. of Christ and the Gospels ii. 193; E. G. Hirsch, Jewish Encyclopedia v. 615ff.; F. J. A. Hort, Judaistic Christianity, Cambridge and London, 1894, p. 35; J. Kelman, Dict. of Christ and the Gospels ii. 296ff.; R. H. Kennett, The Servant of the Lord, London, 1911, pp. 11-28, 55; E. Knig, The Consummation of the OT in Jesus Christ, Expositor; 8th ser., iv. [1912] 1, 97; A. C. McGiffert, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics i. 626ff.: J. Orr, Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) ii. 850ff.; W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, London, 1895, p. 67, and The Thought of Paul, Expositor, 8th ser., ii. [1911] 289ff.; J. Reid, Dict. of Christ and the Gospels ii. 194; H. Schultz, OT Theology, Eng. translation , Edinburgh, 1892, ii. 13, 373; J. A. Selbie, Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) ii. 149; H. Sidgwick, History of Ethics, London, 1886, pp. 96, 98; J. Skinner, Isaiah, Cambridge, 1896-98, ii. 230; W. R. Smith, Encyclopaedia Biblica iii. 3063; H. B. Swete, The Holy Spirit in the NT, London, 1909, pp. 78, 104; T. Zahn, Introd. to NT, Eng. translation , Edinburgh, 1909, i. 373.
James Donald.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Gentiles
An appellative which varies in application according to the religious and even the cultural viewpoint adopted. Thus, in the Old Testament it designates the collection of nations of non-Israelitic stock (2 Esdras 5) and alien to the worship and customs of the true religion. This meaning is carried over into the New Testament (Luke, 2); at times, it is a synonym for “Greek” (Romans 2) and, in certain passages, it stands in contrast to “Christians” (I Corinthians 5).
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Gentiles
(Heb. Gôyîm; Gr. ethne, ethnikoi, Hellenes; Vulg. Gentes, Gentiles, Graeci).
A word of Latin origin and usually employed in the plural. In the English versions of both Testaments it collectively designates the nations distinct from the Jewish people. The basis of this distinction is that, as descendants of Abraham, the Jews considered themselves, and were in fact, before the coming of Christ, the chosen people of God. As the non-Jewish nations did not worship the true God and generally indulged in immoral practices, the term Gôyîm “Gentiles” has often times in the Sacred Writings, in the Talmud, etc., a disparaging meaning. Since the spread of Christianity, the word Gentiles designates, in theological parlance, those who are neither Jews nor Christians. In the United States, the Mormons use it of persons not belonging to their sect. See PROSELYTES.
———————————–
(Catholic authors are marked with an asterisk.) SCHURER, History of the Jewish People, second division, vol. I (New York, 1891); SELBIE in HAST., Dict. of the Bible, s. v.; LESÊTRE* in Vig.,Dict de la Bible, s. v. Gentils; HIRSCH in Jewish Encycl., s. v. (New York, 1903); BROWN, BRIGGS, AND DRIVER, Hebrew and English Lexicon, s. v. XXX (New York, 1906); DÖLLINGER*, The Gentile and the Jew (tr. London 1906).
FRANCIS E. GIGOT Transcribed By Scott Anthony Hibbs
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VICopyright © 1909 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, September 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Gentiles
(Heb., usually in plural, goyim), meaning in general all nations except the Jews. In course of time, as the Jews began more and more to pride themselves on their peculiar privileges, it acquired unpleasant associations, and was used as a term of contempt.
In the New Testament the Greek word Hellenes, meaning literally Greek (as in Acts 16:1, 3; 18:17; Rom. 1:14), generally denotes any non-Jewish nation.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Gentiles
Hebrew Gowy, “the nations” (or “pagan,” derived from the Greek ethnee), as opposed to Israel (Neh 5:8). In Gen 10:5, “isles of the Gentiles,” the term is used geographically in no invidious sense. In Gen 14:1, Tidal “king of nations” was probably chief of several nomadic wandering tribes of western Asia. In Jos 12:23 we read, “the king of the nations (the gentile foreigners) of Gilgal,” the modern Moslem village Jiljule, six Roman miles N. of Antipatris. Goim is especially used of Galilee, bordering on and, even in Israelite times, much peopled with the Gilgal (Jdg 4:2; Isa 9:1.) (See GALILEE.) “Greeks” in New Testament is used for Gentiles (Act 14:1; Act 17:4; Rom 1:16; Rom 10:12; Rom 2:9-10; 1Co 10:32 margin).
With all the superiority of the gentile great world kingdoms, in military prowess, commerce, luxury, and the fine arts, Israel stood on an immense moral elevation above them, in the one point, nearness to God, and possession of His revealed will and word (Exo 19:5-6; Psa 147:19-20; Psa 148:14; Rom 3:1-2). But this superiority was in order that Israel, as priests unto God, might be mediator of blessings unto all nations (Isa 61:6). The covenant from the first with Abraham contemplated that “in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed” (Gen 22:18). The Jews in national pride failed to see this, and despised the Gentiles Rejecting Messiah, they were “broken oft” from the olive, that the Gentiles might be” grafted in” (Rom 11:11-35).
“The times of the Gentiles” began with Judah’s depression and captivity under Nebuchadnezzar, to whom God delegated the world empire (Jer 27:6-7), from whence Jeremiah’s counsel to the Jews to submit to hint was true patriotism, not cowardice. Jerusalem has more or less been ever since “trodden down of the Gentiles,” and shall be so “until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Luk 21:24). Then shall the times of Israel begin with a glory eclipsing her past glory. “All Israel shall be saved.” “The receiving of them shall be life from the dead” to the whole world (Mic 5:7; Isa 2:2-4; Rev 11:2-15). The theocracy shall be restored with unparalleled splendor at the coming of Him “whose right it is” (Eze 21:27). The times of the gentile monarchies answer to Israel’s seven times punishment (Lev 26:18; Lev 26:21-24).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Gentiles
GENTILES.In AV of the Gospels, Gentiles and nations are the translations of , RV agreeing with the rendering of AV in every place of the words occurrence. In Mt 6:7 () and 18:17 () AV has heathen and a heathen man respectively; RV Gentiles and the Gentile. In Mt 5:47, where AV has , publicans, RV with the reading has Gentiles. , occurring in John only, is rendered Greeks in 12:20 RV and AV; in 7:35 RV has Greeks, AV Gentiles, with, however, Greeks in the margin. (Mk 7:26) is translated a Greek in both versions, but AV has Gentile in the margin. The very wide diffusion of the Greek language after the conquests of Alexander the Great was the reason that in our Lords day Greek was often used as an equivalent for Gentile. See Greeks. The word Gentiles, from the Lat. gentilis (adjective of gens, pl. gentes, a race, people, or nation), is used in the Vulgate to render the Heb. and the Gr. , and has thus passed into English.
For a full discussion of the term Gentiles, reference must be made to the Bible Dictionaries. It is only necessary here to allude to the origin and use of the expression in the OT. Just as in the Gospels, as a rule (for an exception see Mat 21:43), means the Jewish nation, and the nations other than Jewish, so in the OT (), as a rule (for an exception see Lev 20:23), stands for the former and the pl. (m) for the latter; and whilst often used in its purely ethnographical and geographical sense, with the meaning foreigner, it is also constantly employed, especially in the Psalms, as a term of aversion and contempt, as connoting the practice of false religions and of immoral customs. The material and moral evils which the m had brought upon Israel in its later history tended to intensify the feelings of hostility with which the Jews looked out upon them from their own religious exclusiveness; and accordingly, in our Lords day and in the generations following (see Acts and the Epistles ), they were regarded by the Jews generally as aliens, having no claim whatever to the Divine recognition. This must be borne in mind when estimating our Lords teaching on the subject.
A full consideration of the attitude of early Christianity towards the Gentiles requires a study of the Acts and Epistles at least, and is beyond the scope of this article: our Lords teaching, however, afterwards developed by His followers, is quite plainly indicated in the Gospels, and must form the basis of any adequate discussion of the subject.
The fact that Jesus did not pass His youth in the religiously exclusive atmosphere of Jerusalem, but in the freer and more liberal surroundings of semi-Gentile Galilee, fits in with the prophetic word of Simeon at the Presentation, and the declarations of His forerunner: He was to be a light to lighten the Gentiles (Luk 2:32); and, God was able to raise up to Abraham children (Luk 3:8) who could not boast any natural descent from the patriarch. St. Matthew, although according to the usual account of his standpoint he had no especially Gentile proclivities, records two important prophetic utterances regarding the Gentiles as being illustrated and fulfilled in his Masters work: Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up (Luk 4:15-16), and, In his name shall the Gentiles trust (Luk 12:21). At the beginning of His ministry, if we accept St. Lukes chronology (see Naaman), Jesus defied the Jewish prejudices of His hearers in the synagogue at Nazareth by citing cases of Gentiles blessed through the agency of Israels prophets (Luk 4:25 ff.); and, when driven from His native town, He took up His abode in a city of despised Galilee which belonged to that less Jewish portion of it known as Galilee of the Gentiles (Mat 4:15). Moreover, it was in the same Gentile-infected Galilee that the most important part of His ministry was carried on, and He even went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon (Mar 7:24), and also taught and healed those who came to Him from thence, together with those who sought Him from Decapolis (Mat 4:25), and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan (Mar 3:8); nor did He disdain to remain on one occasion for two days among the Samaritans at their request (Joh 4:40). In His public teaching He showed no prejudice in favour of the Jews in His assignment of praise and blame: the grateful leper whom He blessed was a Samaritan (Luk 17:16 ff.); it was a good Samaritan who was set forth as an example in one of His most famous parables (Luk 10:30 ff.); and He commended the faith of the centurion as being greater than any He had found in Israel (Mat 8:10). On the other hand, the evil generation of whom the Pharisees were representatives, He declared should be condemned in the judgment by Gentiles, the men of Nineveh and the queen of Sheba (Mat 12:41 f.); and, setting the seal to the teaching of His forerunner, He asserted in effect that the true children of Abraham were those who did the deeds of Abraham, and were not necessarily those who were naturally descended from him (Joh 8:39 ff.). In the Sermon on the Mount the same broad and world-wide outlook is manifested: there is hardly anything of importance in that great discourse which is local or temporaryit is obviously for all men and for all time. With this, too, coincides the teaching of His many parables about the Kingdom of heaven and that recorded in the Fourth Gospelin this Gospel particularly all His utterances are in accord with His declaration to the Samaritan woman concerning the true worshippers (Joh 4:23), and with the impression produced on the Samaritans that He was the Saviour of the world (Joh 4:42); for in this Gospel especially His words of warning, of encouragement, and of hope embrace all mankind: God so loved the world that whosoever believeth shall have eternal life (Joh 3:16). And, finally, at the end of His ministry, in the allegory of the sheep and the goats, spoken exclusively with reference to Gentiles, He applies to those on the right hand the word righteous, which in the Jewish language was so often the technical term to designate only the chosen people (Mat 25:37).
There are two passages in the Gospels which demand a passing notice, as they might seem at first sight to be in opposition to our Lords usual attitude towards the Gentiles. One is His saying to the Syrophnician woman, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mat 15:24); and the other is His injunction to the Twelve, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mat 10:5; Mat 10:8). In the first case there is little doubt that our Lords words were intended to test or to call forth the womans faith, and are not to be understood as implying any unwillingness on His part to assist her (see Syrophnician Womam). And in the second case we are to notice that the prohibition was laid upon the Twelve only, and had no application to His own conduct; and, further, that the prohibition was distinctly removed by Him after the Resurrection in the great commission recorded in Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore and teach all nations [in Mar 16:15 Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature], and in Act 1:6 Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And there are other passages, such as Mat 24:14; Mat 26:13, from which it is plain that our Lord contemplated the world-wide preaching of the gospel by His followers, the fulfilment, in fact, of the ancient prediction to the father of the faithful: In thy seed shall all the nations (goim) of the earth be blessed (Gen 22:18). See Missions.
Literature.Grimm-Thayer and Cremer, Lexx. s.v. ; art. Gentiles in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible and Encyc. Bibl.; Schrer, HJP [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.] ii. i. 5156, 299305, ii. 291327; Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Index, s. Gentiles.
Albert Bonus.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Gentiles
GENTILES.See Nations. For Court of the Gentiles, see Temple.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Gentiles
jentlz (, goy, plural , goyim; , ethnos, people, nation): Goy (or Goi) is rendered Gentiles in the King James Version in some 30 passages, but much more frequently heathen, and oftener still, nation, which latter is the usual rendering in the Revised Version (British and American), but it is commonly used for a non-Israelitish people, and thus corresponds to the meaning of Gentiles. It occurs, however, in passages referring to the Israelites, as in Gen 12:2; Deu 32:28; Jos 3:17; Jos 4:1; Jos 10:13; 2Sa 7:23; Isa 1:4; Zep 2:9, but the word (, am) is the term commonly used for the people of God. In the New Testament ethnos is the word corresponding to goy in the Old Testament and is rendered Gentiles by both VSS, while (, laos) is the word which corresponds to am. The King James Version also renders , Hellenes, Gentiles in six passages (Joh 7:35; Rom 2:9, Rom 2:10; Rom 3:9; 1Co 10:32; 1Co 12:13), but the Revised Version (British and American) renders Greeks.
The Gentiles were far less sharply differentiated from the Israelites in Old Testament than in New Testament times. Under Old Testament regulations they were simply non-Israelites, not from the stock of Abraham, but they were not hated or despised for that reason, and were to be treated almost on a plane of equality, except certain tribes in Canaan with regard to whom there were special regulations of non-intercourse. The Gentile stranger enjoyed the hospitality of the Israelite who was commanded to love him (Deu 10:19), to sympathize with him, For ye know the heart of the stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt (Exo 23:9 the King James Version). The Kenites were treated almost as brethren, especially the children of Rechab (Jdg 1:16; Jdg 5:24; Jer 35). Uriah the Hittite was a trusted warrior of David (2 Sam 11); Ittai the Gittite was captain of David’s guard (2Sa 18:2); Araunah the Jebusite was a respected resident of Jerusalem. The Gentiles had the right of asylum in the cities of refuge, the same as the Israelites (Num 35:15). They might even possess Israelite slaves (Lev 25:47), and a Gentile servant must not be defrauded of his wage (Deu 24:15). They could inherit in Israel even as late as the exile (Eze 47:22, Eze 47:23). They were allowed to offer sacrifices in the temple at Jerusalem, as is distinctly affirmed by Josephus (BJ, II, xvii, 2-4; Ant, XI, viii, 5; XIII, viii, 2; XVI, ii, 1; XVIII, v, 3; CAp, II, 5), and it is implied in the Levitical law (Lev 22:25). Prayers and sacrifices were to be offered for Gentile rulers (Jer 29:7; Baruch 1:10, 11; Ezr 6:10; 1 Macc 7:33; Josephus, BJ, II, x, 4). Gifts might be received from them (2 Macc 5:16; Josephus, Ant, XIII, iii, 4; XVI, vi, 4; BJ, V, xiii, 6; CAp, II, 5). But as we approach the Christian era the attitude of the Jews toward the Gentiles changes, until we find, in New Testament times, the most extreme aversion, scorn and hatred. They were regarded as unclean, with whom it was unlawful to have any friendly intercourse. They were the enemies of God and His people, to whom the knowledge of God was denied unless they became proselytes, and even then they could not, as in ancient times, be admitted to full fellowship. Jews were forbidden to counsel them, and if they asked about Divine things they were to be cursed. All children born of mixed marriages were bastards. That is what caused the Jews to be so hated by Greeks and Romans, as we have abundant evidence in the writings of Cicero, Seneca and Tacitus. Something of this is reflected in the New Testament (Joh 18:28; Act 10:28; Act 11:3).
If we inquire what the reason of this change was we shall find it in the conditions of the exiled Jews, who suffered the bitterest treatment at the hands of their Gentile captors and who, after their return and establishment in Judea, were in constant conflict with neighboring tribes and especially with the Greek rulers of Syria. The fierce persecution of Antiochus IV, who attempted to blot out their religion and Hellenize the Jews, and the desperate struggle for independence, created in them a burning patriotism and zeal for their faith which culminated in the rigid exclusiveness we see in later times.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Gentiles
Gentiles, a word which means literally, ‘the nations.’ It was applied by the Hebrews to all individuals or communities not under the lawthat is, all the nations of the world excepting the Jews. But in later times some small states, and many individuals, embraced the law: and they were distinguished from the Gentiles, as well as from the Jews, by the name of Proselytes. In some places our authorized version has the word ‘Gentiles’ where the original should properly be rendered ‘Greeks.’
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Gentiles
A name commonly used in scripture to denote any and every nation except Israel. At times, when Israel as a people is referred to, the same words are used for them. Thus
1. goi , , , is translated ‘nation,’ and refers to the Jewish nation. Deu 26:5; Luk 7:5; Joh 11:48. In the plural the same words refer to the nations generally in distinction from Israel, and are translated ‘nations,’ ‘Gentiles,’ and ‘heathen.’ Deu 18:9; Deu 32:43; Isa 60:3; Isa 62:2; Joe 2:19; Act 11:1; Act 11:18; Act 13:19; Act 28:28; etc.
2. (in plural) is translated ‘Gentiles’ in Joh 7:35; Rom 2:9-10; Rom 3:9; 1Co 10:32; 1Co 12:13, in contrast to the Jews; but would be better translated ‘Greeks,’ as it is in most places.
God had raised a wall between the Jews and the Gentiles, which in Christ’s death was broken down for believers, “to make in himself of twain one new man.” Eph 2:14. “There is neither Jew nor Greek . . . . for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Gal 3:28. This does not touch unbelieving Jews and Gentiles, who are kept separate in God’s present and future dealings.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Gentiles
Unclassified scriptures relating to
– General references
Jer 10:2-3; Mat 6:7-8; Mat 6:31-32; Act 14:16; Act 17:4; Act 17:16-17; Act 17:22-27; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:1-15; 1Co 10:20; 1Co 12:2; Gal 2:15; Eph 2:12; Eph 4:17-19; Eph 5:12; 1Th 4:5; 1Pe 4:3-4 Idolatry; Missions
Prophecies of the conversion of
– General references
Gen 12:3; Gen 12:5; Gen 22:18; Gen 49:10; Deu 32:21; Psa 2:8; Psa 22:27-31; Psa 46:4; Psa 46:10; Psa 65:2; Psa 65:5; Psa 66:4; Psa 68:31-32; Psa 72:1-20; Psa 86:9; Psa 102:15; Psa 102:18-22; Psa 145:10-11; Isa 2:2-5; Isa 9:1-7; Isa 11:1-10; Isa 18:7; Isa 24:16; Isa 35:1-10; Isa 40:4-11; Isa 42:1-12; Isa 45:8; Isa 45:22-24; Isa 45:6; Isa 49:1; Isa 49:5-6; Isa 49:18-23; Isa 54:1-3; Isa 55:5; Isa 56:3; Isa 56:6-8; Isa 60:1; Isa 60:3-5; Isa 60:8-14; Isa 65:1; Isa 66:7-23; Jer 3:17; Jer 4:2; Jer 16:19-21; Eze 47:3-5; Dan 2:35; Dan 2:44-45; Dan 7:13-14; Hos 2:23; Joe 2:28-32; Amo 9:11-12; Mic 4:3-4; Hag 2:7; Zec 2:10-11; Zec 6:15; Zec 8:1-23; Zec 9:1; Zec 9:9-17; Zec 14:8-21; Mal 1:11; Mat 3:9; Mat 8:11; Mat 12:17-21; Mat 19:30; Mar 10:31; Luk 13:29-30; Luk 21:24; Joh 10:16; Act 9:15 Church, The Collective Body of Believers, Prophecies concerning prosperity of
Conversion of
– General references
Act 10:45; Act 11:1-18; Act 13:2; Act 13:46-48; Act 14:27; Act 15:7-9; Act 15:12-31; Act 18:4-6; Act 26:16-18; Act 28:28; Rom 1:5-7; Rom 9:22-30; Rom 10:19-20; Rom 11:11-13; Rom 11:17-21; Rom 15:9-12; Gal 1:15-16; Gal 2:2; Gal 3:14; Eph 3:1-8; Col 3:11; 1Th 2:16; 1Ti 3:16; 2Ti 1:11; Rev 11:15; Rev 15:4 Missions; Church, The Collective Body of Believers, Prophecies Concerning Prosperity of; Jesus, The Christ, Kingdom of; Jesus, The Christ, Prophecies Concerning
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Gentiles
Gentiles. (nations). All the people who were not Jews were so called by them, being aliens from the worship, rites and privileges of Israel. The word was used contemptuously by them. In the New Testament, it is used as equivalent to Greek. This use of the word seems to have arisen from the almost universal adaption of the Greek language.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Gentiles
whence Eng., “heathen,” denotes, firstly, “a multitude or company;” then, “a multitude of people of the same nature or genus, a nation, people;” it is used in the singular, of the Jews, e.g., Luk 7:5; Luk 23:2; Joh 11:48, Joh 11:50-52; in the plural, of nations (Heb., goiim) other than Israel, e.g., Mat 4:15; Rom 3:29; Rom 11:11; Rom 15:10; Gal 2:8; occasionally it is used of gentile converts in distinction from Jews, e.g., Rom 11:13; Rom 16:4; Gal 2:12, Gal 2:14; Eph 3:1.
originally denoted the early descendants of Thessalian Hellas; then, Greeks as opposed to barbarians, Rom 1:14. It became applied to such Gentiles as spoke the Greek language, e.g., Gal 2:3; Gal 3:28. Since that was the common medium of intercourse in the Roman Empire, Greek and Gentile became more or less interchangeable terms. For this term the RV always adheres to the word “Greeks,” e.g., Joh 7:35; Rom 2:9-10; Rom 3:9; 1Co 10:32, where the local church is distinguished from Jews and Gentiles; 1Co 12:13.
is used as noun, and translated “Gentiles” in the RV of Mat 5:47; Mat 6:7; “the Gentile” in Mat 18:17 (AV, “an heathen man”); “the Gentiles” in 3Jo 1:7, AV and RV.
“in Gentile fashion, in the manner of Gentiles,” is used in Gal 2:14, “as do the Gentiles,” RV.
Notes: (1) For the synonymous word laos, “a people,” see PEOPLE. (2) When, under the new order of things introduced by the Gospel the mystery of the Church was made known, the word ethnos was often used in contrast to the local church, 1Co 5:1; 1Co 10:20; 1Co 12:2; 1Th 4:5; 1Pe 2:12.
Fuente: Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words
Gentiles
COURT OF THE. Josephus says there was, in the court of the temple, a wall, or balustrade, breast-high, with pillars at particular distances, and inscriptions on them in Greek and Latin, importing that strangers were forbidden from entering farther; here their offerings were received, and sacrifices were offered for them, they standing at the barrier; but they were not allowed to approach to the altar. Pompey, nevertheless, went even into the sanctuary, but behaved with strict decorum; and the next day he commanded the temple to be purified, and the customary sacrifices to be offered. A little before the last rebellion of the Jews, some mutineers would have persuaded the priests to accept no victim not presented by a Jew; and obliged them to reject those which were offered by command of the emperor, for the Roman people. The wisest in vain remonstrated with them on the danger this would bring on their country; urged that their ancestors had never rejected the presents of Gentiles; and that the temple was mostly adorned with the offerings of such people; at the same time, the most learned priests, who had spent their whole lives in the study of the law, testified that their forefathers had always received the sacrifices of strangers.
From the above particulars, we learn the meaning of what the Apostle Paul calls the middle wall of partition, between Jews and Gentiles, broken down by the Gospel.