Reference: Gentiles
American
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, Ro 1:14,16; 1Co 1:22,24; Ga 3:28. So also in those of Luke, in the Ac 6:1; 11:20; 18:4. Paul is commonly called the apostle of the Gentiles, Ga 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, Ga 2:8.
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Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was increasing, protests were made by the Greek Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were not taken care of in the distribution of food every day.
But some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, when they came to Antioch, gave the good news about the Lord Jesus to the Greeks.
And every Sabbath he had discussions in the Synagogue, turning Jews and Greeks to the faith.
I have a debt to Greeks and to the nations outside; to the wise and to those who have no learning.
For I have no feeling of shame about the good news, because it is the power of God giving salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first, and then to the Greek.
(Because he who was working in Peter as the Apostle of the circumcision was working no less in me among the Gentiles);
(Because he who was working in Peter as the Apostle of the circumcision was working no less in me among the Gentiles);
There is no Jew or Greek, servant or free, male or female: because you are all one in Jesus Christ.
In the body of his flesh through death, so that you might be holy and without sin and free from all evil before him:
Now I have joy in my pain because of you, and in my flesh I undergo whatever is still needed to make the sorrows of Christ complete, for the salvation of his body, the church;
In all things see that you are an example of good works; holy in your teaching, serious in behaviour,
Easton
(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 Ac 16:1,3; 18:17; Ro 1:14), generally denotes any non-Jewish nation.
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And he came to Derbe and Lystra: and there was a certain disciple there named Timothy, whose mother was one of the Jews of the faith, but his father was a Greek;
Paul had a desire for him to go with him, and he gave him circumcision because of the Jews who were in those parts: for they all had knowledge that his father was a Greek.
And they all made an attack on Sosthenes, the ruler of the Synagogue, and gave him blows before the judge's seat; but Gallio gave no attention to these things.
I have a debt to Greeks and to the nations outside; to the wise and to those who have no learning.
Fausets
Hebrew Gowy, "the nations" (or "pagan," derived from the Greek ethnee), as opposed to Israel (Ne 5:8). In Ge 10:5, "isles of the Gentiles," the term is used geographically in no invidious sense. In Ge 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 (Jg 4:2; Isa 9:1.) (See GALILEE.) "Greeks" in New Testament is used for Gentiles (Ac 14:1; 17:4; Ro 1:16; 10:12; 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 (Ex 19:5-6; Ps 147:19-20; 148:14; Ro 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" (Ge 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" (Ro 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" (Lu 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; Re 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 (Le 26:18,21-24).
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From these came the nations of the sea-lands, with their different families and languages.
Now in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim,
And your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, because you have done what I gave you orders to do.
If now you will truly give ear to my voice and keep my agreement, you will be my special property out of all the peoples: for all the earth is mine: And you will be a kingdom of priests to me, and a holy nation. These are the words which you are to say to the children of Israel.
And if, even after these things, you will not give ear to me, then I will send you punishment seven times more for your sins.
And if you still go against me and will not give ear to me, I will put seven times more punishments on you because of your sins. I will let loose the beasts of the field among you, and they will take away your children and send destruction on your cattle, so that your numbers will become small and your roads become waste. read more. And if by these things you will not be turned to me, but still go against me; Then I will go against you, and I will give you punishment, I myself, seven times for all your sins.
And the Lord gave them up into the hands of Jabin, king of Canaan, who was ruling in Hazor; the captain of his army was Sisera, who was living in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
And I said to them, We have given whatever we were able to give, to make our brothers the Jews free, who were servants and prisoners of the nations: and would you now give up your brothers for a price, and are they to become our property? Then they said nothing, answering not a word.
He makes his word clear to Jacob, teaching Israel his laws and his decisions. He has not done these things for any other nation: and as for his laws, they have no knowledge of them. Let the Lord be praised.
He has put on high the horn of his people, for the praise of all his saints; even the children of Israel, a people which is near to him. Let the Lord be praised.
And it will come about in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord will be placed on the top of the mountains, and be lifted up over the hills; and all nations will come to it. And the peoples will say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will give us knowledge of his ways, and we will be guided by his word; for out of Zion the law will go out, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. read more. And he will be the judge between the nations, and the peoples will be ruled by his decisions: and their swords will be turned into plough-blades, and their spears into vine-knives: no longer will the nations be turning their swords against one another, and the knowledge of war will be gone for ever.
In earlier times he made the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali of small value, but after that he gave it glory, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
But you will be named the priests of the Lord, the servants of our God: you will have the wealth of the nations for your food, and you will be clothed with their glory.
And now I have given all these lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant; and I have given the beasts of the field to him for his use. And all the nations will be servants to him and to his son and to his son's son, till the time comes for his land to be overcome: and then a number of nations and great kings will take it for their use.
I will let it be overturned, overturned, overturned: this will not be again till he comes whose right it is; and I will give it to him.
And the rest of Jacob will be among the mass of peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which may not be kept back by man, or be waiting for the sons of men.
And they will be put to death with the sword, and will be taken as prisoners into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be crushed under the feet of the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles are complete.
Now in Iconium they went together to the Synagogue of the Jews and gave such teaching that a great number of Jews and Greeks had faith.
And some of them had faith, and were joined to Paul and Silas; and a number of the God-fearing Greeks, and some of the chief women.
For I have no feeling of shame about the good news, because it is the power of God giving salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first, and then to the Greek.
Trouble and sorrow on all whose works are evil, to the Jew first and then to the Greek; But glory and honour and peace to all whose works are good, to the Jew first and then to the Greek:
How then is the Jew better off? or what profit is there in circumcision? Much in every way: first of all because the words of God were given to them.
And the Jew is not different from the Greek: for there is the same Lord of all, who is good to all who have hope in his name:
So I say, Were their steps made hard in order that they might have a fall? In no way: but by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, so that they might be moved to envy. Now, if their fall is the wealth of the world, and their loss the wealth of the Gentiles, how much greater will be the glory when they are made full? read more. But I say to you, Gentiles, in so far as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles, I make much of my position: If in any way those who are of my flesh may be moved to envy, so that some of them may get salvation by me. For, if by their putting away, the rest of men have been made friends with God, what will their coming back again be, but life from the dead? And if the first-fruit is holy, so is the mass: and if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, an olive-tree of the fields, were put in among them, and were given a part with them in the root by which the olive-tree is made fertile, Do not be uplifted in pride over the branches: because it is not you who are the support of the root, but it is by the root that you are supported. You will say, Branches were broken off so that I might be put in. Truly, because they had no faith they were broken off, and you have your place by reason of your faith. Do not be lifted up in pride, but have fear; For, if God did not have mercy on the natural branches, he will not have mercy on you. See then that God is good but his rules are fixed: to those who were put away he was hard, but to you he has been good, on the condition that you keep in his mercy; if not, you will be cut off as they were. And they, if they do not go on without faith, will be united to the tree again, because God is able to put them in again. For if you were cut out of a field olive-tree, and against the natural use were united to a good olive-tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be united again with the olive-tree which was theirs? For it is my desire, brothers, that this secret may be clear to you, so that you may not have pride in your knowledge, that Israel has been made hard in part, till all the Gentiles have come in; And so all Israel will get salvation: as it is said in the holy Writings, There will come out of Zion the One who makes free; by him wrongdoing will be taken away from Jacob: And this is my agreement with them, when I will take away their sins. As far as the good news is in question, they are cut off from God on account of you, but as far as the selection is in question, they are loved on account of the fathers. Because God's selection and his mercies may not be changed. For as you, in time past, were not under the rule of God, but now have got mercy through their turning away, So in the same way these have gone against the orders of God, so that by the mercy given to you they may now get mercy. For God has let them all go against his orders, so that he might have mercy on them all. O how deep is the wealth of the wisdom and knowledge of God! no one is able to make discovery of his decisions, and his ways may not be searched out. Who has knowledge of the mind of the Lord? or who has taken part in his purposes? Or who has first given to him, and it will be given back to him again?
But do not take the measure of the space outside the house; because it has been given to the nations: and the holy town will be under their feet for forty-two months. And I will give orders to my two witnesses, and they will be prophets for a thousand, two hundred and sixty days, clothed with haircloth. read more. These are the two olive-trees and the two lights, which are before the Lord of the earth. And if any man would do them damage, fire comes out of their mouth and puts an end to those who are working against them: and if any man has a desire to do them damage, in this way will he be put to death. These have the power to keep the heaven shut, so that there may be no rain in the days when they are prophets: and they have power over the waters to make them into blood, and to send every sort of disease on the earth as their pleasure is. And when they have come to the end of their witness, the beast which comes up out of the great deep will make war on them and overcome them and put them to death. And their dead bodies will be in the open street of the great town, which in the spirit is named Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was put to death on the cross. And the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will be looking on their dead bodies three days and a half, and will not let their dead bodies be put in the earth. And those who are on the earth will have pleasure and delight over them; and they will send offerings one to another because these two prophets gave great trouble to all on the earth. And after three days and a half the breath of life from God went into them, and they got up on their feet; and great fear came on those who saw them. And a great voice from heaven came to their ears, saying to them, Come up here. And they went up into heaven in the cloud, and were seen by those desiring their death. And in that hour there was a great earth-shock and a tenth part of the town came to destruction; and in the earth-shock seven thousand persons came to their end: and the rest were in fear, and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second Trouble is past: see, the third Trouble comes quickly. And at the sounding of the seventh angel there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he will have rule for ever and ever.
Hastings
Morish
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, qno" -->???, ?????, is translated 'nation,' and refers to the Jewish nation. De 26:5; Lu 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.' De 18:9; 32:43; Isa 60:3; 62:2; Joe 2:19; Ac 11:1,18; Acts:13:19; Ac 28:28; etc.
2. ????? (in plural) is translated 'Gentiles' in Joh 7:35; Ro 2:9-10; 3:9; 1Co 10:32; 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." Ga 3:28. This does not touch unbelieving Jews and Gentiles, who are kept separate in God's present and future dealings.
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When you have come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, do not take as your example the disgusting ways of those nations.
And these are the words which you will say before the Lord your God: My father was a wandering Aramaean, and he went down with a small number of people into Egypt; there he became a great and strong nation:
Be glad, O you his people, over the nations; for he will take payment for the blood of his servants, and will give punishment to his haters, and take away the sin of his land, for his people.
And nations will come to your light, and kings to your bright dawn.
And the nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory: and you will have a new name, given by the mouth of the Lord.
And the Lord made answer and said to his people, See, I will send you grain and wine and oil in full measure: and I will no longer let you be shamed among the nations:
It is right for you to do this for him, because he is a friend to our nation, and himself has put up a Synagogue for us.
So the Jews said among themselves, To what place is he going where we will not see him? will he go to the Jews living among the Greeks and become the teacher of the Greeks?
If we let him go on in this way, everybody will have belief in him and the Romans will come and take away our place and our nation.
Now the Apostles and the brothers who were in Judaea had news that the word of God had been given to the Gentiles.
And hearing these things they said nothing more, but gave glory to God, saying, Then to the Gentiles as to us has God given a change of heart, so that they may have life.
Be certain, then, that the salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles, and they will give hearing.
Trouble and sorrow on all whose works are evil, to the Jew first and then to the Greek; But glory and honour and peace to all whose works are good, to the Jew first and then to the Greek:
What then? are we worse off than they? In no way: because we have before made it clear that Jews as well as Greeks are all under the power of sin;
There is no Jew or Greek, servant or free, male or female: because you are all one in Jesus Christ.
For he is our peace, who has made the two into one, and by whom the middle wall of division has been broken down,
Smith
Gen'tiles
(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.
Watsons
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.