This word, “GENTILE”, originated from the Latin Vulgate translation, where the Roman doctrine claimed that Rome had inherited the promises made to Israel, that is, the Roman Church had become the “Israel” of the Bible. Even more recently, Pope Pius XI reinforced this saying, “Spiritually, we Christians are Semites”. The inference of the word, “Gentile”, in the Roman Catholic context, is one who is “not of Rome”. In the English translations that were based upon the Latin Vulgate, this Latin word has carried on with a similar meaning but instead of meaning "not of Rome" it has become to mean "not of Israel". In the minds of those to whom Rome and Israel were synonymous, there was no difference; to be of the Roman Catholic Church was to belong to and to be part of Israel. Rome accommodated all races that could buy citizenship and the “all races” concept came into the Church. Rome calls herself a universal church with a universal Pontiff and is the originator of both modern and ancient universalism in the Christian religion.

The Latin meaning of Gentiles is confusing in its own right -- it does not mean "nations." The Latin noun gen means "a nation" and is equivalent to ethnos in Greek. However, the word gentiles does not come from the noun but from the adjective, gentilis, which means "of or belonging to a nation". As all Paul’s writings are to Israelites, he uses ethnos to refer to his outcast kinsmen of Israel because that is how they were addressed in the Old Testament Scriptures -- Genesis 19:4-6; Genesis 18:18; Deuteronomy 32:41 (the “with” is not in the Hebrew text); Psalm 22:27, 28; Psalm 57:9; Psalm 67:4; Psalm 81:8; Psalm 108:3; Psalm 117:1; Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 11:12; Isaiah 34:1; Jeremiah 1:5,10. The Latin distorts and obscures these facts and we need to check its context every time it appears in the text.

Strong's H1471: "Gowy or goi [goyim Pl.]: a foreign nation, hence a gentile, also a troop of animals, or a flight of locusts, heathen."

Strong's G1484: "Ethnos [Ethne Pl] a race [as of the same] habit, that is, a tribe; spec. a foreign [non-Jewish] one [usually by impl. pagan] gentile, heathen, nation, people."

We must remember that concordances give past usage rather than definitions, but within these we can see part of the true meaning like “of the same habit and tribe”. Lexicons are more definitive:

Thayer: "A multitude [whether of men or beasts] associated or living together…of the same nature or genus."

Vine: "Denotes firstly a multitude or company, then a multitude of people of the same nature or genus. It is used in the singular of the Jews for example, Luke 7:5, Luke 23:2; John 11:48:50-52."

HEBREW as gowy, goi, goyim.
374 as nations.
143 as heathen
30 as Gentiles
11 as people

GREEK as ethnos, ethne
64 as nations
5 as heathen
93 as Gentiles
2 as people.

In the Greek texts the word Hellen = “Greek”, and is used thirty five times, but our translators have also chosen to translate this word (wrongly) as “gentile”, particularly in the Book of Romans. Ethnos and Hellen are quite different words! Sometimes the justification is to say that the Greeks were not Jews and therefore they must be Gentiles. This is not translating; rather it is interpreting Scripture in the versions. There is neither rhyme nor reason for all these various translations and mis-translations, other than to perpetuate a belief! That false belief is still with us today!

Let us look at some Old Testament Scriptures where the word Gowy, Goi or Goyim are used. If we apply the logic concerning “Gentiles” for these words, we can see the ridiculous conclusions that could be reached. Remember that Goi and Ethnos are used of Israel as well as of other races.

Genesis 25:23: "And the LORD said unto her (Rebecca), Two nations are in thy womb"

Genesis 48:19: "And his seed shall become a multitude of nations."

Genesis 46:3: "And he said, I am God, the God of thy father (Isaac) fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation."

Jeremiah 31:36: "If those ordinances [the sun and the moon] depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me for ever."

When we consider the word ethnos, which is sometimes translated “Gentiles” in the New Testament, we have another block of translations among which we could make transpositions. The consequences are equally absurd!

John 11:49,50: "Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not."

Caiaphas did not know that this word ethnos would be translated as “Gentile” and “Heathen”, and note he used “nation” in the singular. The Messiah did die for the sheep, which the Father had given him and only that many. He gave himself a ransom for "many", but not every race on earth. It has to be noted that the Law and Covenants were given to the seed of Israel only. Only Israel could be ransomed.

“Nation” is ethnos, which is often translated as “Gentiles”, so could we possibly have “Gentiles of the Jews”? (Note that Cornelius was of “another nation” which in the Greek means roughly “of another tribe of the same sort”, i.e. he was an Israelite Centurion in the Roman army).

Acts 24:17: "I came to bring alms to my nation and offerings."

We just have to admit that there is no such word in all of Scripture which matches up with the common acceptance of the word “Gentiles”. We can now see that goi and ethnos can mean both Israelites and non-Israelites.

Some teachers who admit to goi and ethnos being used of Israel, declare that in the singular they refer to Israel and in the plural they refer to all the non-Israel nations, just saying it does not make it a fact. Galilee of the Gentiles in Matthew 4:15 is said to refer to “gentiles” because it is the plural. When we make a comparison with Acts 1:11, “Ye men of Galilee“, and Acts 2:7, “Are not all that speak Galileans?, it has to be admitted that the disciples were Israelites even if they were from Galilee and that they were not Judeans.

Popular theology picked up the Roman error and this error has come to prevail. Of course, the originator, the arch-cult-type, the Roman Catholic Church, keeps on her unchanging doctrine. But she is the one with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication and by whom they have been deceived through her sorceries (Revelation 17:2 and Revelation 18:23). It was Rome which originated the error in doctrine, and Protestants have carried it on.

But we are told “come out of her my people” (Revelation 18:4). YEHOVAH’s chosen people are warned to come out of all of Rome’s doctrines, including Rome’s universalism! Multitudes today are going Rome’s way. What religion leads the ex-communist states? What is sweeping the earth?

But the great whore will be cast down; YEHOVAH God has so decreed, and none need be partakers of her plagues. Who rejoices when Babylon is cast down? Is it not the holy (set-apart) apostles and prophets? (Revelation 18:20). One has to come out to be set-apart! The Faithful and True will come to judge and make war on that false prophet Rome (Revelation 19:11). The “wife” must get ready. It is the saints (Israel by Bible definition -- see Psalm 148:1) who wear the white linen (Revelation 19:8). The voice from out of the Throne addresses His servants. The servant race, the "saints" of Scripture, are of Israel. They are the ones who have the right to enter the city through those twelve gates. Would there be much point in mentioning this if every race went through those gates?

Revelation 21:12: "And a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes the children of Israel."

Revelation 21:27: "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life."

Yeshua the Messiah is the Redeemer of Kinsmen. If anyone believes the “go ye into all the world” and “Jesus died to save the world” doctrine in the way Rome interprets “the world”, then that person cannot believe that the Messiah is our (that is, Israel’s) Kinsman-Redeemer. At the Second Advent the Messiah will ignore those who are not his kinsmen.

Galatians 2:7: "…the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter."

Romans 11:13: "For I speak unto you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles."

It is important to remember that the word translated as “Gentiles” in these verses is ethnos in Romans and hellen in Galatians. Ethnos refers to Israelites just as goi applied to them in the Old Testament. Everyone who has been taught that the Gentiles are always non-Israel does experience difficulty in “unlearning”. This is understandable, because this doctrine is what theology has taught; this is written into translations in a way which makes unlearning difficult.

Acts 10:36: "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching (proclaiming) peace by Jesus Christ."

Acts 10:43: "To Him give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." (From the verse above we can see that “whosoever” refers to the Children of Israel).

Acts 13:23: "Of this man’s seed hath God, according to his promise raised up unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus."

Acts 13:32,33: "How the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children."

Here we see direct Scriptures that are particular and the exclusive. We also have a “whosoever” to which all the prophets of Israel give witness. Now, in the Old Testament books, to what “whosoever” is the Redeemer of Israel to come? Is it "whosoever of Israel" as the prophets say, or is it the "whosoever of every race" as translators think it should say? A positive decision has to be made!

John 7:1: "After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him."

John 11:53, 54: "Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim."

Matthew 19:1: "And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judea, beyond Jordan."

Matthew 4:12: "Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee (from Judea)."

Acts 9:31: "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee…"

Matthew 4:23: "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom…"

Matthew 4:15,16: "The land of Zabulon and the land of Nepthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness saw great light…"

Most Christians seem to think that the Messiah dwelt among “the Jews” in Jerusalem, but this is not so. Christians seem to think that Jerusalem was the center-point of the Messiah’s teaching ministry. Yeshua went to Jerusalem at particular times for particular purposes. His disciples did not appreciate these times about going up to Jerusalem, as Yeshua once told them, “Your time is always now, but My time is not yet” (John 7:6). Yeshua fulfilled the Old Testament times exactly regarding the Sabbaths and the feasts of Israel. Yeshua said he knew the exact day of his crucifixion at Jerusalem (Matthew 26:2). He went to Jerusalem on exactly the right day (Nisan 10th) to be chosen by the Israelite people among the population as their King, and he was delivered to become the all-sufficient sacrifice for the redemption of his people. Jerusalem was the center-point where the Messiah would fulfill his mission and his Father’s Will to be the Passover Lamb for Israel. The institution of the Passover Lamb was only to Israel.

Deuteronomy 33:12: "And of Benjamin he said, the beloved of the LORD shall dwell safely by him; and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders."

We have seen from Matthew 4:15,16 above that these Israelites in Galilee are called “Gentiles”. It was Galilee from whence the Messiah picked out eleven of his disciples. Judas, the Judean, was the one who betrayed the Messiah! Eleven of the disciples were not of “the Jews” and were not of Judah either. When the Messiah ascended, the witnesses are described as “Men of Galilee” in Acts 1:11 and Acts 2:7. In Acts 2:22 those addressed were “Men of Israel“, but not “Jews”. But whilst addressing the “Men of Israel”, the disciples soon came up against the Edomite “the Jews” in the national leadership. The more we look into this matter, the more impossible it becomes to say “the Jews” and “the Men of Israel” ever refer to the same people.

Today most denominations insist that “the Jews” and “Israel” are the same! We read in the New Testament that some of the priesthood believed in the Messiah; all were not Edomites or other proselytes. Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews and so was among the leaders. But his counsel was somewhat different as a non-Edomite! The Messiah was speaking primarily of the leadership in general when referring to “the Jews”. Yeshua described these leaders as hirelings, and being shepherds, "whose own the sheep are not." Each such person in the religious leadership was climbing up some other way and each was a thief and robber (John 10:1). In Verse 5 the Messiah calls them “strangers” = allotrios, that is, they were not of the same family group and they are identifiable because of what they were doing. Remember how the Messiah said that these could not hear his words?

YEHOVAH God says that Israel would always be a nation. The word ethnos could not apply to a multiracial church. Israel is a separate people of a common racial origin. They would remain a nation (or nations) as long as the sun and the moon are shining (Jeremiah 31:36).

The Hebrew and the Greek words, which are sometimes translated “Gentile”, have both pagan and Israelite connotations. The words goi and ethnos are used of any group of a common racial origin. The idea that the word refers only to non-Israel people comes from the translators, who took their lead from the Latin Vulgate whose interpretation of “Gentile” was one who was not of Rome. This can never mean “not a Jew” in the sense it is given today. There are other words that apply to “heathen” and “barbarians” and Paul could have used these to describe non-Israelites if that had been his mind. But he did not! What the word “Gentile” has come to mean is not the original meaning and therefore not the true meaning.

Romans 11:26: "And so shall all Israel be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away all ungodliness from Jacob."

It is not said that the Deliverer will turn away ungodliness from others as well as from Jacob, or that other than “all Israel” will be saved. We cannot somehow change all races into “Jacob”. And, of course, there is no way “all Israel” can be made to mean all people on earth. The parties that make up all Israel are still the House of Israel and the House of Judah.

This article is saying that the so-called “Gentiles” being addressed cannot possibly be other than Israelites. In general, they represent the House of Israel as opposed to the Judean nation. The Bible is a book about the whole nation of Israel and the covenants and promises made to that nation, either as a whole nation or to individual parts of it. The other races are mentioned in the Bible only as they affect Israel.

The exclusive nature of Israel, as found through the Old Testament, continues through the New Testament.

The popular historic and the modern use of “Gentiles” is wrong!

 

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