A Gentile is a person who is not an Israelite. That is, a Gentile is anyone who is not a descendant of Jacob. The word "uncircumcised" is also used to talk about Gentiles. This is because the Israelites circumcised their male children, but most of the Gentiles did not circumcise their male children.
In the Old Testament, God made the Israelites his special people. God told the Israelites to separate themselves from other people who were not Israelites. He did this so they would not be tempted to worship false gods (see: Deuteronomy 7:3-4). However, Isaiah prophesied that God will save both Gentiles and Israelites (see: Isaiah 42:6; 49:6).
In the New Testament, Jesus showed mercy to Gentiles (see: Matthew 15:21-28; Luke 7:1-10). He even traveled to where Gentiles lived (see: Mark 5:1). Jews did not normally go into places where Gentiles lived. They thought Gentiles were unclean. That is, they were unacceptable to God. Paul taught that because Jesus died for people’s sins, Jews and Gentiles no longer had to separate themselves from one another. Now anyone who believes in Jesus is one of God’s special people (see: Ephesians 2:11-22).
Jesus made Paul his preacher to the Gentiles (see: Acts 9:15). Paul divided the Gentiles into “Greeks” and “foreigners” (see: Romans 1:14). The “Greeks” were anyone who spoke the Greek language. This included most educated Romans. The “foreigners” were anyone who did not speak the Greek language. However, sometimes Paul referred to all Gentiles as “Greeks” (see: Romans 1:16; 2:9-10).
See in Reader
