By CURTIS CLAIR EWING
A few years ago the writer was in the home of a friend, and
as I looked over her books I saw that she had one of these large
dictionaries that are usually found only in public libraries.
I said to her, "May I use your dictionary?" I knew that
she had always been interested in the correct use of words, so
I thought that this would be a good way to start a conversation
concerning the identity of Israel. I turned the pages to find
the word, "gentile." Immediately the lady asked, "What
is the word you are looking for?" I explained, and she wanted
to know what the dictionary had to say. I gave her to understand
that if the dictionary was correct she couldn't possibly be a
gentile, which she had always claimed to be. Then I read her this
definition: "A gentile is a pagan or a heathen or some one
who is not a Jew or a Christian." "Now," I said,
"since you are a Christian you cannot possibly be a gentile."
She was rather startled at what I told her. Then I went into the
meaning of that same word as used in the Bible, and you may be
assured that before I was through she had many of her long-established
ideas upset.
A great deal of confusion and misunderstanding has been caused
by the use of the word "gentile" in the English translation
of the Bible. Let us take up a brief study of it. It should always
be remembered that foreign languages often lose the strength of
their meaning through translation. Then it should also be remembered
that some words have many meanings.
Take the word man as an illustration. Generically speaking it means mankind
generally, both men and women. But if it is used in the same sentence with the
word woman, it means the male of the species. If it is used in the same sentence
with the word boy it means the mature of the species. Thus the word man has
three meanings, the meaning of the word being determined by its use in the context.
The word, gentile, is a translation of the Hebrew words goi (singular) and goyim
(plural), and the Greek words ethnos (singular) and ethne (plural). Using the
word gentile to translate these words is often misleading because it is a misapplication
of the Hebrew and Greek words as used in the Bible. The modern use of the word
has come to mean 'non-Jew' or 'non-Israel,' but that meaning cannot be maintained
in the face of the evidence I will present in this study.
The Hebrew word goi is a collective noun meaning nation or
sometimes a collective body of people. But it has been translated
into English many different ways. The word occurs 557 times in
the Old Testament. The Authorized Version of the Bible translates
it gentile 30 times; heathen 142 times; nation 373 times; people
11 times; another once. But the American Standard Revised Version
cuts the occurrence of gentile from 30 to 9 times, and then shows
in the footnotes of 5 of those 9 times that the word nations should
have been used.
Of course, the word nation is not always considered an exact
equivalent term, because there is so much political significance
attached to it. But it is much better than the word gentile, and
some of our best translators prefer the word nations. This is
also shown by the way the Revised Version eliminates almost entirely
the word gentiles.
The same thing is true of the Greek word, ethnos. It occurs
164 times in the New Testament. In the Authorized Version, it
is translated gentiles 93 times; heathen 5 times; nation or nations
64 times in the text and 7 times in the footnotes, making 103
occurrences altogether. But in the footnotes it is corrected 15
times to read nations, making the final count 88. So both the
Hebrew word, goi, and the Greek word, ethnos, have most frequently
been translated as nations, than any other English word.
Though the word gentiles and the word heathen are used many times in the Bible,
the fact is that there are no Hebrew or Greek words that would demand this translation.
If the reader will consult a good dictionary, you will find that the word, gentile,
is derived from the Latin word, gentilis, and properly understood means non-something.
As used by a Jew or an Israelite, it would mean non-Jew or non-Israelite. But
they are not the only people who have a right to use the word.
For instance, suppose a Buddhist priest spoke Latin and he wanted to refer to
the nations that were not Buddhist, he would call them gentilis. In Hebrew and
Greek, there is no exact equivalent to the Latin word gentilis, or the English
word, gentile. Nevertheless, if this same priest spoke Hebrew and Greek along
with his Latin, and wanted to refer to the nations which were not Buddhist,
he would call them goyim if speaking Hebrew, and ethne if speaking Greek, and
each time he would naturally include the Jewish and Israel people. Likewise,
a Moslem priest could use the three languages and refer to the Jews and Israel
as gentilis, goyim, and ethne.
One important thing to always keep in mind is that goi and
ethnos are collective nouns and cannot properly be translated
to mean an individual person. They always refer to a group. There
is no such thing as 'A GENTILE' - it is always plural. Gentiles
in its plural sense may at times be used to translate goi and
ethnos but its use gives an added thought not intended in the
original word which cannot in every case be justified.
Another important word found in the Hebrew text, which needs only passing notice
is the Hebrew word "am" and is found many times in the Old Testament
text. It is translated nation only 17 times. It is usually translated people,
for it occurs that way 1,835 times in our English text. Occasionally it is qualified
by the phrase, "every people," but when it is rendered "the people"
it usually means Israel. But this is not the word that has been the source of
misunderstanding. Translations of the Hebrew word, goi, and the Greek word,
ethnos, have caused the trouble.
The Hebrew word, goi, and the Greek word, ethnos, in their singular and plural
forms are used in three ways in the Bible:
1. In referring to the Israel and Jewish people. Let us note the verses which
follow below, found in both the Old and New Testaments, which refer to either
the Jews or Israel as a nation. These verses use either the Hebrew word, goi,
or the Greek word, ethnos. In order to demonstrate the absurdity of always translating
goi or ethnos as gentile, we suggest that you read the following verses, substituting
the word, gentile or heathen, for nation or nations:
Genesis 12:2, "And I will make of thee a great nation." (A "great
gentile"???)
Genesis 17:4-5, "...thou [Abraham] shalt be a father of many nations."
("father of many gentiles"?)
Genesis 20:4, "Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?" (try
substituting heathen)
Genesis 25:23, "Two nations are in thy womb..." (Try the word heathen
or gentiles here)
Genesis 35:11, "Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations
shall be of thee."
Genesis 48:19, "...his [Ephraim's] seed shall become a multitude of nations."
Isaiah 1:4, "Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity..."
Isaiah 10:6, "I will send him against an hypocritical nation..."
Jeremiah 31:36, "Israel...shall cease from being a nation before me for
ever." (try gentile!)
Luke 7:5, "For he loveth our nation, and hath built us a synagogue."
John 11:48, "...and the Romans shall come and take away both our place
and nation."
John 11:50, "...that one man should die for the people, and that the whole
nation perish not."
Acts 24:2, "...very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence."
Acts 24:17, "...I came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings."
From the foregoing verses and many others which could be given,
it can easily be seen that the Hebrew word, goi, and the Greek
word, ethnos, do not always refer to non-Israel people.
2. Now let us read a few verses where the same words are used
and, as can be seen, refer very definitely to non-Israel people:
Genesis 14:9, "With Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam, and with
Tidal, king of nations..."
Genesis 21:13, "And also the son of the bond-woman will I
make a nation..."
Genesis 21:18, "...for I will make him a great nation."
Exodus 9:24, "...there was none like it in all the land of
Egypt since it became a nation."
Exodus 34:24, "For I will cast out the nations before thee..."
Isaiah 37:12, "Have the gods of the nations delivered them
which my fathers have destroyed...?"
Matthew 10:5, "Go not into the way of the gentiles..."
Matthew 24:7, "For nation shall rise against nation..."
Luke 21:24, "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword,
and shall be led away captive into all nations..."
Acts 7:7, "And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage
will I judge, said God."
Acts 8:9, "But there was a certain man called Simon, which
before time in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people
of Samaria..."
Acts 10:45, "...because that on the gentiles also was poured
out the gifts of the Holy Ghost."
In the above verses three words have been used to translate
the same Greek word, ethnos, and they are: nations, gentiles,
and people.
3. Now we come to the third way in which the words have been used, and that
is to describe all nations, which of course always includes Israel and non-Israel
nations.
Genesis 22:18, "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."
Genesis 25:23, "Two nations are in thy womb..."
I Chronicles 16:24, "Declare His glory among the heathen; his marvelous
works among all nations."
Psalm 9:19-20, "...let the heathen be judged in thy sight. Put them in
fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men."
Notice that in the last two verses, the translators have used two different
words, heathen and nations, to translate the same Hebrew word, goyim.
Matthew 24:9, 14, "...ye shall be hated of all nations for My Name's sake...And
this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness
unto all nations..."
Matthew 28:19, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations..."
Acts 10:35, "But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness,
is accepted with Him."
Attention should also be called to another Greek word erroneously translated
gentiles. The word is hellen and means Greeks. It is used 27 times in the New
Testament. In 20 places it is properly translated Greeks, but in 7 other places
in the Authorized Version, it is erroneously translated gentiles. This has been
corrected in the Revised Version and nearly all subsequent translations. For
example, the Authorized Version translates John 7:35 to read: "Will he
go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles and teach the Gentiles?" Nearly
all revised versions translate this to read: "Will he go unto the dispersed
among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?" Take as another example I Corinthians
10:32, "Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor
to the church of God." Now the writer has read several articles by well-known
Bible teachers who say that this verse gives the only classes that God now recognizes.
In other words they claim on the authority of this verse that the human race
is divided into Jews, Gentiles, and the Church of God.
Now if this text were given to show a division of humanity, then it leaves the
vast majority of mankind out entirely, because the word that is translated gentiles
in this verse is hellen and means Greeks. So if, as these men have claimed,
this verse proves there are only three classes of people in the world which
God now recognizes, they are the Jews, the Greeks, and the Christians. Everyone
else is left out.
By using the same method of reasoning we could quote Galatians
3:28 and prove that God does not recognize any distinction in
the human race; then we could go to the other extreme and quote
Colossians 3:11 to prove that God recognizes eight divisions of
mankind. In both cases we would be taking the verses out of their
context just as these men have done. But all of the confusion
over this text would have been avoided if the word Greeks had
been used instead of gentiles. Paul was writing to the Corinthians.
Corinth was in Greece. They had three classes of people there
- Jew, Greek, and Christian. Had Paul been writing to the Romans
he no doubt would have said, "Give none offense, neither
to the Jews, nor to the Romans, nor to the church of God."
Besides these two examples, there are four other places where hellen has been
translated Greeks. These are found in Romans 2:9, 10; 3:9; and I Corinthians
12:13.
While on this subject, a few words should be said about the way the word, gentiles,
has been used in the Epistle to the Romans, one of the most important books
in the New Testament. And on this matter I will borrow some thoughts from the
late Dr. William Pascoe Goard.
In Dr. Goard's book, "Epistle to the Romans," he
has given some illuminating comments on how the word ethne refers
to the ten-tribed Israel. These are found in the fourth and fifth
chapters of his book. He shows very clearly that chapters 9, 10,
and 11 of Romans refer to ten-tribed Israel. In these chapters
the Apostle Paul quotes quite freely from Hosea, Isaiah, and Elijah,
and as Dr. Goard shows, all of these quotations refer to facts
in the history of ten-tribed Israel, and not in the history of
Judah nor in the history of any other nation. Thus when the word
gentiles (Greek word ethne) is used in these three chapters, it
definitely is speaking of ten-tribed Israel, and no other race.
It is not a contrast between Israel and non-Israel people. It
is a contrast between Israel in 975 BC, and Israel known as the
nations in AD 60.
Do not let the word gentiles mislead you. The Greek word is
ethne and means nations. The Apostle Paul in this Israel section
of his epistle is merely contrasting Israel's former state when
she was known as Israel with her state in his day when she was
known as the nations. To use the popularized meaning of the word,
they had become gentilized in the sense that they were not known
as Israel. Israel was one nation God had called out from among
other peoples; but now in her Spiritual decline, she was just
like the other nations.
She had lost her identity so much that the Apostle Paul said
that blindness was to stay on Israel until the "fullness
of the gentiles" (nations) be come in. (Romans 11:25) This
'fullness of the gentiles' should be translated 'fullness of nations.'
It is a direct reference to Genesis 48:19, where it is stated
that Ephraim was to become a "multitude of nations"
in the last days. This is confirmed by the fact that both Dr.
Delitzsch's translation of the New Testament into Hebrew - sold
by the British and Foreign Bible Society - and Ginsburg Salkinson's
New Testament, published by the Trinitarian Bible Society, for
the use of the Jews, have the very same Hebrew words - me lo hag-goyim
- in Romans 11:25, that we find in Genesis 48:19, in the Hebrew
Old Testament, and in this verse only. We use the expression "multitude
of nations" because it is given as the correct reading in
most Bibles in preference to fullness of nations. In other words,
Israel was to be blind to her identity until the tribe of Ephraim
became a multitude of nations. That time has arrived now and that
is the reason our identity as the Israel of God is becoming known.
As Isaiah 25:7 reads, "He will destroy in this mountain the
face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is
spread over all nations." That veil is being lifted now and
the prophetic identity of all nations is becoming known.
Some scholars, in translating Genesis 48:19, where the Hebrew
is me lo hag-goyim render it a company of gentile nations. The
writer is convinced that a company or multitude of nations is
the better translation. However, there is a germ of truth in their
translation if the right meaning is attached to the word gentile;
that these people would become so much like other nations that
they would not be recognized as Israel. But that, of course, is
a different meaning given to the word than is meant in the original
text.
To summarize: the word gentile is derived from the Latin word gentilis and is only one of several words that are used to translate the Hebrew word goi and the Greek word ethnos into English. The best word to use is nations. It would have been better if the word gentile had never appeared in the English text. Neither goi nor ethnos necessarily mean non-Israel, as has been shown above.
Note: The Greek words ethne and ethnos, translated nations or gentiles, are
the source of our English word, ethnic, signifying a blood-relative. They certainly
do not mean 'heathen' or 'non-Israelite' as is popularly taught today.