8. Who are the Gentiles? Does the word "gentile" simply mean non-Jew? What does the word really mean?
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This is from "A Study Into the Meaning of the Word "Gentile"
as Used in the Bible" by Curtis Clair Ewing.
A great deal of confusion and misunderstanding has been caused by the use of the word "gentile" in the English translation of the Bible. The word 'gentile' is a translation of the Hebrew word 'goi' (singular) and 'goyim' (plural) and the Greek word '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. 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 an exact equivalent term because there is too much of a 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 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; and 'people' twice. In the American Standard Revised Version it is 'gentiles' 96 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 not only the Hebrew word 'goi' but also the Greek word 'ethnos' has been translated to read 'nations' more than any other word. 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 that 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' 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 the 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.
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 Greek and teach the Greek?"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 reject the true identity of Israel (the white race) because they 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. That is a good example of how anything can be proved by taking a verse out of its context. The context shows that Paul was admonishing people to be conscientious in their walk so as not to offend a weak brother. The division made in the text is only incidental to the point he was trying to make. And then too, the text does not say that there are 'only three classes of people'. What it does say is, "Give none offense,' neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God."Now if this text were given to show a division of humanity, then it leaves the vast majority of the race out entirely, because the word that is translated 'gentiles' is a palpable mistranslation and should be translated 'Greeks'. This is exactly the way the Revised Version gives it, as is also true of most private translations. But you do not even need a Revised Version to discover this error. Any good Bible with a marginal reading will show this to be true. The Greek word that has been 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, then they are the Jews, the Greeks and the Christians. Everybody 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 verse 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 'gentiles' where it should have 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 important books in the New Testament. And on this matter I will borrow some thoughts from the late Dr. Wm. 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 these quotations refer to facts 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 ten-tribed Israel. It is not a contrast between Israel and non-Israel people. It is a contrast between Israel in 975 B. C. and Israel known as the nations in A.D. 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 the other nations; now 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 fullness of 'nations'. It is a direct reference to Genesis 18:19, where it is stated that Ephraim was to become a "multitude of nations" in later 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. 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 our real identity and the identity of other 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 nothing wrong with the translation if the right meaning is attached to the word 'gentile. That is, they would become so much like other nations that they would not be recognized as Israel. That, of course, is a different meaning given to the word than is meant in the original text.
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