Bible Question: What are the Greek and Hebrew meanings for the Latin word "Gentile"? |
Bible Answer: From the "Complete Wordstudy Bible" 1471. Goy; it originates from gewah (1465). It means person, inhabitant, populace, people, tribe, nation; the non–Israeli or heathen peoples. It is a general word used to refer to nations at large, particularly Gentiles (as distinguished from Jews). Scholars now believe that the basic idea of goy is a defined group of people or a large segment of a given body which is defined by context. The pl. form (goyim) is often used to refer to the pagan nations which surrounded Israel. They were defined politically, ethnically, and territorially (Gen. 10:5). In its general sense the term could even be applied to the descendants of Abraham (Gen. 12:2; 17:20; 21:18). Moses called Israel by that word (Ex. 33:13; Deut. 4:6, 7). Israel was a nation among other nations in the time of Moses, just as she was in Joshua’s time (Josh. 3:17; 4:1; 5:6) and in Jeremiah’s time (Jer. 31:36). The pejorative sense includes uncircumcised nations (Jer. 9:26). Goyim were wicked (Deut. 9:4, 5), abominable (Deut. 18:9; 2 Chr. 33:2), and idolatrous (2 Kgs. 17:29). God, through Moses and the prophets, warned the Israelites not to imitate the other nations (Deut. 32:28; Is. 1:4; Mal. 3:9). God planned to save them through the Messiah (Is. 2:2ff.; 11:10; 42:6; 60:10ff.). This is the Greek 1672. Héllen; gen. Héllenos, masc. proper noun. Greek. Distinction should be made, however, between the Greeks (Héllenes) and the Grecians (Hellenistaí [1675]). The Greeks were the Greeks by birth (Acts 16:1, 3; 18:17), or else Gentiles as opposed to Jews (Rom. 2:9, 10), while the Grecians (Hellenistaí) were foreign Greek–speaking Jews as distinct from those in Palestine who were called Hebrews (Acts 11:20). The Greeks and Hebrews first met when the Tyrians sold the Jews to the Greeks (Joel 3:6). Greece is noted prophetically in Dan. 8:21 where the history of Alexander and his successors is rapidly sketched. Zech. 9:13 foretells the triumphs of the Maccabees over the Graeco–Syrian Empire, while Isaiah looks forward to the conversion of the Greeks, among other Gentiles, through the instrumentality of Jewish missionaries (Is. 66:19). After the complete subjection of the Greeks by the Romans, and the absorption into the Roman Empire of the kingdoms which were formed out of the dominions of Alexander, the political connection between the Greeks and the Jews as two independent nations no longer existed. Rom. 1:14 speaks of “the Greeks and the barbarians” through which latter word reference is made to all those who are not Greeks. The implication is that the Greeks were sophisticated or wise while the others were ignorant. In Acts 18:17, the Greek inhabitants of Corinth are mentioned in distinction from the Jews. This distinction was often in the broadest sense referring to all those who used the Gr. language and customs whether in Greece, Asia Minor, or other countries. As Gr. was the prevailing language, the name “Greek” was often used to designate as Gentiles all those who were not Jews (Acts 16:1, 3; 19:10, 17; 20:21; 21:28; Rom. 1:16; 2:9, 10; 3:9; 10:12; 1 Cor. 1:22–24; 10:32; 12:13; Gal. 2:3; 3:28; Col. 3:11). In Acts 11:20 the TR has Hellenistás (1675), Greek–speaking Jews. In John 7:35, the dispersion of the Hellemnon (Greeks) is the dispersed among the Gentiles (cf. Sept.: Is. 9:11). Greeks are also spoken of as Gentile converts to Judaism or Greek proselytes (John 12:20; Acts 14:1; 17:4; 18:4). As a Jew I can say that it has been my experience that all those who do not believe in Jehovah (the God of the Jews) are considered Gentiles. To the Jew, even us believers do not believe in Jehovah God but in Jesus. Therefore we also are Gentiles. NON JEWS, for only a Jew can believe in Elohym. So to me before you believed you were a gentile and now that you believe you are not. In fact you are a Jew. Romans 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: [29] BUT HE IS A JEW, WHICH IS ONE INWARDLY; AND CIRCUMCISION IS THAT OF THE HEART, IN THE SPIRIT, AND NOT IN THE LETTER; WHOSE PRAISE IS NOT OF MEN, BUT OF GOD. [KJV] (Emphasis mine) |
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