Eph. 2:11 says "Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)-- remember that at that time you were separated from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ."
I don't know if that helps any. I was just reading the Bible and I seen this.
God Bless everyone!
Greetings,
The translation is fine, no mistakes. The Greek word
ethnos is correctly translated into the English
Gentiles. The problem is that many people and especially American christians do not understand what the word "Gentiles" means, this is due to deliberate corruption by establishment institutions both secular and religious. We can see that many Bible Dictionaries and modern Encyclopedias and the like define "Gentiles" as; "Gentile: All nations of the world other than the Jews." -
Davis Bible Dictionary. This is a general modern meaning that has become widespread especially among christians, jews and the broad uneducated classes who have poor comprehension of Langauges. However this definition is completely wrong, in fact it is so wrong that it is laughable. The assumption that the English word 'Gentiles' means 'non-jews' is a joke, it really is!
Who was excluded from the citizenship of Israel? Do you remember reading about the kingdom of Israel as oppossed to the kingdom of Judah, two different kingdoms, OK, sometimes united like under David and Solomon, but seperate. Who became foreigners to the covenants? Who was far off but has now been brought near because of Christ? Well what happened to the kingdom of Isarel? And keeping in mind the distinction that God has made between Judah and Israel, Judah is the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and Isarel is the other 10 tribes and they were divided into two kingdoms, so the Israelites could have been a citizen of the kingdom of Judah or the kingdom of Israel. Now Judah and Benjamin returned after Babylonian Captivity, OK, the Apostles were all bar Judas from the tribe of Benjamin and Jesus was from the tribe of Judah, that's because the only tribes remaing of the Israelites in the Kingdom were from Judah and Benjamin, the other 10 tribes, the vast majority of Israelites never came back to their kingdom of Israel - they never returned from Assyrian captivity! Now what were the tribe of Judah and Benjamin doing in Israel's kingdom and not their own kingdom of Judah? They had been pushed out by other ethnic groups, mainly Edomites who had taken control of the kingdom of Judah, Herod was an Edomite, he was not an Israelite, Edomites were in control of the Temple and the government of the land of Judea - they were called Judeans - this word "Judeans" is translated in modern English - "Jews"!
Go back to
Matt 4:15. - "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 'The land of Zabulon and land of Nephthalim, by way of the sea, beyond Jordon,
Galilee of the Gentiles;"
'Galilee of the
ethnos' (Gentiles).... Galilee is the land of Zebulon and Naphthali, tribes of Israel, not the land of foreigners but the land of Israel! Galilee of the Gentiles! So where are the other Gentiles if they are not in Israel? Well they never came back from Assyria, the 10 tribes never returned, these people are called the
ethnos the
Gentiles.
So Now, lets get a proper meaning of the word 'Gentiles' and we can find this in a superior classic dictionary-
Skeat's Etymological Dictionary of the English Langauge. the word is derived from Old French and Latin, Walter Skeat says:
GENTILE. see Genteel. GENTEEL. (F.-L.) XVI cent.; F . gentil. C L. gentilis, belonging to the same clan, a gentile (afterwards applied to mean well-bred, &c) . C. L. genti-, decl. stem of gens, a clan, tribe. Allied to genus.
That's about as linguistically accurate as one can get for the meaning of the word. The use of the word is for those who belong to the same clan or tribe! That is what it's meaning is. If you were never taught your Latin Root words at school you may want to learn some as it will help you to understand the English language. The Latin root GENS means: 'decended from a common stem'
The Universal Dictionary of the English Language, 1897, vol II, p.2286, says:
"gen-tile, gen-til, gen-tyl, a. & s [Fr. gentil, from Lat. gentilis = one belonging to the same class, a gentile, from gens (genit. gentis) = a clan; Sp. & Port. gentil: Ital. gentile. Gentile is thus a doublet of genteel and gentle (q.v.).] A. As Adjective: I. Ordinary Language: 1. Of or pertaining to any nation; national. 2. Of noble or gentle birth; of high rank; noble. II. Technically: 1. Gram.: Denoting the clan race or country. B. As Substantive: I. Ordinary Language: 1. One of the same clan or family. 2. A person of noble birth or gentile birth; one of high rank."
The Greek word 'ethnos' means exactly the same as the Latin word 'Gens' from where we get 'Gentile' which means exactly the same; those of a specific clan or tribe who are decended from a common stem and are of a high and noble birth! That's what the word Gentiles means, and any definition that defines it as 'non-jew' is just laughable, it's ridiculous, the word Gentiles is much older then the word 'jew' - that word is less then 200 years old and means Judean. The Gentiles are Israelites, the 10 Tribes who were taken into Assyrian Captivity and when they were released, which is written in stone and history books, they went into the wildiness just as God had planned, they crossed the Caucasus Moutains and pushed into Europe - and this is all known and recorded, they won't teach you this is in High School or Church but this is the truth, they the 10 tribes of Israel became a 'great multitude' in Europe. Jesus Christ said that He "Come only for the lost sheep of Israel", well that what He did, the lost sheep of Israel who became Christians, they are the 'Gentiles', the one who were cut off to find grace in the wilderness. God does not forget His people, He is in Covenant with them Hebrews 8:8-12, Jeremiah 31:31-36, God is now in Covenant with the House of Judah and the House of Israel (now found the 10 lost tribes) and they are all Christians, saved by God the father who is their salvation fulfilling all the Old Testament prophets.