GENTILE. The Hebrews called the Gentiles by the general name of Goiim, גוייםGoiim. Ἔθνη.which signifies the nations, that have not received the faith, or law of God. All who are not Jews, and circumcised, are comprized under the word Goiim. Before Jesus Christ, the door to life and justification was opened to the world by the belief only and profession of the Jewish Religion. Those who were converted, and embraced Judaism, they called Proselytes. Since the preaching of the Gospel, the true Religion is not confined to any one Nation only, and Country, as heretofore. God, who had promised by his Prophets to call the Gentiles to the Faith, with a super-abundance of grace, has executed this promise: so that the Christian Church is composed of scarce any other besides Gentile Converts; and the Jews, who were too proud of their particular privileges, for the most part have been abandoned to their reprobated Sense of things, and disowned Jesus Christ their Messiah and Redeemer, for whom, for so many ages they wished so impatiently. In Rom. i. 14, 16, ii. 9, 10, iii. 9, x. 12. 1 Cor. i. 22, 24.St. Paul, the Gentiles are generally comprehended under the name of Greeks. Judæus & Græcus signify Jew and Gentile. St. Luke in the Acts expresses himself Gal. iii. 28. Acts vi. 1. xi. 20. xviii. 4, &c.in the same manner.
St. Paul is commonly called the Apostle of the Gentiles1, or the Greeks, because he was principally sent to idolatrous people, to preach Jesus Christ to them; whereas St. Peter and the other Apostles preached more generally to the Jews; for which reason they are called the Apostles of the Gal. ii. 7.Circumcision: The Gospel of the Uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the Gospel of the Circumcision was unto Peter.
Ps. ii. 8. Ib. lxxxvii. 4. Ib. lxxii. 9, 10. If. ii. 2, 3, 4. Zech. viii. 23. If. xlix. 6.The old Prophets declared in a very particular manner the calling of the Gentiles. Jacob foretold, that the Nations should hope for a Messiah, and that he who was to be sent, the Shiloh, should be the expectation of the Gentiles. Ipse erit expectatio Gentium. Solomon after the Dedication of the Temple which he had built, addresses this Prayer to God: Moreover, concerning the stranger which is not of thy people Israel, but is come from a far country for thy name’s sake, and thy mighty hand and stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house, then hear thou from the Heavens, even from thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for, that all the people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.
The Psalmist says, that the Lord shall give the Gentiles to the Messiah for an inheritance: Dabo tibi gentes hæreditatem tuam; that Egypt and Babylon shall know him; that Ethiopia shall make haste to bring him presents; that the Kings of Tarshish, and of the Isles, the Kings of Arabia and Sheba shall be tributary to him. Isaiah abounds with prophecies of the like nature, on which account he has justly been distinguished by the name of the Prophet of the Gentiles: It shall come to pass in the last day, says he, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. And in another passage, I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation, or that thou mayst declare it, and procure it for the strange nations, unto the end of the Earth. And Zechary; Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you to the Temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, for we have heard that God is with you. Ezekiel, in his description of the Temple, takes notice of a Court there for the Gentiles.
In the New Testament we see the Gentiles came sometimes to Jerusalem to worship God there. Some of these arriving there a little before the death of our Saviour, John xii. 20, 21.addressed themselves to St. Philip, desiring him to shew them Jesus Christ. Philip Id. l. 1. c. 5. Id. l. 2. c. 17.Philip told Andrew, and both of them informed Jesus; who answered them, the hour is come that the son of man should be glorified. Queen Candace’s Eunuch, who Acts viii. 27. Joseph. de Bello, c. 6. l. 6.came to Jerusalem, was likewise a Gentile, as several of the Fathers affirm. Josephus the Historian says, that there was a wall or balustrade made in the court of the Temple breast-high, with pillars at particular distances, and inscriptions on them in Greek and Latin, importing, that strangers were forbid to enter further: there their offerings were received, and sacrifices were offered for them; but they were not allowed to present themselves at the Altar.
Pompey went even into the Sanctuary, but he committed no indecency there; and the next day he commanded the Temple to be purified, and the customary sacrifices to be offered. A little before the last rebellion of the Jews, some mutineers would have persuaded the Priests, to accept no victim which was not presented by the Jews, and obliged them to reject those which were offered at the Emperor’s command for the Roman people. The wisest men of their nation in vain remonstrated to them, the danger whereunto they exposed their country2, that their ancestors had never rejected the presents of the Gentiles, and the Temple was for the most part adorned with the offerings which these people had made there; they produced at the same time the most learned of their Priests, who had spent their whole lives in the study of the Law, these testified that their forefathers had always received the sacrifices of strangers.
Some of the ancient Fathers seem to have believed, that the Gentiles, who lived in a laudable and regular manner, and observed the law of nature, were saved. St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, has given ground for such an opinion. He says, Rom. ii. 9, 10, 11, &c.that glory, honour, and peace are the lot of every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: for there is no respect of persons with God—— When therefore the Gentiles which have not the Law, do by nature the things contained in the Law, these having not the Law, are a Law unto themselves, which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts. If therefore the uncircumcision (the Gentiles) keep the righteousness of the Law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? and shall not uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfil the Law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?
Justin Apolog. 2. p. 83.St. Justin the Martyr maintains, that the old Philosophers who lived conformably to Reason, were already Christians, tho’ they knew not Jesus Christ; as for example, among the Greeks, Socrates, Heraclitus, and some others; and among the Barbarians, Abraham, Ananias, Azarias, Misaël, Elias, and many others.
Clem. Alex. l. 6. Stromat. & ibid. l. 1. 1 Pet. iii. 19. Aug. de Genes. ad lites, l. 12. c. 15. Origen contra Celsum, l. 2. p. 438.Clemens Alexandrinus asserts, that they who lived before Jesus Christ, had two means for acquiring justification; namely, the Law and Philosophy. Philosophy might make them just, or at least dispose them to justice, it was a step towards it; it produced righteousness, but not perfect and intire. He says farther, that the Gentiles, who departed out of this world before the death of our Saviour, waited in Hell for the coming of Jesus Christ, or his Apostles, and that having heard their preaching, they believed and were saved. This last opinion he took from the following words of St. Peter: Jesus Christ being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit, went and preached unto the Spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient. This passage of St. Peter has sufficiently exercised the Commentators. S. Austin says, that the soul of Jesus Christ descending into Hell, that is to say, the place where the souls of wicked men were tormented, delivered those from torture, which his justice, to men unsearchable, judged proper to be delivered from it. Origen thought still more favourably of the salvation of the Gentiles; he says, that the soul of Jesus Christ being separated from his body, conferred with the other souls, in order to convert those among the dead who were most teachable, or most fitting for certain reasons to receive his doctrine. Gregory Nazianzen speaking of Christ’s descent Greg. Nazianz. orat. 42.into Hell, leaves it dubious whether he saved all those without exception whom he found there, or those only who believed: hereupon Nicetas, who wrote upon the text of this Father, makes the ensuing remark. We are told that a zealous Christian, inveighing one day against Plato, and treating him as an impious and wicked person, Plato the next night appeared to him, and reproached him with his manner of using him. I confess, says he to him, I am a great sinner; but when Jesus Christ came into Hell, I was the first who believed in him.
Chrysost. homil. 37. in Matt. p. 431.St. Chrysostom is of opinion, that they who died before Jesus Christ, and for this reason could not come to the knowledge of him, if they had forsaken idolatry, acknowledged only one God, and led a laudable and regular life, would have a share in the happiness of Heaven. We might add a great number of other passages and authorities, as well from the Fathers as from other Christian and Catho lick Doctors, who believed, that good men among the Gentiles, and they who lived morally well, and had renounced idolatry, inherited the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who might be cited by us, would not say more, nor have more authority in this matter, than they who have already been produced by us.
At present we are to examine, whether it was their opinion, that the Gentiles who followed the Law of Nature, had any part in the Kingdom of Heaven; and supposing they did believe so, whether their opinion is orthodox. It will be readily allowed, that some few of the Fathers did believe, that the Gentiles, who had a knowledge of God, and lived in a commendable manner, and morally well, do enjoy beatitude. But we must explain the ambiguity of these words, To know God, and to live morally well. If the former denote only a purely speculative and fruitless knowledge, such as that of Devils and wicked Men, and that of the Philosophers mentioned by St. Paul, who held the truth captive, and having known God, did not honour him; certainly such a knowledge can be no way serviceable to their salvation; it is proper only to encrease the condemnation of the Philosophers.
Wherefore the Fathers require, that besides this they should live commendably and morally well; that is to say, that they should know God, that they should love him, give him glory, hope in him, that they should follow the precepts of the Law of Nature, and observe them as they ought to do; that is to say, with a view to God, and by actions animated with grace and charity, without which it is impossible to attain to happiness. It is necessary that they should practise the first and greatest of all the commandments, which is to love God with all their hearts, and their neighbour as themselves. If any one can shew, that the Philosophers Seneca, Socrates, Heraclitus, and Plato knew God, loved and served him in this manner, I do not believe there is any Divine who will venture to close the entrance of Heaven against them; but if enquiry is made into their Lives, I very much question whether they will be found to be conformable to these rules. The Reader may see this question more fully treated in Pererius on the Epistle to the Romans, and in our Dissertation on the same Subject.
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