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In Matthew 12:18,21, which immediately follows the rejection indicated in
Matthew 11:20 -24 and immediately precedes the introduction of `mystery' into
Matthew 13 (see Parable3), we have a reference to the Gentiles which is similar
to that of Acts 13:46,47, and for similar reasons, culminating as it does at
Acts 28, with the complete setting aside of Israel, the full and independent
evangelizing of the Gentiles, and the introduction of the Mystery in the prison
epistles that followed (Acts 28:17 -31). See the article on Acts 28, The
Dispensational Boundary1.
It is the thrice asserted claim of Paul, that he was
the apostle to the Gentiles (Rom. 11:13; 1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11). In addition
to these passages Paul declared that he was the `minister of Jesus Christ to
the Gentiles' (Rom. 15:16), that he was separated to preach Christ among the
Gentiles (Gal. 1:16) and that this peculiar office was recognized by Peter,
James and John at Jerusalem (Gal. 2:8,9).
Further, Paul claimed that the dispensation of the grace of God had
been
entrusted to him `for you' Gentiles, and that he had been commissioned to
preach among the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make
known
the riches of the glory of this Mystery among the Gentiles (Eph. 3:1,2,8;
Col.
1:27). The door of faith was opened unto the Gentiles at Paul's first
missionary journey (Acts 14:27). The times of the Gentiles, which refers
rather to the political, than the ecclesiastical element, will come to an
end
when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His
Christ. (See the article Revelation4).
It has been suggested that the word ethnos, translated Gentile, refers in
many instances to the dispersed of Israel, who had so long lived among the
heathen as to have become in the eyes of their more orthodox fellows
`uncircumcision' and `aliens from the commonwealth of Israel', terms that we
have generally accepted as a description of the Gentiles before their
conversion. As this new interpretation impinges upon the teaching of Ephesians
and does not allow the normal meaning of the word Gentile to appear until
Ephesians 3, no one can object if this interpretation be suspect; or that it
should be subjected to criticism, so long as the enquiry be conducted in the
interests of Truth. The article to which we refer provides a concordance of
all the references to ethnos in the New Testament from which we extract the
following from the Acts of the Apostles. Acts 2:5; 4:25; 7:7,45; 11:1,18;
13:19,46,47. Let us use these references as a test. Acts 2:5 speaks of the
`nations' ethnos among which the `Jews' who came to Pentecost lived. Some of
them, namely Parthians, Medes and Elamites (Acts 2:9 -11) are undoubtedly
Gentiles in the accepted sense. Acts 4:25 quotes from Psalm 2 `Why do the
heathen rage?' and in verse 27 these `heathen' or `Gentiles' are differentiated
from Israel, and linked with Herod and Pontius Pilate. The writer of the Acts
gives no indication that he believed that the word ethnos could, and did, refer
to some of the dispersion of Israel. Acts 7:7 uses the word ethnos to indicate
the `Egyptians' and 7:45, like 13:19, refers to the `Canaanites' as indicated
in Genesis 15:19 -21. Here Gentiles as differentiated from Israel must be
intended. Acts 11:1 and 18 refer to Cornelius who was a centurion of the
Italian band, and called by Peter `one of another nation' (Acts 10:28). The
word Peter employed is allophulos, and is found in the Septuagint of Exodus
34:15, Isaiah 2:6 and 61:5, as well as six times in Judges as the equivalent of
`Philistines'. It is impossible therefore to believe that the acknowledgment
of Acts 11:18, `Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto
life', can refer to Gentiles as such, but that a similar testimony in Acts