gentiles

THE GENTILES, AND GOD’S PLAN  FOR THE AGES

THE GENTILES AND GOD’S PLANS FOR THE AGES

Much has been written about Israel and their predominant place in God’s plan for the ages. This paper has to do with the Gentiles’ place in the plans and purposes of God. We should begin by saying that Gentiles are all the nations other than Israel.

In Romans 1:18-32 Paul tells why God “gave them over to shameful lusts” (vs. 26). They “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles” (Rom. 1:23). “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator…” (vs. 25). Because they did these things, i.e. worshiped idols instead of the One true God, “…..He gave them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done” (vs. 28). This passage makes it quite clear that it was because the Gentiles worshipped idols that He gave them over to their shameful desires. It was not because they performed immoral acts that God gave them up, it was because they were idol worshippers. We should note here that when Israel sank into idol worship, God gave them up also as His chosen people, but He took them back again because Israel was an integral part of God’s plan for the ages. Paul also writes of the Gentiles, position in Ephesians 2:12, “….you were without hope and without God in the world”.

At this point I believe it would be helpful to understand that Paul speaks in Ephesians of the Gentile nations in a dispensational sense. That is to say, as nations, they were without God. But it is important to remember that on an individual basis, any person, Jew or Gentile, could, in all dispensations, be saved by grace through faith. One important passage concerning the eternal salvation offered to Gentiles is found in Rom. 3:28-30, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith“. Paul also writes of the gift of eternal life being given to individual Gentiles in Romans 2:7-8 where we read, “To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, He will give eternal life.” And in the same context we read in verses 14-15, “(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the Law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts….”.

Yet another passage that shows that Gentiles were saved by grace through faith before the dispensation of the mystery is Romans 4:2-16. “Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him as righteousness” Paul makes the point in verse 11 that Abraham received the sign of circumcision, a seal of righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. While Abram was uncircumcised he was not yet considered a Jew. The whole point of this passage is to show that even in Abraham’s time salvation was not given as an obligation (4:4), but as a gift by grace through faith. There are those who would say that the passages quoted above prove that the Church which is His Body is found in the epistle to the Romans. There are two main reasons that I would disagree with that position. 1) there are too many other passages in Romans that would contradict that idea; (please see the paper on this site, “When Did the Church Begin?”) and 2) Gentiles have always been saved by grace through faith, a fact that I hope has been shown in the passages from Romans which are quoted above.

One example of the fact that on an individual basis, Gentiles had always had the opportunity for eternal salvation by faith is found in the epistle written to the Hebrews, where we read of the Gentile Rahab in Heb. 11:31, “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies was not killed with those who were disobedient”. And when James writes about faith being dead without works, he writes about Rahab, “…was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?” (James 2:25). Rahab was not only given the gift of eternal life for her faith, but she had the great honor of being an ancestor of our Lord Jesus Christ, (see Matt.1:5.)  

Because the Old Testament is written about God’s purposes and plans that center around the nation of Israel, it is sometimes difficult to see that individual salvation by faith is also a message in the Old Testament. As we have seen in the passages quoted above, salvation was offered, by the grace of God to Jew and to Gentile alike in all dispensations.

Let us return now to our discussion of the Gentile nations in a dispensational sense, i.e. not how God dealt with individual Gentiles and their eternal salvation through faith, but how God dealt with the Gentile nations and their position in terms of His eternal plans. Remembering the fact that because of their idolatry, God gave them up to their sinful desires, we can now perhaps have a better understanding of such passages as Isaiah 40:17 which reads, “Before Him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by Him as worthless and less than nothing”. So then, in Old Testament times the Gentile nations were separated from God because of their idolatry, but as individuals they could by faith, inherit eternal life.

The question we must ask ourselves is where these righteous Gentiles would live eternally, i.e. in heaven or on earth. It can not be in heaven. That the righteous would live in heaven was a secret hid in God from before the creation of the world and not made known until it was revealed to the apostle Paul. (Eph. 3:3-13) Righteous Gentiles who lived before the dispensation of grace would live on the New Earth.

Let us go now to the New Testament to discover God’s purposes and plans for the Gentiles after the death and resurrection of Christ. The first major address after the ascension of Christ was recorded in Acts 2 and given by Peter. It is clear that Israel was at that time, still at the center of God’s plans, as we read several times that Peter’s address was specifically aimed at Israel. Note Acts 2:14, Peter “raised his voice and addressed the crowd: Fellow Jews and all of you who are in Jerusalem…”. Also verse 22, “Men of Israel, listen to this…”. And verse 29, “Brothers ….”. Note also verse 36, “Therefore let b be assured of this:…”. Acts chapter 3 continues in the same way, verse 12 reads “Men of Israel…”. What was the position of the Gentiles during the time of these addresses of Peter? It was the same as it had always been, i.e. as individuals they were saved by grace through faith, as Gentile nations they were “as nothing”.

The situation began to change slowly, in so far as the Gentiles were being called to accept Christ as savior. We see the first hint of this change in Acts 10 when Peter goes to the Gentile, Cornelius. Acts 10:28 reads, “He said to them: (a large gathering of people, vs. 27) You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or to visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean….“. Peter was the apostle to the Jews and so we don’t read of his going again to the Gentiles, but it does appear that God is at this point preparing to send His message of salvation to the Gentiles. We must be careful not to read into this the existence of the Church which is His Body, where all the nations are equal.. As we shall see later in this paper, the fact that the gospel would be preached to the Gentiles was never a secret hid in God as was the church which is His body, it was spoken of in the Old Testament.

In Acts chapter 9 we read of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, later called Paul. This is a further step in God’s plan to send His message of salvation by grace through faith to the Gentiles. Again we must be careful not to read into Paul’s conversion something that is not there. May I remind the reader that the secret of the Church was not revealed to Paul until at least after Acts 26. Acts 26:22 reads, ‘…I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen – that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles”. We see then, that Paul declares as late as Acts 26 that he has said nothing but what had already been revealed in the Old Testament. From this we know that the secret of the one Body had not yet been revealed. (We shall see later in this paper that the proclaiming of “light” to the Gentiles was not a secret, but was prophesied in the Old Testament.)

Paul was called the apostle to the Gentiles, but we will see that during the Acts period he always went to the Jews first in every town he came to. Note Acts 13:5, When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues”. Note also 13:14, 14:1, “At Iconium Paul and Barnabus went as usual into the Jewish synagogue”; 17:2, “As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue….” Note also 17:10, 18:4-5, “….Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews…”.

I believe that Paul’s epistle to the Romans, written about the time of Acts 20 gives us the clearest picture of the Gentiles’ dispensational standing during the Acts period. Rom.11:11 tells us why God sent Peter to Cornelius and why He chose Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles. It reads, “….Rather, because of their (Israel’s) transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.” Verse 13 of chapter 11 is also helpful in understanding God’s plans and purposes for the Gentiles, “I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may arouse my own people to envy and save some of them“.

Rom. 10:19-20 makes it clear that salvation being sent to the Gentiles was not part of the secret hid in God and later revealed to Paul. It reads, “Again I ask, did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, I will make you (referring to Israel) envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding. And Isaiah boldly says, I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me“. We can see that the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles was never a secret hid in God.

Let us consider Romans 11:17-24. Paul tells us that some of the natural branches (Israelites) have been broken off and that the believing Gentiles “though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others….”. It is clear that the Gentiles were to be grafted into Israel and in that way made partakers of the promises made to Israel, i.e. the millennial reign of Christ on earth. In that sense the dispensational standing of the Gentile nations had changed very little since Old Testament times.

Let us now consider the purpose and plans of God for the Gentiles in a broad overview. God put the Gentile nations aside because of their idolatry. He then chose to work through one particular nation, Israel, through which He would accomplish His will. His will was and is that He would be believed upon and worshipped throughout the whole world. All through the Old Testament individual Gentiles were saved by grace through faith, but as nations they were as nothing before God. In New Testament times, after the ascension of Christ, Israel continued to reject their Messiah and Paul was chosen to be an apostle to the Gentiles in order to make Israel envious and bring some to salvation This was done in the hope of issuing in the long awaited millennial reign of Christ on earth. But during the entire Acts period (please see my paper, “When Did the Church Begin?”) Israel continued to reject their Messiah and then God put Israel aside as His chosen people and revealed to Paul the secret hid from before the creation of the world. That secret was not that Gentiles would be saved by grace (they had always been saved by grace) and it was not that the message of salvation would be preached to the Gentiles (as we have seen, that was prophesied by Moses and Isaiah). The secret was that there would be a church in which all nations are equal and that was possible only when Israel was put aside as God’s chosen people. Furthermore, This body of believers was not looking forward to life on earth when Christ returns, but to eternal life in heaven, where, indeed, in God’s sight we are already seated.

Considering the difference between the standing of the Gentile nations from the calling out of Abram until Acts 28:28 when Israel was put aside as God’s chosen people, and the secret revealed to Paul concerning the church, my inclination is to sing, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow!“
 

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This paper has been written by Joyce Pollard