THE MYSTERY ABOUT THE GENTILES

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, spoke about a mystery that had been hidden for centuries, since the Old Testament times, but was now "made known to him by revelation" by the Spirit. What was this mystery? The Apostle explains, "through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 3: 1-7). What he was saying was that, through faith in Christ, Gentiles could join the Church, that is, "the Israel of God" (Galatians 6:16) and be called "God's people".  

For a Christian today, the fact that Gentiles, that is, people from other nations (non-Jews) have a right to the salvation provided by God, through Jesus, presents no difficulty. But for the Jew of that time this was a complete novelty, something absurd, unacceptable, a heresy. They saw Yahweh as the particular God of Israel, after all it was to them that He revealed Himself and gave His Law. In their thinking, Yahweh was only interested in Israel. This fact, that is, that Gentiles can also be "chosen people", and others, contributed to the Christians being seen by the leaders and priests of Israel as only a religious sect (Acts 24:5).  

It must be understood that the Church of Christ was originally made up of Jews only. Although they understood salvation by God's grace through faith in Christ, many were still attached to Jewish traditions. This can be seen, for example, in the fact that Peter had to explain himself to the Jerusalem Church for his conduct with the Gentile Cornelius. The text says, "The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them"".    

This sense of exclusivity in the God-man relationship that the Jews had about themselves stemmed from a mistaken perception about God and his kingdom that they developed over time. A fact that may have contributed to this was the divine promise to David, given through the Prophet Nathan, that God would establish the Davidic throne forever (1Chronicles 17:12-14). For this reason, after centuries under the domination of the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman empires, they held out hope for the coming of a nationalistic Messiah who would restore Israel's glory among the nations.    

But this is not what the Old Testament prophets announced. In their writings, one notes a divine interest in all mankind. In Genesis, for example, God tells Abraham that through him all the peoples of the earth would be blessed (12:3). God said this because, in Abraham's offspring would be born Jesus, the Son of God, who, by his sacrifice, would save not only Israel, but people from all nations. Jesus himself, before ascending into heaven, commanded his followers to make disciples of all nations and to go to the ends of the earth (Matthew28:16-20; Acts 1:8). But the Jews, including converts to Christ, thought that God had a plan with them alone.    

The Apostle Paul, however, in his letter to the Romans, shows the universality of God's love and plan for fallen man. He, speaking of Israel, wrote that of them, "is the adoption of sons; from them is the divine glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the temple worship, and the promises... and from them is traced the human lineage of Christ..."  (9:4,5). But it pleased God to call the Gentiles. About this, Paul says, "What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works..." (9:30-32).  

It’s clear that God's love is not only for the Jews, but for all men. Israel is only an extract of humanity that God has set apart to reveal Himself to it. Isaiah says about this fact: "Let no foreigner who is bound to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely exclude me from his people... And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar..." (56:3, 6,7).  

Finally, it is worth noting that Paul's argument about this mystery concerning the Gentiles is confirmed by other biblical authors. The evangelist Luke, for example, attributes to Jesus the words of the Prophet Nathan. He says, speaking of Jesus, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; his kingdom will never end" (1:32,33). 

This mystery, revealed only at the time of Jesus, to the Apostle Paul by the Spirit, shows God's will to gather a people, from every language and nation, to be his, "to the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:9-12). And indeed, the Bible ends with the prophecy of Revelation, which tells of a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb" in the eternal Kingdom of God (Revelation 7:9). 

Antônio Maia – M. Div. 

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