Editing Gentile (section)

==Christianity==
{{Further information|Biblical law in Christianity|Paul the Apostle and Judaism|Christianity and Paganism}}
The Greek ''ethnos'', where it is translated as "gentile" in the context of [[early Christianity]], implies non-Israelite. In the years after the [[ministry of Jesus]], there were questions over the inclusion of non-Jews and the applicability of the [[Law of Moses]], including [[Religious male circumcision|circumcision]]. Over a few centuries, this led to a split between [[Jewish Christians]], who followed Jesus but also Mosaic Law, and [[Pauline Christianity]] (also known as Gentile Christianity) which abandoned Mosaic Law and eventually became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Jewish Christian beliefs died out around the fifth century, after being rejected by both orthodox Judaism and orthodox Christianity.

With the ministry of [[Paul the Apostle]] the [[gospel]] began to be spread among the non-Jewish subjects of the Roman empire. A question existed among the disciples whether receiving the Holy Spirit through [[Proselyte|proselytization]] would be restricted to Israelites or whether it would include the gentiles as in {{bibleref2|Acts|10:34–47}}:
{{quote|And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?}}

Within a few centuries, some Christians used the word "gentiles" to mean non-Christians. The alternative ''pagani'' was felt to be less elegant.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=NHgvpINWV_QC&pg=PA16 Alan Cameron, ''The Last Pagans of Rome''] (Oxford University Press 2010 {{ISBN|978-0-19978091-4}}), p. 16</ref>

===Fathers of the Church===
[[Saint Gregory]] noted that those who had been redeemed included "some from among the Jews and many among the gentiles".<ref>Pope Gregory I, ''Hom 20 in Ev.'', 591-592, quoted by [[Thomas Aquinas]] in [https://archive.org/details/a6788682p103thomuoft/page/106/mode/2up Catena aurea: commentary on the four Gospels, collected out of the works of the fathers], Luke, Part 1, p. 106, edited by [[John Henry Newman]], Oxford, 1841, accessed on 2 April 2025</ref>

===Terminology in Christian Bibles===
In the [[King James Version]], "gentile" is only one of several words used to translate ''goy'' or ''goyim''. It is translated as "nation" 374 times, "heathen" 143 times, "gentiles" 30 times, and "people" 11 times. Some of these verses, such as [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 12:2 ("I will make of thee a great nation") and Genesis 25:23 ("Two nations are in thy womb") refer to Israelites or descendants of [[Abraham]]. Other verses, such as [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]] 2:4 and [[Deuteronomy]] 11:23 are generic references to any nation. Typically, the KJV restricts the translation to "gentile" when the text is specifically referring to non-Jewish people. For example, the only use of the word in Genesis is in chapter 10, verse 5, referring to the peopling of the world by [[Japhetites|descendants of]] [[Japheth]], "By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+10:5;&version=9;|title=Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 10:5 - King James Version|website=Bible Gateway}}</ref>

In the [[New Testament]], the Greek word ''ethnos'' is used for peoples or nations in general, and is typically translated by the word "people", as in John 11:50. ("Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.") The translation "gentiles" is used in some instances, as in Matthew 10:5–6 to indicate non-Israelite peoples:
{{quote|These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=10&version=9|title=Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 10 - King James Version|website=Bible Gateway}}</ref>}}

Altogether, the word is used 123 times in the King James Version of the Bible,<ref>Did a [http://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=gentile&qs_version=9 search for "Gentile" in KJV]. Used [http://www.biblegateway.com/ BibleGateway.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070726031413/http://www.biblegateway.com/ |date=2007-07-26 }}. It returned 123 results of the word "gentile". Retrieved 11 Feb 2007.</ref> and 168 times in the New Revised Standard Version.<ref>Kohlenberger, John. ''The NRSV Concordance Unabridged.'' Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1991.</ref>