Gentile: Who is a Gentile?
If the Scriptures are used as the objective standard, then the definition of a Gentile is equally simple. A Gentile is simply anyone who is not a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In short, a Gentile is anyone who is not a Jew. The implication again is that no matter what a Gentile does, he can never become a non-Gentile.
But this raises the question of Gentiles who have converted to Judaism: can they properly be called Jews? On the basis of Scripture, the answer is, “No.” The Jew is the nationality; the religion is Judaism. Acceptance of Judaism by a Gentile does not make him a Jew, but a proselyte. We see the distinction between Jews and proselytes in Matthew 23:15: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, ye make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves.
It should be noted that these evangelists for Judaism are not said to seek to make one a Jew, but to make one a proselyte.
A second passage is Acts 2:10, which is at the end of a list of place-names, showing the origins of the multitude that had come to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost. The list ends with the phrase both Jews and proselytes. Again, there is that same distinction.
Acts 6:5 provides us with a third example: And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus a proselyte of Antioch.
In this passage, a distinction is made between Nicolaus and the rest. The others were all Jews who had accepted Yeshua as the Messiah, but Nicolaus was a proselyte, a Gentile convert to Judaism who had accepted Him.
The final example is found in Acts 13:43: Now when the synagogue broke up, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who, speaking to them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.
The same distinction is clearly made again; Gentile converts to Judaism are never given the title of Jews.
The chief Old Testament example of a Gentile convert to Judaism is Ruth. Many Gentiles have tried to claim Jewishness on the principle of conversion based on Ruth’s story. But Ruth is consistently called “a Moabitess” both before and after her acceptance of the God of Israel. This can be seen in Ruth 1:22; 2:2, 6, 21; 4:5, 10.
The conclusion is that a Gentile cannot do anything to become a non-Gentile.
Excerpt from Dr Arnold Fruchtenbaum:
MBS007 JEWS, GENTILES, CHRISTIANS: Pg 6-7
