What is a Gentile?

Often when Christians are discussing the Old and New Covenants a distinction is made that the Old is for Jews and the New for Gentiles. But look at the following definition of a gentile.

gentile

\Gen"tile\, n. [L. gentilis belonging to the same clan, stock, race, people, or nation; in opposition to Roman, a foreigner; in opposition to Jew or Christian, a heathen: cf. F. gentil. , a.] One of a non-Jewish nation; one neither a Jew nor a Christian; a worshiper of false gods; a heathen.


Do you get my drift?

Thoughts??!!!

God is my strength

OK I didn't want to get technical but let's have a look at where the word Gentile came from. It became part of the Christian vernacular around about the 14th Century as a translation of the Latin word gentilis. This has word had its roots in the word gens meaning nations, people, clan. The Greek comparative is eqnoj (ethnos) which means the same thing or literally band of men.

Secondly the word Ellhn(Hellen) (Romans 1:14,16; 10:12) translated as Greek is the same word translated as Gentile (Romans 2:9,10; 3:9). It is the same word from which we get our English word Hellenistic, meaning of Greek origin.


<DIV>Following these loose guidelines of mine (and check out a Lexicon online if you need to) it would appear that Ellhn was defined as:</DIV>

1. a Greek either by nationality, whether a native of the main land or of the Greek islands or colonies
2. in a wider sense the name embraces all nations not Jews that made the language, customs, and learning of the Greeks their own; the primary reference is to a difference of religion and worship

So how does this apply to modern day Christians? Both in its narrow and wider definition?

God is my Strength