These Gentiles could of been non-Israelites/Hebrews

[timothy Wallace]

 

  Do you think the Roman soldier who's servant was healed was Jewish?  Do you think the Roman soldier was Jewish?.I am pretty sure the bible does not say the soldier was a believer, but that he showed great faith...I been thinking about this question all day..How about those strangers in Genesis and other places who were not part of the Israelite community that got circumsied to become israel and worship God.?....Where they blood realtives?  It seems to me they were sojourners who became part of Israel but i am not sure...In Acts 17 Paul is reasoning with philiosophers and verse 23 says All Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent doing nothing but talking about the lastest ideas.....Are we to believe every one he was talking to was realted to Abraham? In Genesis 10:5 -could those maritime clans had the gospel preached to them.? It seem those coastland people could of been those nations of Rome,Greece....How about Jesus dealing with the cannanite women In Matthew 15?

[RiversOfEden]

 

Excellent points.

 

I would also add that terms like "Roman" in the NT were referring to "nationality" and not necessarily "genealogy."   We know this because there were "devout Jews from every nation (gentiles, nationality) under heaven" (Acts 2:5) who were also known as "Parthians, Medes, Egyptians, Romans, etc" on account of the places where they were born and the foreign dialects they spoke (Acts 2:8-11).  Apostle Peter addressed them all as "men of Israel" (Acts 2:22).

 

Likewise, terms like "Centurion" (Matthew 8:5) and "Tax Collector" (Matthew 10:3) were job titles and didn't give any indication of genealogy.    When the Apostle Matthew was identifed as a Roman Tax Collector, nobody doubts that he was an Israelite by geneaology (Matthew 19:28; Acts 2:7).

 

When Cornelius was called "a Centurion of the Italian Cohort" (Acts 10:1), it simply referred to his occupation.   A "Centurion" was his rank and "Italian Cohort" was the name of his Regiment in the Roman military.   These terms do not indicated anything about the genealogy of the person.  

 

Moreover, even if this Cornelius was "born" in Italy, or was a Roman citizen, it doesn't preclude him from being an Israelite by birth (Acts 2:5-11).   Even the Apostle Paul was called a "Roman" (Acts 16:37; Acts 22:25) at the same time that he was "an Israelite" (Philippians 3:4-5).   This was due to the fact that he was born in the Roman city of Tarsus (but he still had Hebrew parents).

 

Rivers :)

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[Donald]

Timothy,

I think the Roman soldier (centurion) was a Jewish for a several reasons:

1. He heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders (Luke 7:3).

2. He loved Israel and built the synagogue (Luke 7:5).

3. Jesus said he haven't found a great faith with anyone in Israel (Luke 7:9).

4. The centurion was one of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 8:11-12).

In regard with the strangers that got circumcised with Israel, yes they were blood relatives because God said make no covenant with other nations (Deut. 7:1-10; Psalm 147:19-20; Amos 3:1-2; Rom. 9:3-5).

In Acts 17, notice in Acts 17:17 Paul was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews (house of Judah) and the God-fearing "nations" (house of Israel) and then in next verse says "and also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers" (non-Israelites) which they thought it was strange preaching because they never heard of it. That's because they were never been in covenant with God. Paul was just preaching them and a few "sheep" came to him while others mocked him (Acts 17:32-24).

We don't know much about the sons of Japheth and Ham except in Gen. 10 and a few places in the OT. The Bible mostly focus on God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because God made covenants with them.

About the Cannanite woman, she's still an outsider, just like Rahab and her family (Joshua 6:23) as God said make no covenant with them (Deut. 7:1-2).

Hope this helps.