 |
Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms |
|
|
|
A "Gentile" is a term signifying a non-Jew, who is not a "son of the covenant" and is only subject to the seven Noachide Laws.
Once a Gentile came to the understanding of the one true God, he would turn from idols and worship the God of Israel. These were the "God fearers", who accepted certain basic Jewish obligations along with the Noachide precepts. According to this, idolatry, shedding of blood, and grave sexual sins were forbidden to Gentile believers. These were originally the Noachide precepts accepted also by the Synagogue on which the Gentiles were obliged. Let me remind you that we see in Acts 15 (at least 25 years after the death of Jesus) the admonition for the Gentiles to adhere to Noachide Laws to be accepted in the believing community of Israel and the Jesus Messianic Movement. It is logical that the Apostolic Church of Jerusalem should accept the view of the Synagogue on the conditions which Gentiles needed to fulfill in order to be saved.
It can be easily shown that the fulfillment of other commandments of Judaism were not prohibited to Gentiles. On the contrary, the Noachide precepts were only seen as the minimal condition for Gentiles to be accepted into fellowship with Israel and recognized as God-fearers. These were so understood by the God-fearers themselves, who were attracted to the Jewish way of life and accepted many Jewish commandments without becoming full proselytes (Sabbath, festivals, etc). This was also the attitude of Christian God-fearers, as may be seen from the Epistle to the Galatians; many of them wished to observe as many Jewish precepts as they could. It is evident that, while the leadership of the Mother Church decided to lay no burden upon the Gentile believers beyond the Noachide precepts, and the Jerusalem Church did not object to their voluntarily observing more (Col. 2:16-17). Among the figures of the early Church who instructed Gentile Christians to observe more precepts than these essential ones was Peter, as we know from Paul's criticism of him for demanding that Gentiles live like Jews (Gal. 2:14). Rather than interpreting the apostolic decree as a minimum, Paul saw in the Noachide precepts the maximal obligations of Gentile Christians. Rather than Peter being incorrect, a more comprehensive understanding of the Bible reveals Paul to be incorrect. What you must understand that we have in the accounts of the New Testament the Roman view and we all know that winners write history. Lacking is the accurate account that describes Peter’s repentance along with Barnabas when confronted by the “men from James”. The account in the New Testament does disclose however that they and the whole “house church’ left the presence of Paul and went next door and no longer continued to break the kosher laws in order to “become all things to all men that they might win some”. Breaking the Torah and sinning is never sanctioned by God in order to “win some”. Lastly, we then have Paul’s comment: “all in Asia forsook me”. No wonder!
The liberation of Gentile Christianity from the yoke of Jewish commandments was a necessary step in order for Christianity to become a Gentile religion, separate from Judaism. It is impossible to know whether Paul was aware that by his "Gospel" he helped to achieve this aim in that he does not speak explicitly about the necessity of separating Christianity from its Jewish roots and he never says that this was his intention, but it is clear that in fact such was his historical role. Paul taught that the Jewish way of life had no validity for Christians, but the Mother Church in Acts felt differently. For Christian God-fearers it was not easy to accept Paul's demand; the complete rejection of Jewish precepts was for many Gentile Christians a painful operation. But if Christianity was to become a world religion it had to become "free from the Law". Only a Christian free from the law could separate himself from Judaism.
With the rise of Christianity the teachers of Israel sought to distinguish between the heathens of the past and those Gentiles who were subject to religious values and morality. The very term "ger tzedek" (righteous gentile) stands for the gentile who turned from idols and made a sincere conversion to the faith of Jesus in the first century. Such a person was respected and welcomed by the Jewish community. The "ger tzedek" submitted to circumcision, immersion, and brought a sacrifice to the temple. Upon completion of such, he was considered as "one born in the land."
There are two other terms for righteous Gentiles: Ger Hashar, and Ger ToShav. In the Bible the Ger Hashar is seen as "the stranger in the gate", and the Ger ToShav was known as "the stranger in the land." These also accepted the faith of Israel (ethical monotheism) and were immersed, but withheld themselves from circumcision. Such "Righteous Gentiles" had a place in the world to come, and it was believed that in the age of the Messiah all Gentiles would come to recognize the one true God according to Zech 14:9.
Once the Ger Tzedek was accepted as a Jew, he was entitled to all the privileges that Jews born into the faith enjoyed. Such converts to Judaism were numerous before the rise of Christianity. Within Palestine and outside, wherever Jews came into contact with pagans, Judaism held a strong attraction. It was expected of the Gentile that given enough time, he would develop from the Ger Hashar to the Ger Tzedek.
The later development of Gentile Christianity offered the attraction of monotheism and at the same time imposed fewer restrictions on its new adherents that did Judaism. In other words, many of the commandments of God were neglected, denied, and not taught to non-Jews nor were they expected to adhere to them by their non-Jewish teachers. Commencing with the fourth century, when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, Jews were restricted in their own worship and were no longer permitted to continue their missionary activity and we find the conversion of the Ger Hashar and Tzedek dwindling. In spite of the peril to Jews and proselytes alike, we read throughout history of various instances where Christians joined the ranks of the oppressed Jews in order to adopt a more Biblically centered lifestyle. Sadly this never became accepted orthodoxy for the followers of Yeshua.