Bible Discussion Thread

Act's 15 verse 7, why were the Gentiles (us) not able to received the word until the New Testament , did not God make us all.

Page 1.

Hello Cheryl1655. We need to understand, as the Bible shows us, that God had chosen a people for Himself: a people who would learn about this great God of Heaven, their Creator, this God Who is Holy & wants His creation to also be holy (fully separated to God), & a God Who wants to pour out His Love upon His greatest Handiwork of creation that they might also reciprocate that love to Him, albeit imperfectly. So Adam & Eve & their descendants, even till Abraham, Isaac & Jacob were not counted as Jew or Gentile (at least not until the name change of Jacob & his seed following), but were just God's creation like everyone created. But God in His Wisdom & Plan, selected those to whom His Word & Love would be directed & through these folk God's Plan for the Hebrew people (later called Israelites & Israel), would unfold & they would receive His Law, His prophets, His blessings, & His loving care, like no other people on the Earth & ultimately through them their Messiah would come.

Did God then reject all other persons living in other parts of the world? Even though those through Noah's son, Shem, received God's attention & abundant care, those scattered around the world still had knowledge of the True God (through Ham & Japheth, later referred to as Gentiles), but their knowledge & worship would have deteriorated & become fused with animism, worship of heavenly bodies, idol worship, etc. And this of course, led to further gross sin & separation from God & the knowledge of Him ( Romans 1:18-25). Were these people completely without connection to the God of Heaven? Were they, not having God's Laws & Love revealed to them, then able to find excuse to behave in such a manner? Onto page 2.

Page 2. Cheryl1655

The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 2:14,15, that the Gentiles who did not have God's Law served to them, do by instinct that which the Law contained - that Law (in some perceptive form) is written on their hearts & their consciences. So man, whether Jew or Gentile already had received knowledge of right & wrong, of the True God & false gods, of that knowledge pricking his heart when he knew he had done wrong, but he chose to suppress that knowledge & create his own beliefs, gods, & values. He may not know all about the True God, as Israel had known God, but each person had the evidence of God's essential requirements in their hearts; and this should cause them to turn to this 'unknown God' to worship & for help in dealing with sin that affected their hearts & consciences (even as some of the Athenians did in Acts 17:22-34).

And so the great need for the Gospel of Salvation is to go out into all the world ( Matthew 28:19,20), so that both the Jew under the Law & the Gentile without the written Law, might hear of the forgiveness, cleansing & redemption found only in Christ Jesus. There were Gentiles in the Old Testament days that were touched by God (e.g. those of Nineveh, Huram (king of Tyre), the Queen of Sheba, King Darius, etc.); they may not have fully turned from their gods to follow the True God, but we do see that Gentiles were also in God's Mind in those days, so none was without excuse.

But now through the Gift of His Son, God has reached out to ALL men everywhere, that they may find spiritual healing & a restored relationship through faith in Jesus' Name ( Acts 17:30).

It appears; after looking at the KJV and another translation that Peter was simply to be used by God as a vessel to reach the Gentiles. There were individuals such as the Centurion at the crucifixion ( Mark 15:39) who truly believed; this would also be the case for the Samaritan woman at the well earlier (half Jew and half Gentile) in John 4; the Roman Centurion whose faith was great according to Christ when his daughter was healed in Luke 7:9; where Christ stated that He had hadn't seen such faith in all Israel.

We also; of course see individuals such as Nebuchadnezzar who was converted in charge of Babylon; a pagan nation as well as individuals assimilated in such as the mixed multitude in Exodus; Ruth and Rahab; and likely Naaman the Syrian not to mention for a time the population of Nineveh; at least in momentary repentance.

There was a time earlier when Jesus instructed the Disciples to only preach to the lost sheep of Israel ( Matt. 10:5-6). However; in the case of the woman praying for her daughter; the only other individual Jesus stated had great faith and also a Gentile went though a discourse in Matthew 15:26-27 and then her prayers were answered. This appears on the surface to be cruel; but Jesus was drawing her out; and this allowed His glory to be put on display and signifies to us for all time perseverance.

Acts 18:6 shows a similar pattern with Paul after he had more than worn out his welcome in preaching Christ in their midst. Now; Israel will have to wait until the Lord's return for all of the cities of Israel to be reached ( Matt. 10:23). Thus; until the "fullness of the Gentiles come in" ( Romans 11:25) Israel is blind in part.

These things are according to God's pattern; and eventually will fulfill verses such as Isaiah 56:7 when in God's Holy mount; there will be a place for prayer for all nations. Mark 11:17 shows how the Jews themselves failed in understanding their own destiny by making a marketplace in the Temple as a mockery.

Hi Cheryl1655 , that's a big question . The nature of God is very awesome and very different to our nature . God is eternal . All knowing all powerful and beyond what we call space and time . His knowledge and understanding are limitless . We are finite , weak flesh , short sighted and subject to our physical needs , food , drink ,sleep etc . We are God's creation and He knows every bit of His creation , from the individual bits of plankton in the sea to the planet Neptune . He knows all of our thoughts and feelings before we are even born ! This is quite a bit for us mere mortals to really understand . He already knew , from the moment He began creating the universe , who would be His and who wouldn't want to know Him or His Son . He knows the hearts and minds of every creature that He has ever created and will ever create . His wisdom and judgement are beyond question . We have to try to understand and accept this , this is part of having faith in Him , trusting in His righteousness , trusting in His wisdom and in His understanding and knowing the difference between the things that we can ask questions about and those things that we just have to take on faith and trust in Him . Keep reading your Bible , you will grow in understanding and in faith .