Bible verses about "gentiles" | Twentieth_Century

²² So Paul took his stand in the middle of the Court, and said- -"Men of Athens, on every hand I see signs of your being very devout. ²³ For as I was going about, looking at your sacred shrines, I came upon an altar with this inscription--'To an Unknown God.' What, therefore, you worship in ignorance, that I am now proclaiming to you. ²⁴ The God who made the world and all things that are in it-- he, Lord as he is of Heaven and Earth, does not dwell in temples made by hands, ²⁵ Nor yet do human hands minister to his wants, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives, to all, life, and breath, and all things. ²⁶ He made all races of the earth's surface--fixing a time for their rise and fall, and the limits of their settlements-- ²⁷ That they might search for God, if by any means they might feel their way to him and find him. And yet he is not really far from any one of us;

³ Surely in the past you have spent time enough living as the Gentiles delight to live. For your path has lain among scenes of debauchery, licentiousness, drunkenness, revelry, hard-drinking, and profane idolatry.

²² And what if God, intending to reveal his displeasure and make his power known, bore most patiently with the objects of his displeasure, though they were fit only to be destroyed, ²³ So as to make known his surpassing glory in dealing with the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴ And whom he called-even us-Not only from among the Jews but from among the Gentiles also! ²⁵ This, indeed, is what he says in the Book of Hosea-'I will call those my People who were not my People, and her my beloved who was not beloved. ²⁶ And in the very place where it was said to them-"Ye are not my People", they shall be called Sons of the Living God.' ²⁷ And Isaiah cries aloud over Israel-'Though the Sons of Israel are like the sand of the sea in number, only a remnant of them shall escape! ²⁸ For the Lord will execute his sentence upon the world, fully and without delay.' ²⁹ It is as Isaiah foretold-'Had not the Lord of Hosts spared some few of our race to us, we should have become like Sodom and been made to resemble Gomorrah.' ³⁰ What are we to say, then? Why, that Gentiles, who were not in search of righteousness, secured it-a righteousness which was the result of faith;

¹⁷ This, then, as one in union with the Lord, I say to you and urge upon you: Do not continue to live such purposeless lives as the Gentiles live, ¹⁸ With their powers of discernment darkened, cut off from the Life of God, owing to the ignorance that prevails among them and to the hardness of their hearts. ¹⁹ Lost to all sense of shame, they have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, in order to practice every kind of impurity without restraint.

¹⁴ And this he did that the blessing given to Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through their union with Jesus Christ; that so, through our faith, we also might receive the promised gift of the Spirit.

¹⁶ I have other sheep besides, which do not belong to this fold; I must lead them also, and they will listen to my voice; and they shall become one flock under 'one Shepherd.'

²⁸ Understand, then, that this Salvation of God was sent for the Gentiles; and they will listen."

¹¹ In that new life there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman; but Christ is all!--and in all!

⁷ After much discussion, Peter rose and said: "You, my Brothers, know well that long ago God singled me out--that through my lips the Gentiles should hear the Message of the Good News, and become believers in Christ. ⁸ Now God, who reads all hearts, declared his acceptance of the Gentiles, by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. ⁹ He made no distinction between them and us, when he purified their hearts by their faith.