Understanding The Scriptures

In this lesson, Carson looks back at the whole of Salvation History to better understand God's purpose for Israel, which is to be a light to the nations. Ultimately, this purpose is fulfilled in Jesus, who recapitulates Israel in his own person and mission. Due to his redemptive work upon Calvary (wherein he takes upon himself the curses of the Mosaic Covenant), the separation between Israel and the other nations is obliterated (See Ephesians 2:11-22). Jesus has made it possible for all of humanity to stand on equal footing in the covenant family of God, and so the Catholic Church - which is that family - incorporates both Israelites and Gentiles equally. "The nations" in Hebrew is goyim. In Greek, it is ethnos. In Latin, it is gentilis. We use the English term "Gentiles" to refer to all of those nations other than the nation of Israel, and in most all English translations of the New Testament, the Greek word ethnos is translated as "Gentile." There is no need now for those ceremonial precepts as dict