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Romans 1:6

And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

Just for a contextual reminder, v.6 is in Paul’s opening greetings in his letter to the Romans. In the preceding verse, Paul explains that it is his special commission from God to reach out specifically to the Gentiles; ‘to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for [Jesus Christ] name’s sake.’ Here is v.6 Paul is telling the Romans that they fall into the category of people whom he is called to minister to. The other important message of this verse is the Gentiles are called to belong to Jesus Christ; they are being invited to belong to Jesus Christ. But all this talk of Gentiles. Who exactly were/are Gentiles?

The word ‘Gentile’ is Latin, stemming from gentilis which means family or clan. In most contexts, Gentile just means non-Jew. Therefore I’m a Gentile; I’m not Jewish. So who are the people that Paul is referring to as ‘Gentiles’ in Romans and where did they come from? Unfortunately there’s no consensus on where the Gentile Christians in Rome originated, because it definitely wasn’t directly from Paul. Theories for the origin of the Gentile Christians range from Roman Jews traveled to Jerusalem and returned to Rome to found the Christian church, to Christians from the various regions traveled to Rome and started the church without specific a specific church leader. There were definitely already a good number of Jews in Rome because Claudius felt the need to expel them (in ~50AD) from the city (Acts 18), as the Jews were trying to convert the Gentiles to Judaism. When Paul delivered the letter to the Romans (~55AD), the Jews were already allowed to return to Rome. What made the Gentiles and Jews different was their beliefs, mainly around who Jesus was and what was required to have a right relationship with God.  As we continue through Romans, we’ll definitely see a very clear divide between the two, and what caused the two groups to not work well together for the gospel.

ASK YOURSELF: Are you aware of all the other belief systems/denominations out there? Which align with the Christian worldview and which have differences?

I pray God that you will open my eyes to my Christian brother and sisters around the globe. Don’t let us be prideful for the denomination we belong to, but let us always remember what our mission is on this earth; bringing you glory and praise.