Did Jesus tell His disciples not to go to the Gentiles?

Question

Twice this week at R&S I've read that Jesus told His disciples to avoid the Gentiles. Is that what you actually believe?

One person cited Matthew 15:24-26, but deliberately left off the rest of the verses. It doesn't get much more dishonest than that. Verses 27-28 complete the story.

Matthew 10:5-6 was cited, but without understanding. First to the Jew, then to the Gentile is a theme that runs throughout Matthew. Matthew 28 conatins "The Great Commission."

Verses will be posed as additional material.

Matthew 15:22-28 22And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." 23But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us." 24He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." 26And he answered, "It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs." 27She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table." 28Then Jesus answered her, "O woman,great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.

Matthew 10:5-6 5These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town ofthe Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel

Matthew 28:18-20 18And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Pugwash: The Jews have not been replaced. Replacement Theory or supersessionism is not Biblical and not correct. As someone answered here, the Jews are to be a light and in my Bible studies, they are.

Answer 1

his goal was to delay the gospel to the gentiles until the jews had first a chance....he had intended that the jewish apostles take the message to everyone later......this was one reason for the choseness of the jews....to be a light to the gentiles...but he first had to get them trained...they had at least training in the word of god, and could learn quicker than the gentiles who were just pagans at the time.

jesus did not completely ignore the gentiles around him...he healed the centurians servant and another woman who came to him about her daughter....Jesus responded to faith in these instances....not ethnicity

Answer 2

I believe it was because he needed to spread his message among those who had a strong Jewish background first, to pave the way for the eventual evangelization of the Gentiles. When he sent the disciples, they were not bringing salvation. That did not come until Acts 2:38 in Jerusalem on Pentecost. Later the Gentiles were reached through the efforts of Paul and others. Love, Jack

Answer 3

The scriptures you mention are all valid in their own time frame!

The disciples who walked with Christ during his time in the flesh were only sent to fleshly Israel. The point was made here:
Matthew 15:24 ". . . I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. "(ACV)

Jesus was doing his best to save a remnant among the fleshly Jews before they were discarded from being God's chosen people which happened when the Law Covenant became inoperative at his death. Still, the new covenant was only extended to the fleshly Israelites for the next 3.5 years.

Then the great change was seen. Cornelius became the first gentile to be gathered in. And from that moment, God's covenant people consisted of the Gentiles and the fleshly Israelites together. Together they became the new spiritual Israel.

Thus after his death, Matt 28:19 started with Cornelius' baptism and anointing with the Helper.

Thus, to answer again, Jesus did say the disciples not to go, and then again, he told them to go. It was a simple matter of when something should be done. Just as we do things according to a certain order at times.

Answer 4

You answered your own question: "First to the Jew, then to the Gentile is a theme that runs throughout Matthew. Matthew 28 conatins "The Great Commission." ".

Jesus was organized, he got an agenda of things he must complete before his death, and he knew that he got about three years with His disciples to train them before that event. As a teacher, Jesus knew that students need to learn the principles first, practice with easier problems, then continue with more difficult tasks. You do not put a student into multiplication(x) and division(/) before addition(+) and substraction(-). Easier topics, tasks first, then the complex ones.

All people in Earth need to hear this message but the disciples need training. So let the disciple practice first with jews (which they know better since disciples were jew) and later (Mathew 28, Acts) continue with Samaria, and the rest of Earth.

Answer 5

When sending his twelve apostles out on a limited preaching tour, Jesus told them: “Do not go off into the road of the nations, and do not enter into a Samaritan city; but, instead, go continually to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt. 10:5, 6) That Jesus did not forbid all preaching to the Samaritans can be seen by his own words and actions. In one of his parables he showed that the Jews should consider the Samaritans as neighbors. (Luke 10:29-37) Once Christ healed ten men, one of whom was a Samaritan, and Jesus commended that man for being the only one of the ten who expressed gratitude. (Luke 17:11-19) Also, Jesus preached to a Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar and later also to others in that Samaritan city.—John 4:4-43.

Consequently, Jesus’ order at Matthew 10:5, 6 must be understood as a restriction that applied particularly to that time and occasion. By what Christ said about “the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” it seems evident that he was emphasizing the importance of taking the message to the Jews first, giving them the first opportunity. So, on their preaching tour the apostles were to concentrate on the Jews, not attempting at this time to preach to all peoples and nations. Surely the six pairs of men would have more than enough to do during their relatively brief tour even with their territory restricted to the cities and villages of the Jews.—Mark 6:7.

The situation was quite different when Jesus said what he did as recorded at Acts 1:8. He was, in effect, giving his followers some parting instructions that indicated the worldwide preaching work to be accomplished. Just before ascending to heaven he said: “You will be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the most distant part of the earth.” And that is just the way it worked out. Due to persecution the Christian disciples were scattered, and as a result their message was preached in Samaria.—Acts 8:1-17.

It might be noted that this preaching to the Samaritans, with the result that many Samaritans were baptized and received holy spirit, took place prior to 36 C.E., when uncircumcised Gentiles (non-Jews) were for the first time accepted as believers. (Acts 10:34-48) This apparently was because the Samaritans had much more in common religiously with the Jews than did the Gentiles. The Samaritans accepted the first five books of the Bible (according to the “Samaritan Pentateuch”) and thus they looked forward to the coming of a prophet greater than Moses. (Deut. 18:18, 19; John 4:25) And though their form of worship was in many ways different from Judaism, still they claimed to be worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and observing the Law of Moses, including the circumcision requirement. Hence, they were in quite a different category from that in which the uncircumcised Gentiles were.

Answer 6

Greetings,

No Jesus did not say that, especially being the person to embrace the people as a whole. He also states in Matthews chapter 5, that ye are the light of {the world} a city that is set on a hill can not be hid. It also says; to let your light so shine before all men {meaning all people}, that they may see your good works and glorify your father God who is in heaven.

And in Matthews 10 verse 16 Jesus states; Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

I could give you more, but you get the point. Jesus made many references to these types of sayings throughout the new testament.

Thank you! Great Question and Great Witness!!!!

Answer 7

I agree with you. Actually, He stated the opposite. But I digress.

When Jesus was preaching, the Bible is clear that He was ONLY sent to the Jews, since the New Covenant was promised initially to them (Jeremiah 31:31-34). This explains His commandment to the disciples at Matthew 10:5, that they were not to preach to the Gentiles. However, once the Covenant was given (being sealed by His sacrificial death), Jesus makes it plain at Acts 1 that He intends for this message to be preached to the Gentiles:

4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, AND TO THE END OF THE EARTH.”

It would seem the Apostles didn't immediately understand this, since it took Jesus' vision to Peter to convince them that the Gospel should be preached outside Israel and Judea. Of course, by that time, Paul was already doing it.

EDIT: Conundrum, the Samaritans were actually paganized Jews -- they were the descendents of Joseph's children. So when Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well or the Samaritan village at Luke 9:51, He did not violate God's commandment that the Gospel was for the Jew FIRST (Jer. 31:31-34).

Answer 8

You're right. We are not to take scripture out of context like that. In Matthew 15:21-28 and in Mark 7:25-29, a Gentile woman approached Jesus to ask him to heal her possessed daughter. When He told her He was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel, she said "yes, but even a dog gets to eat scraps from it's master's table." Jesus then told the Gentile woman to go home, He had healed her daughter because of her reply / tremendous faith. He was initially sent to the Jews; however, they rejected Him. That opened the doors for the Gentiles.

Luke 14:15-31 The Parable of the Great Banquet
15When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God."

16Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.'

18"But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.'

19"Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.'

20"Still another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.'

21"The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.'

22" 'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.'

23"Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.

24 I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.' "

Answer 9

The basic problem I'm seeing in the answers is this, None of you seems to understand who the Jews are, who the lost sheep of Israel are and finally who the Samaritans were.

The Jews were basically decendents of those people who had been carried away to Babylon and returned during the reign of Darius to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. They were made up primarily of the the tribe of Judah, Benjamin and Levi. There were some represenitives of the other tribes but they were for the most part not Israel but decendents of the Nation of Judah.

The lost sheep of Israel were the north ten tribes or the Nation of Israel (all the other tribes) who either A. got out of the land before the Assyrian conquest because it was obvious it was coming and settled in the steps of Russia or B. Those Israelites who hung out and were taken captive and carried off to Persia (the upper Ephrates river Area a bit east and north of Ninava.) They were also decendents of the Jews who stayed behind in Babylon. They weren't lost as in "Where is Waldo" but they were lost in the sense that they were without God. It was common knowledge at that time that they were A. The Scythians and B. The Parthians. They also were the ones who had founded Carthage in north Africa.

The Samaritans were people whom the Assyrians had conquered and had resettled in Israel just as they had resettled the Israelites to another area. With no ties to ancesteral land it was easier to subjegate people. They were having problems with wild beast (Lions and Bears) eating them so they appealed to the Assyrians to send Priests of Israel to them to teach them about the local God so they could survive. The Assyrians sent Levites to them who taught them Torah. Remember that these priest were perverted to start with as the history of Israel shows but they still taught Torah and about YHVH just a perversion of it and thus the rift between Jew and Samaritian not to speak of the fact that they were gentile and therefore unclean regardless of the Torah (a total fabrication of the Jewish people by the way gentiles were never unclean Its not in scripture).

With this knowledge its a little easier to keep the people all sorted out.

This is why it is important to read your history portions of the scripture even though there is a lot of killing and such. All of this really is spelled out in the text.

It is also why I refuse to use the Jewish Parishot as our tool for reading the scriptures as large portions of scripture get ignored.

Had to make my own.

Answer 10

While Jesus was with them, their ministry was limited to the Jews (although there were some Gentile exceptions).

But Jesus commanded His disciples before His ascension, to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.