"Lord, to whom shall we go?" Charting the Course of the Church from Here to the Second Coming: Part 13

​It's All Greek to Me

Can anyone explain to me what, exactly, is meant when we call someone a "gentile?"  

​   Am I one?  Are you?

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica:

"Gentile" is a person who is not Jewish.  The word stems from the Hebrew term goy, which means a “nation."  The Latin versions of the Bible translated goyim as gentes (singular gens) or gentiles.

Is it Good or Bad to be a Gentile?

Our spiritual standing (whether we're repenting) is more important than our ethnic heritage.  But sometimes we might wonder if we want to be numbered with the gentiles?  

Well, let's see what the Lord said on the subject:

   Blessed are the Gentiles,
   because of their belief in me,
   in and of the Holy Ghost,
   which witnesses unto them
   of me and of the Father.

(3 Nephi 16:6)

Okay, I want to highlight two things:

   1.  It's pretty awesome, isn't it, that the Lord pronounces a formal blessing on the gentiles who believe in Him!  It is like He's speaking a new Beatitude.  

   2.  Also notice this: our belief in Christ comes "in and of the Holy Ghost."  (This will become important later.)

Casting Characters in the Book of Mormon

Don't get me started on casting directors choosing actors to portray characters from the Book of Mormon.

I remember going to see the Book of Mormon movie and thinking the audition for the part of Nephi went something like this:

Casting Director:  Okay, take off your shirt.

Actor:  [Takes off shirt]

Casting Director:  Okay, you've got good pecs and abs.  You've got the role.

Yup.  I can just imagine the most faithful, orthodox Jew you've ever met washing his car without his shirt on.  

4 Groups in the Book of Mormon

There are four main groups of people in the Book of Mormon (we're not taking about Jaredites, so put them aside for now).

   1.  The Jews (living in the environs of Israel);

   2.  The Lost Tribes of Israel (living in the nethermost parts of the vineyard);

   3.  The descendants of Lehi and Ishmael (living somewhere in the promised land); and

   4.  The Gentiles (everyone else).

Which group do members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints belong to?

   Well, let's ask Joseph Smith!

Joseph Smith:

   Now these words, O Lord,
   we have spoken before thee,
   concerning the revelations and
   commandments which thou hast given
   unto us, who are
   identified with
   the Gentiles.

(D&C 109:60)

[Did we catch that?  Regardless of blood lineage, we are "IDENTIFIED. WITH. THE. GENTILES."]

What's Up With the Gentiles?

When I was a new missionary in Paris, I made a rookie mistake.  Being unfamiliar with the language, after a meal at a member's home I said, patting my stomach, "Je suis plein." ("I am full.")

Well, this is a common mistranslation.  While "plein" does mean "full," the phrase "je suis plein" is a vulgar way of saying, "I'm pregnant."

   Hilarious embarrassment ensured.

Why do I share this random anecdote?  Because we need to talk about what it means for the Gentiles to be plein, or "full."

Fulness of the Gentiles

What is the "fulness of the Gentiles" referring to?  

It must be something important, because when the angel appeared to Joseph Smith in 1823, he said that "the fulness of the Gentiles was soon to come in" (JS-H 1:41).

At the risk of oversimplifying things, for now let's say that the "fulness of the Gentiles" refers to two major world events, beginning with #1 and ending with #2:

   1.  When the Gentiles receive a "fulness" of the gospel; and

   2.  When the Gentiles commit a "fulness" of sin and reject the gospel.

This has to do with the whole "last shall be first, and the first shall be last" thing (1 Nephi 13:42).

Last Shall Be First:  The Gentiles Receive a Fulness of the Gospel . . . and Reject It

​   1.  The gospel came to the Gentiles when Peter baptized Cornelius (Acts 10).  

   2.  In 1823 the "fulness of the Gentiles" was about to come in (JS-H 1:41), referring to the fulness of the gospel as well as the fulness of the Gentile sins.

   3.  The Times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled when, after having received a fulness of the gospel, "they receive it not . . . and turn their hearts from me because of the precepts of men" (D&C 45:28-29).

   4.  When the Gentiles sin against the gospel, and reject the fulness of the gospel, then the Father "will bring the fulness of my gospel from among them" (3 Nephi 16:10).

   5.  Then shall the Times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, and the Lord promises that "I must bring forth the fulness of my gospel from the Gentiles unto the house of Israel" (D&C 14:10).

Question:  Who are these "Gentiles" who have received the fulness of the gospel and then turn their hearts from Christ because of the precepts of men?  

Answer:  We are!  These prophecies are given to, and are about, the Latter-day Gentiles who call themselves members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.