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In 1 Cor. 12:2 we read, “Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.” This is from the ordinary word for “heathen,” and the text itself shows that Gentiles are idol-worshipers—heathen. Take notice that the Corinthians “were Gentiles;” they ceased to be such on becoming Christians.

Eph. 2:11, 12: “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” Surely, to be a Gentile is to be in a most unenviable condition.

We are told that “God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name.” Acts 15:14. And James referred to the believers in Antioch and elsewhere as those who “from among the Gentiles are turned to God.” God’s people are taken out from among the Gentiles, but on being taken out, they cease to be Gentiles. Abraham, the father of Israel, was taken from among the heathen (Joshua 24:2), so that all Israel are taken from among the Gentiles. Thus it is that “all Israel shall be saved” by the coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles. Rom. 11:25, 26.