All Nations

[Faith1960]

In the Gospel of Mark it says “The gospel must first be preached to all nations” before the end of the world. In Paul’s letter to the Romans it says “A hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved.”

Does this mean that ALL Gentiles have to come to Christ before the end of the world or just that each nation has to have some people there taught the Gospel before the end?

 

[Faith1960]

In the Gospel of Mark it says “The gospel must first be preached to all nations” before the end of the world. In Paul’s letter to the Romans it says “A hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved.”

Does this mean that ALL Gentiles have to come to Christ before the end of the world or just that each nation has to have some people there taught the Gospel before the end?

Anyone??? Anyone???

 

[oneGODoneCHURCH]

In the Gospel of Mark it says “The gospel must first be preached to all nations” before the end of the world. In Paul’s letter to the Romans it says “A hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved.”

Does this mean that ALL Gentiles have to come to Christ before the end of the world or just that each nation has to have some people there taught the Gospel before the end?

I would saay that it means that the gospek must be preached to all nations.

 

[Faith1960]

I would saay that it means that the gospek must be preached to all nations.

Hasn’t it been preached to all nations a number of times already?

 

[_L]

In the Gospel of Mark it says “The gospel must first be preached to all nations” before the end of the world. In Paul’s letter to the Romans it says “A hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved.”

Does this mean that ALL Gentiles have to come to Christ before the end of the world or just that each nation has to have some people there taught the Gospel before the end?

I believe it means that the Gospel needs to be spread throughout the world as a testimony to all nations (people in general, specifically gentiles) providing a chance for the gentiles throughout the world to be grafted into the plan of salvation, in addition to being a testimony against the non believers who would have at least had a chance to believe but did not. The latter part of that quote has to do with end times theology where it is believed that some time after the Gospel has been preached to the whole world, the Jewish people as a whole will undergo a corporate conversion to Christianity before the end of the world.

 

[Faith1960]

I believe it means that the Gospel needs to be spread throughout the world as a testimony to all nations (people in general, specifically gentiles) providing a chance for the gentiles throughout the world to be grafted into the plan of salvation, in addition to being a testimony against the non believers who would have at least had a chance to believe but did not. The latter part of that quote has to do with end times theology where it is believed that some time after the Gospel has been preached to the whole world, the Jewish people as a whole will undergo a corporate conversion to Christianity before the end of the world.

Does everyone, including Jews have to come to Christ before the end of the world?

 

[Faith1960]

Does everyone, including Jews have to come to Christ before the end of the world?

What I’m getting at is this: Is the end of the world coming soon or could it still be thousands of years away?

 

[_L]

Does everyone, including Jews have to come to Christ before the end of the world?

No, certainly not. I am of the opinion that Christians will be in an immense minority when that day comes. Gentiles will have had an opportunity to be grafted into the plan of salvation, many will have come to believe but many more will not. But we are told the jews will corporately convert before the end; whether that is a general statement or not we don’t know. It only makes sense that there will be some individual jews who do not convert, but the jews as a community in general will.

What I’m getting at is this: Is the end of the world coming soon or could it still be thousands of years away?

No one can say, it could be today in the year 2011 or in the year 3011. We simply do not know, but from scripture and tradition we know of certain events that are to take place before the end. Some of those things are the gospel being preached throughout the whole world, the corporate conversion of the jews, the appearance of the final antichrist, one final persecution. But it really is nonsensical to try and make predictions because if scripture tells us one thing, it is that prophecy can be fulfilled in the ways we least expect it. I think we should take a lesson from the Jews of the time of Jesus who had this grandiose expectation of a warrior revolutionary king who would expel the Romans with violence; this is how they interpreted their scriptural prophecies, but the way they were actually fulfilled came in a way no one could expect and many were disappointed, but if they only realized how great the actual messiah was and is they would have realized that political ruler messiah they had conceived was nothing in comparison to Christ.

The Catechism only has 2 short paragraphs on the subject:

675 Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.

676 The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism.

And the other things mentioned were in the passed quoted in the OP, Pope Benedict recently made some comments that confused people about not evangelizing to the Jews, and people were confused because I believe he was referring to the corporate conversion of the jews that God will bring about in His own time, which I thought to be an admonishment of those people out there who think they can hasten the second coming by trying to convert all of the jews.

 

[patrick457]

Hasn’t it been preached to all nations a number of times already?

Well, there are certainly still some peoples in the world who have not heard of the Gospel yet. After all, there are still a number of places on the Earth that are left unexplored even as of now.

 

[patrick457]

Does everyone, including Jews have to come to Christ before the end of the world?

I think St. Paul has addressed this one (Romans 11):

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
“and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”

As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

The Fathers took St. Paul’s words to mean that Israel will be converted before the end. Jesus’ words themselves could be said to imply thus (Matthew 23:37-39):

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

 

[Faith1960]

I think St. Paul has addressed this one (Romans 11):

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
“and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”

As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

The Fathers took St. Paul’s words to mean that Israel will be converted before the end. Jesus’ words themselves could be said to imply thus (Matthew 23:37-39):

So that means that before the end of the world, Israel must become a Christian country instead of Jewish, right?

 

[patrick457]

So that means that before the end of the world, Israel must become a Christian country instead of Jewish, right?

Sorry if I don’t get what you’re trying to say, but are you equating the Jewish people with the State of Israel (the one founded in 1948) here?

 

[Faith1960]

Sorry if I don’t get what you’re trying to say, but are you equating the Jewish people with the State of Israel (the one founded in 1948) here?

Okay, now I’m confused. I don’t know – isn’t Israel a Jewish country?

 

[ryanoneil]

What I’m getting at is this: Is the end of the world coming soon or could it still be thousands of years away?

I could still be thousands of years away, but be ready in case it is tomorrow. Paul already believed that the gospel had gone out into the whole world in his day.

Of this you have already heard through the word of truth, the gospel, that has come to you. Just as in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing, so also among you, from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth (Col 1:5-6)

provided that you persevere in the faith, firmly grounded, stable, and not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, am a minister. (Col 1:23)

Also, scripture doesn’t say anything about all Jews or all Gentiles believing in Jesus. “All Israel” is either the cumulative total of elect Jews until the divine quota of Gentiles is met, or/alternatively “all Israel” could be the sum total of both Jews and Gentiles who will be saved.

 

[thistle]

What I’m getting at is this: Is the end of the world coming soon or could it still be thousands of years away?

Only God knows when the end will be. We do not know nor should we be trying to look for signs of the end.
Christ told us to always be ready.