This brief discussion of Jesus' attitude towards the Gentiles is by way of a preliminary to the main theme of the book. It is included for two main reasons: first, it provides us with the primary attitude towards the Gentiles, with which later developments can be compared; and second, it gives us a key both to Jesus' teaching on eschatology and to the relationship between the themes of the Gentiles and eschatology. In the course of our discussion we shall be faced with two conflicting strands of evidence. This has inevitably led to strong suspicions about the authenticity of one or other strand, or even of both. We shall discuss first, therefore, the material which can reasonably be said to be authentic, to see whether it gives a uniform picture. The more controversial texts will be left till last, so that they can be discussed in relation to the overall picture gained from the other material. Further, it should be noted that two distinct questions are in mind throughout this chapter: first, what was Jesus' attitude towards the Gentiles and second, the more specific question, did he foresee a historical Gentile mission?

BACKGROUND

A complete treatment of the Gentiles in Jesus' teaching would involve a full discussion of the theme of mission in the Old Testament and Judaism. However, the majority of recent authors have reached similar and, as far as one can see, correct conclusions. A short summary of the conclusions relevant to our study, therefore, will suffice at this point.