Surely you are aware that the Gospel had to be preached to all of the Jewish nations because it was to the Jew FIRST, right? Our interpretations must be harmonious to this thought.
We are almost harmonious; scriptures says that it was to the Jew (singular) first, then also to the Greek (singular). This is important. If we assume that all the Jewish nations had to hear the Gospel individually first, then it occurred instantly on one occasion.
Acts 10:45,
"
And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles [nations]
also". It says literally 'on the nations [plural] the gratuity of the Holy Spirit has been poured out [perfect past]'.
This is repeated in Acts 11:1,
"
Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles [nations]
had also received the word of God".
All the Jewish "nations" were preached the Gospel when Cornelius, "
a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment", received the Holy Spirit?
I don't disagree with most of what you say regarding the three judgment passages of Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, either. The judgment was mainly Jewish in nature.
However, the judgment came (was executed) by who? By who was Jerusalem to be trodden down? It says "
Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles [nations]
until the times of the Gentiles [nations]
are fulfilled". Were the nations/tribes of Israel the ones who were supposed to trample Jerusalem until the times of the nations/tribes of Israel were fulfilled?
And yet that word "nations" is the
exact same word as in Acts 10:45 that I mentioned above. It is the
exact same word as in Acts 13:19, "
And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land to them by allotment". Were those seven nations in the land of Canaan nations of Israel? Scripture says otherwise.
Acts 13:46,47,
"
Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles [nations; exact same word again].
For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth' ".
Jew first, then also to the
Greek.
Acts 14:1,2,
"
Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles [nations]
and poisoned their minds against the brethren."
The words for "Jews" and "Greeks" here are the same as the ones in Romans 1:16, "
for the Jew first and also for the Greek". But notice this in verse 2, the "Jews" stirred up "the nations" against the "brethren"; those "brethren" were the believing Jews and Greeks. If "the nations" are Jews outside of Judea, how can Paul say what he said? How can we have both Jews and nations distinguished if they are supposed to be the same? How can we have the the gospel preached to the Greeks when it is only supposed to be for the nations?
If we assume that the "Jews" here are those from Judea (Jews meaning Judeans), and that they stirred up the non-Judean Israelite tribes in Iconium, how can Paul confuse his terminology and say that "Jews" of Iconium believed if he really meant "non-Judean nations/tribes of Israel"?
There it is yet again; changing the definition based on some misapplication of the modern "planetary" understanding of "world". When Jesus said the gospel would be preached in all the world, that understanding of world is the same understanding that Paul uses when he said it happened. This is the same as the way in which "the nation
s" had also received the word of God when Cornelius and his household received the Holy Spirit in Acts 10.
Paul cannot have meant the "whole planet", but he never said that to begin with. The word of God went out into all the earth, not to every individual person on the planet, but to
anyone regardless of who they are. The gospel was opened up to the world.
Audience relevance here; what I was sharing did not happen in the synagogue with the Jews, it occurred in the Areopagus with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. As Paul said, it was "
some of your own poets" who said "
for in Him we live and move and have our being", and that poet was a Greek Cretan. Would the Jews of Athens, who had a synagogue right there in the city and in which Paul had previously spoken, say "
He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods" for preaching "
Jesus and the resurrection"? No! They would be offended as we see in other instances of Jewish reactions in Acts.
Or, we can understand the word as they used it; the Roman Empire. "Diana was common to all Latin tribes". I know you said that it is obvious that it is not the whole world which is being meant, and I agree because the word doesn't really mean that anyway, but you never mentioned how you reconcile it with your redefinition of it meaning "the world of Judaism"?
