ETNICO. – A Greek term (ἐθνικός, Vulgate ethnicus or gentilis) with which Hellenistic Jews designated the pagan, belonging to the “nations” that did not profess monotheism.
This is the non-exclusive but predominant sense in the Bible of ἐθνικός (substantive): Mt. 5:47; 6:7; 13:17; synonymous in the plural with τὰ ἐθνή, which in the Septuagint translates the Heb. haggājim (Ex. 34:24; Lev. 18:24, etc.; Is. 9:1), cf. Mt. 4:15; 6:32 and passim; in opposition to the Jews: Rom. 3:39; 9:24, etc.; Lc. 2:32; Act. 26:17, 23.
In the Old Testament there is a sharper distinction between the people of God (ὁ λαός) and “the nations” (τὰ ἐθνή), with the prohibition of marital relations and treaties of friendship (Ex. 34:16; Esd. 9–10; Is. 7:17; 30; 31; Jer. 2:15; Ez. 16:28, etc.) and with exclusion from worship and the Temple, because of the grave danger of idolatrous influence.
Distinction and separation, not hatred; Mosaic legislation prescribes justice and benevolence toward the e. (Ex. 22:21; 23:9; Lev. 19:33 f.; Deut. 10:18 f., etc.; cf. H. Lesêtre, Etranger, in DB, II, col. 204); they could embrace the Jewish religion (v. proselutti); and the prophets announce their incorporation into the messianic kingdom: Is. 2:2; 42:6; 49:6; 60:3; Zach. 2:15; 8:23; Mal. 1:11, etc. During the persecutions suffered after the return from exile (Neh. 5:8; 9:2; 13:1–3), and especially under the Seleucids (I–II Maccabee), there developed among the Jews that hatred toward the “e.” or “gentiles” which the Pharisees consecrated in their program.
In the New Testament the distinction remains (cf. Mt. 15:24; Gal. 2:15, etc.), and the Church is represented as distinct, just as the Jews were, from the world of the gentiles (Mt. 18:17; M.-J. Lagrange); but Jesus removed the ancient barrier (Eph. 2:14) and called all the e. to his kingdom (cf. Mt. 28:19; Mc. 16:15; Lc. 24:47;
BIBLI: W. Grimm, Lexicon Graecum Novii Test., 2nd ed., Jena 1888, p. 116; I. Knabenbauer, Ethnicus, in Lexicon biblicum, II, cols. 231–36; H. Lesèbre, Gentis, in DB. III, cols. 189–92; F. Zerell, Lexicon Graecum Novii Test., 2nd ed., Paris 1931, col. 359 ff., id., Lexicon Hebraicum, II, Rome 1940, p. 145 ff.; J. Bonsueta, Le judaïsme palestinien, I, 2nd ed., Paris 1935, pp. 73–110. Francesco Spadafora