Isaiah 42:6 - A Light to the Gentiles

 There’s a story in Acts 13:47-48, where Paul is being heckled by the local Jewish populace and, getting fed up with them, he announces to the that he had decided to take his message of eternal life to the gentiles. He then quotes Isaiah 42:6 as a justification for it. Many Christians also incorrectly associate Isaiah 60:3 which has similar imagery, but a different message.

And neither are about evangelizing to outsiders.

That alone should end the claim that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy “to be a light to the gentiles” since not only had Jesus never done that, nor had he ever expressed any interest in doing so in any of the gospels, it was Paul who claimed it as a justification as to why he was going to peddle his new religion to those who, unlike the Jews, wouldn’t be so critical of it.

Now, even if Jesus somehow pulled off this prophecy, one that was fulfilled before he was ever born, and doing so only after he was dead, it wouldn’t have made a difference if one actually takes the time to read the verse.  

First of all, Isaiah 42 is early on in the narrative that is commonly referred to as “Deutero-Isaiah” (chapters 40-54 of the Book of Isaiah), and those fifteen chapters as a whole focus exclusively on the imminent fall of the Babylonian empire and the freeing of the Jewish exiles from captivity. Because of that, one should immediately wonder about any verse pulled to prove something about Jesus, especially the context of the verses referring to the fall of Babylon and the freeing of the Judeans.

So here is the verse from Isaiah 42:6 which is referring to the Judeans being freed. First, the KJV version:

“I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the gentiles.”

Or better:

“I, YHVH, with righteousness have called you forth, and I have grasped you strongly by your hand, and I formed you and I have appointed you as a covenant nation, a light of peoples.”

With this verse and the one that follows, it is clear that this is talking about taking the Judeans out of Babylon “rescuing prisoners from confinement”. The second half is simply an expression of being special, so special that God Himself will take your hand and lead you out of captivity from Babylon.

This is not about converting the gentiles, or being a missionary to them. Despite Paul claiming that he had a Divine Mission to do so, it certainly wasn’t from the Book of Isaiah.

Now, since many have come to realize that Isaiah 42:6 cannot be applied to Paul, they have switched gears to use Isaiah 60:3, which says: (KJV)

“And the Gentiles shall come to they light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising”

Again, this doesn’t say to go to the gentiles, but that the gentiles will com to you. In fact that chapter begins with “you light has come”, as an expression of “In the future, your time will come to be the head of all nations.”

And in any case, this verse is not what Paul in Acts was citing, but the one in Deutero-Isaiah.

So, Paul didn’t “fulfill” the declaration that God was going to take the Jews out of Babylon. And Jesus, being dead, certainly didn’t.

Style: “Not a command, fulfilled before Jesus was born, Jesus was dead, was not fulfilled by Jesus or Paul.”

The meme used: