To evaluate whether a New Testament book was written for a Jewish or gentile congregation based on its usage of the Hebrew Scriptures misses a major consideration. If we were to remove from the New Testament all elements of the Hebrew Scriptures, whether quotations, allusions, references and types we would be left with very little material. Marcion attempted this in the second century and ended up with a reduced New Testament which was comprised of part of Luke’s Gospel and Paul’s Epistles. The fact is that the New Testament was written to people who were clearly aware of and alert to what was written in the Hebrew Scriptures. What we often fail to appreciate is that where quotations were given from the Hebrew Scriptures, the readers or audiences of the writing were expected to put the quotation(s) into context. Quotations or allusions were actually a reference to a larger argument that the writer was presenting rather than simply a support or an authority for a claim as we so frequently use quotations today. The apostle Paul used quotations from Scripture liberally throughout his writings, without a question as to whether the gentile followers would understand. He speaks about the sacrificial system and expects even the gentiles to understand what happened in the temple in Jerusalem (Romans 12:1, 1 Corinthians 10:18). This indicates that the gentiles were expected to have a considerable degree of appreciation of the Scriptures. The same expectation continues in those epistles which scholars consider were subsequently written by Paul’s followers. The writer of the Second Epistle to Timothy is explicit in his concern about the importance of understanding existing Scripture (2 Timothy 3:14-16). This adds an interesting perspective to the point of James at the Jerusalem Conference recorded in Acts. Luke records James stating at the conclusion of the instructions to the gentiles that “from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues” (Acts 15:21 ESV). Was this just a throwaway statement by James or was it intended as part of the instruction to the gentiles that they were responsible for coming to understand the content of the Scriptures? If the latter, then they were given a responsibility to acquire a context in which to understand the teachings of the apostles and the church. Judging from the way in which the books of the New Testament have been written, James's statement needs to be considered part of the instruction to the gentile followers. Considering this then, we have a situation where the New Testament was written for individuals—whether Jew or gentile—who had immersed themselves in the Scriptures and were able to contextualize the writings. This was an aspect that was quickly lost as the separation between church and synagogue developed over the succeeding centuries. | 
