"If that were truly His intent, it was not expressed specifically in that discourse and that discourse was addressed to a multitude in Jerusalem - a city where many Gentiles lived."
Gentiles?
Anyway, the vast majority were Jesus' own people and it was to them He was addressing the "love thy neighbor."
That's how I interpret this expression.
A Gentile is a non-Jew.
Anyway, the vast majority were Jesus' own people and it was to them He was addressing the "love thy neighbor."
He said "Amen, amen, I say to you" not "Amen, amen I say to Jews."
And the vast majority of Jerusalem's population in 30 AD was not Jewish. The majority was almost certainly Jewish, probably 60%, but there were plenty of Greeks, Syrians, Romans, Idumaeans, Persians and others living there.
The forecourts of the Temple in Jerusalem were known as The Court of the Gentiles and were cordoned off specifically so the large crowds of Gentiles walking Jerusalem's streets would not accidentally wander into the Temple precincts.
That's how I interpret this expression.
I'm sure it is. the problem is that there is neither a textual nor an historical basis for that interpretation.