What Does the Bible Teach about Nations?

This is the first of a two-part series exploring (1) what the Bible teaches about nations and (2) what the Bible teaches about the responsibilities of those who govern the nations. These are not academic papers, and they are not meant to be polemical (though readers will see that I am arguing for certain conclusions). My aim is simply to walk through a number of biblical terms and biblical texts in an effort to address the two themes above.

The word “nation” or “nations” is common in our English Bible, with the singular noun occurring 155 times in the English Standard Version and the plural noun occurring 490 times. The word “nation” usually refers to the nation of Israel or another specific nation on the earth (e.g., Egypt). The word “nations” can refer specifically to non-Jewish (i.e., Gentile) peoples or simply to the totality of peoples around the world (inclusive of Jews). From the opening chapters of the Bible, we see that the nations are subject to God’s wrath, but also the object of God’s saving intentions. By the end of the Bible, we see as God’s people that our national identity is relativized by the far greater blessing of our heavenly citizenship. While the reality of each person’s earthly citizenship is not erased—now or in the life to come—the weight of the New Testament stresses that God’s redemptive kingdom no longer resides in any particular nation but in the multinational church of Jesus Christ.

Old Testament Survey

The Hebrew word goy appears 560 times in the Old Testament and is almost always translated as “nation” or “nations” (goyim). In the singular, goy is often used of Israel, as in the promise to Abram, “I will make of you a great nation” (Gen. 12:2). The word can also be used specifically of other nations, like Egypt (Ex. 9:24), or the Sabeans (Joel 3:8), or the Chaldeans (Hab. 1:6). In the plural, goyim can be used to describe the nations that will come from Abram (Gen. 17:4, 5, 6), but most often the word refers to the nations outside of Israel—sometimes positively as the peoples who will be blessed through God’s covenant promises (Gen. 22:18), but usually negatively as those who must be driven out from the promised land (Deut. 7:1) or those who do not know God and dare to mock God’s people (Ps. 2:1). In all their raging against God, however, we are assured that God reigns over the nations (Ps. 47:8), care for the nations (Jon. 4:11; Isa. 19:24–25), and that the Lord God will be exalted among the kings and nations of the earth (Ps. 46:10; 67:4; 72:11).

A comprehensive study of the word “nation” or the idea of “nations” is not possible in this brief survey, but we can note some of the most important themes by looking at three passages.

Genesis 10–12

The Bible does not provide an exact definition of a nation. We likely hear “nation” and think of a nation-state or a country on a map. That’s not exactly what goy means in the Old Testament because nation-states as we know them today—with representative democracy, constitutions, fixed borders—didn’t come into existence until much later (as late as the end of the eighteenth century according to most historians). In fact, some scholars argue that virtually all of today’s sovereign states are more properly called countries rather than nations because nearly every political state in the world contains more than one national group (i.e., is made up of many cultures, languages, and ethnic groups).

Genesis 10 links four words together: clans, languages, lands, and nations (Gen. 10:5, 20, 31). The number four is significant because four is frequently the biblical number for worldwide scope (e.g., four winds, four corners, four living creatures, four horsemen of the apocalypse). While the four terms in Genesis 10 overlap, the explicit distinction between clans and nations in verse 32 shows that the four words do not mean exactly the same thing. A goy in Genesis 10 appears to be a collection of related families (clans), who share the same language, and inhabit the same land. No doubt, many, if not all, of these nations were ruled by a leading chief or king, like the “mighty man” Nimrod who ruled over the kingdom of Babel and beyond (10:8–12). 

Although “nations” in the Old Testament were often small and organic by today’s standards, the reference to when Egypt “became a nation” (Ex. 9:24) shows that the goyim could also be large, dynastic empires. It should be noted, however, that subjugated peoples within the empire, like the Israelites, were not considered Egyptians (Ex. 1:9, 22).

The relationship between Genesis 10, 11, and 12 provides a miniature theology of nations. We can note several points: 

1. There are seventy nations listed in the table of nations in Genesis 10, indicating by this round number that the totality of the inhabited world is in view. Thus, all nations share a common descent from Noah and are a part of the story that the one, true, and universal God is working in the world. 
2. The confusion of languages among the nations, and their dispersal across the earth, is part of God’s judgment for the self-aggrandizement displayed in constructing the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:6–9). 
3. No sooner does God judge the nations, than he chooses someone to be the conduit of redemptive blessing to all nations (Gen. 12:1–3). 

The rest of the Old Testament is about God’s special plan for the nation that will come from Abraham (Gen. 17:7–9), the righteous judgment God will bring upon the nations for their iniquity (Gen. 15:14, 16, 18–21), and the promise that through the seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed (Gen. 22:18).

Exodus 19:5-6

After rescuing the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, God gave a message for Moses to deliver to the people:

The importance of these two verses can hardly be overstated. Israel was not like any other nation. God worked marvels for Israel as for no other nation and established a covenant with them as with no other nation (Ex. 34:10). God was near to them in a unique way and, unique among all the nations, gave to them righteous rules, laws, and statutes (Deut. 4:8). God would fight for Israel as he would for no other nation (Deut. 4:34–35; Josh. 10: 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 19, 25, 30, 32, 42).

Consequently, Israel was not to walk in the customs of the other nations (Lev. 20:23). As a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, the Israelites were to be holy as the Lord their God was holy (Lev. 11:44). This meant that idolatry could not be tolerated in Israel. Foreign deities were to be destroyed, and those who broke God’s most important commandments could be banished or killed. According to many technical definitions of the term, Israel was not a theocracy because it was not ruled by the priestly class. But insofar as the judges and kings were required to root out all false worship and rule over the land strictly according to what was written (Deut. 17:18–20, Israel was a theocratic nation. The terms of the Mosaic covenant established that Israel would be blessed or cursed depending upon their fidelity to the divinely given and divinely inspired statutes and commandments of God (Lev. 26; Deut. 27–28).

Isaiah 66:18–21

Beginning in Isaiah 65:17 through the end of the book, God’s people are given a glorious picture of the coming new heavens and new earth. It is a scene of “forever” (v. 18) and of “no more” weeping or distress (19). The bounty and blessing of Eden will be restored, while the serpent will be laid low (v. 25). The final vision in Isaiah depicts, in rhetorical terms, the swallowing up of death forever (Isa. 25:8).

At the climax of this glorious revelation, we read of God’s plan for the nations:

Isaiah’s eschatological prophecy is communicated in earth-bound terms that ancient Israelites would have understood. Thus, the good news of a new creation speaks of children who do not die in infancy and of adults that live past a hundred years old (Isa. 65:20). We read of houses and vineyards (65:21), and of priests and Levites (66:21). These images are not to be taken literally, as if people in heaven will die, but not until they are over 100, or as if we will need priests to attend to daily sacrifices. The picture is of God’s holy people enjoying the good life, with their holy God in the midst of them.

Clearly, one of the most important elements of this eschatological scene is the presence of the nations streaming into Jerusalem. This theme, introduced in Isaiah 2:2–4, appears throughout the book, especially in chapters 40–66. In Isaiah 60:5 we are told that the nations—once wicked before God and oppressive of God’s people—will bring their wealth to Israel. We will have more to say about this imagery when we come to the New Testament, but we can note here that “the wealth of the nations” means not only camels and gold and frankincense but also “praises of the Lord” (v. 6).

The picture of “survivors” being sent to the nations is particularly striking. Isaiah is likely speaking of the Israelites who would survive God’s coming judgment upon their disobedient nation (Isa. 4:2). This faithful remnant is then sent to the nations to declare the glory of God. Isaiah 66:19 is one of the clearest missionary texts in the Old Testament, telling of a future time when the nations will not just “go up to the mountain of the Lord” (Isa. 2:3), but the people of God will go to the nations to declare God’s glory among those who have not heard of his fame. The question for God’s people was whether they would then chase the adulterous glory of the nations or go proclaim the glory of God to those nations. In the Old Testament it was largely the former, but Isaiah sees a day coming when it will be the latter.

The language of verse 20 is also crucial. Isaiah explains that the sent ones will bring “all your brothers from all the nations.” Although some commentators suggest that the “brothers” are fellow Jews, the better interpretation—which is offered by Calvin and many others—is that the “brother” language is a reference to those who have been converted among the nations and are now counted as belonging to the same family as the Israelites. This is to fulfill what was predicted in passages like Isaiah 49:6 (“I will make you a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth;”) and Isaiah 56:8 (“I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered”). It would hardly be a fitting climax to the book as a whole, or to this final section in particular, if the “brothers” only referred to the remnant of Israel. The promise to make some of them priests and Levites is remarkable, precisely because Isaiah is speaking of Gentile converts, not members of the tribe of Levi.

This final section in Isaiah clarifies one other crucial point; namely, that the nations come to Zion as the converts from those nations worship the true and living God. The eschatological vision does not describe nations as nations coming to the mountain of the Lord. There is a distinction between the spiritual brothers who come and the earthly nations from which they originate. The contrast is between those who hear of God’s glory and humbly bring their praise to God and those who continue to rebel against God and will face his judgment (66:24). 

The Old Testament focuses on one nation, the people of Israel in the promised land. But we also see, already in the Old Testament, that God’s redemptive purposes extend to all the nations. Importantly, those redemptive purposes are fulfilled as people from every tribe and tongue come to recognize that Israel’s God is the one true God. The Old Testament looks forward to the day when the nations of the world will stream into Zion as individuals and families from those nations hear of God’s glory, turn from their idolatry, and worship the God of Israel.

New Testament Survey

The New Testament uses a variety of words to describe a nation and its related concepts. The most important term is ethnos, which is used 162 times and is translated mainly as nation or nations (ethne), but also as people, pagan, or Gentiles (depending on the Bible version you are reading). The word laos occurs 142 times and is normally rendered “people” or “peoples.” Other related terms include genos (family, descendant, kind), phyle (tribe), and glossa (tongue or language).

The concept of a nation is loosely defined in the New Testament as it is in the Old Testament. The word ethnos can be used of the Jewish people (Luke 7:5), of Gentiles instead of Jews (Luke 12:30), of non-Christians instead of Christians (1 Cor. 5:1), or of all nations everywhere (Matt. 28:19; Luke 24:47). Interestingly, the book of Revelation uses the same kind of four-fold language found in Genesis 10. Revelation 5:9 celebrates that by the blood of the Lamb, people have been ransomed for God “from every tribe (phyle) and language (glossa) and people (laos) and nation (ethnos).” Likewise, Revelation 7:9 explains that the great multitude in heaven includes those “from every nation (ethnos), from all tribes (phyle) and peoples (laos) and languages (glossa).”

Even more than in the Old Testament, here these terms seem to be barely distinct categories. John’s language in Revelation strongly echoes the formula of “peoples, nations, and languages” often found in Daniel (3:4, 7; 4:1; 5:19; 6:25; 7:14), where the stock phrase basically means “everyone everywhere.” The point of Revelation 5:9 and 7:9 is that Christ has saved sinners from all peoples and from every corner of the globe. The saving work of Jesus Christ will prove triumphant far as the curse is found, regardless of distinguishing features like nation, tribe, people group, or language.

As we did with the Old Testament, let me highlight several texts that bear upon our understanding of nation and nations.

Matthew 21:43

In the Parable of the Tenants, Jesus tells the hard-hearted teachers of Israel that “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits” (Matt. 21:43). Importantly, the word “people” is the Greek word ethnos, more often translated as “nation.” While God has not rejected the descendants of Israel entirely and forever (see Romans 11), he will make a new ethnos out of the nations of the earth (see Paul’s language of “one new man” in Ephesians 2:15). Jesus’s language sounds similar to Isaiah’s prophecy about “a nation be[ing] brought forth in one moment” (Isa. 66:8). What Isaiah foretold as a new community springing up by supernatural birth, Jesus describes as “a people bearing fruit.” Of course, Jesus elsewhere stressed the importance of being born again (John 3:3).

Matthew 28:19

In the Great Commission, the apostles are told to “make disciples of all nations (panta ta ethne)” (Matt. 28:19). A key exegetical question is whether the Great Commission envisions nations as nations being discipled or whether Jesus commands the church to reach the nations by making disciples of individuals (and gathering them into churches) within those nations. We see several reasons to believe that Jesus is thinking of discipling people from the nations rather than nations qua nations.

1. The word ethnos is a neuter noun in the Greek, whereas the word for “them” (autous) is a masculine personal pronoun. Typical grammar rules lead us to expect the pronoun to be neuter when following a neuter noun. The fact that it is masculine most likely indicates that Jesus has “people” in mind as “them” in this command. He is telling the apostles to baptize individual converts from the nations (by means of water and the triune name), not baptize the nations as an abstract whole (by some political, legal, or other symbolic means).
2. In a limited sense, the New Testament can speak of the success of the Great Commission within the lifetime of the apostles. As far as the known world of the Roman Empire, the early church could say that the gospel had been proclaimed in all the world (Col. 1:23) and that the voice of the preacher had gone to the ends of the world (Rom. 10:18). The structure of Acts 1:8, coupled with the last verse of the book (28:31), suggests that as Paul preached the gospel in Rome without hindrance, the message of Christ was reaching to the end of the earth. None of this means that the apostles thought the Great Commission was obsolete. Indeed, the commission will last as long as the promise “I will be with you” lasts (e.g., to the end of the age). But these “in all the world” passages demonstrate that as far as the apostles were concerned, the nations were already being discipled. The nations were already being baptized. This is significant because the nations of the world had not become Christian nations by any official political program or Constantinian-like conversion. The apostles rightly believed that they were carrying out the Great Commission successfully because its aim is not political change of nations, but spiritual change among the people from the nations.
3. Recall the words of the angel in Matthew 1:21, “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” The great work of Jesus in the world is first soteriological, not political or civilizational. Christ came into the world to save sinners. With 1:21 and 28:19-20 serving as bookends to Matthew’s Gospel, we can safely conclude that the Great Commission is about the church’s work to reach and teach and baptize people from every part of the world.
4. This understanding of panta ta ethne finds confirmation not only from the previous discussion of Isaiah 66, but from Paul’s understanding of his mission in the book of Romans. Paul’s aim as an apostle was “to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations” (Rom. 1:6). Paul mentions this same missionary aim at the end of the letter (Rom. 16:26). Crucially, Paul believed he had already seen some of the nations brought to the obedience of faith through his ministry (Rom. 15:16–18). From Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, he had fulfilled his mission (v. 19), even though no place had officially declared itself a Christian nation. In Paul’s mind, the nations had been brought to the obedience of faith once the gospel had been preached there and a foundation for self-propagating gospel work had been established.

Acts 17:22–24

In Paul’s famous Mars Hill speech, he declares that God “made from one man every nation of mankind” (Acts 17:26). Despite their differences of appearance, custom, religion, and culture, the nations of the world share a fundamental unity as descended from Adam (and from Noah). Paul goes on to assert that God has set every nation of mankind in its place, determining where they should live and how long they should endure. The reason for this providential placement is so that each nation should seek after God.

On their own, the nations will not find God. Despite the common ground that may exist between Christians and non-Christians (17:28), general revelation is not sufficient to save. For many years, God allowed the nations to go their own way—not that God approved of their idolatry, but that he did not fully counter it or oppose it as he might. Now that the times of ignorance have passed, however, God commands all people everywhere to repent (17:30). At this point, Paul talks about a future judgment and about the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. In response to this message, some mocked, while others believed (17:32, 34). 

If God’s plan in the Old Testament was for the nations to notice what God was doing in and through Israel, his plan in the New Testament is to directly confront the nations with the claims of Christ and a call to faith and repentance. Paul’s preaching in Athens deals specifically with nations. He references God’s providential care and concern for the nations, but also the judgment coming upon the nations. As far as the nations of the earth are concerned, the obligation uppermost in Paul’s mind is the call upon the people of the nations to repent of their sin and turn to Christ.

Philippians 3:20

Paul says plainly that as Christians “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). This is a major theme in the New Testament. We desire a better country, a heavenly one (Heb. 11:16). Like our fathers in the faith, we are strangers and exiles on the earth (Heb. 11:13), looking for a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God (Heb. 13:10). The Christian knows that all earthly attachments must be held in light of the fact that he has already been seated in the heavenly places (Col. 3:1–4).

Without denying any of these ultimate truths, we must acknowledge that there is more to say about the Christian’s citizenship than simply that we are seated in the heavenly places. The fact that the heavenly scene in Revelation recognizes tribes, languages, peoples, and nations makes clear that we do not enter heaven as generic and stateless Christians. In a way that brings more glory to Christ, we will still retain something of our national, cultural, and linguistic identity. While justified believers are all one in Christ Jesus, the gospel does not eradicate all ethnic, cultural, or linguistic markers any more than it eradicates the differences between male and female (Gal. 3:28). Paul did not hesitate to claim his rights as a Roman citizen (Acts 16:37–38; 22:25-28), and he did not hesitate to express a special concern for his kinsmen according to the flesh (Rom. 9:1–5).

In short, the Bible relativizes our national identity by exalting our heavenly citizenship to the highest place. At the same time, the Bible does not expect, nor encourage, Christians to strip themselves of all cultural or patriotic attachments, even if these affections must always be subordinated to greater goods and higher loves.

1 Peter 2:9–10

One of the main themes in 1 Peter is the divine summons: “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1:16). After applying this command from Leviticus 11:44 to God’s people scattered throughout the Roman Empire, Peter applies the text of national identity from Exodus 19:6 to the same diaspora:

These two verses are full of Old Testament “Israel” language applied to a largely Gentile church. Besides the foundational text from Exodus 19 in verse 9, we also hear the language of Hosea 1 in verse 10. The chosen race is not a skin color, and the holy nation is not a political state. The people who constitute God’s people are bound together by God’s mercy.

This text is foundational for understanding the difference between God’s expectations for Israel in the Old Testament and God’s expectations for nations under the new covenant. The “holy nation” now resides in the church. That’s why God’s people are called sojourners and exiles in the next verse (v. 11). Notice too that verse 12 references “your conduct among the Gentiles” (ethnos). This is the same spiritual logic given in the Old Testament, except now the church is the new nation. God gave Israel a unique corporate identity, a set of perfect laws that had to be obeyed, a divine summons to be holy as the Lord is holy, and a warning not to follow the ways of the nations. As the Israel of God, the church has been given a unique corporate identity, a set of perfect laws that must be obeyed, a divine summons to be holy as the Lord is holy, and a warning not to follow the ways of the nations. 

If Israel is a template for Christian nations today, it is the template for the ethnos that God has formed under the new covenant, namely, the church of Jesus Christ. Paul makes this move instinctively when he cites judicial statutes for Israel—“Purge the evil person from among you” (Deut. 13:5; 17:7; 19:19; 21:21; 22:21, 22, 24; 24:7)—as justification for exercising church discipline (1 Cor. 5:13). There is still a realm in which idolatry must not be allowed and the word of God must be upheld in every jot and tittle, but this dominion no longer exists in Israel according to the flesh, or in any earthly nation. We find this dominion in the blood-bought Israel of God (Gal. 6:16). In the Bible’s story of redemptive history, the ancient, earthly nation of Israel is a type whose fulfillment is realized presently in the church and, at the end of the age, in the new heavens and new earth.

Revelation 21:24–26

We’ve already seen from Isaiah that the nations come to Mount Zion as believers from those nations come before God in worship. This is the same dynamic at play in Revelation 21:24–26:

In recent years, some have speculated that “the glory and honor of the nations” may refer to the cultural artifacts and achievements of the nations. While there is no reason to think one won’t be able to enjoy, say, a Bach cantata or Gothic architecture or deep-dish pizza in the new heavens and new earth, this is not the point of Revelation 21. The glory and honor of the nations refers to the worship that God’s people from those nations bring before the throne (Rev. 22:3). In Isaiah 60 we saw that the “wealth of the nations,” in Isaiah’s earthly eschatological vision, consisted of material affluence and praise. Now, in John’s more heavenly vision, this wealth has been transposed entirely to a spiritual key. The phrase “the glory and honor” occurs in Revelation 4:9, 11, and 5:12, and in each instance it refers to the worship of God and the Lamb. The glory that the righteous carry from the old world into the new is the praise they gladly perform.

Conclusion

The ethnos that God is primarily concerned with, in the economy of the new covenant, is the church. The multinational body of Christ is a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and the Israel of God. Further, we’ve seen in several passages that although national identity is not abrogated by coming to Christ, the nations do not come to Christ as nations. The nations come into their heavenly possession as redeemed, rejoicing, converted, believing, born-again individuals to receive their eternal reward. Recall the preposition “from” that was found in Revelation 5:9 and 7:9. Gathered around the throne are not liberal democracies or dynastic monarchies or constitutional republics as such, but ransomed people from every tribe, language, people, and nation. The nations walk into the new Jerusalem, and the kings of the earth bring their glory into the heavenly city, by heeding the cry of the angel, who, with the eternal gospel, proclaims to every nation and tribe and language and people: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water” (Rev. 14:7).

Kevin DeYoung is the senior pastor at Christ Covenant Church (PCA) in Matthews, North Carolina and associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary.