Nations, Pagans, Gentiles

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?,’ for the pagans seek after all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” Matthew 6:31-32

Harris, W. Hall, III, Elliot Ritzema, Rick Brannan, Douglas Mangum, John Dunham, Jeffrey A. Reimer, and Micah Wierenga, eds. 2012. The Lexham English Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

I want to ask a simple question: “What do these words from these verses have in common?”

Well first we can note that each of these books comes from the Gospel of Matthew. This is important to note because it indicates that one author, the Apostle Matthew, wrote it. This is important to note when understanding ideas across a corpus (body) of text. Meaning found in one place in a text, draws parallel to other meanings in a text.

But what are we comparing between these words?

That brings us to the second important piece of this question.

The words in the original greek are ἔθνη (nations, Mt 28:19), ἔθνη (pagans, Mt 6:32), ἔθνεσιν(gentiles, Mt 12:18)*, and ἔθνη(gentiles, Mt 12:21).

*In technical terms, “ἔθνεσιν” is the dative plural form of “ἔθνος” while “ἔθνη” is the nominative/accusative plural form of “ἔθνος”. 

What is important to note for the non-Greek reader, these are from the same word in Greek, “ἔθνος”.

The BDAG Lexicon defines “ἔθνος” as nation or people with the connotation of “foreigners.” This is the word used by Jews for the non-jewish people. This was also the term preferred by the Appian, a Roman Historian of the 2nd century for non-Italians (Italian here in reference to the citizens of Italic Peninsula). 

What I want you to take away from this post is: Nations, Pagan, Gentiles are not three separate ideas to the Disciple Matthew, but one single word. This is also true throughout the New Testament Corpus. 

Let us stop and reread these passages with the context of the (foreign) nations in mind:

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?,’ for the nations seek after all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Matthew 6:31-32

“Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A crushed reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not extinguish, until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the nations will hope.” Matthew 12:18-21

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

---

If we want to see further support from this idea, we can also take a look into the Old Testament. Isaiah 42:1–4, which is quoted in Matthew 12, we actually see the passage is speaking of “The Nations” as well.

I will be following up next time with a look at Old Testament context of “The Nations.” 

---

Thank you for reading my first post. This is going to be the start of a larger project for me as a I research ideas in preparation for my Master’s Thesis. I hope that these words inspire you to read your Bible well and take the message of the gospel…to the nations.