Our immediate concern is with the meaning of panta ta ethne in Matthew 28:19,”Go and make disciples of all nations.” Since this is such a crucial phrase in the understanding of missions, and since it is tossed about as a Greek phrase today even in non-technical writings, I think it’s important to make all the uses of it readily accessible for the non-Greek reader to consider. Therefore in what follows I will provide all the texts where the combination of pas (all) and ethnos (nation /Gentile) occurs in the New Testament, either in the singular (“every nation”) or plural (“all nations/Gentiles”). The different forms of pan, panta, pasin and panton are simply changes in the grammatical case of the same word to agree with the various forms of the noun ethnos (ethne, ethnesin).
Matthew 24:9 "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by panta ta ethne because of My name.
Matthew 24:14 "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to panta ta ethne, and then the end will come.
Matthew 25:32 "Panta ta ethne will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." (This context seems to demand the meaning "Gentile individuals" not people groups, because it says that Jesus will `"separate the sheep form the goats." This is a reference to individuals who are being judged as the "cursed" and the "righteous" enter hell or eternal life. (Cf, verses 41, 46.)
Matthew 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of panta ta ethne, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Mark 11:17 And He began to teach and say to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for panta ta ethne '? But you have made it a robbers' den." (This quote from Isaiah 56:7 The Hebrew phrase behind pasin tois ethnesin is lekol ho’ammim, which has to mean”all peoples” rather than “all people.”)
Luke 12:29 "And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. 30 "For all these things the panta ta ethne of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things.
Luke 21:24 and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into panta ta ethne; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (This warning echoes the words of Ezekiel 32:9 where the correspoinding Hebrew word is goyim which mans nations or people groups. See also Deuteronomy 28:64.)
Luke 24:47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to panta ta ethne, beginning from Jerusalem.
Acts 2:5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. (This must clearly refer to people groups rather than individuals. The reference is to various ethnic or national groups from which the diaspora Jew had come to Jerusalem.)
Acts 10:35 but in panta ta ethne the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. (Again this must be a reference to people groups or nations not to individual Gentiles because the individuals who fear God are “in every nation.”)
Acts 14:16 "In the generations gone by He permitted panta ta ethne to go their own ways;
Acts 15:16 'After theses things I will return, and I will rebuild the Tabernacle of David which has fallen, and I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it 17 so that the rest of Mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,' (I render the verse at the end which this awkwardly literal translation simply to highlight the fact that this is a quotation from Amos 9:12, which in Greek follows the Hebrew with similar literalness. Again the Hebrew word behind ethne is goyim which means nations or people groups.)
Acts 17:26 and He made from one, pan ethnos of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, (As with Acts 2:5 and 10:35 this is a reference to “every people group” rather than individuals because it says that every nation is made up “of men”. It would not make sense to say that every indivdual Gentile was made up “of men.” Nor does the suggestion of some that it means “the whole human race” fit the meaning of ethnos or the context. )
Romans 1:5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among panta ta ethne for His name's sake,
Galatians 3:8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "Panta ta ethne will be blessed in you."
2 Timothy 4:17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that panta ta ethne might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion's mouth.
Revelation 12:5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule panta ta ethne with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
Revelation 15:4 "Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For panta ta ethne will come and worship before you; for your righteous acts have been revealed”
Out of these 18 uses of panta ta ethne (or its variant) only the one in Matthew 25:32 would seem to demand the meaning “Gentile individuals”. (See comments above on that verse.)
Let the Nations be Glad! The supremacy of God in Missions by John Piper Published by Baker Books, Grand Rapids MI 2000, pp193
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