Gentile; Pagan

—a term used in Scripture for the nations outside Israel and, in some contexts, for those who do not know or call upon the true God (Jer. 10:25). In later Christian usage “pagan” could denote those who had not received the proclamation of the Gospel or embraced Christianity. The source’s statement that such people formed three quarters of the world’s population is a nineteenth-century estimate and is not retained as current demographic fact. In the New Testament the nations are not merely objects of condemnation: the Gospel is proclaimed to them, and believing Gentiles are incorporated into the people of God.