The International Trajectory of God’s Good News

Paul says Abraham heard the good news: "The Scripture, seeing ahead that God would set the nations right by faith, announced the good news in advance to Abraham: 'In you all the nations will be blessed.'" (Galatians 3:8) “All the nations” is central to Paul’s understanding of the Good News. He combines two verses. Genesis 12:3 says "all the families of the earth will be blessed through you." Genesis 18:18 says "all the nations of the earth." Greek 18:18 uses ethnē or "Gentiles." 

This Good News announces that God will bless the nations, first through Abraham, then the promise narrows to Abraham's singular "seed" which Paul reads as the Messiah (Galatians 3:16).

Paul’s use of "announce good news" reappears in the Greek of Isaiah: "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the one who brings good news… who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns'" (Isaiah 52:7). Three verses later: "All the ends of the earth will see God’s salvation." (52:10)

The news to Zion is embraced by nations in accordance with Paul’s template, “First the Jew, then the nations” (Romans 1:16). The nations aren’t only cheering for Jerusalem. They are applying the reformative process in their own context. 

Isaiah reaches this point by way of Abraham, the Father of a multitude of nations: "Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you." (51:2). Two verses later: "my justice will be a light to the nations." (51:4)

Paul’s arguments in Galatians draw heavily on Isaiah:

• 1:15–16. Paul describes his calling "from my mother's womb" to announce good news "among the nations." That is the language of the servant in Isaiah 49:1, 6, who is called from the womb to be "a light to the nations." Paul, imbued with the Spirit of the Anointed One, sees himself as a participant in Isaiah’s messianic prophecy.
• 3:2, 5. "Hearing with faith" echoes Isaiah 53:1: "Who has believed what he heard from us?"
• 4:27. Paul quotes Isaiah 54:1 outright.

In Romans 10:14-17 Paul quotes Isaiah: “How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of the Anointed One.”

When Jesus stepped on the scene, he held the trajectory: "… the kingdom of God has come near. Turn, and believe the good news of God" (Mark 1:14–15). That is another way to say, "Your God reigns," announced to the Jew first and then to Abraham’s "multitude of nations”.

Abraham received the promise → Isaiah announced it → Jesus implemented it → Paul and others carried it to the nations. Look at the process: Abraham was counted righteous by faith in Genesis 15:6, then he was circumcised in Genesis 17. The Law came "430 years afterward" (Galatians 3:17). Paul highlights this in Romans 4:10–11: Abraham was counted righteous before circumcision, so that he could be father of both the circumcised and the uncircumcised (the Jews and the nations).

The blessing on the nations was prophesied before either, in Genesis 12. The international blessing never depended on the nations becoming Jews. If every non-Jew had to be circumcised and become a Jew to receive Abraham's blessing then which "nations" would be left to be blessed? The promise only works if nations stay nations. Paul argues this: "Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of the nations also? Yes, since God is one" (Romans 3:29–30). He applies it in practice too: "Was anyone called while uncircumcised? He should not seek circumcision" (1 Corinthians 7:18). The Good News doesn’t require changing religions or culture. Imbued with the Spirit of God, we become the body of the incarnate Jesus within our cultural context, teaching the nations to obey and do all Jesus taught (Matthew 28:20).

Isaiah saw the same picture: "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance." (Isaiah 19:25) "My people" was Israel's title, and here God gives it to Egypt and Assyria. Two nations that “should be” disregarded, but God promises all three peoples will serve Him. None of them stops being who they are. Of course, their hearts turn to God, but they don’t throw away the cultural traditions that often honor God in unexpected ways. 

Scripture ends with the nations walking by the light of the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:24).

Remember, Paul does not resist Gentile circumcision because the Torah is bad. He resists it because circumcising the nations would cancel the Good News first announced to Abraham. "…so that in Messiah Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations" (Galatians 3:14). 

In our work at Lost Tribes Institute we have seen that Jesus’ teachings can be applied to every nation without that nation needing to sacrifice national identity. That is Good News. For example, the Mikir Tribe recognized they no longer needed blood sacrifices, so they turned their annual sacrifices into ethnic dances commemorating their national altars and sacrifices, which harken back to the days of Abraham. That’s a perfect trajectory from Genesis to Revelation. 

Our God reigns!  

By Richard Hewitt (Risbek) Written from an X post by @chesed1973