On the first page of the Wikipedia article: "Generations of Noah" it is stated that: "As Christianity spread across the Roman Empire, it carried the idea that all people were descended from Noah." I agree with that part as the earliest phase of the Church or Christians, including in the earliest phase of the Great Commission were Jewish Christians or governed by Jewish Christians. This meant they took the Bible more literally, including saying the nations or the world or the Gentiles were descended from the 70 nations descended from Noah in Genesis 10 in the Table of the nations. Many of the Jews, at least Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jews, to this day continue to say the nations of the world are the 70 nations descended from Noah not just for the past but also the present and the last days future as they weren't affected as much much by the allegorical interpretation of the Bible as much of Christianity was soon after the Church became more Gentile at least by 70 AD when the Apostle Paul and others had already won many Gentiles or people of non-Jewish nations to faith in Jesus and Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple there were destroyed and many Jews scattered into the lands of the nations or Gentiles from the land of Israel by the Roman armies under general Titus. Some basis of the early Church taking the nations of the world or the Gentiles as literally the descendents of all the people of the world in their time and for all the future was their use of quotations from the Old Testament with the word nations or Gentiles with the word ethnos in the New Testament and goy or goyim in the Old Testament. Some, but not all, of these quotations are in an evangelical or Great Commission context. For instance around 32 or 33 AD near the beginning of the Church Age shortly after the Day of Pentecost God has preserved the Apostle Peter quoting in Acts 4 from Psalm 2 about the nations raging and applying it in part by the nations represented by the Gentiles in the Roman Empire opposing the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah or another king that Caesar. (The word for nation in Psalm 2, goy or goyim, is exactly the same as that used several times for nation in the Genesis 10 Table of 70 Nations from Noah so Peter most likely took the Noah nations as the nations or ancestors of all people of his time and the future from his time.) Also around 53 AD the apostle Paul came to Athens, even to one of the legal and traditional power centres of Athens at Mar's Hill or the Areopagus, he mentioned the nations in a Great Commission sense in Acts 17:26 as referring to all people of one blood and quoted from Deuteronomy 32 that again has the same word for nations, goy, as in Genesis 10 Noah nations. So I believe also in this Great Commission use of nations Paul is also thinking the nations for the Great Commission are the 70 Noah nations of Genesis 10. The New Testament word of nations in Acts 17:26 and Acts 2 is the same as that for nations in the familiar Great Commission passages of Matthew 28:18-20, Matthew 24:14 and Luke 24-49 as well, that is ethnos. The scripture references from Acts 2 and Acts 17 of Peter and Paul quoting the Old Testament with the word nations to most likely refer to all people on Earth as deviving from the 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations with the quote from the Apostle Paul in a Great Commission sense. There are also a number of quotations from the Apostle Paul with the word Gentiles which is also ethnos in the Greek New Testament as with nations that are quoted from various Old Testament verses in Romans 15. All these verses are in a Great Commission sense also and clearly indicate an interpretation embracing all Gentile people or people of the nations in the time of Paul and from then on and the word for nations in the quoted verses from Deuteronomy 32, Isaiah 11, 49 and Psalm 117 in Romans 15 are all "goy" as in the word "goy" for nations in the 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations consistently. The Apostle Paul wrote Romans while in prison in Rome near the end of his life around 60 AD. The apostle Paul in Rome would likely have encountered at least some people from Slavic or Germanic areas while in Rome and perhaps from sub-Saharan Africa since some of those people might have initially been descendents of slaves brought to Rome. These New Testament scripture references from Acts 2, Acts 17 and Romans 15 about New Testament scriptures using the word nations or Gentiles quoting Old Testament verses with the word goy for nations as in Genesis 10 Noah nations with most of these New Testament references in a Great Commission sense is as follows:
And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests (of the Saduccees) and elder had done unto them. And when they heard that, they (Peter and John and perhaps other Christians with them) lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that therein is: Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen (Gentiles or nations (ethnos)) rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ (Messiah). For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child (son) Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. Acts of the Apostles 4:23-31
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious (very religious). For as I passed by, and behold your devotions (offerings to their pagan gods at their altars), I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world (cosmos) and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply (perhaps) they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Acts of the Apostle 17:22-28
Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision (Jewish or Israelite) for the truth of God, to confirm the promises (to Israel of a Saviour in the line of David) made unto the (Israelite) fathers (like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel), Moses and David): And that the Gentiles (all the people of non-Jewish or non-Israelite including Genesis 10 Noah nations) might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people (Israel). And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people. And again, Esaias (Isaiah) saith, There shall be a root of Jesse (King David's earthly father), and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Romans 15:8-13
The Wikipedia article says in the next line after the one quoted above that: "But the tradition of Hellenistic Jewish identifications of the ancestry of various peoples, which concentrates very much on the Eastern Mediterranean and the Ancienty Near East (described below), became stretched and its historicity questioned. Not all Near Eastern people were covered, and Northern European peoples important to the Late Roman and Medieval word, such as the Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, and Nordic people were not covered, nor were others of the world's peoples, such as sub-Saharan Africans, Native Americans, and peoples of Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Far East, and Australia." I disagree with some substantial basis, especially to the latter part of the above claims. But first the statement that it was Hellenistic Jewish identification of some of the Noah nations with nations or ethnic groups of classical or Greek and Roman times was the only or main Jewish identification of the Noah nations to different people of ancient Roman and Greek times is not completely correct. One basis of saying this is that Jews including Orthodox Jews such as Chabad Lubavitch who are not secular or Hellenistic Jews by any means to this day still hold to the 70 nations of Noah as applying to all the people on earth even today. Also so do the very Orthodox not secular or Hellenist Jewish Temple Institute and partly re-established Sanhedrin at www.sanhedrin.net or www.sanhedrin.org holy to all the Gentiles as comprised of descendents of the 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations including with their idea of the Noachic covenant. I also disagree with the statement by Wikipedia or anyone else who says that the 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations don't refer to other nations of the world farther from Israel. Although it is sometimes harder to associate some of the people farther from Israel with specific descendent people from the 3 sons of Noah in Genesis 10 it can certainly be done and has been done by current or recent Bible believing Christian scholars. This is partly with the added insight of genetics from people of different ethnic groups on Earth and perhaps with some sampling of the bodies of the ancestors of some current nationalities on Earth. For instance Dr. Richard Aschmann a former Wycliffe Bible translators missionary in conjuction with 1 or more probably Christian genetics scholars has shown that the Dravidian, Tibetan and Mongolian people and a minority of some of the North American first nations people are descended from Ham and that the Aryan people of Iran and India and the Han people of China and most of the Americas first nations are descended from Japheth in his article with maps: The Genesis 10 Table of Nations and Y-Chromosomal DNA. There are also still some place names to the current time that preserve the identity of some of the sons of Noah with current ethnic groups such as Tiranna the capital of Albania with Tiras the grandson of Noah through Japheth as the likely ancestor of the Slavic people. The ancient names Thrace and Troy for this area of the Balkans would also be consistent with this idea. Much of the Germanic people also still have their identity preserved with the Jewish word for Germany and Eastern Europe to this day Ashkenaz as in Ashnenazi Jews or Jews originated from Eastern Europe. Therefore I dispute the statement by Wikipedia or anyone else who claims that we can't associate most people now or in say post Constantine period of church growth with one or other of the 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations. However scholars of that time would not know about genetics and perhaps they didn't know about some of the names of these places from archaeology but there is quite an unbroken tradition among Bible believing Jews of associating all the Gentiles with the descendents of Noah through the 70 immediate descendents of Genesis 10. However, some of the continued Jewish tradition associating the Gentiles with the 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations could have been and still be disregarded by Christian or other people affected by Hellenized allegorical interpretation from Greek philosophy or other cultures that didn't respect the literal Jewish interpretation of the Bible especially after Constantine or even after Origen before him.
There are further details of the growing distinction between Christians or the Church and Jewish people or culture including Jewish Christians or Messianic Jews as they are called today in the first hundred years after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ to heaven and the sending down by Him of the Holy Spirit to start the Church at Pentecost. These events or trends happened then from about 32 or 33 AD to 135 AD and are mentioned in an article called: "How Jewish Christians Became Christians - Three views of the Jewish-Christian schism" by Lawrence H. Schiffman at web page https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/how-jewish-christians-became-christians/. The author first summarizes his article saying that the separation between Judaism and Christianity was complex and not immediate and that it took about 100 years starting with Jesus' (Y'Shua's) cruxifixion. He also said there were different causes and results from the Jewish or Christian view and also for the purpose of this web page. One of the significan causes and results of this Jewish Christian schism was likely also how Christianity including or the Church regarded the nations to reach for the Great Commission with shift from the more Jewish literal view of the nations as the 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations at the beginning of the Church Age closer to Pentecost to the beginning of the Church viewing nations more as political nations with the growing Gentile composition of the Church and reliance on Greek philosophy and its associated allegorical or symbolic interpretation of the Bible for Christian doctrine or teaching. The author starts to state that from a Christian view the growing divergence isn't hard to follow with the earliest part of the gospels featuring Jesus debating issues about the Jewish or Mosaic law with the Pharisees and without significant hostility on either part. This would correspond in the New Testament to about chapters 1 to 9 in the Gospel of Matthew for instance. There is also a reference to the nations in an evangelical way in reference to Jesus in quoting from the Old Testament with a Genesis 10 Noah nation basis of nations in Matthew 12:15-21 quoting from Isaiah 42:1-4. The author then jumps ahead to the crucifiction of Jesus and the immediate preceding events and states that the main instigation of the crucifition of Jesus was by the chief priests and high priests although also with some of the Pharisees that turned the support of the regular Jewish people and of the Roman government against Jesus from approval, acceptance or tolerance. The author states and I somewhat agree that the apostolic Church or New Testament period after Pentecost in the earliest phase more featured disagreements with apostles or other early Christian leaders with Jewish leaders of the Pharisees, scribes or the chief priests with the latter mostly from the Saduccees. The author says this eventually led to polemics or doctrinal writing against the Jews and Judaism by which he probably means the epistles of Paul and others in the New Testament. The author states that there was a movement in Christianity then from regarding some Jews as enemies to the demonization of Jewish people in general. I wouldn't say that the later New Testament writers demonized the Jews in general but I would say they may have spoken more strongly against Jewish doctrine including rabbinic Jewish teaching beyond the Old Testament in general and against most Jewish people still holding to that to the exclusion of trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as their promised Lord and Messiah. Up to this point the Church or at least the apostolic leaders still held to the literal Jewish interpretation of the nations as the mention of the nations in a Great Commission sense by the Apostle Paul in Romans 15 quoting from the Old Testament in a Genesis 10 70 Noah nations shows.
Later in the 1st century, probably after 70 AD and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple and the growing Gentile composition, Greek philosophy and allegorical interpretation of the Bible and after some of the key Jewish apostles had died and gone to be with Jesus in the deaths of the Apostles Paul and Peter around 67 AD more of the Church started saying more openly they weren't part of the Jewish people. These later 1st century Christians or Christian writers, probably more Gentile or Hellenized Jewish, started to portray Jesus as disputing with all Jews instead of with a segment with it being it only a segment of the Jews might be more consistent with a dispute within Judaism. The author stated that: "Once Christians saw Jews as the "other", it was but a short step to the notion that all Jews were responsible for the rejection of Jesus and, hence, for the failure of his messianic vision to be fulfilled." I agree generally with this if, as is quite possible, that in the later 1st century the by now more Gentile and Greek and other Gentile philosophy such as of Plato dominated Church and Church leaders would likely be starting to view the Church as permanently replacing Israel which theology is still popular today in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and the mainline Protestant churches but not in most evangelical churches or Messianic congregations and is called Replacement theology or supercessionism and it still is not as carefully based in taking the scriptures including New Testament ones literally in context as dispensational or other theology that allows for the last days restoration of Israel with myself being among those who follow dispensational theology. In the last part of the 1st century there was probably also already a significant part of Christians and then existing Christian teachers who justified the destruction their rejection of a future Jewish hope of a Messianic Kingdom on Earth based in Jerusalem on their seeing the destruction of the Jewish temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD as God's more permanent judgment against the Jews or the nation of Israel for their not receiving Jesus as their Messiah nationally or generally. As a dispensational and Jewish or Israel restoration and some would say Zionist Christian I and similiar Christians would say that God did judge the Jews or Israelites for their general rejection of Jesus as their Messiah by the destruction of Jerusalem and their central religious site of the Jerusalem Temple and the establishment of the Church but that this is just a temporary measure until the Church Age is complete, that I and other Christians who support Israel think is very soon with the rapture or catching up to heaven of the complete true Church, and then God will restore His focus of working through and with His chosen earthly people the Jews and/or the Israelites. It is also likely in this same period of the latter part of the 1st century that the Church in general and some of its writers started to turn away from the literal Jewish interpretation of nations as the 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations to political nations and also transferred from the idea of a predominantly Jewish physical and earthly Messianic Kingdom of God to a more spiritual and allegorized one with the increasing use of Greek including Platonic philosophy as the basis of Bible interpretation including the idea that spiritual is good and physical is bad. However, I and most dispensational or literal interpreters of the Bible agree that there is some current spiritual phase of the Kingdom of God but that this does not exclude a future literal visible earthly kingdom of God based in Jerusalem and restored Israel but over all the Earth in the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom before the eternal age. This increasing use of allegory and distinction of Christians from Jews in the late 1st century generally continued to grow until the early 300s and the time of Constantine and Eusebius and stayed quite pronounced long afterwards in some quarters of Christendom to the present day.
From the Jewish view of the separation of Christians from Jews one of the first things to note is that tannaitic Judaism (the form of rabbinic Judaism that included the so-called oral law (that lated was written down as the Talmud) was already the main form of Judaism by soon after the destruction of Herod's Temple (or the 2nd Temple) and Jerusalem in 70 AD. This is because this tannaitic Judaism was a form of Judaism that the Pharisees had transformed into and they remained more intact as a sect of Judaism than the Saducees after 70 AD (probably since the Saduccees were more concentrated in Jerusalem and serving at Herod's Temple that bore the brunt of Rome's attacks in 70 AD). After the destruction of Jerusalem and Herod's Temple in 70 AD apparently the tannaitic (form of Phariseeism) Jewish leaders saw the need to unify the remaining Jewish community and they did this in part by making 18 Benedictions and the Shema (the statement the oneness of God in Deuteronomy 6:4-5) as the daily prayers of the Jewish community. Simultaneously with the rabbis standardizing the daily prayers for the Jewish community they enlarged a Jewish prayer called the minim that included a curse against what they viewed as false teaching or faith and according to this article on the "myjewishlearning" web site this was certainly meant to be directed as saying the Jewish Christians or what are today called Messianic Jews held to false teaching when they sought to observe the Law of Moses etc. but still insisted that Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah. Apparently the rabbis of that time in the very late 1st century and certainly after 70 AD still thought of the Christians as Jews but it seems Jews who were following a heresy in insisting Jesus was the Messiah so they cast the Christians including the Jewish Christians out of the synagogues. Apparently this is recorded or mentioned in the Gospel of John and some of the writings of the church fathers. Also at the same time or slightly afterwards the tannaim (the form of rabbis related to the Pharisees) made laws intended to further distance Jews who believed in Jesus from the general Jewish community by banning business or commerce and some other relationships with the Jewish Christians. All these measures would almost surely result in Jewish Christians being less influenced by other Jews in the Roman Empire and by their way of more literally interpreting the Bible including about the basis of nations such as for the Great Commission. As a result the Church in the last part of the 1st century also for these actions of the Jewish rabbis develop a more allegorical basis of interpreting the Bible based on Greek philosophy which among other things would likely mean a further leaving the literal traditonal Jewish interpretation of nations or Gentiles as the 70 Genesis 10 nations from Noah to a more general idea of nations likely something like we would now call political nations. After these things this article says the further division between Christians, including Jewish Christians, and the regular Jewish community from the end of the first century at 100 AD to the time of the Bar Kochba revolt against Rome, sometimes called the 2nd Jewish Roman War, and its culture in 132 to 135 AD. In this early part of the 2nd century AD especially in the 3 years or so of the Bar Kochba revolt apparently the tannaitic rabbis banned the use or probably viewing of the writing of the earlier Christians including stating that Torah scrolls or or texts including future books of the New Testament with names of God copied by Christians as having no divine authority. According to this "myjewishlearning" web site these actions of the tannaitic rabbis against the writing of Christians was especially meant to be a "polemic" or religious writing against the Christian Gospels (and probably against the Christian epistles or other New Testament writings such as the Book of Acts and other Christian writings that didn't become part of the New Testament). This article then summarizes about the stages of separation of Christians including somewhat Jewish Christians but especially Gentile Christians at first around 60 AD when Gentiles were more generally welcomed into the Church by the Apostle Paul and then by the time of the Bar Kochba revolt in 132-135 AD of the virtually final or full separation of Christians including Jewish Christians, that were by then 135 AD a much smaller part of the Christian community, from the Jewish community as follows: "In the time of Paul, about 60 C.E. (AD), the decision to open Christianity to gentiles (the non Jewish nations) had taken place, and the tannaim (tannaitic rabbis) gradually found themselves facing a church whose members were not Jews from the point of view of halakhah (Jewish law). To the rabbis, they were not Jews with incorrect views about the messiah but Gentiles who claimed to be the true Israel. For this reason, the tannaim began to see the Christians as the other, not as Jews who had gone astray."
"This process was complete by the Bar Kochba period (a brief period of Jewish sovereignty folowing the revolt of Shimon (Simon) Bar Kochba against the Romans in 132 CE (AD). Jewish Christianity had been submerged, while Gentile Christianity had gained the ascendancy. Since it (Gentile Christianity) was now virtually the only form of Christianity the rabbis encountered, they termed the Christians notzerim ("Nazarenes"), regarding them as a completely separate and alien religious group (than rabinic Judaism)." Among other things this almost fully distinct situation from rabbinic or tanaaitic Judaism of Christians, including by then a small and less influential fraction of Jewish Chrisitans among the Christians, likely meant that by 135 AD the new writing or preaching or support of Christian writing or teaching in the Christian community was then in great majority not a literal interpretation of the Bible but more allegorical or symbolic as influenced by Gentile especially Greek philosophy and this would likely include Christians or the Church by 135 AD not generally regarding the nations including the nations or Gentile groups for the Church to reach with the Great Commission of bringing salvation through Jesus to all people as being comprised of the more literal including usual Jewish Bible interpretation 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations but a more general concept of nations probably as a general view of political nations. This view by most of the Church of nations as mostly political rather than 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations would likely have continued to be held or even consolidated to the time of Constantine (around 313 AD) and beyond from the time of the Bar Kochba revolt in 132-135 AD even though a literal interpretation for the nations of the Great Commission was still available to the Church in some of the books such as Acts and Romans that eventually became part of the New Testament scriptures and would have likely been readily available to Christians and highly regarded by them in all this time of early church history which was basically the phase of Church history dominated by the leadership of the Church fathers and their interpretation of the Bible or their writings.
The allegorical and not literal interpretation of the Bible was further insisted upon through Constantine who was particularly persuaded by the church father Eusebius. Eusebius himself was substantially influenced by Origen who was probably the leader proponent of the allegorical interpretation of the Bible due to combining Greek philosophical interpretations of the Bible above the more literal Jewish interpretations of the Bible as had been done in the early apostolic period of the Church when the whole Church was at first completely comprised of Jewish Christians or at least was led and influenced mostly by the Jewish apostles and other Jewish Christian leaders. Constantine also compelled everyone in the Roman Empire to be baptized as a Christian whether they had heart faith in the Lord Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour or not and this established infant baptism more that contributed to the idea of political Christian nations for a long time and still lingering to the current day. Among other things this upheld the literal idea of nations as the 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations as mentioned in Acts 17 and Romans 15 and some other New Testament scriptures quoting the Old Testament with the word nations or Gentiles in an evangelical or Great Commission sense. Even until 70 AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple in Jerualem and scattered the remaining Jews throughout the Roman Empire and beyond such as into Arabia the Church likely had a mostly literal Jewish interpretation of the Bible including about the idea of nations to reach for the Great Commission. However, the Church especially after 70 AD, became increasingly comprised of Gentiles and dominated by Gentile Greek philosophy allegorical interpretation of the Bible most likely including the idea of nations for the Great Commission not being the literal 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations but probably the nations for the Church to reach with the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the Great Commission being political or geographic-politcal nations. Eusebius likely influenced Constantine to continue or entrench this idea of allegorical interpretation of the Bible including a more geographic-political basis rather than 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations. This more allegorical idea for nations continued to be held to and further supported by following church fathers including Augustine who was also a follower of Origen and his allegorical interpretation of the Bible. There was also a further enforced distancing of Christians from Jews and from being influenced from their more literal way of interpreting the Bible or even from Jewish Christians in the Church who wanted to from interpreting and teaching interpretation of the Bible from a more literal interpretation, likely including the definition of nations for the Church to reach in the Great Commission. In an article, I believe by a current or recent Messianic Jew or Jewish Christian by the name of S. Ashira with title Early Church anti-semitism and the rejecting of The Torah, it is stated that: "Constantine demanded Christians to stay away from the Jewish People, at all costs. All Christians were to look down on the Jews. They were to be ridiculed, scorned, and disgraced. Constantine had a tremendous part to play in separating the Jewish and Gentile believers!"
In the year 380 or 379 the Byzantine emperor Theodosius decreed Christianity the empire's official religion. Several years later he ended the acceptance of non-Christian religions and forbad pagan sacrifices although there was still protection of Judaism for the most part. In these situations many people in the Roman or Byzantine Empire became at least professing Christians for secular or other non-spiritual reasons for better business or get a better marriage partner etc. This entering of many people into the church continued in following centuries, sometimes with entire tribes or political nations following their chief, king or other leader if he converted to Christianity and then all the people of these nations were baptized without always being taught the Biblical significance of baptism as an outward means of profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his death for our sins on the cross and then resurrection from the dead to give us His new spiritual life. Some tribes who became Christians as a group were the Germanic Burgundians centred around the Rhine River, the Franks in Gaul and Arab tribes in some of the area of the Roman Empire such as North Africa or the East Mediterranean area. In the book Introducing World Missions - A Biblical, Historical and Practical Survey edited by A. Scott Moreau, Gary R. Corwin and Gary B. McGee there is a quote by a person named Schmidlin on page 220 of his book but on page 100 of the Introducing World Missions in which the conversion of the Lithuanians together as a political nations occurred as follows: "When Lithuanian rulers established Christianity as the state religion, th people 'were driven in droves to the banks of rivers and into the water' for baptism." Some other nations followed their leaders in becoming at least mostly professing Christian such as some of the Scandanavian or Viking area became Christian after their leader just before the year 1000 Eric the Red became a Christian. There were also some instances of captured slaves or kidnapped people leading a nation to become Christians such as a slave named Nino in the Caucasus state of Georgia was a slave of the Queen of the nation named Nana and when she was healed in Jesus' name she became a Christian and eventually persuaded the king her husband to become a Christian who was named Mirian and this resulted in the whole nation of Georgia becoming Christians. Similiarly the kidnapped Patrick saw a vision from God to go to Ireland and share the Gospel which he did with much success in turning many Irish people to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and that Irish boy grew up and was eventually known at Saint Patrick. Other individuals had great effect in turning most people or nations to Christ in Armenia, Ethiopia and England. Also the conversion of the political nation and people of Russia and Ukraine is summarized in the effect of the conversion to Christ of its leader at the time in 988 AD as follows: "Farther to the east, the conversion of Prince Vladimir of Kievan Rus in 988 AD immediately led to the conversion of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples in his domain." In the book "Introducing World Missions" as referred to above there is a quote on page 100 of that book that very well describes the idea of Christian nations and the idea of the nations for the Church to reach for Christ to realize the Great Commission as political or geographical-political nations that continued, until the rising support for the idea of people group nations after Dr. Winter's address in 1974, to be the idea of nations thought by Christians as the type of nations to reach to fulfill the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations as in Matthew 28:18-20 as follows: "By the year 1500 the entire region from Europe to Russia had been Christianized. Though divided politically, the varous territorial states had affirmed the Christian faith, boasted Christian rulers, and promoted Christian culture. Yet the outward "victory" of Christianity masked the persistant endurance of non-Christian practices that remained hidden from public view. The formation of Christian states, together comprising Christendom, ushered in a territorial and cultural understanding of Christianity that lasted into the twentieth century. Although this positively imprinted Christian values into various cultures, with it also came the crusades against the Muslims, the hunting down of heretics, and the persecution of Jewish communities - all, unfortunately, done in the name of Christ."
Besides all these things the idea of a nation state, including in some cases still Christianized states at that time became formerly adopted in Europe at least in the treaty or Peace of Westphalia in 1648 where the sovereignty of states was further established or entrenched. From the 1500s onward there were Roman Catholic and then Protestant missions to Christianize different areas and states or peoples of the world in the Americas, Asia and Africa as well as Australia and Oceania and this continued to generally follow the idea of a political or geographical-political nation as the nations to reach to help fulfill the Great Commission. This included famous Protestant missionaries of the 1800s such as Hudson Taylor to China, David Livingtone to Africa around Lake Victoria and William Carey to India and people like David Brainerd to some of the North American Indians or First Nations Peoples. The stil popular hymn "We've or We Have a Story to Tell to the Nations" written by a Christian man named Henry E. Nichol sometime during his lifetime of 1862 to 1928 in which originally the idea of nations in that hymn were likely the geographic-political nations of the world, but since after 1974 in much of the Church and certainly today and more recently is probably thought of by many mission minded Christians as rather referring to people group nations but I think of or seek to think of it more in term of some of the restored 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations. I have personally wrote alternate lyrics to this hymn with the same metre and called the alternate words We've a Story to Tell All 70 Nations and this alternate words and my effort to sing it can be found at my Youtube Channel Spirit and Truth Ministries Videos. Two other familiar world missions theme hymns are "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing with I think words rather than tune written by Charles Wesley one of the founders of the very evangelical Methodist denomination or movement with his preaching brother John in the later 1700 and Crown Him with Many Crowns written Matthew Briges in the 1800s and Send the Light - the blessed Gospel light written by Charles H. Gabriel probably around the year 1900 are also still popular Great Commission hymns that also likely each had in mind a political or geographic-political idea of nations for the Church to reach for our Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father in the Great Commmission. So, the idea of a political or geographic-political idea of nations for the Church to reach unto salvation in Jesus in the Great Commission has held sway over most of the time of church history over the last 2,000 years and it has only been recently with the widespread adoption of people groups or "people group nations" since the term was popularized beginning with the 1974 introduction of the idea at the highly regarded annual missions meeting of the Lausanne School of Evangelism by missionary Dr. Ralph Winter but I suggest a further shift now or as soon as possible to the original apostolic 1st century and more Jewish or more literal bible interpretation based 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations as the basis of nations for the Great Commission or to be adopted primarily in Global Christian missions including to focus on what nations still need to be reached for Christ of the nations of the world with the Great Commission.
There is an interesting and informative summary of the shift from political or "political-geographical" nations to people group nations in the chapter How Has the Great Commission Been Interpreted in History in the book 40 Questions About the Great Commission by Daniel L. Akin, Benjamin L. Merkle and George G. Robinson with senior editor Benjamin L. Merkle. In that chapter of the book an observation is made that it was a Christian missions researcher named Donald McGavran who made the first significant change of idea of what the nations in the Great Commission such as in Matthew 28 were in the 1950s. He changed the emphasis or gist of the idea for nations or ethnos in Greek in the Great Commission from "political-geographic" nations such as one hears on the news and recognized at the United Nations to peoples or people group nations. By this Mr. McGavran meant that nations or people group nations were more like what we in English would call "clans, tribes or castes". He wrote about this changed idea of nations especially in his book: "The Bridges of God: A Study in the Strategy of Missions".
A further shift, in the same direction, of the meaning of nations, especially for the nations of the Great Commission as in Matthew 28 in the Global Christian Mission community happened in 1974. This was when missionary and missions researcher Ralph D. Winter gave a ground breaking speech or address at the annual Lausanne School of Evangelism Christian world missions meeting. Apparently there was an idea at that time that: "Christians have now fulfilled the Great Commission at least in a geographic sense" as mentioned in Dr. Winter's edited book with Steven C. Hawthorne Perspectives on the World Christian Movement in an article there by Dr. Winter with the title: "A New Macodonia: A Revolutionary New Era in Missions Begins". Dr. Winter was one of the early proponents of the idea that a people group, based on the idea or nations derived from the New Testament Greek word "ethnos" similiar to our current English word ethnic as in ethnic group was the largest group having a similiar cultural and language identity and that could be very similiarly affected by a move of God's Holy Spirit to become Christians (or continue to be resistant to becoming Christians by resisting the Holy Spirit's encouragement to people to trust in God's Son the Lord Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection to become God's spiritually restored children that was lost in the first Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden). This is where the idea that the nations for the Church or Church Age phase of the Kingdom of God to reach with the Gospel or Christian message of salvation in Jesus comprise about 10,000 to 17,000 or usually about 12,000 people group nations or people groups. This continues to be the prevailing idea in global Christian nations as the criteria of how many or what type of nations the Church needs to reach to complete the Great Commission given by God through His Son our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dr. Winters and following Christian missions leaders or advocates continue to base their definition of nations as the nations to reach in the Great Commission in basically and equivalence between nations, peoples and ethnic groups. Dr. Winters gave much greater emphasis than was previously the case to the idea for Christian missions, including western Christians who would be involved effectively in the Great Commission, to be involved in cross-cultural missions. Dr. Winter stressed that I think as of 1974, when he gave his speech at the 1974 annual Lausanne School of Evangelism missions meeting: "2387 million (people) who are not within the range of the ordinary evangelism of any Christian congregation - people who require cross cultural evangelism". After that he developed his idea of the need for cross-cultural evangelism by teaching based on Acts 1:8 for the Church of people of the Kingdom of God to make disciples for Jesus in "Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria (and then to the ends of the earth)" relate to extending Christian mission outreach to nations of different cultural distance rather than geographical distance with the former relating to people group nations and the latter relating to "geographical-political" nations. He made this statement also in his paper "The New Macedonia ..." that was included in the Global Christian Missions handbook Perspectives on the World Chritian Movement 4th Edition in 2009. So then, in summary, from the 1950s through 1974 to the present, especially with the teaching of Mr. McGavran and Dr. Winters but also other Christian mission teachers after them such as John Piper and others there has been a shift of the definition of nations from political or "geographical-political" nations, what basically was the definition of nations for the Great Commission for the Church from when the Church became majority Gentile or non-Jewish nation in numerical composition and culture around 100 AD to the late 20th century to the idea of people group nations with a more cultural ethnic basis of definition (and usually as a much smaller and more numerous across the world) basis of definition of nations to for the Church to be used of God through His Son Jesus Christ and by His Holy Spirit to reach to completely fulfill the Great Commission.
Although there are basically three points that the Christian mission leaders who promote the "people group" or "people group nations" definition of nations, that is better including closer biblically probably than the political nations concept of nations I don't think even the people group nations type of nations is nearly as well supported from a literal bible reference in context as the 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations idea for nations of the Great Commission is. In summary the main points in favour of a political or geographical-political type of nations is probably that those are the terms for nations generally used in the world currently or at any time in the past, including throughout the last about 2,000 years of the Church Age or Dispensation and time when the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ to His Church is in effect since about 32 or 33 AD (CE) and that is now almost completed. The main point against the geographical-political definition of nations is that it is not strongly based on what the nations are in God's Word - the Holy Bible and I don't think that is a priority for support of that definition of nations even to most of its proponents or promoters.
There is somewhat more support from the Bible for the idea of people groups or people group nations for the nations for the Church to reach at least some people of for the Lord Jesus in this age with His Gospel or word of eternal life especially that the word "ethnos" or "ethne" is the regular word in the Greek Bible and New Testament for nation, Gentile, heathen etc. and the people group concept of nations is more of a cultural or ethnic-linguistic type of definition of nations especially with ethnic group more of less equated with people including in the bible and nation in the concept of tribe, clan or caste and they have some seeming support for their idea from some common occurrence of different ethnic groups in the world including currently or recently mostly being receptive with people coming forward to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour at about the same time or remaining ressitant to Him and the God of the Bible and the bible or biblical message of salvation. However, it is very weak biblically with not having anything like 12,000 groups or even a suitable fraction in the Roman Empire in apostolic times named or given a sample of names that would also match up with names of current people groups, especially from the area of the Roman Empire or that would likely have existed in that area almost 2,000 years ago. I believe this should have been the case if the people group concept of nations for the Great Commission is the most biblical and most correct one including I think most likely with God and Jesus and what is the most likely concept of nations he will use to judge when the true Church has finished our part of the Great Commission which I think means to reach at least some people unto salvation in Jesus through admission one is a sinner (not completely good in God's sight) and personal heart faith in Him and His death on the cross and resurretion from the dead as part of Matthew 24:14 and that once the Church has reached in this way at least some people of all nations for God and Jesus the Church Age will end with the pre-tribulation rapture or catching up to heaven of all true Christians or all the true Church. (I believe right after that will start the 7 year tribulation when God will shift to dealing with and through His chosen earthly people Israel under terrible conditions on Earth such as the plagues or judgments from God on all the earth and all the people then left behind on Earth as in Revelation 6 to 18 and the rule on Earth of the devil through his dedicated and possessed servants the Beast out of the sea (the Antichrist, man of sin or he that causes abomination in Revelation 13, 2 Thessalonians 2 or Daniel 9:27 and Matthew 24:15)).
So this leaves the Noah nation concept of nations as the only other main option for nation of the nations of people including for the nations to reach on Earth for the Church in the Great Commission. Although it is true that there aren't many Noah nations, only 70 in total, according to what the Bible says and according to what I believe and according to what I believe can be supported by history and science, I believe there are at least one or a couple of them that don't have any people among them reached unto salvation in Jesus at this time or throughout Church history. Any although the people group concept like to emphasize that their idea of people group nations, including for the Great Commission of the Church, is the main idea with an equation with peoples and nations that is not true. There are some instances at least in the Old Testament or Hebrew scriptures where there is an equivalent with nations (goy in Hebrew or ethnos in Greek) with people (am in Hebrew or laos in Greek). For instance Egypt, which is Mizraim in Genesis 10 Table of 70 Noah nations is called a nation in Exodus 9:24 goy or in the Greek Septuagint ethnos and Egypt is also in the same chapter or context called a people in Exodus 9 ('am in Hebrewe and laos in Greek) for Exodus 9:15 and Exodus 9:27). So this is one clear example literally in context of a people group nation being one of the 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations since the same word ethnos in Greek or goy in Hebrew is used consistently for nation in Genesis 10 including for Mizraim or Egypt. Another specific example in the Bible, at least in the Old Testament, of a nation that is a Noah nation also being referred to as a people is in Isaiah 18 about Ethiopia that is Cush as far as what is referred to in the 70 Genesis 10 Table of Noah nations. In Isaiah 18, Ethiopia is mentioned in Isaiah 18:1 and it is called a nation in Isaiah 18:2 twice and in Isaiah 18:7 all in context still talking about Ethiopia (or Cush) with all those times for nations in Hebrew being the word "goy" as in Genesis 10 for the Noah nations including the Noah nation of Cush or Ethiopia and in all those same verses or instances the Greek word nations is used for Ethiopia or Cush in the Greek Septuagint or Greek Old Testament. And then in this same chapter of Isaiah 18 Ethiopia or Cush is once in Isaiah 18:2 and twice in Isaiah 18:7 called a people with the Hebrew word 'am and in each of these same instances the Greek word laos is used for Ethiopia where 'am is used for people for them in the Hebrew Bible. So this is also an instance of God's word in context calling one of the 70 Noah nations in Genesis 10 both a people and a nation or a people group nation but obviously one of 70 not one of about 12,000 as the people group promoters would have us believe and not one of about 2,000 unreached people group nations. In Psalm 18 the nations in general are mentioned as people or peoples in Psalm 18:43 twice and in Psalm 18:47 all with the Hebrew word for people 'am and all of these times the Greek word laos for people(s) is used in the Greek Septuagint. The word heathen is used for all the nations in Psalm 18 in the same context as people or peoples and the word heathen can be translated at nations or Gentiles and they are all usually based on the Hebrew word goy for nation as here in Psalm 18:43 and 49 and in Greek Septaugint all these instances for Gentiles or heathen or nations in Psalm 18:43 and 49 are both ethnos so throughout Psalm 18 there is the general correpondence with people and nation or heathen or Gentile for all the people and nations of the world so yes these are people group nations but also the general 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations since the word for nations throughout Genesis 10 is also ethnos in Greek or goy in Hebrew. One final example in this general way is in Psalm 67 that is quite a popular chapter, and rightly so, of people of all nations eventually coming to believe in and praise the true God the God of the Bible including and through faith in His only begotten Son and the second Adam the Lord Jesus Christ or in Hebrew Adonai Y'Shua HaMashiach. In Psalm 67 once in Psalm 67:2 and twice in Psalm 67:4 all the nations of Earth are mentioned as eventually coming to praise the true God the God of the Bible such as in Millennial Kingdom or heaven in the future. Although there is some difference in this case both the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek Septuagint use the word for nations ethnos in Greek and goy in Hebrew for the instance of nations in Psalm 67:2 but for the two instances where the King James Bible anyway has for nations in Psalm 67:4 the word is ethnos for nations in the Greek Septagint but 'am for people in Hebrew. The word people is also used including in the King James Bible in other instances in this Psalm, specifically twice in Psalm 67:3 once in Psalm 67:4 and twice in Psalm 67:5 and in all these instances the Greek word laos for people is used and Hebrew word 'am people in Hebrew is used. Therefore, even in though in this case in some of the instances people 'am is used for people where ethnos nation is used in Greek, most of the words for nations or people(s) in this Psalm still have the same word for people or nation in both languages and in any event the word used for nation is still always ethnos in Greek or goy in Hebrew as is also the case for nations in the 70 Genesis 10 Noah nations and that these peoples then most likely are meant to correspond to these 70 Noah nations so this Psalm is talking about all the complete 70 Noah nations and people or Noah people group nations of all the Earth. Also in most of the rest of the Bible, although there are a couple exceptions, but most of the time different people or nations of the Earth are the same as the nations of the 70 Noah nations of Genesis 10.
The main other line of support for the 70 Noah nations as a superior option for the nations of all the Earth, including in the New Testament Great Commission is again the use of the same word ethnos in Greek or goy in Hebrew for nation, Gentile or heathen in the New Testament as in quoted Old Testament verses. However, I admit I do now know the Hebrew word for sure in the quoting New Testament words for these examples but suspect it is also goy at least in most cases. Anyway, probably the best case of a New Testament verse and passage that is in a Great Commission or evangelistic sense quoting an Old Testament passage with the word nation or Gentile also in that case and that is also then the Old Testament word for the Noah nations "goy" in Hebrew throughout Genesis 10 is in Acts 17:26. In this passage the Apostle Paul is speaking to the Greek philosophers on Mars' Hill in the centre of Athens, Greece and is talking about God creating all things including all the nations (ethnos in Greek) of earth and their divisions or borders. He is quoting from Deuteronomy 32:8. The verses with some context are the following: God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the time before appointed, and the bounds of their habitations; That they seek the Lord, if haply (perhaps) they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us; For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we also his offspring. Acts 17:24-28
The quotation that part of Acts 17, Acts 17:26, is taken from is from Deuteronomy 32:7-9 and of verse 8 in particular as follows: Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee. When the Most High divided to the nations (goy as through Genesis 10) their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam (and consistent with God later separating the sons of Noah), he set the bounds of the people(s) 'am in Hebrew or nations ethnos in the Greek Septuagint according to the number of the children of Israel (children of Israel based on the Hebrew Masoretic text but according to the number of the angels or sons of God in the Greek Septagint which could be based on an earlier Hebrew text. The Masoretis could have altered the last part of verse 8 to make an excessive effort not to make the angels before God similiar to the pagan or heathen divine or heavenly councils including of the Canaanites with a chief god and many lesser gods even though it wasn't neccessary for them to do that if that's what they did as having God over the angels or the angelic council including of demons or fallen angels doesn't lessen the true God's the God of the Bible's divinity.) For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. Deuteronomy 32:7-9
The other major passage in the New Testament that is in a Great Commission or evangelical sense and that uses the word nation or Gentile but based on the same Greek or Old Testament Hebrew word the Greek ethnos and the Old Testament goy respectively and quotes from the Old Testament is in Romans 15 where God's servant the Apostle Paul emphasized the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ going to all nations or all the Gentiles in the Church Age and saving through faith in the Saviour of the world the Lord Jesus Christ at least some people of all nations (although some of the Old Testament passages in their original context even more refer to Gentiles or people of all nations being saved in the tribulation or Millennial or Messianic Kingdom after the then complete Church from all nations is rapture or caught up to heaven before the tribulation and following Second Coming of Jesus to earth from heaven to rule the world in His and God the Father's by His Holy Spirit Millennial or Messianic Kingdom through restored Israel based in Jersualem but with also the saved of the nations and the true Church) is as follows:
Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the (Israelite or Jewish) fathers; And that the Gentiles (nations or heathen) Greek ethnos might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written (in Psalm 18:49), For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles (Greek ethnos or nations), and sing unto thy name. And again he saith (quoting Deuteronomy 32:43), Rejoice, ye Gentiles (or nations or heathen Greek ethnos), with his people (His God's chosen earthly people Israel). And again, (this time quoting Psalm 117:1), Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles (or nations or heathen Greek ethnos); and laud him all ye people (probably all the Gentile people(s) of Earth but could also be all the people of Israel.) And again, Esaias (Isaiah 11:1, 10) saith, There shall be a root of Jesse (King David's earthly father), and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles (nations or heathen) from Greek ethnos; in him shall the Gentiles (nations or heathen ethnos in Greek. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing , that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Romans 15:9-13.
The corresponding quoting Old Testament or Hebrew scripture verses about reaching the Gentiles or nations with the same Hebrew word goy as for nations in Genesis 10 with the 70 Noah nations in an evangelical or Great Commission sense and quoted from the above New Testament passage in Romans 15 are as follows: Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen (Gentiles or nations goy as in Genesis 10 Table of 70 Noah nations), and sing praises unto thy name. Psalm 18:49 Rejoice, O ye nations (Gentiles or heathen Hebrew goy as in Genesis 10 Table of 70 Noah nations), with his people (Israel - God's chosen earthly people); for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land (Israel), and to his people (Israel or or including the Jews). Deuteronomy 32:43 O praise the LORD, all ye nations (Gentiles or heathen) Hebrew goy or goyim as in Genesis 10 Table of 70 Noah nations); praise him, all ye people. Psalm 117:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: ... And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people (of Israel); to it shall the Gentiles (nations or heathen goy or goyim as nations in the Genesis Table of 70 Noah nations) seek; and his rest (in the Millennial or Messianic and then eternal Kingdom of God) shall be glorious. Isaiah 11:1, 10.