λαός

The Bible contains a covenantal formula that runs from Genesis to Revelation, threading through every major movement of redemptive history. The formula appears in slightly different wording in different contexts, but the core is consistent:

“I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

The formula appears at the foundational moments of God’s dealings with His people. Exodus 6:7 — “I will take you to myself for a people, and I will be your God.” Leviticus 26:12 — “I will walk among you, and I will be your God, and you will be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33 — the new covenant formula: “I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Ezekiel 36:28 — “Then you will live in the land I gave to your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.” Hebrews 8:10 — the same formula applied to the new covenant in Christ. Revelation 21:3 — the eschatological consummation: “He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them.”

The formula is the structural backbone of biblical theology. From the call of Abraham, through the exodus from Egypt, through the Sinai covenant, through the prophets, through the incarnation of Christ, through the formation of the church, through the new heavens and new earth — the same fundamental relationship runs throughout. God is establishing a people for Himself. The people are being formed by God’s gracious action across history. The relationship is mutual: God is their God; they are His people.

The Greek word the New Testament uses for this people — for the people God is gathering across history — is laos. The word is not a generic term for “people” in the abstract; the word is the specific biblical-theological term for God’s covenant people. The laos of God is the community God has established across history, beginning with Israel and now including Gentile believers in Christ, who together constitute the one people God has been gathering since the foundation of the world.

This entry is about that word — laos — and about the corporate identity of believers as God’s people. The people of God is the corporate body that the apostolic foundation supports and that God’s eternal purpose has gathered.

The Word

The Greek word is λαός (laos), pronounced in the Erasmian convention as LA-os, with the accent on the first syllable. The word is a second-declension masculine noun and appears 142 times in the New Testament.

The etymology runs back to a basic Indo-European root for “people” in the sense of a defined community. The Greek classical usage of laos was somewhat narrower than the broader Greek anthrōpoi (humans) or plēthos (crowd, multitude). Laos in classical Greek often named the people in their corporate identity — the citizens, the populace, sometimes specifically the army (in the older Homeric usage). What unified the various uses was the dimension of corporate identity — laos names people as a defined group rather than as a random aggregate.

The Greek word family is limited:

Laos (λαός) — people, especially the people of God. The entry’s main word.

Laikos (λαϊκός) — pertaining to the people. The adjective. Rare in the New Testament (does not appear). The word develops in later Christian literature as the term for “lay people” in distinction from clergy. The English word laity comes through this development. The biblical laos itself does not make the clergy/laity distinction; the laos of God includes all believers, ordained or not.

The Septuagint background of laos is critical and shapes the entire New Testament use. The LXX translates Hebrew am — “people” — with laos consistently. The Hebrew am is one of the most theologically loaded terms in the Old Testament, appearing nearly two thousand times. The Hebrew tradition’s identification of Israel as the am Yhwh — “people of YHWH” — is the foundational identity of the Old Testament covenant community.

The Hebrew tradition’s am doctrine includes substantial theological content:

Election as a people. God did not call Abraham only as an individual; God called Abraham to become a people. Genesis 12:2 — “Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing.” Genesis 17:7 — “I will confirm my covenant as a perpetual covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you…be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” The election is corporate from the beginning.

Liberation as a people. The exodus from Egypt was the formation of a people. Exodus 3:7 — “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt.” Exodus 6:6-7 — “Therefore, tell the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I will bring you out from your enslavement to the Egyptians, I will rescue you from the hard labor they impose, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you to myself for a people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from your enslavement to the Egyptians.” The salvation event is the formation of the people.

Covenant as a people. The Sinai covenant established Israel as God’s covenant people. Exodus 19:5-6 — “if you will diligently listen to me and keep my covenant, then you will be my special possession out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine, and you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Deuteronomy 7:6 — “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God.”

Distinction as a people. The am Yhwh was distinguished from the other peoples (Hebrew amim, plural — sometimes also translated goyim, nations). The distinction was not based on Israel’s superiority but on God’s gracious election. Deuteronomy 7:7-8 — “It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you…Rather it is because of his love for you and his faithfulness to the promise he solemnly vowed to your ancestors”

Mission as a people. Israel was called to be a light to the nations. Isaiah 42:6 — “make you a covenant mediator for people and a light to the nations.” The election of Israel as God’s people did not exclude the other nations; the election was for the sake of the nations.

Several Old Testament passages illuminate the New Testament development:

Exodus 6:7 — “I will take you to myself for a people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from your enslavement to the Egyptians.” The foundational formula at the exodus.

Leviticus 26:12 — “I will walk among you, and I will be your God, and you will be my people.” The covenant blessing formula. God’s presence with His people is the substance of the covenant blessing.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 — the new covenant promise. “Indeed, a time is coming, says the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,’ says the Lord. ‘But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land,’ says the Lord. ‘I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ‘People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,’ says the Lord. ‘For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.’’.” The same formula projected forward into the eschatological covenant.

Hosea 1:9-10; 2:23 — the prophetic word about restoration. Hosea’s third child is named Lo-Ammi — “Not My People” — as a sign of God’s judgment on Israel. But the prophetic word includes a reversal: “it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said to them, ‘You are children of the living God” (Hosea 1:10, NET). And in 2:23 — “I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’ And he will say, ‘You are my God!’” The prophetic word about Israel’s restoration becomes, in the New Testament, the framework for understanding the inclusion of Gentile believers in God’s people.

Ezekiel 36:24-28 — the new covenant promise. “‘I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries; then I will bring you to your land. I will sprinkle you with pure water, and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols. I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you; I will take the initiative, and you will obey my statutes and carefully observe my regulations. Then you will live in the land I gave to your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.” The Ezekiel passage develops the new covenant with the Spirit’s transformative work.

Zechariah 8:8 — the post-exilic promise. “They will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and righteousness.’”

The Hebrew am tradition is the foundation of the New Testament’s laos doctrine. The Hebrew Bible establishes the people-of-God category, develops the covenant formula, prophesies the new covenant in which the formula will be fulfilled, and anticipates the inclusion of others alongside ethnic Israel. The New Testament’s laos doctrine inherits this whole tradition and applies it to the church Christ has gathered.

Range of Meaning

Laos in the New Testament covers a meaningful range:

The people of God — primarily Israel. The dominant Old Testament usage carried into the early New Testament. Matthew 1:21 — “he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 2:6 — “‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,are in no way least among the rulers of Judah,for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” Luke 1:68, 77 — “has come to help and has redeemed his people.” Luke 2:32 — “for glory to your people Israel.”

The expanded people of God including Gentile believers. The distinctive New Testament development. Acts 15:14 — “Simeon has explained how God first concerned himself to select from among the Gentiles a people for his name.” Acts 18:10 — “because I am with you, and no one will assault you to harm you because I have many people in this city.” Romans 9:25-26 (citing Hosea) — “As he also says in Hosea:‘I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved, ‘My beloved.’’ ‘And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’’” 1 Peter 2:9-10 — “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You once were not a people, but now you are God’s people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

The people in general — non-theological sense. Sometimes laos is used for “people” in a less theologically loaded way. Matthew 27:25 — “In reply all the people said, ‘Let his blood be on us and on our children!’” Luke 23:14 — “you brought me this man as one who was misleading the people.” The general populace.

The crowd present at events. Sometimes laos names the gathered crowd at specific events. Luke 1:10 — “Now the whole crowd of people were praying outside at the hour of the incense offering.” Acts 5:13 — “None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high honor.” Distinct from ochlos (crowd) but with significant overlap.

The eschatological people of God. Hebrews 4:9 — “Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God.” Revelation 18:4 — “Come out of her, my people.” Revelation 21:3 — “He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them.”

Where You’ll Meet It

1 Peter 2:9-10. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You once were not a people, but now you are God’s people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy.” The Greek of verse 9-10: hymeis de genos eklekton, basileion hierateuma, ethnos hagion, laos eis peripoiēsin… hoi pote ou laos nyn de laos theou.

The passage is one of the most theologically substantial New Testament treatments of the people of God. Several observations matter.

First, the application of Israel’s covenant categories to the church. Peter writes to Christians scattered across Asia Minor, predominantly Gentile believers. He applies to them the categories that the Old Testament used for Israel: chosen race (genos eklekton), royal priesthood (basileion hierateuma), holy nation (ethnos hagion), a people who are truly his (laos eis peripoiēsin). The Old Testament categories are not abolished in the new covenant; they are extended to include the Gentile believers who have been brought into God’s people through Christ.

Second, the explicit Hosea citation in verse 10. Hoi pote ou laos nyn de laos theou; hoi ouk ēleēmenoi nyn de eleēthentes — “you once were not a people, but now you are God’s people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy.” Peter applies Hosea’s prophecy directly to his Gentile Christian readers. The prophetic word about Israel’s restoration becomes the structural framework for understanding the inclusion of Gentiles in God’s people.

Third, the purpose clause. Hopōs tas aretas exangeilēte tou ek skotous hymas kalesantos eis to thaumaston autou phōs — “that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” The people of God exists not for itself but for the proclamation of God’s praises. The Old Testament’s purpose for Israel (Isaiah 43:21 — “the people whom I formed for myself, so they might praise me.”) becomes the purpose of the New Testament people of God as well.

The Lutheran tradition has held this passage as one of the foundational ecclesiological texts. The church is the people of God in continuity with the Old Testament Israel; the same God who gathered Israel has now gathered the Gentile believers into the same people through Christ. The categories are not metaphorical or merely typological; the categories are the actual identity of the church.

Acts 15:13-18. “After they stopped speaking, James replied, ‘Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has explained how God first concerned himself to select from among the Gentiles a people for his name. The words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written, ‘After this I will return,and I will rebuild the fallen tent of David;I will rebuild its ruins and restore it, so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord,namely, all the Gentiles I have called to be my own,’ says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago.’” The Greek of verse 14: labein ex ethnōn laon tō onomati autou.

The passage from the Jerusalem Council establishes the apostolic understanding of how the Gentiles are included in the people of God. James’s speech draws together several theological strands.

First, the structural language. Labein ex ethnōn laon — “to select from among the Gentiles a people.” The Greek is striking: God is taking from the Gentiles a people. The Gentiles (ethnē — nations, treated in Ethnos) are the broader category from which God is forming His people (laos). The two categories are distinct: not every Gentile becomes part of the laos; some are taken from among them to constitute God’s people.

Second, the connection to prophetic expectation. James cites Amos 9:11-12 to ground the Gentile inclusion in the Old Testament prophets. The OT had anticipated that the Gentiles would be called by God’s name. The apostolic mission is not a departure from the Old Testament but its fulfillment.

Third, the Jerusalem Council’s decision. The council determined that Gentile believers do not need to become Jewish (circumcision, food laws) to be included in God’s people; faith in Christ alone is the basis of their inclusion. The decision is theologically substantial: the boundaries of God’s people are defined by faith in Christ rather than by ethnic descent from Abraham.

Romans 9:23-26. “And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? As he also says in Hosea:‘I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved, ‘My beloved.’’ ‘And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’’” The Greek of verse 25: kalesō ton ou laon mou laon mou kai tēn ouk ēgapēmenēn ēgapēmenēn.

The passage develops the Pauline theology of how the Gentiles are included in the people of God. Paul cites Hosea 2:23 and 1:10 to establish the theological pattern.

The argument is theologically careful. Paul is not saying that the church replaces Israel (the supersessionist position the Lutheran tradition has been wary of); Paul is saying that God has always intended to extend His people beyond ethnic Israel. The Hosea prophecy, originally about Israel’s restoration, includes a structural pattern — those who are “not my people” can be called “my people” by God’s gracious word — that applies to the Gentile believers in the new covenant.

The Pauline doctrine of the people of God maintains both continuity and expansion. The Old Testament people of God (Israel) and the New Testament people of God (the church including Gentile believers) are one continuous people in God’s plan. The expansion does not abolish the original people; the expansion brings new members into the same people.

Titus 2:14. “He gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, who are eager to do good.” The Greek: kai katharisē heautō laon periousion.

The passage echoes Old Testament language. Laon periousion — “a people who are truly his” — echoes the LXX of Exodus 19:5 and Deuteronomy 7:6 (Israel as God’s am segullah — “treasured possession”). The Old Testament category for Israel is applied to the church. Christ’s redemptive work has the specific purpose of creating for Himself a people who are His own possession.

Two observations matter.

First, the purposive grammar. Hina katharisē heautō laon periousion — “purify for himself a people who are truly his.” The people exists for Christ. The redemption is not just rescuing individuals from sin; the redemption is establishing a people who belong to Christ.

Second, the moral character. The redeemed people are zēlōtēn kalōn ergōn — “eager to do good.” The people of God exists not just as a status but with a particular character. The people who have been redeemed by Christ live in a way that demonstrates the redemption.

Hebrews 4:9-11. “Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God. For the one who enters God’s rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works. Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.” The Greek of verse 9: ara apoleipetai sabbatismos tō laō tou theou.

The passage develops the eschatological dimension of the people of God. Sabbatismos tō laō tou theou — “consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God.” The people who have been gathered by God through history are oriented toward an eschatological rest that lies ahead. The present age is the working-out of the journey; the consummation is the entering into the Sabbath rest.

The passage draws on the Old Testament background. Israel’s wilderness wandering, the Sabbath rest as a covenant sign, the entry into the promised land — all of these are part of the typological background of the people-of-God’s eschatological rest. The New Testament people of God is on the same kind of journey, oriented toward the same kind of rest, sustained by the same God who led Israel.

What Confessional Lutherans Hear

Confessional Lutherans hear three emphases.

The church is the people of God in continuity with the Old Testament Israel — the covenant formula “I will be their God, and they will be my people” runs from Genesis to Revelation and is fulfilled in the church Christ has gathered. The covenantal formula is the structural backbone of biblical theology. The same God who gathered Israel has now gathered the Gentile believers into the same people. The continuity is real; the expansion includes rather than replaces.

The Lutheran tradition has held this against two opposite errors. Against the supersessionist position that treats the church as having replaced Israel (with the implication that the OT promises to Israel have been transferred to the church without remainder): the Lutheran position holds that God’s promises to Israel are not abolished; the church is the expanded people of God that includes both Jewish and Gentile believers. Against the position that treats Israel and the church as two distinct peoples with two distinct programs (a position associated with certain Dispensationalist streams): the Lutheran position holds that the people of God is one, with the Old Testament Israel and the New Testament church constituting the one continuous people across the covenants.

The pastoral implication is significant. The believer who reads the Old Testament is reading the same God’s dealings with the same people the believer belongs to. The OT promises, warnings, encouragements, and examples are not for some other group; they are for the one people God has been gathering across history. The believer’s identity as part of God’s laos extends backward through Israel to Abraham and forward to the eschatological consummation.

The people of God is a corporate identity — Christianity is not just about individual salvation but about being part of a community God has gathered for Himself. The covenantal formula is fundamentally corporate. God establishes a people, not just individual saved persons. The individual believer is incorporated into the people; the individual’s relationship with God is mediated through and supported by the community.

This emphasis grounds the Lutheran understanding of the church as more than a voluntary association of like-minded individuals. The church is the people of God — the corporate body that exists by God’s gracious gathering. The believer is not first an individual who then chooses to associate with other Christians; the believer is incorporated into the people of God in baptism and continues in the means of grace as part of that people.

The contemporary American Christian tendency toward individualism — “my personal relationship with Jesus,” “my faith journey,” “what works for me spiritually” — fails to capture the corporate dimension the Bible names. The believer who is not in regular communion with the people of God is operating outside the structure the New Testament establishes. The Christian life is conducted in the people, with the people, by means God has given to the people.

The people of God exists for the purpose of proclaiming God’s praises — the laos has a missional purpose that extends to all the nations. 1 Peter 2:9 (“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”), Isaiah 43:21 (the people God formed for Himself to declare His praise), Acts 1:8 (witnesses to the ends of the earth). The people of God is not gathered for its own sake; the people is gathered for the proclamation of God’s praises.

This missional purpose has shaped Lutheran ecclesiology and Lutheran mission. The church exists to proclaim the gospel — through Word, through Sacrament, through pastoral ministry, through the believer’s witness in vocation and community. The people of God is the bearer of the gospel to the world.

The Lutheran tradition has held this carefully against both an individualistic reduction of mission (each believer’s personal witness, detached from the corporate work of the church) and a triumphalist reduction (the church’s mission as institutional expansion rather than gospel proclamation). The biblical mission is corporate (the laos as a whole, not just isolated individuals) and is grounded in the gospel (proclamation of God’s praises in Christ, not just institutional growth).

The pastoral payoff is substantial.

The believer who is wondering whether his individual Christian life is enough has the doctrine as framework. The believer is not just an individual saved soul; the believer is part of God’s laos. The individual’s spiritual life is conducted in the community God has gathered. The Sunday worship, the receiving of the means of grace, the participation in the church’s life, the engagement with fellow believers — these are not optional extras but constitutive of what it means to be God’s people.

The believer who reads the Old Testament and wonders about its relevance has the continuity framework. The OT is the history of the same people the believer belongs to. The promises, the warnings, the examples, the worship of the OT are for the one people God has been gathering across history. The believer who is in Christ is in continuity with Abraham, Moses, David, and the faithful Israelites — and looking forward to the consummation when the people of God will be perfected in the new creation.

The believer who is reflecting on his vocation has the missional framework. The people of God exists to proclaim God’s praises. The believer’s vocations — family, work, community, congregation — are dimensions of how God’s laos bears witness to the world. The proclamation is not just verbal evangelism (though it includes that); the proclamation is the whole life of the people of God in the world.

Where People Get It Wrong

The reduction of Christianity to individual salvation without corporate identity. The dominant American Christian misreading. The biblical pattern is corporate. The believer is part of a people; the individual is incorporated into the laos; the Christian life is conducted in the community. The reduction of Christianity to individual salvation — “my personal Jesus,” “my faith,” “my spiritual journey” — fails to capture the corporate dimension the Bible names. The believer who is not in regular communion with the people of God is operating outside the biblical structure.

The replacement-theology (supersessionist) reduction. Some traditions have effectively replaced Israel with the church in a way that erases the original people. The biblical pattern is more careful. The church is the expanded people of God that includes Gentile believers; the church does not replace Israel without remainder. God’s promises to Israel are not abolished; they are fulfilled in Christ and extended through Christ to the Gentile believers. The Lutheran tradition has been wary of the cruder forms of supersessionism that have produced harmful attitudes toward Jewish people.

The two-peoples reduction (Dispensationalism). The opposite error. Some traditions, especially Dispensationalist streams, have treated Israel and the church as two distinct peoples with two distinct programs of God. The biblical pattern is the one continuous people of God across the covenants. The Old Testament Israel and the New Testament church are one laos in God’s plan, with the Gentile believers brought into the same people Christ has been gathering. I have developed this concern at length in my earlier work What Horse?; the Dispensationalist two-peoples framework departs from the biblical doctrine of the one people of God.¹

The reduction of “people of God” to “people who attend the right church.” Some traditions have effectively reduced the people of God to particular institutional or denominational membership. The biblical laos is broader. The people of God is constituted by faith in Christ, baptism into Christ, receiving of the means of grace. The boundaries of God’s people run along the boundaries of faith in Christ, not along denominational lines. The Lutheran tradition has held this carefully — confessional Lutheran churches are part of the broader people of God along with other gospel-confessing Christians.

The reduction of “people of God” to ethnic or national identity. Some traditions have functionally reduced the people of God to particular national or ethnic communities — Christian America, Christian Europe, “our people” in tribal or ethnic terms. The biblical laos refuses this. The people of God is constituted by faith in Christ, not by ethnic or national identity. Christians who functionally identify the people of God with their own ethnic or national community have departed from the New Testament pattern.

The “people of God versus institutional church” false dichotomy. Some contemporary Christianity has effectively pitted the “true people of God” against the institutional church — implying that the real people are not those in particular congregations but some invisible spiritual community. The biblical pattern integrates the two. The people of God is gathered in concrete congregations through the means of grace; the institutional church (rightly understood as the gathering around Word and Sacrament) is the visible expression of the people of God. The dichotomy between “spiritual people” and “institutional church” produces problems on both sides.

The clergy/laity distinction abusing “laos” / “laity.” The English word laity developed from laos in later church history. In the medieval period, the term came to mean “lay people” in distinction from clergy, with the implication that the lay people were spiritually lesser than the clergy. The Lutheran Reformation rejected this distinction in its absolute form. All believers are part of God’s laos; the priesthood of all believers (developed in Hiereus) names this common spiritual standing. The ordained pastoral office is real and important (treated in Apostolos and elsewhere), but the office does not create a higher class of Christians.

The neglect of the eschatological dimension. Some Christianity has reduced the people of God to its present visible expression without the eschatological orientation. The biblical laos is oriented toward the consummation — toward the Sabbath rest of Hebrews 4:9, toward the new Jerusalem of Revelation 21:3 where God will dwell with His people. The Christian’s present life as part of God’s people is journey toward the eschatological perfection of the people; the present community is real but is not the final state.

The reduction of the people’s mission to numerical growth. Some contemporary church-growth streams have reduced the missional purpose of God’s laos to numerical expansion of the congregation. The biblical purpose is more substantial. The laos exists to proclaim God’s praises (1 Peter 2:9), to bear witness to Christ (Acts 1:8), to display God’s manifold wisdom to the cosmic powers (Ephesians 3:10). Numerical growth may or may not be part of how this purpose is realized in particular times and places; the purpose itself is the proclamation, not the numerical expansion.

So What

The Sunday school teacher angle is direct: teach the covenantal formula and its biblical trajectory. “I will be their God, and they will be my people.” runs through the whole Bible — Exodus 6:7 at Israel’s formation, Leviticus 26:12 as the substance of the covenant blessing, Jeremiah 31:33 projected forward into the new covenant, Hebrews 8:10 applied to the new covenant in Christ, Revelation 21:3 as the eschatological consummation in the new creation. The formula establishes that God is gathering a people for Himself: the people is corporate, not just individual; the relationship is mutual (God is their God, they are His people); it includes Israel and now extends through Christ to Gentile believers; and it is oriented toward the consummation when God will dwell with His people. This gives your students a different framework for the Christian life: the contemporary American tendency to think individualistically — “my personal relationship with Jesus” — fails to capture the corporate dimension the Bible foregrounds. The Christian is not just an individual saved soul but part of God’s laos, and the Sunday worship, the Sacraments, and the congregation’s life are constitutive of belonging to God’s people, not optional additions.

For Bible study leaders, the application extends to the Old Testament–New Testament continuity. Hosea named his third child Lo-Ammi, “Not My People,” as a sign of judgment, but the prophetic word included a reversal: those who were “not my people” would be called “my people.” Paul (Romans 9:25-26) and Peter (1 Peter 2:10) apply this to Gentile believers — those who were not God’s people are now God’s people, the categories the Old Testament used for Israel now extended to include them. This gives students a substantive sense of the Old Testament’s continuing relevance: it is the history of the same people the believer belongs to, and the promises, warnings, and worship of the Old Testament are for the one people God has been gathering across history. The believer who reads the Old Testament is reading his own family history.

For pastoral application, the doctrine meets three concerns. When the believer is operating in an isolated, individualistic Christianity: the people of God corrects it — Sunday worship, the Sacraments, and participation in the congregation’s life are constitutive of belonging, not optional. When he is uncertain how the Old Testament relates to his Christian life: the continuity framework clarifies — it is the history of the same people, and its promises, examples, and warnings are for the one people God has been gathering. When he reflects on the church’s mission: the people exists to proclaim God’s praises — a mission that is corporate (the whole laos) and grounded in the gospel, in which the believer’s life participates.

This entry has named laos — the corporate identity of God’s people across history. The related entry on Ethnos names the nations from which God’s people is gathered and to which it bears witness.

The Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep has been gathering His people since the call of Abraham. The promises made to Israel reach their fulfillment in Him; the new covenant He inaugurated extends the people to include the Gentile believers; the consummation will bring His people to the rest that remains for them. The believer who is in Christ is part of God’s laos — the people whose corporate identity is the framework of his Christian life, whose mission is the proclamation of God’s praises in the world.²