People of God

People of God is a description that in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible applies to the Israelites and that the New Testament applies to Christians. Within the Catholic Church, it has been given greater prominence because of its employment in documents of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965).

In the Old Testament, the Israelites are referred to as "the people of God" in Judges 20:2 and 2 Samuel 14:13. The equivalent phrases "the people of the Lord" and "the people of the Lord your God" are also used. In those texts God is also represented as speaking of the Children of Israel as "my people". The people of God was a term first used, by God in the book of Exodus Chapter 6:7 which carried stipulation in this covenant between man and God. God promised deliverance, in return the people owed obedience.

Continued use of the expression "people of God" (in Latin, populus Dei) in the writings of the Church Fathers are found in Augustine's De civitate Dei and Pope Leo I's Lenten Sermon. Its use continued up to and including Pope John XXIII's apostolic letter Singulari studio of 1 July 1960, two years before the Second Vatican Council.

In Gaelic, Latin populus Dei became pobal Dé and has continued for centuries to be an expression in everyday use for the Church in a parish, a diocese or the world.

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