Because of the Tower of Babel account (Genesis 11), some Christians assume that the different ethnicities and cultures in the world today are a product of sin. According to this narrative, God judged humanity for gathering to build a tower to heaven by confusing their language. Instead of having one common language, a diversity of languages, cultures, ethnicities, and nations ultimately resulted from the Babel narrative. So, is it true that different ethnicities and cultures are a result of sin? I will explain how they are not only a result of God’s intended plan but will also continue into eternity.
What Happened at Babel?
To understand Babel, we must also look at the Table of Nations (Genesis 10). The Table of Nations lists 72 nations that descended from Noah. These 72 nations are alluded to in the New Testament when Jesus appoints 72 workers to preach the gospel. It refers to the fact that Jesus is spreading his message to all the nations of the world (Luke 10).
Now, there is tension when reading Genesis 10 and Genesis 11. On the one hand, Genesis 11 and Babel give a picture of man’s pride and rebellion against God. On the other hand, Genesis 10 provides a neutral account of the growth of nations and people groups that seems to contradict the Babel narrative.
If the Table of Nations was listed after the Babel story, it makes sense to say that nations result from sin. However, the Table of Nations is listed before the Tower of Babel story and after God commanded Noah this: “And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth’” (Genesis 9:1). This commandment repeats what God originally commanded Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:28), showing that God has always intended mankind to fill the earth with a diversity of nations.
So, the Table of Nations is listed after God’s command to Noah to show that God creates a multitude of nations. But God does this through a surprising event: the tower of Babel. Just as Genesis 2 explains in detail the creation account from Genesis 1, so also Genesis 11 describes in detail the origin of the nations listed in Genesis 10.
Let me make a few observations from the Tower of Babel story.
Observation #1: God’s intervention brought about cultures and nations.
Previously, God had commanded Noah and his family to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1). But we see in Genesis 11 that people have instead “settled” in the land (11:2). “Settled” is the opposite picture of “filling” the earth. It shows how mankind has directly disobeyed God’s command.
Before Babel, humans were united in this status quo of “settling.” We see this with the use of the adjective “one” to describe humanity: “one (same)” speech, “one (same)” word, and “one (whole)” people (Genesis 11:1). But this desire for unity was an act of rebellion. We see that mankind wanted to build a tower to “make a name” for themselves (Genesis 11:4).
In response, God confused their language with a purpose: “so that one could not understand another” (Genesis 11:7). Why did he do this? Because he wants them to fill the earth, just as he previously commanded. God’s intervention was not simply to confuse people but to force them to spread apart, multiply, and fill the earth.
There is a pattern in Genesis 1–11 when God’s punishment is also a way to protect his people. For example, God kicking Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:22-23) was not just a punishment, but a form of grace. How? Because he did not allow them to eat from the tree of life and stay in a sinful state forever (Genesis 3:22). In other words, God is giving them a chance to be redeemed by kicking them out of the garden. In the same way, the confusion of language (Genesis 11:7) is necessary to prevent humans from uniting so that they would fulfill God’s mandate to fill the earth.
Observation #2: Cultures and nations resulted from God’s providence.
Some Christians assume that since different nations and cultures are a product of sin, there is a need to “reverse” the effects of Babel by uniting all cultures into one people. But this is a misconception, and knowing how to reconcile God’s providence and man’s responsibility for his sin corrects this.
The narrative of Babel recalls the story of Adam and Eve. In the garden of Eden, the issue was the newly acquired knowledge of Adam and Eve, whereas in Babel, the issue was the desire for power. In both cases, God did not tremble in fear because of how people were acting—God’s providence can never be challenged. Instead, God was grieved over the consequences that would occur if he did not intervene. Although God was judging the pride of the people in Babel, the results of different nations, languages, ethnicities, and cultures were not a byproduct of sin. Instead, the Babel narrative was the beginning steps of God’s plan to create a diversity of cultures and nations.
On the surface, God preventing the building of this tower might seem like a punishment, but in the larger picture of God’s purposes, it was a way to make sure that humanity would receive the blessing given in the Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9). The same “irony” occurs in the New Testament. Jesus told his disciples to spread out from Jerusalem to make disciples of all the nations (Acts 1:8). However, we see that they don’t leave Jerusalem immediately. Thus, God allowed persecution to enter Jerusalem, which forced them to go to Judea, Samaria, and other regions, just as Jesus wanted them to do before he ascended back to heaven (Acts 8:1).
Also, it seems that the apostles recognized that God always intended to create a diversity of nations, even though it came through a negative event. In Acts 17:26, Luke writes: “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.”
In summary, the Babel event ultimately resulted in God creating a multitude of cultures, ethnicities, and nations, as listed in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10), that will be blessed through Abraham (Genesis 12). So, are different ethnicities and cultures a result of sin? No! Instead, we see that God not only providentially creates a diversity amongst his people but will continue to have these distinctions in the eternal state, as the Apostle John records:
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations (Revelation 21:22-26).