Different ways of using the lexical terms can be found among Christian authors. Generally gens/natio are applied to refer to pagans while populus/plebs is said of Christians. But Orosius applies gens/natio in the same meaning as classical writers, that is to say to denote foreigners (Christians as well as pagans), and populus/plebs to refer to Romans. This is because Orosius wrote history and in this genre such was the common lexical use.