One Spirit, One People
The Apostle Paul was adamant. No longer could there be “Jew or Gentile” for those who belong to Jesus Christ. The old distinctions were inappropriate among the One People of God. By his shed blood, he “dismantled the middle wall of partition” that separated Jews and Gentiles so “he might reconcile them both in one body for God through the Cross.” God is building Jews and Gentiles into one building, one habitation of God “in the Spirit” in Jesus.
Having voided the “law
of the commands in ordinances” that divided them, God is “creating in himself
One New Man.” Formerly, Gentiles were alienated
from the citizenship of Israel, “strangers from the covenants of promise,”
and without hope in the world.
[Photo by Mael BALLAND on Unsplash] |
Nevertheless, those “afar off” before Calvary are being “brought near…by the blood of the Messiah” and made members of his ONE covenant community. Jewish and Gentile believers access the same Father through the “one Spirit” they all received. Having believed the “word of the truth,” they have been “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” - (Ephesians 1:13, 2:18-22).
The implications are profound. They demonstrate that
Gentile followers of Jesus participate fully in the Abrahamic Covenant.
Circumcised or not, his disciples are heirs of the same promises regardless of ethnicity.
Jewish and Gentile believers become “fellow citizens and members of the household of God…having
been built together into the habitation of God in Spirit.” Similarly, to the congregations in Galatia, Paul
wrote:
- “But now that the faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian, for you are all sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek. There can be neither bond nor free. There can be no male and female; for all are one in Christ Jesus. And if you are of Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise” - (Galatians 3:25-29).
No longer are his
disciples under the custodianship of the Mosaic Legislation, including its ordinance
of circumcision. Whether Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free, all members
now constitute One People through one baptism and the “faith of Christ Jesus.”
Justification before God and membership in His people
are not dependent on gender, nationality, or biological descent. Repentance,
faith in Jesus, baptism, and the Gift of the Spirit determine membership in the
covenant.
CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM
Gentile believers are “grafted into the root,”
and that “root” is Abraham. The “wild branches” are grafted in by
God’s Spirit and based on faith, not the deeds and rites required by the Law. However,
unbelieving Jews, though they are the “natural branches” and possess the
Torah, are cut off if they continue in “unbelief” - (Romans
11:11-24).
When God confirmed His Covenant with Abraham, He promised to make him the “father of a multitude of nations.” The “nations” or Gentiles were always included in the promises. Yahweh promised to “establish my covenant between me and you, and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant.” This raises the question - Who is the Seed of Abraham?
Paul provides the definitive answer. The “Seed of
Abraham” Jesus, therefore, the group known as the “children of Abraham”
includes all men and women who have exercised faith in him regardless of their
nationality or place of origin - (Galatians 3:7-9).
The Abrahamic
Covenant always envisioned the inclusion of the Gentiles, and the
formation of Israel from the loins of Abraham was an initial stage in God’s larger
plan of redemption for humanity.
From Mount Sinai,
Yahweh summoned Israel to become his peculiar possession, a priestly kingdom tasked
with mediating His light to the nations. “All the earth” was His, not
just the nation of Israel or the tiny territory of Canaan. Israel was called to
bring the “nations” to Yahweh, not alienate them from Him – (Exodus 19:5).
In his
first epistle, the Apostle Peter applied this very passage to the largely Gentile
congregations of “Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia”:
- “But you yourselves are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who were no-people, but now are the people of God; who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” – (1 Peter 2:5-10).
[Photo by Evgeni Tcherkasski on Unsplash] |
The calling given to Israel has fallen to the “Body of Christ” composed of those who have been “sealed by the Holy Spirit.” Inclusion in this community is based on the “faith of Jesus” and faith in him. In contrast, exclusion is the result of unbelief and disobedience.
God did not
abandon His promises to Abraham. He is fulfilling them in His Son and through His
Spirit. He is making salvation available to all men for the asking, and on the
same basis for all, the “faith of Jesus Christ.” Therefore, there is only one covenant community and one People of God.
RELATED POSTS:
- One Covenant People - (In Jesus, all the covenant promises find their fulfillment. He is the true Seed of Abraham and the heir of the promises)
- The Mission - (Jesus commissioned his disciples to proclaim his Good News and Kingdom to all the nations of the Earth)
- The Life-Giving Spirit - (Jesus declared, The Spirit makes alive. The flesh profits nothing. The words which I have spoken to you, they are spirit, and they are life)
Comments
Post a Comment