One Spirit, One People
Paul is adamant. “In Jesus,” no longer can there be “Jew or Gentile.” The old distinctions are wholly inappropriate for 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.” In him, God is building Jews and Gentiles into one building, one habitation of God “in the Spirit.”
Having voided the “law
of the commands in ordinances” that divided them through the death of His
Son, God is “creating in himself One New Man.” At one time, Gentiles were alienated from the citizenship of Israel, “strangers
from the covenants of promise,” and without hope in the world.
[Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash] |
Nevertheless, those who were “afar off” before Calvary are being “brought near…by the blood of the Messiah” and made members of his ONE covenant community. Now, Jewish and Gentile believers alike have access to the same Father through “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 of Paul’s proposition are profound.
Among other things, they demonstrate that Gentile followers of Jesus are full participants
in the Abrahamic Covenant. Circumcised or not, his disciples are heirs to the same
promises regardless of their 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 is 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 Christ's, 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. What
determines participation in the covenant community is repentance, faith in
Jesus, baptism into him, and the Gift of the Spirit.
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
Mosaic Law, 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” were always included in the covenant 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 a clear and definitive answer. The “Seed
of Abraham” is none other than Jesus, therefore, the group known as the “children
of Abraham” includes all men and women who exercise faith in him regardless
of their nationality - (Galatians 3:7-9).
The Abrahamic
Covenant always envisioned the inclusion of the Gentiles, the
nations. The formation of Israel from the loins of Abraham was an
initial stage in God’s larger plan of redemption.
PRIESTLY KINGDOM
At 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 to alienate them from Him - – (Exodus 19:5).
In his
first epistle, the Apostle Peter applies 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).
[Church - Photo by Xavier von Erlach on Unsplash] |
The calling given to Israel has fallen to the Assembly of God, the “body of Christ” composed of all 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 from the community 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 and women for the asking, and
on the same basis for all, the “faith of Jesus Christ.” Therefore, there
can be only one covenant community and only one People of God.
RELATED POSTS:
- Ignoring Scripture - (The Apostle Paul was quite serious when he wrote that elders and ministers must be above reproach both in and without the Assembly)
- Spirit and Mission - (Jesus now dispenses the gift of the Spirit to his people, and it empowers them to carry out gospel proclamation to all nations)
- The Assembly of God - (The Christian use of the term church or ekklésia is derived from the assembly of Yahweh gathered for worship in the Hebrew Bible)