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.

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RELATED POSTS:

• Rebuilding Walls - (The final paragraph of Chapter 3 in his Letter to the Galatians is pivotal to Paul’s argument. It stresses the oneness of God’s people)

• Heirs in Jesus - (The followers of Jesus are heirs to the Abrahamic covenant promises regardless of their nationality or ethnicity)

• 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)