One New Man

By his Death and Resurrection, Jesus formed one new covenant community - One New Man - based on faith in him – Ephesians 2:11-22.

Paul is clear and uncompromising. Considering what Jesus accomplished on the Cross, no longer can there be divisions between Jews and Gentiles, “for all you are one in Christ Jesus.” By his sacrificial death, 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 Jewish and Gentile disciples into one habitation of God “in the Spirit,” having voided the “law of the commands in ordinances” that previously divided them. He is “creating in himself One New Man.”

[Photo by Dámaris Azócar on Unsplash]

Formerly, Gentiles were alienated from the citizenship of Israel, “strangers from the covenants of promise,” and without hope in the world. Nevertheless, those once “afar off are being “brought near…by the blood of the Messiah” and made members of God’s one covenant community.

Jewish and Gentile believers access the same Father through the “one Spirit” they all receive. Having believed the “word of the truth,” they have been “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” and thus made full members of the Assembly of God - (Ephesians 1:13, 2:18-22).

The implications of this proposition are profound, demonstrating that Christ’s Gentile followers participate fully in the Abrahamic Covenant. Circumcised or not, they are heirs to the same promises regardless of their ethnicity or nationality. They 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 we under the custodianship of the Mosaic Legislation, including its ordinances of circumcision, dietary regulations, and holy days. Whether Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free, together, we constitute the one covenant community through one baptism and the “faith of Christ Jesus.”

Justification before God and membership in His community are not dependent on gender, nationality, or biological descent. Repentance, faith in Jesus, baptism, and the Gift of the Spirit determine membership and our status as heirs of Abraham.

TRUE SEED 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 faith, not the deeds and rites required by the Law of Moses. However, unbelieving Jews, though they are the “natural branches,” descendants of Abraham, and possess the Torah are cut off if they continue in “unbelief” and reject God’s Messiah - (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 answer. The “Seed of Abraham” is 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, place of origin, or biological parentage - (Galatians 3:7-9).

The Abrahamic Covenant always envisaged the inclusion of the Gentiles, and the formation of Israel from the loins of Abraham was an initial stage in God’s plan to redeem humanity.

From Mount Sinai, God summoned Israel to become his peculiar possession, a priestly kingdom tasked with mediating His light to the nations. “All the earth” is His, not just the nation of Israel or the tiny territory of Canaan. Israel was called to bring the “nations” to God, not alienate them from Him – (Exodus 19:5).

In his first epistle, the Apostle Peter applied this very passage to the congregations of “Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,” which included many Gentiles:

• “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 not a people, but now are the people of God; who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” – (1 Peter 2:5-10).

The calling given to Israel now belongs to the “Body of Christ” composed of those who have been “sealed by the Holy Spirit.” Membership in this community is based on the “faith of Jesus,” his faithfulness demonstrated by his obedience unto death, and our faith in response to what God did through him. In contrast, those men who disbelieve are excluded from God’s covenant community.

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, in Christ Jesus, there is only one People of God.

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SEE ALSO:

• 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)

• Sons of God - (Returning to the custodianship of the Law would mean rebuilding the wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles)

• 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)

• Un en Jésus-Christ - (Par sa Mort et sa Résurrection, Jésus a formé une nouvelle communauté d'alliance - Un Nouvel Homme - basée sur la foi en lui - Éphésiens 2: 11-22)