From the Bible study Behold.- There is a New Creation
by Dr. Inagrace Dietterich

Session 11
Members of God’s Household

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)--12 remember that at that time you were separate, from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

The Sign and First Fruit

The community of the church is the beginning of reconciliation, the sign and first fruit of God’s cosmic purposes in Christ. The church is an integral part of God’s plan to reconcile all things. Through its ministry of reconciliation, the Christian community becomes both an instrument and a foretaste of God’s purposes for the world.

Therefore those who would limit Jesus to the saving of soul, and those who see him merely as introducing new ethical principle’s are both wrong. The purpose of God in Christ is neither simply to redeem individuals nor merely to teach the world some new thoughts. God’s purpose in Christ is to establish a new community that points to the plan of God for the world. Forming community has been the social strategy of the spirit since Pentecost. Community is the basis of all Christian living. It is both the lifestyle and the vocation of the church.

The living witness of the Christian community is intended both to demonstrate and to anticipate the future of the world that has arrived in the person of Jesus Christ. -Jim Wallis

Discuss

1) What was the situation of the Gentiles before Christ (vv. 11-12)?

2) How has Christ enabled the unity of Jews and Gentiles (vv. 13-18)?

3) List the variety of images used to describe the church in verses 19-22. What unifies them?

4) How does the picture of the church in verses 19-22 compare with your expectations of the church? With your experience of the church?

5) What insights do you have by thinking of the church as the household of God (v. 19)? What questions come to your mind?

6) What have you learned, about God's dream from this study of the household of God?