As we saw in the two previous blogs, the Old Testament and New Testament agree that God has people. Indeed, he has a covenant with people, and those people are his through an Anointed one – a Messiah or Christ – who leads them in their covenant relationship with God.
Who are these people? Are they the Jews? Are they the white-skinned, blond-hair, blue-eyed race of Northern European origin? Are they the dark-skinned race mostly of Africa? Are they some other race?
What about the descendants of Abraham: are the true people of God those who believe and practice monotheism? Since most who claim to be the people of God acknowledge Abraham as their patriarch, let’s start there with our answers from the Bible. The Apostle James, the half-brother of Jesus, challenged his readers who were of Abrahamic heritage (James 2:21) about their belief in one God that they thought sufficiently identified them as the true people of God. He wrote in James 2:19, You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. As James insisted, faith itself is nothing without actions that complement it. Knowing that there is only one God is of no merit of itself. Even the spirit enemies of God know that, but although that realization frightens them it does not result in the humble response to God that he seeks. Thus, monotheism is not the identifier of the people of God.
What about being Jewish? Here is Jesus’ answer: To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” (John 8:31). Being Jewish was not enough if they were not disciples or followers of Jesus. Some of his audience angrily reacted by claiming, “We are Abraham’s descendants” (V.32), but Jesus did not buy that argument. Instead, he boldly asserted, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad… before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:56-58). This astounding statement shouts that Jesus preceded Abraham, who was the first to follow him! Thus, only those who, like Abraham, followed him are the true people of God. Because many in his audience did not realize who Jesus is, they picked up stones to stone him. If they had understood, the correct response would have been to worship him and join his group of followers.
If not a nationality, what about a religion? Are the people of God in a religious group? Let’s consider the three monotheistic religious groups: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
Judaism is the religious practice of the Jewish people and non-Jews who convert to the practice through observance of the Sinai Covenant laws. What does the Bible tell us about it? Hebrews 8:13 answers: By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear. The “new” refers to the New Covenant, explained in the previous blog. Nearly two thousand years ago, inspired Scripture considered the previous covenant obsolete. The whole system as put in place under Moses vanished when the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, effectively eliminating the priesthood of Aaron’s descendants and all of their religious articles and practices. Although a variant of that system was adopted, according to the Bible, it too is obsolete.
Islam is another Abrahamic-monotheistic religion. Established early in the seventh Century AD by its prophet, Muhammad, and documented in its holy book, the Quran, its practitioners reject the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus while establishing a system of worship practices of their “one God, Allah.” They consider Jesus a Prophet and the Messiah, but their beliefs and practices are inconsistent with his followers, who worship him as the Son of God, live in his grace, and obey his commands.
So, that would seem to leave Christianity as the religion of the people of God. Does the Bible confirm that conclusion? It may surprise some to realize that Jesus said: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Anciently, the Christian Creed stated, “Jesus is Lord.” But Jesus said that saying he is Lord does not make one his follower.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica (online), “Christianity, major religion stemming from the life, teachings, and death of Jesus of Nazareth (the Christ, or the Anointed One of God) in the 1st century CE. It has become the largest of the world’s religions and, geographically, the most widely diffused of all faiths. It has a constituency of more than two billion believers.”
The word Christianity is not in the Bible. The definition given by the Encyclopedia Britannica places it alongside other religions. Its huge constituency around the world consists of a mix of people who were born into it, who converted to it from other religions, who personally embraced it as their faith, and whose ancestors had the religious worship of Christ imposed upon them by nations and rulers who considered themselves Christian. All of them would call Jesus "Lord," but remember what Jesus said. Contrast the word “Christianity” with “Christian,” which is mentioned in Acts 11:26: The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. It was the disciples of Jesus who were called Christians. These people were followers of Jesus – the role of a disciple – not merely adherents to a religion. To people whose faith in Jesus resulted in persecution, Peter wrote: However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name (1 Peter 4:16). By the time that Peter wrote these words, the name Christian was being applied generally to all of Jesus’ followers. In Peter’s words, they bore the name of the Messiah’s people.
So, although various religions, including Christianity, might claim to be the people of God, the Bible is not the source of their claim. Jesus Christ, and his Apostles who wrote much of the New Testament, clearly and pointedly designated the people to whom that claim belongs. Let’s look deeper into that claim.
The Apostle Peter identified the true people of God in 1 Peter 2:9-10, which says: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession... Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Let’s notice a few things about these people, who Peter called the people of God. First, they were given the special and unique status that had been promised to Israel at Mt. Sinai, which we read in Exodus 19:5-6: Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites. Next, they could not be the same people who previously were identified as the people of God, because previously, as Peter said, they were not a people. So, who were they? According to Peter’s statement in 1 Peter 4:16, Christians – not merely those who call themselves Christian or the adherents of Christianity but the followers of Jesus Christ!
Were there racial, national, gender, or other distinctions that identified these people? The Apostle Paul answered that question in Galatians 3:28-29, which says: There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. To these same people, Paul later wrote: Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God (Galatians 6:15-16). Circumcision was the distinguishing sign of the people of God under the Mt. Sinai Covenant. It was a religious practice that began with Abraham and, through a covenant, was required in all of his descendants. But because that Covenant had been replaced by the New Covenant, no longer was circumcision a requirement. God made no distinction between people who were circumcised and those who were not. Instead, God has a “new creation.” As Paul went on to say, these people are the “Israel of God.”
In reality, the people of God are new; in another sense, they are “Israel,” because they are what the Israelites were intended to be. Thus, the new people of God are not defined by their ethnicity. God sees them as Israel not ethnically but spiritually.
For this overwhelmingly significant reason, it does not matter what anyone’s ethnicity is before God. As Paul wrote in Galatians 3:28, you are all one in Christ Jesus. The people of God are now defined by being in Jesus Christ. Being “in” is a condition of complete loving union. They are in union with him, thus they follow him. This union that they have in him includes union with each other. Isn’t that fabulously good news! In Christ, there are no races; there is only one human race, consisting of all nationalities and ethnicities. Therefore, is there a need for research, books, or documentaries about the world’s ethnic groups to discover the identity of the people of God? I don’t think so! Jesus defines their identity.
The book, Echo of Jesus’ Prayer – in the Church explains the amazing oneness that God desires for all people through Jesus Christ. Go to the Home page for details and to order.