I AM A MEMBER OF GOD’S HOUSEHOLD

“Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and MEMBERS of the HOUSEHOLD of GOD” – Ephesians 2:19

Beyond being a Christian, I AM A MEMBER of GOD’S HOUSEHOLD: “Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and MEMBERS of the HOUSEHOLD of GOD” (Eph.2:19). A household is a social unit or group of people who live together under the same roof and compose a family. Basically, a household is a family. People have many ways of defining a family and what being a part of a family is. Family as a basic unit of society is a group of people who are related to each other. The ideal nuclear family is a group consisting of two parents and their children living together as a unit. In an extended sense, family could refer to all the descendants of a common ancestor.

The Human Family descended from Adam and Eve. The Abrahamic family descended from Abraham and Sarai. A more detailed definition of Family is: a group of persons with a common origin, genesis, ancestry, inheritance, identity, name, blood relations, and/or lineage, who live and grow together. Every household or family consists of MEMBERS, each of who has rights, roles, and responsibilities. GOD has an eternal Family over which He is the overall Head. Paul in praying for the Ephesians, referred to God as “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the WHOLE FAMILY in heaven and earth is named” (Eph.3:14b-15). This is where we encounter the personal and collective dimensions of our new identity in Christ.

To become a Christian is to become a Member of the Family or Household of God (Eph.2:19). It is also called the Household of Faith (Gal.6:10). As a Christian, it matters least if you’re alone, feeling left out, with no living parents, spouse, children or other family members close by; in Christ you’ve gained a unique Family membership. All Believers in Christ, regardless of background or circumstances in life, are “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the Household of God” (Eph.2:19). We have been adopted into His Family and have become His children (Rom.8:16). God’s Family becomes visible on earth through His Church, by means of which we as Christians bear each other’s burdens.

Before we were born again, we were “Gentiles in the flesh” and “Uncircumcision” (v.11). Others of negative appellations include: “being without Christ”; “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise, having NO HOPE and without God in this world” (v.12). NOW, we “have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (v.13). Our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished the following on the Cross: He “abolished in His flesh the enmity” between Jews and Gentiles; “created in Himself one New Man from the two, thus making peace”; reconciled “both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity”; and provided “access by One Spirit to the Father.” On the basis of these works of redemption and reconciliation, we are “no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens” (vv.15-19a).

The Family of God is ONE NEW MAN (v.15); ONE BODY (v.16); with access by ONE SPIRIT (v.18) to the Father. Ephesians 4:4-6 expatiates on these with reference to the SEVEN UNITIES of GOD’S FAMILY: One Body, One Spirit, One Hope, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all! In other words, all members of God’s Family are joined together by the Blood of Jesus, the Spirit of God, and the Fatherhood of God.

In this Family:

• There is no distinction of race, colour, tribe, language, sex or class (Gal.3:26-29).
• There is Liberty of the Spirit, not bondage (Gal.5:1)
• The Strength of the Family is in continuous communion and fellowship between members of the Family (Heb.10:25).

The ‘extended family’ of God includes ALL human beings who need to be fully reconciled to God. The task of bringing them in and nurturing them into maturity lies with us who are Citizens and Members of this Family of Faith, Hope, and Love!