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Monday
1 Peter 2 v 9 – 12
Galatians 6 v 10
Ephesians 2 v 19
Today we will be considering The Theology of Community
What is a Christian community? This question has three primary answers.
1. The PEOPLE of GOD —those who are created by faith through his gospel
A Christian community consists of those who have repented and believed and have a
common experience of the gospel, which is a message of grace.
The controlling biblical metaphor for this is the “assembly” at Mount Sinai. There God
said, “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings
and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all
nations you will be my treasured possession.” (Exodus 19 v 4 – 5). “I will free you from being
slaves to them, and I will redeem you… I will take you as my own people, and I will be your
God.” (Exodus 6 v 6 – 7). Notice the order in Exodus 19:4–5. First God saves them from
slavery and secondly, as a result, they now obey his law and live according to his will.
They do not first obey the law and, as a result of their merit, God saves them. They were
saved by grace, committed themselves to God, and so became a distinct “people.” What
made the Israelites “a people” — a corporate body, a community — was a shared past of
GOD’S GRACE.
This remains true for Christians today. In the New Testament, 1 Peter 2 v 9 – 10
deliberately takes phrases from Exodus 19:4–6 and applies them to the church. We too are
“a people belonging to God” (1 Peter 2 v 9), because we have heard and believed the gospel
and have been brought into a new relationship with other Christians, now our “brothers”
(1 Peter 1 v 22).
2. The BODY of CHRIST—those who are members of one another in his life
A Christian community, secondly, consists of people who deliberately share life together.
The controlling biblical metaphor for this aspect is that Christians are God’s “family” and
“household” (Galatians 6 v10; Ephesians 2 v 19; 1 Peter 4 v 17; Romans 12 v 10). A family
shares all of life together, eating, living, and working together. The other controlling
metaphor is “the body,” another powerful way of saying that Christians are not an
aggregation of individuals, but a coherent organism, with each member playing his or her
part and deeply, integrally connected to the rest.