Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19).
We, the saved community, have a lot to be thankful to God about! Whether we are of Gentile extraction or Jewish heritage, God has been immensely gracious to both of us!
In the following verses, we see our former condition (before salvation) and thus, the condition of all unregenerate people of the world. The apostle Paul writes, “Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity…contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:11-19).
Verse 12 paints a very dim picture of our condition before Christ as being “without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” With the coming of Jesus Christ, our condition and position made a drastic change. In verse 13, Paul says, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” The phrase, “but now,” takes our attention from the negative hopelessness and conveys us into a place of hope and peace and access with God. Whereas before Christ, we were strangers, aliens from the covenants of promise, having no hope and being without God in the world, living alone, struggling in every imaginable way, now because of Christ Jesus, we have been brought to God by the blood of Christ, by His death!
Now, we are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. We are now God’s family because of what Jesus has done through His life, death on the Cross, His resurrection and ascension to God’s throne! Let us endeavor to give praise and adoration to God for His immeasurable and indescribable gift!