1 Peter 2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
The church is mostly made of people who were not part of the covenantal people of God in the Old Testament. Even ethnic Jews walked in darkness and were God’s people only by name but not by heart. No one is saved through name or ethnicity. Obedience to the law or terms of the covenant cannot save anyone from the problem of sin (see Romans 1-3). God has created a new people with a new identity. The people is built on the old Israel, but it has a new foundation in Christ, not the law and prophets. The law and prophets only pointed the way to Jesus (Romans 16:25). The new people of God was created through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. The cross is the means by which we receive and experience the mercy of God. Jesus has broke down the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles and created a new people. This is the message of Ephesians 2. It is only in Christ that we can experience all that God has designed us for.
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