welcome-the-stranger

Note;
Now, in a great closing summary – and I just want to refer to it very briefly in verses 19-22 -- Paul closes his discussion of the unity of the body by giving three other metaphors to illustrate it. How Jew and Gentile have been made one. How we’re all one body, how there’s no more division, no more separation. And he does it by three pictures. He calls us fellow citizens, household of God, and a holy temple in verse 21. These are three pictures.

First of all, the fellow citizens concept in verse 19. “Now therefore,” – therefore just coming off of all that he said, because we’re all one, because we’ve been made one in Christ, because we have access and peace with God – “we are no longer strangers.” And that word xenos, means somebody who’s an outcast, wretched, vial, rotten, keep them at a distance kind of person. And sojourner, and a sojourner is someone completely different. Paroikos means somebody who’s a friend. You bring them into the house. He’s not a part of the family. He’s not really a citizen of anything. You just let him be there as a guest. So he says you’re either a wretched outcast that you wouldn’t have in the house or you’re a houseguest with no rights.

But that’s no longer true. You now are fellow citizens with the saints. The saints here refers to the godly, the believing people. Listen. We’re all fellow citizens. There are no strangers in the family of God. There are no sojourners. There are no houseguests. We’re all citizens. We’re all members of the kingdom. We’ve been, if you will, super naturalized. Made real citizens with the saints. All of us are citizens of heaven. Our citizenship, Philippians 3:20 says, is in heaven. Listen. We’re all citizens of the same kingdom. There’s no difference.GTY

MSG Stan Hutchison It Should, It's Supposed To!