One in Christ

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

I am a Gentile, in that I am not born a member of the Jewish nation. In the OT the Jewish nation, the people of Abraham's line, became God's special people. Only a few people in the OT outside this nations ever came into their group and became part of God's special people. They needed someone to help them come into their nation, often through marriage like Ruth and Rahab. Today many more people are part of God's special people through Jesus. Jesus, through His death and resurrections, made it possible for many more people to be part of God's Kingdom, to be citizens in the household of God. Jesus Christ is the one who pulls us altogether through His Holy Spirit living in us. Have you ever had the experience of someone pulling you along, saying you gotta see this, let me show you! That's kind of how it is with Christ. He pulls us along, we who were once dead, making us alive as members in God's beautiful Kingdom! Pulling a dead person along is pretty hard, but Christ does it, AND makes us alive again in His Kingdom. Beautiful picture isn't it?