The idea that believers are members of God’s family, who make up His household, shows up in several places in Scripture. For example, family ties are implied whenever believers are called children of God. Jesus taught His followers to address God in prayer as “our Father” (Matt. 6:9).
More specifically God’s people viewed as His household emerges chiefly in a passage like 1 Peter 4:17, which says, “It is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.” Ephesians 2:19 uses the same imagery when speaking about the changed spiritual status of Gentile believers: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”
The Bible sets forth two ways to help us think about how we become members of God’s household: birth and adoption. Christians are begotten of God or born into His family by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. We are also said to be adopted by God into His family by the same Spirit, referred to as the Spirit of adoption (Rom. 8:15).
As members of God’s household of faith, believers enjoy fellowship that is both vertical and horizontal. The vertical fellowship is what we have with the Father and His Son (1 John 1:3). The horizontal fellowship is what we have with one another as sons and daughters within God’s family (1 John 1:7). As Christians, God is our Heavenly Father, and we are all spiritual siblings.
In short, a genuine family feeling ought to permeate each congregation.
Certain family traits fall to us as members of the household of God. As good and loving family members care for one another with mutual regard, so church members ideally treat one another with mutual respect and practical ways of caring. A genuine family feeling manifests itself when members feel one another’s hurts and needs. The same feeling manifests when we rejoice with other family members in their joys and victories.
Normally family members have a deep sense of belonging to and acceptance with all other members without any semblance of pretense or playacting. In its best expression, church membership carries with it the same sense of belonging and acceptance that exists in healthy families. In the absence of these characteristics, both our literal family and our church family become dysfunctional.
Galatians 6:10 gives this practical admonition for members of God’s household: “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
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