The Old Testament reminds us that in a special sense God chose Israel to be His people. When the fledgling nation was mired in slavery, God’s word to Moses was, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt” (Ex. 3:7). Later Moses reminded the generation that was delivered from bondage, “The Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of His own inheritance, as you are this day” (Deut. 4:20). Later generations of Israel learned to sing, “We are His people and the sheep of His pasture” (Ps. 100:3).
Just as Israel was God’s old covenant people, the Church is His new covenant people. The saving mission of Christ was God’s plan “to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession” (Titus 2:14). Addressing God’s new covenant people, 1 Peter 2:9–10 declares, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession,” before acknowledging the inclusion of Gentiles in the new people of God by invoking the language of the prophet Hosea, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people.”
Theology by analogy
During the early part of 2015 we will be thinking about the Church as the new covenant people of God. The goal will be to discover theology by looking at analogies — images, comparisons and illustrations in the Bible that refer to the Church. Somewhat in anticipation of what lies ahead, we encounter among New Testament references to the Church such analogies as body, bride, building, holy nation, family, temple, flock, household, royal priesthood, along with more than a few others.
However, there is a caution to be noted about truth revealed by means of analogy. The same holds true for truth found by means of parables. The caution is to refrain from pressing all the details of the analogy to the point of seeing ideas that are not supported or clearly taught elsewhere in Scripture. Just as it is possible to press many details in Jesus’ parables to the point that one makes the parables yield ideas that become either untruth or questionable truth, so it is possible to find ideas about the Church in the analogies that are not commensurate with clear biblical teachings about being the people of God under the new covenant.
God’s people
With this caution in mind and in no particular order or pattern, Theology 101 will explore selected images that shed light on what it means to be God’s people — the Church. Some analogies are found more frequently or are given greater elaboration than others. These may require multiple sessions on the same image. Other images occur in limited places or with rather brief mention. In these instances only one session may be devoted to an image or maybe more than one image may be discussed in a single session. A good individual assignment might be that as we read the Bible to be on the lookout for various analogies or illustrations used to refer to the people of God.
With these introductory thoughts behind us we will begin next week to consider what some of the analogies contribute to our understanding of the nature and mission of the Church.
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