The Church and Salvation II ~ The True Israel: Ephesians 2:19-3:7, especially vss. 21, 22: "...the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in Whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit."
In Ephesians 1:22-2:3, St. Paul explores the Mysteries of salvation, the Church, and the relationship between them, as applied to our lives. He teaches that God provides the Church so that each active member may realize his salvation (Eph. 1:22-2:1). In today's Epistle, the Apostle speaks of the nature of this Community in which we work out our salvation. The Apostle makes three major points: 1) the Church is inseparable from its roots in the Old Covenant, 2) membership in the People of God was radically altered in the giving of the New Covenant, and 3) the active presence of God the Holy Spirit provides the Church and its members with the power needed for salvation.
Earlier in Ephesians, St. Paul informed the Christians at Ephesus that they were "once Gentiles in the flesh - who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision" (Eph. 2:11). By reminding them that they were "once Gentiles," the Apostle described their former identity. He drew on the well-known distinction between Jews and Gentiles; yet, by employing the word "once," he also reminded the Ephesian Christians that they were now part of the Israel of God, the People of God. To confirm his point, he added, "But now...you who once were far off [from Israel] have been brought near" (Eph. 2:13).
As today's reading begins, the Apostle asserts that the Ephesians are "Now, therefore...no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (Eph. 2:19). Behind St. Paul's dual reference to their former non-membership and to their present membership in the Church as "the household of God," lies his assumption that the Church is the true Israel, continued through the Lord Jesus and the Apostles.
The Church is the saving community in which one is an heir of God's promises given under the Old Covenant, though fulfilled in Christ. St. Paul's assumption signals to all men that the Church offers the very salvation that was promised by the Old Testament Prophets. The legacy of Israel now belongs to the Orthodox Church. Any Jew or any Gentile who confesses Christ Jesus as Lord is a partaker of God's "promise in Christ through the Gospel" (vs. 3:6).
Let us realize that the ministry of our Lord and His Apostles brought closure to ancient Israel's expectations, even as the Apostolic ministry also opened Israel's legacy to all peoples of the earth. Those Jews, including the Twelve, St. Paul, the Seventy, and those who followed them, received the grace of God the Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the illumination of the Holy Spirit. These early Jewish Christians were careful to fight off any efforts to keep the Faith tidily within the exacting strictures of Old Covenant Judaism, even as they stoutly upheld the Church as the true inheritor of the promises given under the Old Covenant.
For us who count ourselves as Christians, centuries after the majority of ancient Israel rejected the truth of the Gospel, saying that we are Israel may seem like mental gymnastics. In truth, however, we are "fellow citizens with the saints" of old (vs. 2:19), with Abraham, Isaac, Israel, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Elijah, and all the Prophets. We are the true Israel.
How is this possible? St. Paul reveals the Church as the work of the Holy Trinity: the saving creation of the Lord Jesus, fulfilling the will of the Father, through the power of Spirit. By the Holy Incarnation of the Lord from the Virgin Mary, the Church is "a holy temple in the Lord....a dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (vss. 2:21,22), offering salvation to all peoples.
May Thy Church, gathered by Thy Holy Spirit, show forth Thy power among all people.