782. The People of God is marked by characteristics that clearly distinguish it from all other religious, ethnic, political, or cultural groups found in history:
– It is the People of God: God is not the property of any one people. But he acquired a people for himself from those who previously were not a people: “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.”202
– One becomes a member of this people not by a physical birth, but by being “born anew,” a birth “of water and the Spirit,”203 that is, by faith in Christ, and Baptism.
– This People has for its Head Jesus the Christ (the anointed, the Messiah). Because the same anointing, the Holy Spirit, flows from the head into the body, this is “the messianic people.”
– “The status of this people is that of the dignity and freedom of the sons of God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple.”
– “Its law is the new commandment to love as Christ loved us.”204 This is the “new” law of the Holy Spirit.205
– Its mission is to be salt of the earth and light of the world.206 This people is “a most sure seed of unity, hope, and salvation for the whole human race.”
-Its destiny, finally, “is the Kingdom of God which has been begun by God himself on earth and which must be further extended until it has been brought to perfection by him at the end of time.”207
Aprofunde seus conhecimentos
425. What is the relationship between grace and human freedom?
73. How should we understand the reality of sin?
339. How does sin threaten marriage?
55. What is divine providence?
33. What are the symbols of faith?
26. Who are the principal witnesses of the obedience of faith in the Sacred Scriptures?
183. What is the competence of the college of bishops?
Acesse nossos estudos biblicos:
What can we learn from Judith’s victory in Judith 16:1-3?
What is the relationship between truth and joy mentioned in 2 John 1:4?
Who are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and what is their significance?
The Quest for Divine Justice: Tobias’ Example Against Israel’s Oppressors
What is the teaching on leading humble servants in 3 John 1:1-4?
