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,”203that 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.”204This is the “new” law of the Holy Spirit.205
– Its mission is to be salt of the earth and light of the world.206This 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
206. What does it mean to die in Christ Jesus?
345. What is required when one of the spouses is not a Catholic?
174. Why is the Church apostolic?
495. What are the goods of conjugal love to which sexuality is ordered?
36. Why does the Profession of Faith begin with the words, “I believe in God”?
215. When will this judgment occur?
Acesse nossos estudos biblicos:
What is the significance of Christ being the Head of Creation, as mentioned in Colossians 1:15-17?
What is the significance of the founding of the church in Ephesus described in Acts 19:1-10?
What does the Bible teach about God’s final judgment, and what does Malachi 3:18 tell us about it?
What does the Bible teach us about asserting personal identity within a loving relationship?
How to deal with anger and anger, according to Proverbs 15:1-2?
What does it mean to be a new creature in Christ, as described in 2 Corinthians 5:17?
