Main news for 21 November 2009

The apostle Paul constantly turns in his epistles to the theme of Christian universalism. The serious and deep division of people into those to whom the heritage of the faith of the chosen people belongs and those alien to it is overcome by Christ's death for all people. The apostle says further that in order for the possibility of entering the Church, entering the covenant with God, to be opened to the Gentiles, there occurred a special revelation of the mystery of Christ given to the apostles and prophets by the Holy Spirit. Today those who have come into the Church from the "Gentiles," that is, not from Israel, make up an absolute majority in it, and therefore awareness of the greatness of this gift has grown dull.

Differences that arose between people in history are overcome in the Church, and all become, according to the apostle's word, "no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household." Therefore these differences themselves have quite relative significance. Meanwhile, relationships between people in the world around us are arranged as if divisions of people into historically formed groups existed eternally and had imperishable value.

We realize and comprehend our personality to a great extent through identifying ourselves with a certain typical group of people. This has always been so, from primitive ancient tribes to complex and multifaceted modern society. In essence, the apostle offers Christians another path of self-identification: to be fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household.