NOTES for Eph 2:19

The apostle Paul writes these words to a church made up mainly of former pagans: people who, even in the religious moments of their lives, turned not to the One God but to a multitude of different gods, seeking personal advantage and putting themselves and their own interests above the divine will. All this inevitably estranged them from the God whom Israel honoured, making them strangers, aliens and ungodly people.

Their turning to Christ radically changes the situation. United by faith with the One who, as the Son of Man, belongs to the people of Israel and, as the Son of God, shares fully in the life of the One God, they not only cease to be aliens estranged from Israel, but also acquire the essential attribute of holiness: belonging to God. Do we understand that the same changes enter our lives when the Good News reaches us and we respond to it with our hearts?