A Just People

Soon after the entrance of sin into his creation God signals that he is going to have a people that will be fighting against and victorious over the serpent’s scheming. In the unfolding story of redemption, biblical theologians understand the “he” who would bruise the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15) is revealed to be Christ. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, victory over sin and death, the dark fruit of the serpent’s deception, was accomplished. 

But there is scriptural warrant for also asserting that the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman represent those loyal to each. Enmity exists between those who are subject to “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), and those who have been “made alive with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5). Cain “was of the evil one and murdered his brother,” while Abel “was commended as righteous” (Hebrews 11:4). The Pharisees who opposed Jesus had the devil as their father (John 8:44), but those “who abide in [Christ’s] word . . . are truly [his] disciples” (John 8:31).

One of the purposes God has for the "seed" of the woman is that they would live as God intended, and their obedience to God’s will would enable them to form a just society by which he would be displayed among the nations. His people, living according to his will, was to cause others to yearn for the equanimity and justice that God’s design produces. This was true for Israel and is true for the Body of Christ. 

God's mission was hard for Israel and is perhaps even harder for the Body of Christ, given the diversity of its makeup. Paul teaches that by faith all manners of people are brought into the covenant promises of God. In his letter to the Galatians he assures his readers that there “is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:28-29). Positionally, all moved from being children of wrath to children of God (Ephesians 2:3). But this bringing together of disparate peoples brought with it challenges as the church wrestled with the troubles and tensions that sin brought into the world. Consider the list above. Jews would not have considered Gentiles to be part of the covenant people unless they stopped being Gentiles. Neither slaves nor women enjoyed the same status as free men. Add to this the gulf between rich and poor (see James 2) and it takes little imagination to envision how hard it was for the prayed for unity to be realized (John 17:15-23).

It is still hard. But we are told to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). So, despite the challenges we must demonstrate to the world that in Christ it is possible for people of different races, sexes, classes, and economic status to live together justly, for all have been “brought near by the blood of Christ.” For Jesus “is our peace, who has made us . . . one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.” (Ephesians 2:13-14)