There is
undeniably a sense in which all people everywhere belong to God. After all, the
Lord made everyone that exists and justly asserts His dominion over us all (Psa.
33:6; 86:9; 104:24). God owns everyone and everything by right of creation, and
He sustains the universe and every living thing by His power and grace (Psa.
145:15-16; Acts 14:17; 17:26-28). If the Lord removed His sustaining influence,
everything that exists would either cease to do so or spin out of control (Col.
1:16-18).
We need to be
careful, however, to distinguish the community of creation from the community
of the covenant (Deut. 7:6-11). Every human being was created by God, but we
are not thereby considered children of God. Covenant relationship is not
automatic by virtue of creation. The Lord graciously enters into covenant by
means of blood with some of those He has made (Exod. 24:1-8; Heb. 9:11-22). The
visible covenant community is a subset of the larger creation community. God
owns all people, but they do not all belong to Him and with Him in exactly the
same way.
There is a third
community we need to also be aware of: the community of election. These are the
true members of the covenant, those not only visibly but spiritually and
savingly and eternally connected to Christ (John 5:24; 10:27-28; Rom. 8:1-4,
29-30; 2Cor. 5:17). Not all of the visible covenant community is elect. If we
assume everyone in the visible covenant is promised salvation, we will have the
same objections to the gospel as were raised by Paul’s Jewish critics in Romans
9-11 (vv.9:6-24; 11:5-10). But in fact, the covenant community has always
appeared larger than it actually is. There always has been and always will be a
remnant chosen by grace.
Community of Creation
Community of (Visible) Covenant
Community of Election
It may be
helpful to visualize these concepts by using three concentric circles. The
outer ring represents all creation, the second ring represents the visible
covenant (whether ethnic Israel in the OT or the Church today), and the inner
ring represents the elect. Every human being falls somewhere inside these
circles. The danger is in assuming that because you are in one that you are
inside all. Be careful of assuming that being part of creation means partaking
of salvation. Do not mistake your participation in the visible covenant
community – attending Church, professing belief, being baptized – for actual
communion with and salvation in Christ. Not all who are descended from or
visibly attached to Israel actually belong to the Israel of God (Rom. 9:6; Gal.
6:16). Only those who truly believe and trust in Jesus Christ are promised eternal life (John 3:16; Acts 16:30-31; Eph. 2:8-9). We must be careful to maintain a biblical view of God’s people. -JME
