…that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel… 

                                                                                                                   Ephesians 3:6 

It’s a beautiful thought, yet it brings some grief. In Jesus, the Gentiles are now brought into fellowship with Jewish believers. In fact, there is now no distinction between the two groups at all (Romans 10:12) for God, in Christ, has made Jew and Gentile alike. In today’s passage, Paul reminds us that those who were formerly “far off” have been “brought near.” That is to say that the Gentiles can participate in salvation through Jesus the same as the Jews.

Fellowship has within it the root word “fellow.” Paul makes use of this word three times in the passage demonstrating that under the new covenant in Jesus, Gentile believers can now be considered fellow heirs, meaning that they are just as heaven bound as the next believer. They are now fellow members and fellow partakers of the promises of God through Jesus Christ. The word “fellowship” can be defined as “like-mindedness” and means that you have unity with others around a common cause. You can see this demonstrated in the lives of military veterans, professional athletes, and those who have graduated from a prestigious university. Each group may have little in common as individuals, but it is the common experience of serving the country, competing on a professional level, or achieving an educational goal that unites the hearts of these individuals. The same is true for the church. Every born again believer in Jesus should seek this same type of brotherhood with each other. Christ can unite everyone who will come to Him by faith. That sounds like great news, so why does it bring some people grief?

To fully appreciate why Paul is addressing this issue and why some of the first century Jewish believers struggled with this news, reread this passage and when you see the word “Gentile” (sometimes translated Greek), try substituting the word “pagan” in its place. The Jews believed that the Gentile nations were a pagan people, for some, a group with which God would certainly not bother Himself. These Gentiles represented every type of godlessness and depravity that the covenant people of God would have viewed as non-redeemable. The Bible is not void of examples demonstrating this disgust for the saving grace of God applied to others deemed as “undeserving.” Jonah certainly wasn’t happy to see God extend a grace-filled hand to Nineveh (Jonah 4:1-4). In the parable of the prodigal son, the older brother was enraged that his wayward sibling was receiving such loving treatment from their father (Luke 15:28). And the workers in the field (another parable) were furious that the latecomers were being paid the same wage as they (Matthew 20:11-12). In fact, it’s not uncommon at all for there to be those in the church who are grieved with the generosity of God. When this attitude surfaces, I believe there are three things that have happened or are sure to follow.

First, people who struggle with the grace of God extended to the “undeserving” are suffering from “spiritual forgetfulness.” What I mean is that these people have forgotten that they too were undeservingly extended the hand of grace from God and saved from their sin. When we forget from how much we have been saved, we can begin to think more of ourselves than we ought.

Secondly, this spiritual forgetfulness can lead to spiritual arrogance. Believing that others are worse than ourselves or that we deserve more consideration from God than others is nothing less than spiritual arrogance. A good sign that we have reached this point is when we fail to see the intrinsic value that others have in the eyes of God. When this happens, we can begin to view others with contempt.

Lastly, this spiritual forgetfulness and arrogance can lead to a loss of joy for the believer. Show me a Christian who lacks any semblance of joy in his/her spiritual life and I will show you someone who has gotten cynical and judgmental in his/her attitude. When we view ourselves a lesser sinners than others and begin to view others with contempt, a joyless spiritual life is sure to follow.

So what about us? Does it bother you that those who were once “far off” are being “brought near” through the gospel? Do you view certain individuals or groups of people as being beyond the redemption of God? Personally, I have found that few if any will actually voice these attitudes publicly, but by digging a little you might just find that these contemptuous attitudes are not as scarce as you might think. Obviously, these attitudes have no place in the church or anywhere else for that matter. But it never hurts to be reminded that those who, humanly speaking, seem too far gone for the saving power of the gospel, are actually just one prayer away from becoming fellow heirs, fellow members, and fellow partakers of salvation, eternal inheritance, and the promises of God. Let’s celebrate that truth!