You are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19).

Commentary and explanation. The believer, by the fact of being baptized in the Holy Spirit and having received Christ by faith, has the privileged position of being a member of the family of God.

It is not possible to say in one sentence the dignity and the privileges enjoyed by one who has been exalted to the position of "member of the family of God;" neither is there a biblical text that sums up all the privileges of this position.

The position of the believer as member of the family of God is identical for all believers, that is, that before God all believers are equal and have the same dignity.

In this Step we are going to try to enumerate the main characteristic or qualities of this position, some of which have been already mentioned in previous Steps.

The believers, as members of the family of God, are:

a) Sons of God. Nothing could be compared with the dignity of a son of God; the believer is son in the family of God. As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12). See Step 46.

b) Partakers of the divine nature. We will never come to understand, here on earth, what it means "to share the divine nature;" but that is one of the exceedingly great and precious promises given to us, through the knowledge of Him (Jesus Christ) who called us by glory and virtue (2 Peter 1:4, 3).

c) Brothers of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. If we are sons of God, the consequence is that we are brothers of Christ. Do not cling to Me, —Jesus said to Mary Magdalene,— for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them: "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God" (John 20:17,18; Hebrews 2:11). See Step 46.

d) Heirs of God and coheirs with Christ. Because we are sons of God, we are His heirs; and because of being brothers of Christ, we are coheirs with Him. If children, then heirs —heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). See Step 67.

e) Members of the Body of Christ. Paul says to Corinthians: By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body (1 Corinthians 12:13). It was explained in Steps 77 and 78.

f) Temples of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture says that the body of the believer is temple of God and temple of the Holy Spirit: Do you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? (1 Corinthians 6:19; 3:16).

g) Predestined, called, justified, glorified. All this was already explained in previous Steps. Paul says: Whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Romans 8:30). See Steps 42, 47 to 50, and 67 and 68.

h) Holy. As we said in Step 66, holy means "set apart for God." Paul said about the believers: You were sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11). See Step 66.

i) Risen with Christ and seated in heavenly places. Paul says to Ephesians: Raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). See Steps 67 and 68.

j) Co-citizens of the saints. Whoever has been made son of God and has co-shared the sufferings of Christ to be glorified, —as we read in Romans: If indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together (8:17)— he or she has citizenship in heaven (Philippians 3:20), as the text of this Step says: You are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19). See Step 67.

But still it is not manifested what we will be, as we said in Step 68, talking about Glorification: It has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).

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The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age (Titus 2:11-12).

Commentary and explanation. The program presented by Paul to those who have received the manifestation of the grace of God in themselves, is to deny their evil desires and to live a godly life; he says: The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, which is the quotation for this Step.

In other words, this text admonishes us to live a holy life, since the believers are called to be saints (Romans 1:7). We were chosen for that, before the world was created: He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4).

The believer should live a godly life in order that his life might be in accord with his high position in Christ, as we said in the previous Step (80). The ideal of a Christian is to be like Christ; that was the aim of his call: For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29).

The believer, who has been set apart for God, and has been raised to the high dignity of being son of God, should show in his life his dedication to God. The believer does not belong to himself: the believer is God's; he —the believer— should die constantly to sin, to passions and vices, in order to live for God.

Jesus Christ as well as the Apostles taught us to abound in good deeds, not as a means to obtain salvation, but as an exigency of our high position in Christ (Step 80). The gospels are full of examples given by Jesus, and also of his teachings: I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you (John 13:15).

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I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (Romans 12:1).

Commentary and explanation. Dedication to God and love of the neighbor are the priorities in the life of the believer.

1. Dedication to God. The believer is called to live a life of dedication to God and service to the community, since helping the neighbor is the way to serve God. (See Step 66 about Sanctification of the believer.) Each one should serve the rest according to the gifts and talents received, and nobody is exempted from serving (Romans 12:4-8).

Paul prays also, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (Romans 12:1); that is, that they offer constantly their lives and bodies in praise of the Lord and service of the neighbor. (See also Step 79).

2. Prayer. This is another important part of the dedication to God. Prayer and communion with God, in Christ, is not something for a while or for some specific time only, but rather it should be a constant habit, an attitude of constant communion with the Lord. Pray without ceasing, Paul said (1 Thessalonians 5:17); and also: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18), words which are an echo of the gospel, when it says: that man always ought to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1).

3. Love of the neighbor. Jesus Christ made the love for one another his own commandment (John 15:12); and He not only taught this, but gave the maximum example: Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends (John 15:13).

Paul not only wrote the most beautiful 'hymn to love' in his first letter to Corinthians (13), but in Romans he said: Owe no one anything except to love one another (13:8). Peter, James and John filled their letters with exhortations to do good deeds, but among all their recommendations, the commandment of love has its preeminence. See Step 27.

4. Holiness of the body. References about the holiness of the body abound in the New Testament, since the body of the believer has been made temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). Don't defile the body is the commandment for the disciple of Jesus Christ: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30).

5. Restrain wrath. To restrain anger and vengeance are also repeated admonitions of the Scripture. The believer does not take vengeance himself; he leaves vengeance to the Lord, because He said: Vengeance is Mine, I will repay (Romans 12:19). Instead, if your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head (Romans 12:20).

6. Rid of covetousness. That there are few things more hateful to the eyes of God than covetousness and avarice is a teaching everywhere in the Scriptures. Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have (Hebrews 13:5).

And Paul does not hesitate to call the love of money, which is covetousness, an idolatry, because it makes money a god: Put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desires, and covetousness, which is idolatry (Colossians 3:5).

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