SKENE 3b: ii Paul

The fourth and final use of ‘paroikos’ in the NT is a surprise and a paradox. Paul makes the same point as Peter, but from a different perspective; he, after all, was ‘minister to the gentiles’, while Peter was ‘minister to the Jews’ (Gal 2. 7-8). In Ephesians 2. 14-18, he explains to his gentile readers how, through the cross of Christ, the barrier between Jews and gentiles has been broken down, and both have equal access to God the Father through the one Spirit. Then follows one of Paul’s famous ‘therefores’: “So, therefore, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but you are fellow-citizens with the saints and members of God’s family” (v. 19). ‘Foreigners’ here is ‘xenoi’, from which – or from whom ! – we get ‘xenophobia’; ‘strangers’ is ‘paroikoi’. Jews, as we have seen, had been both foreigners and strangers for 400 years in Egypt, and even in their promised land of Israel were still ‘strangers in the world’, but despite this they were still the people of God, however disobedient and rebellious. Gentiles, though, had, as it were, the worst of both worlds: they too were only strangers in this world, however much they tried to settle down and make themselves at home, and, even worse, they had no hope of a home in heaven, since they were also ‘strangers to God’ – until the coming of Christ. So from the perspective of heaven and of God’s eternal purpose, gentiles who were ‘in Christ’ were truly ‘at home’, and no longer ‘strangers to God’.