“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,”
Ephesians 2:19
Faith in Christ is a communal experience rather than an individual one. When the New Testament describes the lives of believers in Jesus, the terms used are almost always plural—and that’s the case in Ephesians 2:17–22. Key expressions are “fellow citizens” (v. 19) and “built together” (v. 22). In each case, the body of Christ, not the individual, is in view.
Additionally, not only are these expressions plural, but they also point strongly toward the church as community—found in the words fellow and together. These terms do more than express plurality, however. They also speak of entering into a shared experience with one another as believers in Jesus.
This idea is reinforced more than twenty-five times in the New Testament as we’re challenged by “one another” statements—for example, Romans 12:10, 16; 15:7; Ephesians 4:2, 32; 5:21—that guide how we’re to relate to each other as fellow members of the body of Christ.
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