In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul uses the word ‘member’ to refer to Christians in a churchly setting, as you would expect. (3.6)  But rather surprisingly he uses it again to members of the kingdom of this world, our neighbours in the widest sense, (4.25) We do good to our neighbours by being honest in our speech with them. And the reason? ‘for we are members one of another’. Christians  have at least a two-fold membership, one of the church, another membership of wider society.

Two Kingdoms and Two Cities

Occasionally, there are single verses of Scripture the Bible student encounters that encapsulate a doctrine or a duty completely. So it is, I believe, with this verse from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. ‘As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.’ (Gal. 6.10) It is a balanced contribution to 2K teaching. I’ve heard it said that the 2K outlook is ‘antinomian’, presumably in the mistaken idea that those who hold that view regard themselves to have obligations only to the church of Christ, and the needs of the kingdom of this world may be safely ignored. Paul clearly contradicts this idea.

The verse occurs in the conclusion of his teaching,  towards the end of his writing to the churches of Galatia, but there is no antinomianism here, as can be immediately seen from the prominence that Paul gives of doing good to others, that is, to doing good acts of benevolence, of mercy, or of other sorts of help. The whole is conditioned by how they behave within the household of faith, and outside it.

This is supported by his use of the teaching that a Christian is a member both of the body of Christ, and to human beings more generally. There is not a visible or tangible barrier for inhabitants of the two kingdoms. The Christian is also a member of the earthly city, as well as of the heavenly. But this is not true of the people who are not Christian. There is no doubt the prospect of tension between this dual citizenship.  Fulfilling the requirements of the one may be at the expense of the fulfilling the other.

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