Have you ever been to a family reunion and wondered how some of the people at the table got invited? Could they really be part of your family and act the way they do and say the things they say and believe the things they do?
As the first Christians were wrestling with entrance requirements, Paul reminded them that God is the one who decides who gets in anyway. And God's eligibility rules may well not be the ones we would have devised if we had been in charge instead.
"Remember," Paul said, "Abraham is included in God's family not because he was a strict religious guy, but because God chose him and he said "Yes," and he did the "Yes," too.
The doing is important, but it is not the prerequisite. Repentance may precede the call, but it does follow it.
Back to the family reunion metaphor--Abraham is the father of the Jews, but he was chosen almost five centuries before the law was delivered to them through the prophet Moses. Thus, according to Paul's interpretation, Gentiles are part of the family even if they aren't Jews first.
That's not a big problem for today's Christian churches. We have adapted Paul's teaching on that point, at least. But, some of us may have difficulty in accepting other descendants of Abraham as full members of God's family--Muslims, for example.
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