Kraemer: the primary loyalty of Christians

Thursday, February 2, 2017
THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE
Meditation:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
—1 Peter 2:9 (ESV)
Quotation:
Most Christians live in confusion in regard to their scales of values and priorities. Many honest Christian people experience the shock of a revelation when they are brought to realize that their membership of the Church constitutes a loyalty prior to their loyalty to the nation to which they belong. Patriotism is one of the powerful underground pseudo-religions of to-day, not merely nationalism. The fundamental notion that the Christians are a “peculiar people” that never is identical, or even can be, with a people in the biological, national sense of the word, is largely asleep. It can only become awake by a new grasp of the biblical truth that the Church is the “people of God,” an elect race composed of people out of all nations, transcending all nations and races.
… Hendrik Kraemer (1888-1965), A Theology of the Laity, London: Lutterworth Press, 1958, p. 157 (see the book)
See also 1 Pet. 2:9; Deut. 4:20; 7:6; Isa. 43:20-21; Eph. 1:13-14; Phil. 2:14-16; Tit. 2:12-14
Quiet time reflection:
Lord, the blessing of Your presence spreads into all of life. CQOD Blog email RSS
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