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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