What makes a community of believers?

1 Corinthians 12:13Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.

Ephesians 4:4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

A community of believers has the same spirit and the same eternity ahead.

Deuteronomy 7:6“For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.”

Deuteronomy 28:9“If you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, the Lord will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do.”

John 17:6-7, 9-10“I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you,” . . . “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory.”

Romans 1:6You are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ.

Romans 14:8If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:2I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

Ephesians 2:6For he [God] raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:19So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.

Ephesians 5:32This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.

A community of believers is made up of those who belong to the Lord; they have all been chosen by God to be his holy people, and to be one with Christ.

Romans 12:5So it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

1 Corinthians 12:12, 14, 19-20The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. . . . Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. . . . How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body.

A community of believers is interdependent; it is made up of individuals who each make a unique contribution to the one body of Christ.