People of God

For the historical term about various groups of people who have considered themselves to be chosen people by a deity for a purpose, seeChosen people,Indian films,andDevudu Chesina Manushulu (disambiguation).

People of God(Hebrew:עם האלהים) is a term used in theHebrew Bibleto refer to theIsraelitesand used inChristianityto refer toChristians.

In the Bible

Hebrew Bible and Old Testament

In the Hebrew Bible andOld Testament,theIsraelitesare referred to as "the people of God" inJudges 20:2and2 Samuel 14:13.The phrases "the people ofthe Lord"and "the people of the Lord your God" are also used.In those texts God is also represented as speaking of theIsraelitesas "my people".The people of God was a term first used by God in the Book of Exodus, which carried stipulation in thiscovenantbetween man and God (Exodus 6:7).

New Testament

In theNew Testament,the expression "people of God" is found inHebrews 4:9and11:25.The expression "his people" (that is, God's people) appears inRevelation 21:3,and "my people" inRevelation 18:4.2 Corinthians 6:16mentions the same promises to the New Testament believer "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people", which is a parallel toEzekiel 37:27.

Romans 9:25–26,also quotes/refers toHosea 1:10andHosea 2:23.

As He says also in Hosea: "I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved." "And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, 'Youarenot My people,' There they shall be called sons of the living God. "

Christianity

Continued use of the expression "people of God" (inLatin,populus Dei) in the writings of theChurch Fathersare found inAugustine'sDe civitate DeiandPope Leo I'sLenten Sermon.Its use continued up to and includingPope John XXIII'sapostolic letterSingulari studioof 1 July 1960, two years before theSecond Vatican Council.

InGaelic,Latinpopulus Deibecamepobal Déand has continued for centuries to be an expression in everyday use for theChurchin aparish,adioceseor the world.

Catholic Church

Second Vatican Council

The phrase has been given greater prominence within theCatholic Churchbecause of its employment in documents of theSecond Vatican Council(1962–1965).

Thedogmatic constitutionLumen gentiumdevoted its chapter II to "the new People of God", "a people made up of Jew and gentile", called together by Christ (section 9). It spoke of "the people to whom the testament and the promises were given and from whom Christ was born according to the flesh" as among those who "are related in various ways to the people of God" (section 16). It described in detail the qualities of this People of God in words "intended for the laity, religious and clergy alike" (section 30), while also pointing out the specific duties and functions of the different ranks of which it is composed, such as that of "those who exercisethe sacred ministryfor the good of their brethren "(section 13).

In 2001, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was to becomePope Benedict XVIin 2005, stated that the council's choice of this term reflected three perspectives. The principal one was to introduce a term that could serve as an ecumenical bridge, recognizing intermediate degrees of belonging to the church. Another was to put more in evidence the human element in the church, which is also part of her nature. And the third was to recall that the church has not yet reached her final state and that she "will not be wholly herself until the paths of time have been traversed and have blossomed in the hands of God".

Ratzinger also declared that the term is not to be understood in way that would reduce it "to an a-theological and purely sociological view" of the church.Michael Hesemannwrote:

After the Council, the expression was taken up enthusiastically, but in a way that neither Ratzinger nor the Council Fathers had intended. Suddenly it became a slogan: "We are the People!" The idea of a "Church from below" developed; its proponents wanted to engage in polemics against those who held office and o carry out their agenda by democratic majority vote. Although the theological, biblical concept of people was still the idea of a natural hierarchy, of a great family, suddenly it was reinterpreted in a Marxist sense, in which "people" is always considered the antithesis to the ruling classes. The centre of the Christian faith, however, can only be God's revelation, which cannot be put to a ballot. Church is being called by God. Joseph Ratzinger said: 'The crisis concerning the Church, as it is reflected in the crisis concerning the concept "People of God", is a "crisis about God"; it is the result of leaving out what is most essential.

While the council distinguished between the Jewish people and "the new People of God",Carl E. Braatenhas said that, being somewhat analogous to the expression "chosen people",the term" People of God "suggests a persisting trend ofsupersessionismin the church, and that the expression "People of God" implying that the church is the same people asAbraham,IsaacandJacobin theHebrew Bible.

Since the Second Vatican Council

Pope Paul VIused the phrase with regard to his profession of faith known as theCredo of the People of God.Pope John Paul IIused it in his catechetical instructions, teaching that the church is the new people of God.Pope Benedict XVI has spoken of "the Church, the people of God throughout the world, united in faith and love and empowered by the Spirit to bear witness to the risen Christ to the ends of the earth".On 20 August 2018,Pope Francisreleased a letter, addressed to the "People of God", in response to recent revelations ofsexual abuse caseswithin the Church, quotingSt. Paul:"If one member suffers, all suffer together with it" (1 Corinthians 12:26).

The concluding messages of eachGeneral Assembly of the Synod of Bishopsare addressed to "the People of God."

Catechism

TheCatechism of the Catholic Churchdevotes a section to describing the church with this phrase,and indicates the characteristics of the people of God "that distinguish it from all other religious, ethnic, political, or cultural groups found in history", so that it does not belong to any one of these groups. Membership in the people of God, it says, comes not by physical birth but byfaith in Christandbaptism.

See also

• Christian Church
• Communitas perfecta,doctrinal theories regarding the Catholic Church
• Divine filiation,Christian doctrine regarding Jesus and Christians
• Jews as the chosen people
• Mystici corporis Christi,1943 papal encyclical stating that the Mystical Body of Christ is identical with the Catholic Church
• Supersessionism,the Christian doctrine which asserts that the New Covenant through Jesus Christ supersedes the Old Covenant, which was made exclusively with the Jewish people.