EPHESIANS - Chapter 2 - Verse 19

Verse 19. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners. You are reckoned with the people of God. You are entitled to their privileges, and are not to be regarded as outcasts and aliens. The meaning is, that they belonged to the same community—the same family, as the people of God. The word rendered strangers—xenoi —means, foreigners in a state, as opposed to citizens. The word rendered foreigners—paroikoi—means, guests in a private family, as opposed to the members of the family. Rosenmuller. Strangers, and such as proposed to reside for a short time in Athens, were permitted to reside in the city, and to pursue their business undisturbed, but they could perform no public duty; they had no voice in the public deliberations, and they had no part in the management of the state. They could only look on as spectators, without mingling in the scenes of state, or interfering in any way in the affairs of the government. They were bound humbly to submit to all the enactments of the citizens, and observe all the laws and usages of the republic. It was not even allowed them to transact any business in their own name, but they were bound to choose from among the citizens one to whose care they committed themselves as a patron, and whose duty it was to guard them against all injustice and wrong. Potter's Gr. Ant. 1, 55. Proselytes, who united themselves to the Jews, were also called, in the Jewish writings, strangers. All foreigners were regarded as "strangers," and Jews only were supposed to have near access to God. But now, says the apostle, this distinction is taken away, and the believing heathen, as well as the Jew, has the right of citizenship in the New Jerusalem, and one, as well as another, is a member of the family of God. Burder, Ros. Alt. u. neu. Morgenland, in loc. The meaning here is, that they had not come to sojourn merely as guests or foreigners, but were a part of the family itself, and entitled to all the privileges and hopes which others had.

But fellow-citizens with the saints. Belonging to the same community with the people of God.

And of the household of God. Of the same family. Entitled to the same privileges, and regarded by him as his children. Eph 3:15.

{c} "fellow citizens with the saints" Heb 12:22,23 {d} "household of God" Eph 3:15