You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
19 Now[oun] therefore[ara] ye are[este] no more[ouketi] strangers[xenos] and[kai] foreigners,[paroikos] but[alla] fellowcitizens[sumpolites]
with the saints,[hagios] and[kai] of the household[oikeios]
of God;[theos] KJV-Interlinear
19 So then
you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the
saints, and are of God's household, NASB
Now, being a member of the family of God, by means of faith in Christ, through which you were born spiritually, born again into His family, then you are no longer strangers or foreigners.
Strangers are not family members. Foreigners are not citizens of Gods nation of people.
Gods family is a nation. Gods family is huge. Perhaps since the creation of Adam, the family of God will number into the trillions. The cumulative numbers of people who have been born into this world certainly numbers in the many trillions. Don't forget the innumerable numbers of infants and young children who have died in child birth or soon thereafter throughout the history of humanity and have never made it into the usual population counts.
And if even a third or two-thirds are numbered as saved, that total will still be vast. Gods eternal nation will be huge, outnumbering all other nations from history by a long way.
And so, fellow citizens, means members of Gods nation. Saints, means believers in Christ. Gods household means Gods family. All are one and the same.
You, as a believer in Christ, are numbered among the greatest family and nation ever to be assembled, and are still being assembled. To meet every individual in eternity, if you were so inclined, will take you a very, very, very long time. And don't forget the angels which most likely will be a hundred or even a thousand times greater in number. So, Heaven will be vast and certainly populated extensively.
How could anyone miss out on such a historic happening, one that will last forever.
