Naturalization

Naturalization in the umbrella's biblical sense is the change of standing from foreign outsider to recognized member of a people. The category gathers texts that describe Gentile incorporation into the commonwealth of Israel and the household of God.

Strangers from the commonwealth

Before incorporation, the prior condition is one of standing outside Israel's polity altogether: "that you⁺ were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (Eph 2:12). The terms here are political and covenantal — Gentiles were not enrolled in the covenant community and held no hope tied to its promises.

Fellow-citizens of the household

The reversal of that standing is described in citizenship language. The same audience that had been strangers and sojourners is now placed inside the assembly: "So then you⁺ are no more strangers and sojourners, but you⁺ are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God" (Eph 2:19). The status shift is twofold: a public, civic naming as fellow-citizens with the saints, and a domestic naming as members of God's household.