The United States likes to think of itself as a “great melting pot” - a place where people from all different countries and cultures have come together for over two centuries to form a (somewhat) coherent new whole, a new national identity. But the “E Pluribus Unum” or “Out of Many, One” model was initiated and perfected two millennia ago in the first century, when the creative new entity known as the “ecclesia” or “church” was called into being.

For the first time Jews and Gentiles, peoples from Asia, Africa and Europe, people from vastly different communities, countries and cultures, came together and were united by a faith and commitment to the One Lord Jesus Christ.

But mixing together that mélange took some doing. In this week’s epistle text, Paul acts as the ultimate mix-master, expla…