Is there a standard term for all "saved" people?
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I see the term "People of God" a lot in Christian and Jewish theological literature. It's a term heavy laden with continuity between OT and NT, primarily that it's firstly Israel (descendants of Abraham) but extended later to the Gentiles (post Jesus).
The criteria to belong to the People of God is clear:
The original set of the People of God is not all physical descendants of Abraham, but only the righteous people who faithfully remained in the OT covenant either before the exile (like Moses, David, etc.) or after the exile (the remnant like Esther, Daniel, etc.). This excludes the wicked and the ones causing God to discipline Israel into exiles (Hos 1:9, Rom 9:25).
A second set of the People of God would be those who accept Jesus and thus are inducted into the NT covenant (memorialized in the Lord's Supper, cf Luke 22:20) and united with Jesus in baptism (Rom 6:3-5). They become part of the People of God by being grafted to the Olive tree (cf Romans 11):
God uses the imagery of an olive tree in Jeremiah 11:16–17 to remind His people of the covenant relationship He has with them. God’s people (the nation of Israel) are depicted as an olive tree and God as the farmer. ...
The Gentiles, represented by the wild olive tree in Romans 11, have been grafted into the cultivated olive root. ... Paul wants Gentile believers to understand that they have not replaced Israel. God has done a beautiful thing for the Gentiles, but Israel is still God’s chosen nation and the source of the riches of salvation that the Gentiles now enjoy.
Jesus Christ, Israel’s Messiah, is the root of Jesse, or the root of the cultivated olive tree. From Him, Israel and the Church draw their life.
I believe using the term "People of God" is better than:
- the "elect" because of less connotation with Calvinism as you observed
- the "chosen" because it connotates primarily Israel
- the "church" because it is an NT-only term that could exclude today's righteous Jews who through no fault of their own haven't accepted the gospel.
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