The concept "people of God" is based primarily on biblical presuppositions and a patristic understanding of ecclesiology. The people of God is the pleroma of the church; quahal, the congregation of God's people. The laos (people) is distinct from the ethne, or gentiles, who were engrafted into the body of Christ. The theological underpinning of the concept of the people of God in Orthodox perspective is highly dependent on the biblical understanding of God's covenant with the people of Israel and the Christian self-understanding as the new Israel.