When Paul wrote this letter to the churches of Galatia he was dealing with some serious issues that had arisen among them concerning the means of eternal salvation. People called “Judaizers” had crept into the church and were teaching that the OT Law was still applicable to NT believers. Consequently, they insisted that faith in Christ was necessary, but that it was not adequate alone to experience full salvation. They added to faith the practice of the Law, most specifically the practice of circumcision. This emphasis was in direct contradiction to Paul’s preaching that salvation was by “grace through faith” alone! This simple message of the Apostle is what the Galatians had believed, but now they were being told it was incomplete. Paul writes this strong letter to confront the heresy of these “Judaizers” and to set the record straight that salvation is only through faith in Christ apart from the Law.
In making his argument he emphasizes (chapter 3) that the Law was temporary and like a “tutor leading us to Christ.” He wants us to understand that “in Christ” we are no longer children, but we are all “sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” This is an important phrase emphasizing that in the spiritual realm we all enjoy the same privileges and responsibilities that come with the position of sonship. In other words, through faith in Christ apart from the Law, there are no “haves and have nots,” as the Judaizers were implying. We all enjoy the same standing with/before God by grace through faith in Jesus.
The phrase “in Christ” (3:26) is key to enjoying these equal privileges and provisions. It is found at least 172 times in Paul’s writings, sometimes in the sense of “by” or “through” Christ. More often, though, it describes the believer’s union with Christ through the presence of the Holy Spirit in his/her life (1 Corinthians 12:13). And, the only means of being “in Christ” is “through faith.” This position (“in Christ”) cannot be attained by keeping the Law or any other requirement that someone might prescribe. It is solely the gift of God by His grace to all that believe in Jesus as their Savior, which is the only means of being made right with God.
In the context of our right standing before God as His “sons” (with all the rights and privileges that accrue to this position), Paul demonstrates that there are no favorites with God. Regardless of race, class or gender (the three most common distinctions of his society and probably most other societies), we all enjoy the same standing as the “sons of God.” While distinctiveness of service (responsibilities) is maintained in various settings, distinction of standing (relationship) is eradicated in Jesus Christ. Everyone has equal access to God through His Son and all enjoy the same eternal blessings, inheritance and freedom as His children.
When Paul speaks of there being “neither Jew nor Greek...slave nor free...male nor female,” he is actually touching on the fundamental distinctions that were common in ancient society. The morning prayer offered by Jewish men thanked God that they were not born a Gentile, a slave, or a woman. Supposedly, this prayer was not meant to belittle Gentiles, slaves, or women, but simply to remind them that these classes of people had limited spiritual privileges that were open only to Jewish males.
Paul’s entire point is that “in Christ” as the “sons of God” there are no such distinctions of spiritual standing with God. There is a spiritual oneness that all believers enjoy by being justified through faith in Jesus Christ that gives us equal access to God and to the inheritance He has promised to all His children.
This oneness believers enjoy has practical implications that can be applied throughout the body of Christ. For instance, it means that...
1. Racial discrimination has got to go!
Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek...”
What an incredible statement from a man that was once zealous with nationalistic pride. In the early days of Paul’s life he could only be termed a “rabid Jewish activist.” If I were choosing a man to take the Gospel to the Gentile world I probably wouldn’t have chosen Paul. I likely would have selected someone with less strident attitudes and values about the distinctions of people groups and nations. Someone with less concern about the interpersonal and international politics of the day. Just listen to the description Paul gives of his life prior to meeting Christ on the Damascus Road.
“...circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:5-6)
“I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished...” (Acts 22:3-5)
“And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.” (Galatians 1:14)
Paul was a man trained in the Law at the feet of the famous Rabbi Gamaliel in the holy city of Jerusalem. He was on the fast track to becoming a member of the Sanhedrin, if he wasn’t already a member prior to his conversion. He was a proud, nationalistic Jew that believed other nations were barbarians and probably used the common slur of that day for Gentiles calling them “dogs.”
It is this man that makes this incredible statement that there is “neither Jew nor Greek” and it is all because he has been changed by the power of Jesus Christ. He has seen the resurrected Christ and learned that His love reaches to all nations. His entire perspective has been transformed to see all people as valuable to God and within the reach of His great love.
There is no place in the church (where we are all the “sons of God”) for racial prejudice. We can never permit ourselves to treat people of other nationalities as though they have less than an equal inheritance among God’s people or as if they have missed out on the fullest blessings of Christ.
Peter learned this lesson through a vision given to him illustrating to him that there is no racial distinction in Jesus Christ (Acts 10:35). The early church practiced this truth and among the church leaders in Antioch was a man named “Simeon who was called niger,” which means black. Paul lived out this principle as his son in the faith was a young man by the name of Timothy whose father was a Gentile and his mother and grandmother were Jewish (Acts 16:1-2; 2 Timothy 1:5)
Racial discrimination has to go!!
2. Class discrimination has got to go!
Paul also said, “there is neither slave nor free...”
There is no denying that there were distinctions in social status in first century society, as there are in twenty-first century society. What Paul affirms is that within the body of Christ all members are to receive the other members of Christ’s body regardless of that person’s social standing. At the foot of the cross the ground is level. Power, prestige, and position have nothing to add to the eternal inheritance and privileges for a “son of God.” Nor do these things give you special spiritual rights that are withheld from other Christians.
Paul wrote another letter to a man that was his friend who owned a slave by the name of Onesimus. The slave ran away and crossed paths with Paul who proceeded to lead him to faith in Jesus Christ. Knowing that this man’s life has been changed, Paul sent Onesimus back to his friend, and tells him to receive him “no longer as a slave but more than a slave---[as] a beloved brother...” (Philemon 1:16). The status of the relationship between these two men had changed because of Jesus Christ and that is to be the way it is everywhere within the body of Christ. We treat no one as a second class citizen of God’s Kingdom or fail to show them respect due to their social standing.
James was addressing Christians who were showing respect to people’s class when he wrote these words:
“My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or, ‘Sit here at my footstool,’ have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” (James 2:1-9)
Illustration:
A family with three adult children struggling financially with hard times and living on welfare began attending a local church where they were loved and accepted. People from all walks of life welcomed and talked with them, making them feel at home among the people. Gradually, each member of the family came to Christ, all except one of the sons named Brian. He was angry and so full of bitterness that people in the community would often cross the street to avoid encountering him. There were times when he would be out all night drinking and running with a gang. Sometimes after those nighttime binges he would return home and beat up his own parents and brother. Because the rest of his family had become Christians the spiritual atmosphere in their home changed, but rather than this helping Brian it only made him worse. One Sunday he was sober and his sister invited him to go to church with her where the rest of the family had been so welcomed and their lives changed. He agreed reluctantly, but little did he know on that day God was going to meet him there. Before he left that service he had become a brand new creation in Christ Jesus with a brand new life to live for God.
As Brain began maturing in his faith he became a powerful witness for Jesus Christ. Scores of people heard his testimony and trusted Jesus themselves. A gentle and quiet nature had replaced his angry bitterness and Brian left a sweet savor everywhere he went. He later felt called to the ministry, went off to Bible college (though he had dropped out of school when he was thirteen), and finally became the senior pastor of a church where he encouraged his people to welcome everybody no matter their social standing in life.
Class discrimination has got to go!!
3. Gender discrimination has got to go!
Paul finally said, “there is neither male nor female...”
On this last point I don’t want our study to degenerate into a debate about Egalitarianism or Complementarianism. Suffice it to say for our purposes that the NT differentiates between a person’s role and a person’s worth; between their function and their position. The emphasis of this passage isn’t about a person’s service (role/function) in the church or home, but about their standing (worth/position) before God. To use this passage to say anything else is to wrest it from its context in order to make it fit your predetermined argument. Paul’s emphasis here is to affirm that all people who believe on Jesus become the “sons of God” with all the rights and privileges that come with that position. It is about every believer inheriting fully the Abrahamic promises by grace and apart from the works of the Law. And, all Christians (“male and female”) enjoy this equality in the body of Christ.
To fully grasp what Paul is teaching, you have to know that because women couldn’t receive circumcision they were considered by some as less than full participants in the old covenant. Paul makes it abundantly clear that this is not true under the New Covenant of grace and there is no place for such thinking in the body of Christ.
Our new position in Christ doesn’t abolish all distinctions where we function in life, but it does declare that there are no superior or inferior believers before God.
Following are the words of other scholars concerning what Paul is discussing in this text:
“All believers are ‘one in Christ Jesus.’ This is positional oneness and equality. In Him there is no spiritual superiority or inferiority. All mundane divisions are eliminated: racial (‘Jew nor Greek’), social (‘bond nor free’), and sexual (‘male nor female’). The man is not more accepted in Christ than the woman nor is the Jew more justified than the Gentile. All share the same standing before God [Emphasis mine]. The removal of classifications refers only to the spiritual position, however. People do not lose their distinctiveness within the functional order of society. A woman is a woman both before and after conversion, and so is a man a man. Within the oneness of the divine essence, there is an equality of the persons of the Godhead, but there nevertheless remains an order for the execution of the divine purpose of redemption. The Father is the head of Christ and the former sent the latter into the world. In the same sense, the man and the woman are one in Christ, but the headship of the man over the woman remains in order to carry out the divine purpose for the home and for the local church (1 Cor. 11:3).” -- Robert Gromachi
“This verse must not be pressed into meaning something it does not say. As far as everyday life is concerned (not to mention public ministry in the church), God does recognize the distinction between male and female. The NT contains instructions addressed to each; it also speaks separately to slaves and masters. But in obtaining blessing from God, these things do not matter. The great thing is to be in Christ Jesus. (This refers to our heavenly position, not to our earthly condition.) Before God the believing Jew is not a bit superior to the converted pagan! [Emphasis mine] Govett says: ‘All the distinctions which the law made are swallowed up in the common grave which God has provided.’ Therefore, how foolish it is for Christians to seek further holiness by setting up differences which Christ has abolished.” ---Believers Bible Commentary
“...believers are all one in Christ Jesus. Since all believers became one with each other, human distinctions lose their significance. None is spiritually superior over another, that is, a believing Jew is not more privileged before God than a believing Gentile (Greek, in contrast to Jew, suggests all Gentiles; cf. Col. 3:11); a believing slave does not rank higher than a believing free person; a believing man is not superior to a believing woman. [Emphasis mine] Some Jewish men prayed, “I thank God that Thou hast not made me a Gentile, a slave, or a woman.” Paul cut across these distinctions and stated that they do not exist in the body of Christ so far as spiritual privilege and position are concerned. Elsewhere, while affirming the coequality of man and woman in Christ, Paul did nonetheless make it clear that there is a headship of the man over the woman (cf. 1 Cor. 11:3) and that there are distinctions in the area of spiritual service (cf. 1 Tim. 2:12).” ---Bible Knowledge Commentary
Conclusion:
In this present world cursed by sin there will always be division based on race, nationality, gender, and social status. But, it should not be found in the body of Christ. In Jesus, all Christians have equal standing before God and equal access to Him! All Christians have put on Christ, belong to Christ, and should look like Christ.
Application:
- Let’s repent of our pride that creates these divisions among fellow believers.
- Let’s respect all members of the body of Christ equally as the family of God.
- Let’s remember to welcome people to our church like we want to be welcomed.
- Let’s reach out to every race, class and gender with the Good News of God’s salvation.
