Galatians 3:28
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
There is so much division in our world. Those separations are caused by intolerant people and those who benefit by those divisions. Today’s verse is God’s plan. His intent is for all to be one in Christ.
One may say, “What about the Old Testament? The Jews were His focus.” Yes, but that wasn’t the end. It was step one of His plan. The Lord had to accomplish a couple of things for His plan to get the Jesus. His first goal was to give an example of what life is like for the one that trusts God. We can see the prosperity of Israel at the times they were walking in obedience to God.
Psalm One has a nice description of the life in God. “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the path of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in this he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree, planted by the rivers of water.” The life in God is blessed and stable. It’s a good thing to be in Him.
The second reason the Lord’s focus was on Israel was to show the complexity of sin and how blood was to be shed to eliminate it along with the guilt. This was done through the sacrificial system. The Law stated how we were to treat others and how to treat God. When we strayed from those ways, forgiveness could be had by sacrificing a lambs life.
The stage was now set for Jesus to come along with the unification of all people. Through Him both things are realized, the lives of those that followed Him were rich and full and His death on the cross paid for sins. Shortly after Paul comes on the scene and brings a new message, we are one.
Many were jealous about this unification. These were once the entire focus of God’s attention. It’s like the only child gets a sibling. They get half of the attention. In time they learn to love the other child.
He says there is no longer Jew nor Greek. This upsets some. They want to be seen by this identity. I get that, but it’s not unifying. The induction into the military comes to mind. At training, the young people are put together. The visible aspects that separated them (hair style and clothing) are done away with. Their clothes are called uniforms. This word also means sameness. Eventually, they are split into units of twelve or so. They become like family to the point that they are willing (and sometimes do) die for one another.
Next he says they are neither slave nor free. This refers to life station or socio economic status (SES). People tend to divide themselves into neighborhoods that have the same SES. But God’s church is made up of everyone. In James 2, he addresses the sin of partiality and how we aren’t to treat the wealthy better than the poor.
I can picture a geologist taking a vertical core sample of soil. A hollow pole is driven into the earth, then removed. The pole is cut in two, leaving the core sample. The sample is of different types of soil, some is sand, others are difference representing different eras or happenings. This is like the church. All levels are present.
The last difference that Paul brings up is gender, “neither male nor female”. What comes to mind are elementary school play grounds. There are clear gender divisions based on activities. This remains into adulthood. Most have same gender friends for the rest of their lives. This is normal as spouses don’t want their spouse to have opposite gender friends. But God is saying at the base we are all one.
While our world attempts to make sense of all this, the Lord says we are to be one. The love of Christ can accomplish this. Ephesians 2:14 says, “For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.” That’s God’s plan.