Galatians 3:27-29 “The new race of humanity”

Summary

Before I pray, I want to give a brief description of what exactly we are trying to do when we open up the Bible.

Bible interpretation

As you probably know, I try to interpret the Bible in its original context. In other words, I am trying to find the original meaning of the passage. What was Paul trying to communicate to his original audience? So in this particular book, the question is “what is Paul trying to communicate to this new church in Galatia?” If we can discover that original meaning, we will have a better chance of appropriately applying it.

Drawing out the meaning

We do not read meaning into the text but we read meaning from the text. So we are drawing out the meaning. So the term excavate might be appropriate to explain what we are doing here. We are digging out the meaning of the passage. Sometimes are hands get dirty and we hit hard ground. So we have to work harder.  Sometimes we don’t even know what we are digging up. We dig a lit bit out on this side and a little on that side and eventually we see the outline of a theological treasure that will change the way we think forever. But all of that takes some work and deep knowledge of scripture does not come by accident or by chance but through careful study and thought.

Not trying to be original

We are not trying to be “original” in our interpretation but rather accurate in our interpretation.  When I went to Bible School, one of my professors told us, “don’t have an original thought until your junior year.” My junior year came and went, my senior year came and went, still no original thought. And I still don’t have original thoughts about what the bible means. We aren’t seeking originality. We are seeking accuracy.

We don’t trust ourselves

And this is predicated on the fact that we do not trust ourselves. We do not trust what we can come up with about God and His Word. We want to know who God is and who we are based on His word and not our own ideas.  So Colossians 2:8 says, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” That’s why we want to be faithful Bible students.

The plan for the morning

My hope this morning is to go through the passage and give a brief summary of it. And then move into applications regarding gender relations and ethnicity. So that is where we are going this morning. And men there will be a special challenge for you toward the end so be sure to stay awake for it.

Let’s pray…..

As a summarization of where we are at. Paul has been trying to lift his audience’s eyes up and onto Christ. The Galatian believers were being distracted by small matters and missing the essence of their faith: Christ. They were being duped or in Paul’s words “bewitched” into believing that Christ came with strings attached.  They were thinking in small terms and small categories, all the while missing the greatness and sufficiency of Christ. Christ plus nothing equals everything.  Once you have Christ, you need nothing else.

Let’s dive into verse 27….

Galatians 3:27

Baptism does not save

One may wonder after reading this verse, “Is Paul saying that baptism saves people”

No, Paul is not saying that baptism saves people. It doesn’t. It can’t. It is an outward expression of what has happened inside. So when he says, “baptized into Christ,” he is referring to salvation that precedes it.  So the salvation coming before the baptism is what makes the baptism meaningful and applicable.  If salvation had not come yet, the baptism would not serve its primary purpose, which is to illustrate new life in Christ and death to sin. So Paul is not propping up baptism as the means of salvation or even a part of salvation.

No external act brings salvation

In the whole book of Galatians, Paul is trying to say that there is no external rite to salvation. It comes freely as a gift of God apart from external activity.  So, F.F. Bruce rightly points out that if Paul was asked “when were you justified before God,” he would probably say, “on the Damascus road.” He would not say, “I was saved at baptism.” Baptism doesn’t save in the same way that circumcision doesn’t save. Faith in Jesus Christ is what saves.

And when one has been saved and baptized into Christ, they “put on Christ.” They clothe themselves with Christ. They become Christ’s.

Vs. 28

The great Pauline statement

Now Paul gets into the crux of his message. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free.

Here Paul is arguing that one’s ethnic, social and gender identity does not affect one’s capacity to be saved. In other words, you can be a child of Abraham or have the same faith Abraham had regardless of whether or not you are a Jew or a Gentile, man or woman, slave or free

So we have 3 categories that I want to break down: ethnicity, gender and social status. Let’s take look at the first: ethnicity.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile

So, at that time there was a massive divide between Jews and Gentiles. It was basically, “the Jews are here and everyone else is over here.” The Jews had the law, they had the prophets, they had the temple, they had Abraham and Moses. They had ethnic superiority over all Gentiles. Gentiles were sinners. Jews were chosen. Gentiles were unacceptable. Jews were clean. And Paul is saying, “it’s not like that anymore.” There are no longer theological or spiritual distinctions between Jew and Gentile. The game of up one manship is over.  The cross levels off ethnicities and unites all peoples in Christ.  Jews and Gentiles are now equal.

No ethnic distinctions

So there is No Jew, no Greek, no Asian, no Australian, no American, no Indian, no African, no Mexican, no Guatemalan, no Russian, no turk, no Filipino, no Hmong, no Albanians or Peruvians or Iranians. Christ redeems people, humans, flesh and blood and soul and spirit. Skin color, eye color, names and origins are inconsequential in regard to salvation.

One race of people

There is now one race of people, As Peter says, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy

(1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV). Ethnic distinctions are now inconsequential in regards to salvation.

And also Ephesians 2:11-22

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

The church consists of one people, all united in Christ.  So we do not treat each other based on ethnicity but on our common union with Christ. We are all sons and daughters of Abraham, or sons and daughters of faith. There is neither Jew nor Gentile

Neither slaves nor free     

So also, the slaves and the free no longer exist in different categories. They too are one in Christ.  In that era, slaves were not given the same rights as free. To be a slave was to be less than lower class. They were in a different category of humanity. But in Christ, that changes. Slaves and free are equal heirs and beneficiaries of the Abrahamic covenant or the blessing that comes through Abraham.

Practical implications

And this is not simply theological. It has practical implications. So Paul’s attitude toward slaves was clearly one of respect and love. So in the book of Philemon, Paul sends Onesimus back to his owner and tells his owner, “no longer treat him as a slave but better than a slave, as a beloved brother.” (Phil. Vs, 16)

The source of Paul’s thinking

But what is the source of this radical shift in thinking? Is it the general goodness of mankind? Is it the collective morality that breaks through the generations of racism and emerges as the light that shatters evil? No. The origin is Christ. Paul’s link to equality is Chris. In Christ, you are all one. In Christ, no person stands above the other. If you do prop yourself above someone else, then you may not be in Christ. Salvation is predicated on humility. “Consider others better than yourselves.” “Forgive on another just as God in Christ forgave you.” We are all beggars. We are all one in our need for grace. There is no distinction between slaves and free or any other social class.

Some Christian circles give Paul a hard time for not commanding Philemon to release Onesimus but that was not Paul’s prerogative.  Paul’s goal was not the abolition of slavery but rather faithfulness to Christ in every situation and circumstance.  So while Paul’s statement has social implications, it is not mainly dealing with social constructs but rather spiritual constructs.

Much more could be said about this, but we will tackle it another day

No male nor female

In the same way, there are no longer gender distinctions that keep women or men on different spiritual levels or in different spiritual categories.  In terms of salvation, men and women are no different.  In that culture women were often times treated poorly, as less than equal to a man and as subordinate to man.

Paul is saying that those social woes do not translate into the categories of salvation. In Christ, there is not hierarchy of spirituality based on gender or race. The cross levels us all off at one common denominator: Christ.

There are still distinctions

Paul is not saying that there are no distinctions within the sexes.  Jesus in Mark 10:6 says that “He (God) made them male and female.” And I don’t think that it is only an anatomical point Jesus is making. Being male and female is about more than physical distinctions. They have unique characteristics that are God-given and that are complimentary to one another.

Salvation is not based on gender

So, is Paul now saying that male and female are irrelevant terms? Not at all. Paul has many commands for how men and women should relate in complementary roles, each fulfilling their unique design in relationship.  And we will get to those later. What he is saying here is that salvation does not take into account one’s suitedness based on their gender.  All people are one in Christ and should be treated with equal respect and dignity.

Summary: equality in salvation

So then, in summary, there are no social constructs that determine one’s fittedness for salvation.  Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost and that is everyone. So Jesus is seeking out everyone and does not have a bent toward a certain ethnicity. There is no superior race. All people are born under sin, all people follow in the line of Adam, all people are children of wrath until God makes them children of mercy. And Jesus doesn’t elevate men above women as holier and more important in society or in the created order. They are equal in essence and neither should be subordinate to other in essence. There is not an inferior race or superior race and there is no an inferior or superior gender.

Practical applications:

Now what does all this mean and how should we appropriate it to the way we live? Let’s take a look at a few practical applications.

1) Ethnic division has no place in our church.  The whole point of the Abrahamic covenant “in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed” was that salvation would go to the ends of the earth or to all nations of the earth. The very nature of it is global, “all the nations of the earth.” There is no ethnic distinction that makes salvation available to one nation and not the other.  Many of the Jews forgot the Abrahamic covenant.  They were blessed to be a blessing.  They were not blessed to hoard their blessing but to share it: to be the frontrunners to salvation, the keepers of the promise of salvation, the door through which other nations came to know God.

The door no longer exists

We know that this door no longer exists. We do not need to become Jewish now to be saved or to have access to God. Each person can go to God directly regardless of ethnicity.  The offer of salvation is for all people.

Does our church hoard salvation/the gospel?

My fear is that the church hoards salvation, hoards the gospel, hoards access to God.  A person does not need to go to church to be saved.  The gospel is not only true and available inside the walls of the church.  So the question is this: do we offer salvation to people outside of these doors? Or do we wait for them to come into these doors to offer it?

The Jews said, “become like us to be saved.” Do we also say, “become like us to be saved?” We have our Bible, we have our songs, we have our rituals, we have our prayers. Are these meant to be hoarded? Are these things that make up our identity as a church? Are these the rules by which we play the Christian game?

We don’t want to be our own ethnic group?

Don’t assume that we are immune to becoming religious. We are not immune.  We are dangerously vulnerable or susceptible to becoming religious.  And if we become religious, we will naturally alienate the community around us.  Instead of offering a pure gospel that says, “Christ is all our hope, Christ is all our joy, Christ is all our salvation,” We will bog it down with the gospel plus the church or the gospel plus Christian music or the gospel plus a shaved face.”

A Mormon realtor

I recently was taking to a realtor who happened to be a Mormon. I asked him about his faith/religion and told him that I was a pastor. He mistakenly thought that I was trying to increase our membership. In other words, he interpreted my talking to him about faith as me trying to convert him over to my church. It’s the opposite. We are not trying to increase our numbers out of some type of religious egoism. We are trying to offer people what we ourselves have been freely given.

So let’s shatter misconceptions about the church as a place that is trying to make people like us, or only interested in numbers

2) Men, treat your wives and women in general with exemplary love and respect.

Husbands, what is the guide or standard by which you treat your wife? Is it the culture? Is it the way your father treated your mother? Is it the way you think it ought to be based on your own reasoning? Most of us do not have exemplary role models for how a husband should treat his wife and how a man should treat a woman. Perhaps you cannot retrace in your mind a positive example of a man being a tender leader. There may be no legacy to follow. But that is no excuse! You have the scriptures right in front of you. So you are now without excuse.

God knows who we are to be

God is the creator of male and female so God knows how males ought to treat females.  So then, what is our guide? The Bible. The Bible. The One who created us is the only one who knows how we should relate to one another. And what does He say, “husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”  This is not culturally relevant or acceptable. You will not see a commercial that exemplifies this. Instead you will see a commercial like this: men are dumb. Men are given low standards. Men love their beer, guns and football.  Men are incapable of being gentle, tender, intelligent, strong leaders.

God’s instructions are good

If you believe that the instructions of God are good and that the word of God gives life, than you will happily obey this command, not out of duty but out of delight. He who loves his wife, loves Himself.  So men love your wives and in turn love yourself.

A church that treats women well

This must be a church where women are treated lovingly and gently by their husbands.  Men, do not abuse your wives, emotionally or physically.  Abuse will not be tolerated in this church.  So men, if you see another man treating his wife poorly, call him out on it. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend.”  Men, let’s encourage each other in this. Let’s learn to be gentle, loving and strong

Dads teach your daughters who they are

Dads, teach your daughters that they are created by and loved by God.  They were created for God’s purposes. Do not give them an identity based on this culture. Give them an identity based on God’s word. And protect them. Protect them. Protect them.

Husbands, love your wives.

Husbands with your wives, love them. Love them. Love them. Love them. Love them love them. The quality of a man does not consist of how many toys he has or how much money is in his bank account. Are you rich in love? Are you rich in gentleness?

Does your wife flourish under your gentle, humble leadership

Competition for your attention

Men, there are many competitors for your time and attention and affection.  Do not see the forest for the trees. Do not let a good thing, working and providing for your family, eclipse the reason you are doing it.

Valentines day

And finally, Valentine’s day is coming up in about 3 weeks, Tuesday feb. 14^th. Men, get a reservation this week. Put theology into practice.

Let’s pray.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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