Gospel Equality
06/20/10
Galatians 3:23-29
Pastor Greg Smith
I have very much enjoyed our study of Galatians. We have just 2 more class sessions (including today). There has been much new to discover, but there is a lot that is familiar as well. When something is very familiar, you can forget how powerful— and often how radical— the message really is.
That’s true for the verses before us today, especially, I think Galatians 3:28.
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
To me, that verse is one of the great high points in the Bible, a great summing up of the epic Story that sweeps through the Book. It’s good to be reminded of that Story.
Creation
The beginning of the story is creation. God declared his creation Very Good. At the apex of God’s handiwork is you and me: human beings. We are created in God’s image, we are made for companionship with each other and with God, through our amazing capacity for committed love and responsible choices.
Fall
But from the beginning, human beings abused their freedom and chose their own way instead of God’s way. Instead of unity and harmony, human life is filled with broken relationships: with self, with each other, with the rest of creation, and with God. The first story after the garden is about one brother murdering another.
But amazingly, God did not give up on human beings. God worked to restore creation through Israel. The focus was the great promise to Abraham and Sarah: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
That very promise takes center stage in Paul’s dealings with the Galatians. One of the key words in that promise has only 3 letters: “all.” It’s a word that recurs in Galatians 3:28. It’s a word that declares that boundaries and barriers are coming down. Sure, the blessing begins in Israel— that’s the Old Testament story. But it goes through Israel to all people in all the world— that’s the New Testament story.
As we have discovered in our study of Galatians, that keyword— all — became the focus of controversy. The issue at the Galatian church was boundaries: How do we define who is in and who is out of the community? And, as you probably remember, the issue came to a head at a church potluck.
Let me read from the New Living Translation beginning with verse 11.
Gal. 2:11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. 12 When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. 13 As a result, other Jewish Christians followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.
14 When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?
15 “You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. 16 Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”
Do you have to adopt the Jewish way of life described in detail in the Old Testament Law? Do male believers have to be circumcised as a sign of entry into the God’s faith community? Do all believers in Jesus also need to follow the kosher food laws in order to be in good standing with God’s people?
Paul gave a loud and clear NO! Nothing can be added to what Jesus has done! Chapter 3:2-3 says it clearly. Here’s the New Living Translation:
2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3 How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
When you listen to what Paul says about “the law of Moses,” you might begin to think that he was rejecting the validity of the Law. Here is an insight that has help me sort this out. Torah (the Hebrew word for Law) is both legal code (do this; don’t do that) and it is also a narrative, the story that begins in with creation— Genesis through Deuteronomy. It’s both do’s and don’t’s, and it’s the story of God’s dealing with God’s people.
For Paul, after Jesus, the purpose of the legal code has changed forever.
Look at verses 3:23-25.
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was put in charge of us until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
In verse 23 Paul says the law as rules and legal code held the Jewish people “in custody.” It was like a prison. In fact the Greek word means “to protect by military guards.”
Verse 24 says that the rules and legal code were like a nanny. Paul says that Israel was like a child that needed special looking after. The Greek word Paul uses describes a family servant whose duty it was to bring the children to and from school, tutor them when not in school, and to superintend their conduct generally. The Law is like that.
But the Good News is now all that has changed!
25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
Verse 25 says that things have changed now that “this faith has come.” That is not pointing to our faith, but to the faithfulness of Jesus that has changed everything. It’s as if the child has grown up and the baby sitter and guardian is no longer needed. Paul doesn’t reject the validity of the Law code and regulations. Instead, he says there has been a turning point in history. Galatians 4:4-6 makes this very clear. I’ll read it from the Contemporary English Version.
Gal. 4:4 But when the time was right, God sent his Son, and a woman gave birth to him. His Son obeyed the Law, 5 so he could set us free from the Law, and we could become God’s children. 6 Now that we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. And his Spirit tells us that God is our Father. 7 You are no longer slaves. You are God’s children, and you will be given what he has promised.
But, even while the Torah rules and regulations no longer apply to God’s people, the Torah story is still our Story! Like I said, the Law, Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy) is both rules and regulations, and narrative. For Paul, God continues that story in Jesus. In fact Jesus is the decisive chapter in an otherwise unfinished story. That’s why Paul goes back to the story of Abraham. He wants to show the clear connection between Abraham and Jesus.
We remember the promise that all— there’s that key word— all the nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham. From the beginning of the story, somehow Gentiles would be included along with Jews. Paul says that God had this planned out from the start. I’ll read from the New Living Translation.
Gal. 3:8 What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would declare the Gentiles to be righteous because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
Paul pointed out that Abraham was counted as in a right relationship with God because of trusting faith.
Gal. 3:6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
To old, childless Abraham, the Lord said,
Genesis 15:5 “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
It was through the same kind of trusting faith that the promise of blessing would be given to all nations.
Gal. 3:7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Jesus the Messiah freed us from the Old Testament laws and regulations so that all nations could receive the promised blessing. Like we said, the Old Testament rules and regulations were for the earlier part of the Story.
Gal. 3:14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
You might think of God’s before and after Jesus as two very different kinds of structures, or buildings.
The people of God before Jesus are like a building with thick walls and secure doors. For safety’s sake, the doors only open from the inside. It was secure and the boundaries were very clear.
Since the coming of Messiah Jesus, the people of God are more like a big tent or canopy with open sides. We are always inviting, always hoping that people will wander into the big tent of God’s people.
Or think about this in terms of family. It's true that all human beings are family by creation: a dysfunctional family to be sure, but one big extended family just the same.
We are made in God’s image.
We are all one human family.
We all come from the same line.
As the Story says, from the beginning God made us for relationships. Human beings are made for relationships and all human beings have the same great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents.
But the image of God has been broken, marred by sin. We were born into the human family— God created us that way. But we can be re-born into to God's family, where the family image is restored. This is the great completion of the Story.
So, now through Messiah Jesus, all can be one— reversing the brokenness of sin.
Gal. 3:26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Look at each part of these verses.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.
Being “in Messiah Jesus” is the key. You are all children of God through faith. Like verse 29 underlines, faith in Jesus means we are included in the great Torah, Bible story.
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
We have to be clear that it’s not baptism itself that transform. The Holy Spirit does that when we hear and trust in the message about Jesus.
28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
It’s not that these difference are no longer present. Instead, our way of valuing people has changed. We don’t divide people up the way we used to. In the church, your ethnic background or religious heritage don't make the difference of whether you are in or out.
The amazing thing is that Paul wrote these words so very long ago. And yet for most of the Church’s history they were misunderstood or not taken seriously. A relationship with Jesus really does change the way we relate to each other. Or at least it should. There is a gospel equality that was forgotten for centuries and that Christians are still learning about and adjusting to.
The truth about race.
The truth about gender.
The truth about cultural background— what were you born into.
Whatever you condition: it is irrelevant in your relationship to Christ. And it must be irrelevant in how Christ’s family relates to each other.
In the ancient, at the very bottom of the social ladder would be a Jewish, female slave. At the top would be the Greek cultured free-born male. But now all that has changed.
28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:16-18 says something similar in a very beautiful way.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
All Christians are part of a new family.
29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed (his descendants or family), and (as family) heirs according to the promise (made to Abraham).
Turn to someone you didn’t come with and say, “Hey, we’re both in Abraham’s family.”
Think again of verse 25:
Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
No more babysitter! We are expected to grow up. It’s tough to grow up. Maturity can be a scary thing.
The badge of the grown-up child of God, the badge of God’s free people, is that God trusts them with responsibility: they are the people of faith, empowered to live by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
One theme that holds these verses together is respect for maturity. One of the marks of prejudice and oppression is disrespect: a black man is call boy; a woman is called girl. And if it’s not the language, then it’s the attitude. Not treated with the full respect of equals made in the image of God. I
Gospel equality is radical Good News! Whatever you bring from you past does not determine your worth.
The Lord's Supper is a time to express those family relationships. It’s a celebration of the relationship that we have in Jesus. He creates the bonds. He has made us family. And this is the family meal that we share.
Pastor Greg Smith
I have very much enjoyed our study of Galatians. We have just 2 more class sessions (including today). There has been much new to discover, but there is a lot that is familiar as well. When something is very familiar, you can forget how powerful— and often how radical— the message really is.
That’s true for the verses before us today, especially, I think Galatians 3:28.
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
To me, that verse is one of the great high points in the Bible, a great summing up of the epic Story that sweeps through the Book. It’s good to be reminded of that Story.
Creation
The beginning of the story is creation. God declared his creation Very Good. At the apex of God’s handiwork is you and me: human beings. We are created in God’s image, we are made for companionship with each other and with God, through our amazing capacity for committed love and responsible choices.
Fall
But from the beginning, human beings abused their freedom and chose their own way instead of God’s way. Instead of unity and harmony, human life is filled with broken relationships: with self, with each other, with the rest of creation, and with God. The first story after the garden is about one brother murdering another.
But amazingly, God did not give up on human beings. God worked to restore creation through Israel. The focus was the great promise to Abraham and Sarah: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
That very promise takes center stage in Paul’s dealings with the Galatians. One of the key words in that promise has only 3 letters: “all.” It’s a word that recurs in Galatians 3:28. It’s a word that declares that boundaries and barriers are coming down. Sure, the blessing begins in Israel— that’s the Old Testament story. But it goes through Israel to all people in all the world— that’s the New Testament story.
As we have discovered in our study of Galatians, that keyword— all — became the focus of controversy. The issue at the Galatian church was boundaries: How do we define who is in and who is out of the community? And, as you probably remember, the issue came to a head at a church potluck.
Let me read from the New Living Translation beginning with verse 11.
Gal. 2:11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. 12 When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. 13 As a result, other Jewish Christians followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.
14 When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?
15 “You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. 16 Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”
Do you have to adopt the Jewish way of life described in detail in the Old Testament Law? Do male believers have to be circumcised as a sign of entry into the God’s faith community? Do all believers in Jesus also need to follow the kosher food laws in order to be in good standing with God’s people?
Paul gave a loud and clear NO! Nothing can be added to what Jesus has done! Chapter 3:2-3 says it clearly. Here’s the New Living Translation:
2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3 How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
When you listen to what Paul says about “the law of Moses,” you might begin to think that he was rejecting the validity of the Law. Here is an insight that has help me sort this out. Torah (the Hebrew word for Law) is both legal code (do this; don’t do that) and it is also a narrative, the story that begins in with creation— Genesis through Deuteronomy. It’s both do’s and don’t’s, and it’s the story of God’s dealing with God’s people.
For Paul, after Jesus, the purpose of the legal code has changed forever.
Look at verses 3:23-25.
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was put in charge of us until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
In verse 23 Paul says the law as rules and legal code held the Jewish people “in custody.” It was like a prison. In fact the Greek word means “to protect by military guards.”
Verse 24 says that the rules and legal code were like a nanny. Paul says that Israel was like a child that needed special looking after. The Greek word Paul uses describes a family servant whose duty it was to bring the children to and from school, tutor them when not in school, and to superintend their conduct generally. The Law is like that.
But the Good News is now all that has changed!
25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
Verse 25 says that things have changed now that “this faith has come.” That is not pointing to our faith, but to the faithfulness of Jesus that has changed everything. It’s as if the child has grown up and the baby sitter and guardian is no longer needed. Paul doesn’t reject the validity of the Law code and regulations. Instead, he says there has been a turning point in history. Galatians 4:4-6 makes this very clear. I’ll read it from the Contemporary English Version.
Gal. 4:4 But when the time was right, God sent his Son, and a woman gave birth to him. His Son obeyed the Law, 5 so he could set us free from the Law, and we could become God’s children. 6 Now that we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. And his Spirit tells us that God is our Father. 7 You are no longer slaves. You are God’s children, and you will be given what he has promised.
But, even while the Torah rules and regulations no longer apply to God’s people, the Torah story is still our Story! Like I said, the Law, Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy) is both rules and regulations, and narrative. For Paul, God continues that story in Jesus. In fact Jesus is the decisive chapter in an otherwise unfinished story. That’s why Paul goes back to the story of Abraham. He wants to show the clear connection between Abraham and Jesus.
We remember the promise that all— there’s that key word— all the nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham. From the beginning of the story, somehow Gentiles would be included along with Jews. Paul says that God had this planned out from the start. I’ll read from the New Living Translation.
Gal. 3:8 What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would declare the Gentiles to be righteous because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
Paul pointed out that Abraham was counted as in a right relationship with God because of trusting faith.
Gal. 3:6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
To old, childless Abraham, the Lord said,
Genesis 15:5 “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
It was through the same kind of trusting faith that the promise of blessing would be given to all nations.
Gal. 3:7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Jesus the Messiah freed us from the Old Testament laws and regulations so that all nations could receive the promised blessing. Like we said, the Old Testament rules and regulations were for the earlier part of the Story.
Gal. 3:14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
You might think of God’s before and after Jesus as two very different kinds of structures, or buildings.
The people of God before Jesus are like a building with thick walls and secure doors. For safety’s sake, the doors only open from the inside. It was secure and the boundaries were very clear.
Since the coming of Messiah Jesus, the people of God are more like a big tent or canopy with open sides. We are always inviting, always hoping that people will wander into the big tent of God’s people.
Or think about this in terms of family. It's true that all human beings are family by creation: a dysfunctional family to be sure, but one big extended family just the same.
We are made in God’s image.
We are all one human family.
We all come from the same line.
As the Story says, from the beginning God made us for relationships. Human beings are made for relationships and all human beings have the same great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents.
But the image of God has been broken, marred by sin. We were born into the human family— God created us that way. But we can be re-born into to God's family, where the family image is restored. This is the great completion of the Story.
So, now through Messiah Jesus, all can be one— reversing the brokenness of sin.
Gal. 3:26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Look at each part of these verses.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.
Being “in Messiah Jesus” is the key. You are all children of God through faith. Like verse 29 underlines, faith in Jesus means we are included in the great Torah, Bible story.
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
We have to be clear that it’s not baptism itself that transform. The Holy Spirit does that when we hear and trust in the message about Jesus.
28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
It’s not that these difference are no longer present. Instead, our way of valuing people has changed. We don’t divide people up the way we used to. In the church, your ethnic background or religious heritage don't make the difference of whether you are in or out.
The amazing thing is that Paul wrote these words so very long ago. And yet for most of the Church’s history they were misunderstood or not taken seriously. A relationship with Jesus really does change the way we relate to each other. Or at least it should. There is a gospel equality that was forgotten for centuries and that Christians are still learning about and adjusting to.
The truth about race.
The truth about gender.
The truth about cultural background— what were you born into.
Whatever you condition: it is irrelevant in your relationship to Christ. And it must be irrelevant in how Christ’s family relates to each other.
In the ancient, at the very bottom of the social ladder would be a Jewish, female slave. At the top would be the Greek cultured free-born male. But now all that has changed.
28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:16-18 says something similar in a very beautiful way.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
All Christians are part of a new family.
29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed (his descendants or family), and (as family) heirs according to the promise (made to Abraham).
Turn to someone you didn’t come with and say, “Hey, we’re both in Abraham’s family.”
Think again of verse 25:
Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
No more babysitter! We are expected to grow up. It’s tough to grow up. Maturity can be a scary thing.
The badge of the grown-up child of God, the badge of God’s free people, is that God trusts them with responsibility: they are the people of faith, empowered to live by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
One theme that holds these verses together is respect for maturity. One of the marks of prejudice and oppression is disrespect: a black man is call boy; a woman is called girl. And if it’s not the language, then it’s the attitude. Not treated with the full respect of equals made in the image of God. I
Gospel equality is radical Good News! Whatever you bring from you past does not determine your worth.
The Lord's Supper is a time to express those family relationships. It’s a celebration of the relationship that we have in Jesus. He creates the bonds. He has made us family. And this is the family meal that we share.