Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
28. The unity here predicated results from the putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ. Comp. Col 3:10-11, where the train of thought is the same and the language very similar.
male nor female ] Lit. ‘male and female’, possibly with reference to Gen 1:27. The rite of circumcision was limited to male children; the Sacrament of Baptism is administered to both male and female. There are here no injunctions as to slavery and the treatment of women. But the principle laid down has by its application abolished the one and ameliorated the other. The Talmud everywhere assumes and often states the recognised inferiority of women to men.
ye are all one ] ‘ ye ’ is emphatic, pointing to those who are ‘sons of God’, Gal 3:26. ‘One person’, or ‘one man’. Comp. Eph 2:15; Rom 12:5; 1Co 12:12-13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
There is neither Jew nor Greek – All are on a level; all are saved in the same way; all are entitled to the same privileges. There is no favoritism on account of birth, beauty, or blood. All confess that they are sinners; all are saved by the merits of the same Saviour; all are admitted to the same privileges as children of God. The word Greek here is used to denote the Gentiles generally; since the whole world was divided by the Jews into Jews and Greeks – the Greeks being the foreign nation best known to them. The Syriac renders it here Aramean, using the word to denote the Gentiles generally. The meaning is, that whatever was the birth, or rank, or nation, or color, or complexion, all under the gospel were on a level. They were admitted to the same privileges, and endowed with the same hopes of eternal life. This does not mean that all the civil distinctions among people are to be disregarded.
It does not mean that no respect is to be shown to those in office, or to people in elevated rank. It does not mean that all are on a level in regard to talents, comforts, or wealth; but it means only that all people are on a level in regard to religion. This is the sole point under discussion; and the interpretation should be limited to this. It is not a fact that people are on a level in all things, nor is it a fact that the gospel designs to break down all the distinctions of society. Paul means to teach that no man has any preference or advantage in the kingdom of God because he is a rich man, or because he is of elevated rank; no one is under any disadvantage because he is poor, or because he is ignorant, or a slave. All at the foot of the cross are sinners; all at the communion table are saved by the same grace; all who enter into heaven, will enter clothed in the same robes of salvation, and arranged, not as princes and nobles, and rich men and poor men, in separate orders and ranks, but mingling together as redeemed by the same blood, and arranged in ranks according to their eminence in holiness; compare my notes at Isa 56:8.
There is neither bond nor free – The condition of a free man does not give him any special claims or advantages in regard to religion; and the condition of a slave does not exclude him from the hope of heaven, or from being regarded as a child of God, on the same terms, and entitled to the same privileges as his master. In regard to religion, they are on the same level. They are alike sinners, and are alike saved by grace. They sit down at the same communion table; and they look forward to the same heaven. Christianity does not admit the one to favor because he is free, or exclude the other because he is a slave. Nor, when they are admitted to favor, does it give the one a right to lord it over the other, or to feel that he is of any more value in the eye of the Redeemer, or any nearer to his heart. The essential idea is, that they are on a level, and that they are admitted to the favor of God without respect to their external condition in society. I do not see any evidence in this passage that the Christian religion designed to abolish slavery, any more than I do in the following phrase, there is neither male nor female, that it was intended to abolish the distinction of the sexes; nor do I see in this passage any evidence that there should not be proper respect shown by the servant to his master, though both of them are Christians, any more than there is in the following phrase, that suitable respect should not be shown in the contact with the sexes; compare 1Ti 6:1-5. But the proof is explicit, that masters and slaves may alike become Christians on the same terms, and are, in regard to their religious privileges and hopes, on a level. No special favor is shown to the one, in the matter of salvation, because he is free, nor is the other excluded because he is a slave. And from this it follows:
(1) That they should sit down to the same communion table. There should be no invidious and odious distinctions there.
(2) They should be regarded alike as Christian brethren in the house of God, and should be addressed and treated accordingly.
(3) The slave should excite the interest, and receive the watchful care of the pastor, as well as his master. Indeed, he may need it more; and from his ignorance, and the fewness of his opportunities, it may be proper that special attention should be bestowed on him.
In regard to this doctrine of Christianity, that there is neither bond nor free among those who are saved, or that all are on a level in regard to salvation, we may remark further:
(1) That it is unique to Christianity. All other systems of religion and philosophy make different ranks, and endeavor to promote the distinctions of caste among people. They teach that certain people are the favorites of heaven, in virtue of their birth or their rank in life, or that they have special facilities for salvation. Thus, in India the Brahmin is regarded as, by his birth, the favorite of heaven, and all others are supposed to be of a degraded rank. The great effort of people, in their systems of religion and philosophy, has been to show that there are favored ranks and classes, and to make permanent distinctions on account of birth and blood. Christianity regards all people as made of one blood to dwell on all the face of the earth (see the note at Act 17:26), and esteems them all to be equal in the matter of salvation; and whatever notions of equality prevail in the world are to be traced to the influence of the Christian religion.
(2) If people are regarded as equal before God, and as entitled to the same privileges of salvation; if there is in the great work of redemption neither bond nor free, and those who are in the Church are on a level, then such a view will induce a master to treat his slave with kindness, when that relation exists. The master who has any right feelings, will regard his servant as a Christian brother, redeemed by the same blood as himself, and destined to the same heaven. He will esteem him not as a chattel or a thing, or as a piece of property, but he will regard him as an immortal being, destined with himself to the same heaven, and about to sit down with him in the realms of glory. How can he treat such a brother with unkindness or severity? How can he rise from the same communion table with him, and give way to violent feelings against him, and regard him and treat him as if he were a brute? And Christianity, by the same principle that the slave is a brother in the Lord, will do more to mitigate the horrors of slavery, than all the enactments that people can make, and all the other views and doctrines which can be made to prevail in society; see Phm 1:16.
(3) This doctrine would lead to universal emancipation. All are on a level before God. In the kingdom of Jesus there is neither bond nor free. One is as much an object of favor as another. With this feeling, how can a Christian hold his fellow Christian in bondage? How can he regard as a chattel or a thing, one who, like himself, is an heir of glory? How can he sell him on whom the blood of Jesus has been sprinkled? Let him feel that his slave is his equal in the sight of God; that with himself he is an heir of glory; that together they are soon to stand on Mount Zion above; that the slave is an immortal being, and has been redeemed by the blood of Calvary, and how can he hold such a being in bondage, and how can he transfer him from place to place and from hand to hand for gold? If all masters and all slaves were to become Christians, slavery would at once cease; and the prevalence of the single principle before us would put an end to all the ways in which man oppresses his fellow-man. Accordingly, it is well known that in about three centuries the influence of Christianity banished slavery from the Roman empire.
There is neither male nor female – Neither the male nor the female have any special advantages for salvation. There are no favors shown on account of sex. Both sexes are, in this respect, on a level. This does not mean, of course, that the sexes are to be regarded as in all respects equal; nor can it mean that the two sexes may not have special duties and privileges in other respects. It does not prove that one of the sexes may not perform important offices in the church, which would not be proper for the other. It does not prove that the duties of the ministry are to be performed by the female sex, nor that the various duties of domestic life, nor the various offices of society, should be performed without any reference to the distinction of sex. The interpretation should be confined to the matter under consideration; and the passage proves only that in regard to salvation they are on a level.
One sex is not to be regarded as the special favorite of heaven, and the other to be excluded. Christianity thus elevates the female sex to an equality with the male, on the most important of all interests; and it has in this way made most important changes in the world wherever it has prevailed. Everywhere but in connection with the Christian religion, woman has been degraded. She has been kept in ignorance. She has been treated as an inferior in all respects. She has been doomed to unpitied drudgery, and ignorance, and toil. So she was among the ancient Greeks and Romans; so she is among the savages of America; so she is in China, and India, and in the islands of the sea; so she is regarded in the Koran, and in all Muslim countries. It is Christianity alone which has elevated her; and nowhere on earth does man regard the mother of his children as an intelligent companion and friend, except where the influence of the Christian religion has been felt. At the communion table, at the foot of the cross, and in the hopes of heaven, she is on a level with man; and this fact diffuses a mild, and purifying, and elevating influence over all the relations of life. Woman has been raised from deep degradation by the influence of Christianity; and, let me add, she has everywhere acknowledged the debt of gratitude, and devoted herself, as under a deep sense of obligation, to lessening the burdens of humanity, and to the work of elevating the degraded, instructing the ignorant, and comforting the afflicted, all over the world. Never has a debt been better repaid, or the advantages of elevating one portion of the race been more apparent.
For ye are all one in Christ Jesus – You are all equally accepted through the Lord Jesus Christ; or you are all on the same level, and entitled to the same privileges in your Christian profession. Bond and free, male and female, Jew and Greek, are admitted to equal privileges, and are equally acceptable before God. And the church of God, no matter what may be the complexion, the country, the habits, or the rank of its members, is one. Every man, on whom is the image and the blood of Christ, is a brother to every other one who bears that image, and should be treated accordingly. What an influence would be excited in the breaking up of the distinctions of rank and caste among people; what an effect in abolishing the prejudice on account of color and country, if this were universally believed and felt!
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gal 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free.
The unity of true believers
The Christian scheme is a uniting scheme, and all real saints are one in their glorious Head.
I. There is a sense in which the saints are too much one, viz., in that which is evil. They spring from the same depraved original, and are partakers of the same corrupt nature. Though sin does not reign in them, it remains; and too frequently led away captive by it, they act in a manner displeasing to God.
II. There are many respects in which the saints are not one.
1. Natural capacity.
2. Temper and disposition.
3. External advantages.
III. Yet they are really one in Christ Jesus. They are so by virtue of their union with Him, being thereby incorporated into one body, and animated by one spirit, also by virtue of their participation of Him.
1. They are equally objects of the Divine love and favour. One saint may love God more than another; the same saint may love God more at one time than another; but God always loves all His people with the same everlasting, ardent, unalterable affection. Infinite love admits of no degrees.
2. They have the same spiritual privileges. The same gospel is preached, the same Spirit poured on them; they have one Lord, faith, baptism; justified by the same blood, adopted into the same family, regenerated by the same grace, and preserved by the same power.
3. They all hold the Head, Christ Jesus. Differing in circumstantials, they are united in essentials. Inwardly determined for God, they are outwardly obedient to Him. On the other hand, every unconverted man has more hearts than one, and more ways than one.
4. They have the same well-grounded hopes and expectations. As one Father begot them, so one heaven shall receive them. There they shall be one in those senses in which now they are not so, for they shall see eye to eye. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
Unity and union
If there be any truth in revelation, any efficacy to follow the Saviours prayer, any power in the Word of God accompanied by the Divine Spirit, an age must come when the Church will both be and appear to be one.
I. There is an essential unity in the church, independent of the purpose, will, schemes, and devices of man. Sincere and intelligent faith brings souls, without the medium of an ecclesiastical organization, into union with Christ, and therefore with all the members of His spiritual Body which is the Church. There can no more be two Churches than there can be two suns in the solar system. All believers are one, but their unity ought to be visible.
II. Notwithstanding this essential unity, divisions exist in the church. To turn from the ideal Church to that which appears to view is like looking off from a peaceful and tranquil lake to an ocean tossed with tempest. These divisions are in themselves injurious, for by splitting up the forces they take away that combined strength which the Church ought to present to the world; and they also show that bitterness of feeling exists. The clouds that are exhaled from the waters of strife hang, like a thick veil, over the bright orb of religion; religion is seen through them, no doubt, but like the sun seen through a mist–shorn of its beams, diminished in its effulgence. Religion suffers in consequence. Divide and destroy is the watchword of Satan, net of God.
III. What kind of manifestation of this unity should we seek? Our differences of opinion are not trifles; they are serious matters. If one body of believers is right, then the others must be wrong. If all are wrong in some particulars, they should renounce their errors, and unite on the ground of the common truth. How is such a unity to be brought about?
1. By cultivating personal godliness to a much greater extent. Errors of judgment arise, in great measure, out of the corruption of the heart, and soul, and mind, not yet brought into subjection to the mind of Jesus.
2. Unity of affection. External union will never be brought about until mens hearts are knit together as thread is interwoven with thread.
3. Unity of persons. Every Christian grace must be seen. Not sectarian love.
4. Unity of action. Working together as labourers in the same vineyard. The oxen must be yoked quietly together (to use a familiar illustration) before they san draw together; the horses must be harnessed, and stand quiet without kicking each other, before they can draw together; we must be harnessed and yoked in love before we can unite externally.
IV. The means to be used to bring about this desirable union.
1. We shall never obtain it unless we really do desire it. All must long and pray together for the healing of our unhappy divisions.
2. There must be a conviction abroad, that it is everybodys business to do what they can towards accomplishing it. Not ministers only, but lay people as well. The Church is made up of units; let all help.
3. The cultivation of personal religion. The olive branch can never flourish but in the rich soil of personal piety; let that soil be impaired, and the bitter aloe of contention, the thorn, the bramble, the briar, and the nettle of angry controversy will flourish luxuriantly. Man departs from his brother by departing from God; closeness to God will bring each one closer to his brother man. Only the constraining love of Christ can compress and concentrate the Church into a closer union.
4. Let each do what he can in his own narrow circle. Not necessary to wait for the working out of a huge scheme of general union. Heal up the little sores.
5. Be careful about controversy. Dont elevate secondary matters into primary. Study the unity of heaven, and try to realize it on earth. Pray for the Spirits guidance. (J. Angell James.)
Christ and the Church one
I. The oneness of Christ and the Church. The Church is:
(1) many;
(2) manifold; and yet
(3) from this very multitudinousness and manifoldness arises oneness.
II. The truth of the unity and manifoldness of the Church is the basis of new testament morality. (Homilist.)
Grounds of unity
Here are the grounds and reasons for Christian unity.
I. The great end of the gospel is not only to save, but to make one. One great fruit of sin is separation; the great object of the gospel is to bring about unity. Sin is extinguished by the cross; and Christ, the binding element, fills up the chasm between offended God and offending man–of twain making one new man, and so making peace.
II. Our relationship to each other. All are sheep of the same fold.
III. Christs own command. Love one another. That they all may be one.
IV. The safety of the whole body demands it. To be insuperable, Christians must be inseparable. The strength of the Christian Church, like that of Napoleons army, lies in consolidation, presenting a united front.
V. Necessary for the extension of Christs kingdom. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
Union with Christ and its results
I. The fundamental fact.
1. In Christ, as the stone is in the building.
2. As the fugitive is in the city of refuge.
3. As in a seed.
II. The great consequences of this fundamental fact.
1. Distinction of nations ceases.
2. Distinction between man and man ceases.
3. Distinction between strong and weak ceases.
The native consequence of a fallen state is the mastery of the strong over the weak. Might makes right. And to the everlasting disgrace of the male sex the woman became the bond slave of the stronger man. The only shield of womans natural rights is the principle here stated. Thus with one stroke of the pen St. Paul settles the national, personal, and sexual rights of men. By one short sentence he solves the three greatest problems of human society–peace, liberty, fraternity. When all men ate one in Christ, earth will once more be a province of heaven. (J. G. Murphy, LL. D.)
Unity not necessarily uniformity
Look around on all creation, and you will find what metaphysicians have called the monad, that is, the ultimate principle of unity, pervading all, but diversity its continual development, characteristic of all. The cloud takes its multifarious shapes from the wind, its varied splendours from the sunbeam, but its substance remains continually the same. The fable varies in the incident and the story, but the moral is essentially the same; the music has many variations, but the old air, the original air or melody may be detected like a chord in the midst of all these variations. Animal life,. from the humblest zoophyte up to man, the very perfection of physical life, presents every variety of organization, and yet its essential characteristics are the same in the dog, the cat, the horse, and the man. Human life, again, has general characteristics of unity, but you will find the utmost diversity of development. It is to me one of the most extraordinary and inexplicable and mysterious phenomena of the world, that while in this assembly there may be 1,000 or 1,100 faces, with the same characteristic features in all, yet not one is the least like any of the others. The principle of unity pervades the whole; each face has the great, essential, elemental characteristics of a face; yet no two faces, for reasons we cannot explain, are so alike that one might be mistaken for the other. If, again, we take spiritual intelligence, we shall find the same characteristic unity with the same developed variety. For instance, man seems to me to be the lowest link in spiritual intelligence. He is the basis where soul or spirit is united to matter; the next grade is the angel, the next the archangel, then the cherub, and after that the seraph. Here are ascending-grades or diversities in heaven itself, and yet the fundamental characteristics of spiritual life are the same. If, again, I refer to the botanical kingdom, I find that every plant, tree, and flower, have each certain essential and elemental characteristics, and yet the utmost possible variety of development. The fragrance of a violet is perfectly distinct from that of a rose; the colour of a dahlia is totally different from the colour of a daisy. One flower differs from another in its shape, fragrance, appearance, stem, calyx, leaves, and yet all flowers have certain elemental and essential characteristics which distinguish the whole botanical kingdom. If I refer to the mineral kingdom, I find that all minerals are originated and guided by the same law; but one throws off its crystals in the shape of hexagons, another in the shape of pentagons; that is to say, the great law of crystallization in the mineral kingdom is the same, but the development of that law is as varied as variety can possibly be. The snowdrop, the raindrop, the snowflake, the buds of trees, and the blossoms of flowers–all things in the botanical kingdom, all things in the mineral, all in the animal kingdom, and all in nature, have each their own essential elemental characteristic unity, and yet in their developments we find the utmost possible varieties of that unity. And so, I would argue, there may be in the Church, where, I cannot but think, uniformity would be a blemish rather than a beauty. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
Near Christ, near Christians
Observing in a large circle a number of lines called by mathematicians radii, we perceive that in proportion as each radius approaches the centre, it approaches the radius that is next to it; just in proportion to its nearness to the centre is its nearness to the others; and so it is with the Christian Church. It is one vast circumference, and just as we approach to Christ, in life and character, in the same proportion we draw near each other. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
One in Christ
There lies, deep down in the heart of mankind, not always read aright by the spirit of man which is in him, but always read aright by Him who has all hearts in his hand, a craving, yearning, thirsting desire for this reversal of the curse of Babel–for this re-gathering and re-uniting which is to be found only in Christ. We speak of rest as mans want. But what rest? Not a rest of dreamy or dreamless slumber; not a rest of indolent self-indulgence; not a rest of undisturbed self-contained isolation: this cannot satisfy the want of a spirit come from and returning to God; this cannot fill the capacities of a heaven-born, everlasting existence. Underneath the longing for rest lies another longing–and that is for union, unity, oneness; for a voice to recall Gods scattered ones from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea, and make for them one blessed home, not by building upon earth a tower whose top shall reach heaven, but by bringing down out of heaven that holy city of which God, God in Christ, shall be at once the Light, and the Presence, and the Temple. The heart craves union: till it finds union it cannot know rest. And this craving for union is often ignorant, often impatient, often perverse, often sinful. It does not, all at once, even when it hears the gospel, submit itself to Gods will, to Christs direction, as to the end to be sought, or the manner of the seeking. One man, his heart all athirst for that rest which is union, will look out for himself some earthly object, which he may deck with every fancied perfection, and then bow before it as his idol. Another, of a less refined mould and making, will even find a gross, base, and perishing union in some companionship in sinning. For the moment he finds himself less alone; for the moment he has slaked the thirst of his soul at a muddy and a broken cistern–even in a counterfeit union, to be followed by a more aching loneliness than the former. And if men happen to have a different conception of the natural dispersion–either because their affections are less lively, or their ideas wider and more philosophical–then they frame projects, larger or smaller, of combination and fellowship; they will unite men in leagues, societies, associations, which are to reform nations or remodel Churches: disappointed of unity here, they will seek it there: a new sect shall give them that sense of perfect harmony which older creeds and communions have failed to inspire: even an excluding process has been tried, where schemes of comprehension have been found vain: still beyond, a little beyond, has lain the goal of absolute oneness, and still a weary and foot-sore multitude have plodded and tramped after it–in vain! And then, all at once, there enters this world of dispersion and disunion–enters it, as by a small wicket-gate, in remote, insignificant Palestine–One who represents Himself as possessing, for all mankind, for all time, not only the secret of rest, but the very rest itself–One who cries aloud in the temple-court, crowded for a great festival, in words absolutely unique, probably, in philosophy or in religion, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink–drink, as He explains Himself, a water which is absolutely satisfying, because it brings into the soul that kind of rest which is union, union with God, and so union with itself and with its brother. Ye are all one in Christ Jesus. In Him the dispersion is regathered. All things, St. Paul says, in heaven and in earth are gathered together in Him. It seems as though even angels who never fell are in some manner interested and concerned in that regathering. Certainly the dead, equally with the living, are so. And I desire to say to you, this last night, how alone you and I can ever henceforward be at one. Each separately must enter into, must put on, must invest himself with Jesus Christ. Are the words ambiguous? You know what they say. They bid you to cast all your burden of guilt–is it not heavy? too heavy for you?–upon Christ as your atonement. They bid you to cast all your burden of sin and sorrow and conscious weakness–is it not heavy? too heavy for you?–upon Christ as your friend. Then are you inside Him. He includes, He contains you–and in the dread day of days, when the Avenger of blood looks for you, he shall find only Christ–only Jesus Christ and Him crucified, Him risen I In the exercise of that incorporation, of that union, of that oneness, will our true fellowship henceforth be found. You might detain me, you might pursue me, and yet we might not be one–not one person certainly! But if you and I are all inside Christ, then we must be at one. Then all minor differences, of place and intercourse, sink at once into nothing. Place and sight may make the difference of pleasure, of comfort, of expressed communion, of conscious unity. But they make no difference whatever, as to the reality, as to the essence of union. You may worship here, and I there–you may kneel at these rails, I at others–what then? We are all one person in Christ. In the face of such union, let us learn–it is a hard lesson–let us learn to despise and trample under foot all other. What is neighbourhood? What is co-existence? Men live next door to each other, and never meet–meet, and never commune–commune, and never are one. At last a call comes–one goes forth, at the summons of business, of necessity, of the gospel, to a distant shore–seas roll between–they never see, they never hear of each other more–yet, for the first time, they may be one–one person–in Christ. The communion of saints is between them–and therefore the life of life–the resurrection of the dead, and the life everlasting. Now first they are one. Days may pass, months, years, quarters of centuries–but that bond is fastened between them which cannot be broken. Now life is seen to be death, and death life. Now they know, or they shall know, that the Babel-dispersion is a Christ-gathering. They may have loved each other here, and trembled at the great parting. Now they know that that parting is the groat, the first, the final reunion. Or, it may be, here they have not loved equally, not happily, not without doubting. One loved more than the other–the lavished love seemed to be wasted. There was no felt reciprocity–it was all on one side. O, look forward! Spend all your thoughts upon the union in Christ! Make your friend love Him, then he will at last love you! (Dean Vaughan.)
Oneness in Christ
I. This is a doctrine insisted on throughout the New Testament.
II. The ancient world did not recognize the oneness of the race.
1. Savage tribes preyed on each other as they do now.
2. Jew and Greek were at irreconcilable enmity.
3. Philosophers taught that there was an immutable distinction between freeman and slave, male and female.
III. Christianity came to change all that and–
1. To teach the vivifying doctrines of the Fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man.
2. To die that all might be gathered into His fold.
IV. This unity in Christ makes us feel at one with the great and good;
(1) of all ages;
(2) of all climes;
(3) of all denominations;
(4) of all sorts of society. (Archbishop Taft.)
Believers one in Christ
On a sweet summer evening a traveller looked along the valley on this peaceful scene, when a shower of rain was falling. Suddenly the sun broke out, and flung a bright bow on the cloud, that, like that of mercy, discharged its showers on all. The rainbow encircled within its arms suburb and city, lofty church and humble meetinghouse. And was it not a true and happy fancy that saw in this heavenly bow an emblem of that covenant which, irrespective of minor differences, embraces all believers within the same arms of mercy? (Dr. Guthrie.)
The oneness of believers
Souls have no sexes and Christ is no respecter of persons. The servant paid the half-shekel as well as the master (Exo 30:1-38). (Trapp.)
All one in Christ
There are two distinct thoughts in these most wonderful words. St. Paul affirms, first, that the greatest natural differences between men are, as we see them, only temporary, provisional, preparatory.
2. This transformation of the circumstances of human existence has found already a pledge of its accomplishment. Deeper than all which divides you, stronger than all which comes from trine, and place, and circumstance, is this bond of one underlying life which has now been made known in the Son of Man, the Son of God.
3. We are to regard believers not as a family inspired by common affections and with common aims, but as one man, one body quickened by one Spirit, through which the one Lord is manifested to the world. But this doctrine that we men are one man, this doctrine, as it is called, of the solidarity of humanity, is no novelty to the Christian teacher. He finds in it part of the truth which the Incarnation proclaims. Ye all are one man in Christ Jesus. This truth, as we reflect upon it, reveals to us the fulness of life, the promise of life, the motive of life.
I. The fulness of life. When St. Paul declared the impossibility of distinctions between peoples and classes, he did not look to their destruction, but to their perfect use–to their consecration. Again and again it has happened in times of great conflict or peril that the thought of education, and rank, and sex, has passed away, and each one who has had to face the struggle has remembered only that he is an Englishman, or a man. All that he had, all that he was before, remained unchanged; every gift and every power was made to serve the immediate end; but larger interests asserted their supremacy, and the soul acknowledged the claim. So it is with the nobler conflict to which we are called as believers in Christ. We all bring to it the fullest offering of individual service; we keep back nothing, and we rest in nothing. Whatsoever we have that is special is the sign whereby God has revealed His purpose for us. But this is the common thought which hallows every effort, which nerves us for concentrated labour, which bears us beyond the narrow limits of personal aim, which binds together with the strength of their manifold energies the scholar, and the artist, and the craftsman, I am a Christian. By that confession we know the vastness, the fulness of life in its unity in Christ.
II. The promise of life. The unseen life is greater than we know; now and then the veil is lifted from some dark scene, and-through sordid and repulsive surroundings, light and tenderness and self-sacrifice flash out; revealed, not created, by the circumstances through which it is seen. A time of wide distress shows us what the heart of the vast masses of the people is–beating with the one life, and loyal beyond hope to truth and righteousness. Then, when the deep foundations are being laid open; then, when we remember how the Son of Man has fulfilled mans destiny–we are sure that there shall never be one lost virtue, sure that the one life with its purifying energy will not fail, sure that it is life and not death which is the seal of humanity.
III. The motive of life. To work for ourselves is a necessity. If then, we can be enabled to feel that our true self is in Christ, who has taken humanity to Himself, the whole aspect of the world is changed. Can we imagine any motive for labour more inexhaustible or more inspiring than this conviction that the well-being of the whole is imperilled in the least member; that subtle influences pass ever over each one of us at every moment which must work for all time; that at every moment we are all entering on the inheritance of the one life, marred or made richer, as it may be, by the action of our fellows? Ye all are one man in Christ Jesus. It is through us that Christ works. He is the vine, we are the branches; but where, without the branches, is the manifold fertility of the vine? He is the head, we are the members; but where without the members is the prevailing energy of the body? Ye all are one man in Christ Jesus. As we ponder the words and follow them beyond this region of conflict and succession, they disclose a prospect in which our souls can rest. (Canon Westcott.)
Unity in diversity
There are three classes of obstacles to all union, and therefore to Christian union, and to the realization of the wondrous prayer of the Lord Jesus. These difficulties arise out of a threefold distinction that may be made among human beings. The Apostle Paul, in my text, does in three different ways divide mankind. He makes a threefold separation of the human race into two dissimilar classes, which, though here and there correspondent with one another, are by no means parallel the one to the other. This classification is governed by
(1) the great intellectual differences and antagonisms among men;
(2) the chief emotional and constitutional differences of character; and
(3) the prodigious distinctions effected by external circumstances. It is true that St. Paul presents these three antitheses in a pictorial fashion, in a vivid and concrete form, before our consideration, but it is none the less obvious that he is thinking of more than the literal meaning of his own words.
I. The first of these divisions was based on that great antagonism which was so admirably expressed in the apostles day by the intellectual differences obtaining between the Jew and the Greek. The Jew, strictly speaking, was the member of the holy family, the descendant of Abraham and Israel, a representative of that well-known nationality which had better reasons: than any other Oriental people possessed, to believe that it was the special object of Divine care, and providence, and government. Thus the Jew became the type of all who, in every age of the Church, are, by their education, their mental habits, their strong dispositions, disposed to lay violent stress on the external sign, on the old tradition, even to the exclusion of the realities which are indicated by them. Now let us look at the other great type of intellectual character–the Greek. The term, even in the Acts of the Apostles and elsewhere in the–New Testament, meant more than a Gentile proselyte to the faith of Christ; and the word Grecian or Hellenist meant more than a Greek-speaking Jew. It is capable of proof that there was in Judaism a Grecized party even before the time of our Lord, and it is quite clear that the Grecian converts to the faith of Jesus were rather characterized by the freshness of their ideas, the freedom of their speculations, the liberty which they claimed from oppressive rite and ceremonial, than by their mother-tongue. No classes of mind could be more directly opposed and dissimilar in their modes of working than those of the pure Jew and pure Greek. To Jewish conservatism the Greek opposed an incessant love of change; to the Jewish love of tradition and dependence upon the wisdom of the ancients the Greek offered endless speculation and elaborate guesses after truth; instead of the Jewish dogma the Greek luxuriated in the last logical puzzle. By the side of the stern exclusiveness of the Jewish Monotheism, the Greek prided himself in a Pantheon of deities, who were admitted on equal and easy terms to the reverence of the Hellenes. The mind of the Jew was hampered in its philosophical researches by a language of great metrical power, but of comparative rigidity of movement and excessive externality and objectivity; the Greek used the most flexible and delicate instrument of thought which human minds had ever fashioned. The Jew accepted the supernatural with child-like simplicity, and asked eagerly for more; the Greek sought after the causes of things, the meaning of words, the essence of government, the unseen and intangible realities. It is not a wonderful thing that St. Paul should have said, The Jew requires a sign, the Greek seeks after wisdom. The unrestrained liberty of the Greek was not without its serious dangers when it was brought by Divine grace within the limit of the true Church. If the two types of mental character of which I have spoken be found within the Church of Christ, we may expect sharp and sustained antagonism. Even regeneration will not change these grave and fundamental differences of mental constitution. How difficult must it ever prove for these two kinds of men to feel the deep-hidden unity which is possible between them! To put the matter in a concrete form, how difficult for one who imagines religious life to be inseparably associated with form, ceremonial, priesthood, sacraments, liturgies, elaborate dogmatic creeds and transcendental propositions, even to believe in the Christianity of another, whose only notion of it is a holy life, free from all these restraints; who thinks, speculates, philosophizes, and tries to prove all things, and only to hold fast that which is good! Verily, if these tendencies are left to themselves unchecked and unchastised, very distant will be the day when Jew and Greek shall be one.
II. The second of them is the great constitutional and emotional difference of character expressed by the antithesis of male and female. It is not merely the difference of sex of which the apostle is speaking, but rather of the great types of character, which, though not confined to either sex, are best expressed by the terms masculine and feminine. By masculine character, we mean the predominance over the passions of reason and conscience, the energy of will, the submission to law, the conscious pride of independence, strength, self-sufficiency, robust and vigorous life. By feminine character, whether seen in woman or man, we mean the predominance of the affections, the delight of dependence, the unreasoning consciousness of right, the strength of submission, the power of suffering, self-sacrifice, and waiting. In the one there is more power to act, in the other to endure. The strength of the one is energy, and of the other is rest. Both may be led to do what is good; but the one because it is right, and the other because it is lovely. The one looks at religion as a system of principles, the other as the expression of deep feelings. The one sees no religion in mere states of mind, devotional postures, strong sentiments; and the other cannot understand the religion of mere principle and energy. How shall these two types of character be harmonized?
III. The third great decision is that due to differences arising out of external circumstances. The bond and the free are the terms which Paul used to describe this great contrast. But though formal slavery be abolished, the distinction between different classes of men is not obliterated. Caste still prevails in India; the difference between the black negro and the Southern planter or Northern merchant will still abide in America. The struggle between capital and labour, and the contrast between rank and wealth and power on the one hand, poverty, dependence, and obscurity on the other, are as vigorous and obvious as they ever were. How hard it is to bridge the gulf between the lordly owner of a county and the half-clad, unclean, besotted, diseased inmate of some hovel within sight of his palace! How difficult to make even Christian people lay down their pride, and their caste, and love one another with a pure heart fervently! Legislation, common griefs and joys, healthful literature, and free press, are bringing these separate classes into one anothers view, and some of the reserve and mutual antipathy may be overcome in the foremost of the nations; but still within the Church, as well as outside its pale, there are the bond and the free. In the person of Jesus Christ is found the true point of contact for them all.
1. That the intellectual antagonism between Jew and Greek, of every age and Church, finds in Christ its true counteraction. The modern representative of the Jew within the Church, when he looks through the form and the letter, and the medium and the visible sign, to the reality which makes him Christian, heartily confesses that it is Christ crucified who satisfies his search. The Jew and Greek of St. Pauls day meet before the cross. Come, says the Hebrew of Hebrews to the sinner of the Gentiles, come, brother; thou who weft afar off art made nigh by the blood of Jesus. He is our peace, who has made both of us one, and hath broken down the wall of partition between us: Let thee and me clasp hands before the cross, for we two have access by one Spirit unto the Father. And the Greek responds, I verily am no more stranger or foreigner, but a fellow-heir and of the same body, and partaker of Divine promise. There is now neither Jew nor Greek; they are both one in Christ Jesus.
2. Christ Jesus is the mediating power between the masculine and feminine mind. Christ is the well-spring of the strong motives to right action and of the deepest passions of holy love. As the mountain torrent may leap with wild pomp and energy from the same water-shed from which, by a quieter transit, other and a gentle stream may wind its way to the great ocean, reflecting far and fairy-like from high the immortal lights which live along the sky, so too from the same fountain of deep emotions and great purposes varied lives may flow. As the two streams of water mingle at length, to do ever after a united work, so the two classes of mind, when they learn the lesson that from the one Christ they both derive their life and hope, then, like friends once parted, grown single-hearted, their love begins to abound. (H. R. Reynolds, B. A.)
In Christ
I. All distinctions are lost.
II. All differences harmonized.
III. All hearts united.
IV. All personal accomplishments ignored.
Christian unity
I. Its foundation.
II. Completeness.
III. End.
In Christ we have–
I. One foundation of hope.
II. One pattern of imitation.
III. One motive of action.
IV. One object of triumph.
Observe–
I. The test–if ye are Christs, by faith–redeeming grace–holy consecration.
II. The privilege–then are ye Abrahams seed included in the covenant–heirs of God, of every blessing, of heaven.
III. The foundation of it–the free–unmerited–unchangeable promise of God. (J. Lyth.)
Christ the centre of Christian union
I. The great central truth of Christian union is the central truth of Christianity itself, which is Christ crucified. Destroy the centre of any system, you have destroyed the system itself. Now, beloved, a great and essential doctrine is placed before you here. All believers are one in Christ Jesus. They have a vital union with Jesus. That includes, too, this great and precious truth–accepted and justified in Christ Jesus. Again, this being in Christ involves our preservation. The child of God is kept not by any power of his own.
II. The consequent unity of all believers in the Lord. The unity of the Church of Christ does not spring out of anything in that Church, but out of the oneness of that Church in Christ. Unity pervades all Gods works and operations–unity, not uniformity. You will find a marvellous richness of diversity in all the works of God. There is unity and there is diversity. The family of God is essentially one, and yet constituted into different households. Now I would remind you, in the first place, beloved, that the unity of the Church of God grows out of the unity of all believers in Christ the one Head. All true believers hold Christ the one Head of the Church. Then, brethren, the essential unity of the Church consists in the indwelling of the self-same Spirit. Every believer is a temple of the Holy Ghost. All believers in Christ then are essentially one. And, brother, how much is there in the circumstances of a child of God to unfold the essential unity of the Church of God? We have the same trials, afflictions, temptations; we take, oftentimes, the same dreary, lonely, tiresome path. O, how much is there in Gods providential dealings with us in our trials, our sorrows, our temptations, to knit the saints of God more closely to their Head!
III. And now, in conclusion, let me remind you that there grows out of this great and precious truth some solemn obligations and precious blessings. I will, in the briefest manner, refer to this point; and, first, with regard to obligations set forth in the Scriptures. If we are in Christ, and Christ is the centre of our union, then we are bound to recognize the unity of Gods dear ones. We are to recognize it. We are to hail a brother in Christ as a brother wherever we find him. My beloved hearers, the world is a keen observer of the Church of God. The world cares not one iota how we differ on points of Church government, or of doctrine, but the world looks at the Church of God in its union. It expects to find oneness, brotherly love, sympathy, co-operation. Therefore, I earnestly implore you, first to recognize the unity of all Gods dear saints with one another, and then to express and manifest a loving spirit. Brethren, shall I advert for a moment to the blessings that will accrue from your recognition and manifestation of this great and glorious truth, the essential unity of the Church? Let me remind you that your happiness will be promoted by it. And not only your happiness, but your holiness will be promoted by your recognition of brotherly love. I will only add that usefulness is another blessing that springs from the recognition and manifestation of union. Beloved, we are useful, not as we stand out in our individual isolated condition. We are useful for Christ in combination–combination of judgment, of heart, of purpose. (Octavius Winslow, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek] , Greek, is put here for , heathen. Under the Gospel all distinctions are done away, as either helping or hindering; all are equally welcome to Christ, and all have an equal need of him; all persons of all sects, and conditions, and sexes, who believe in him, become one family through him; they are one body, of which he is the head.
Neither male nor female] With great reason the apostle introduces this. Between the privileges of men and women there was a great disparity among the Jews. A man might shave his head, and rend his clothes in the time of mourning; a woman was not permitted to do so. A man might impose the vow of nasirate upon his son; a woman could not do this on her daughter. A man might be shorn on account of the nasirate of his father; a woman could not. A man might betroth his daughter; a woman had no such power. A man might sell his daughter; a woman could not. In many cases they were treated more like children than adults; and to this day are not permitted to assemble with the men in the synagogues, but are put up in galleries, where they can scarcely see, nor can they be seen. Under the blessed spirit of Christianity, they have equal rights, equal privileges, and equal blessings; and, let me add, they are equally useful.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
There is neither Jew nor Greek; in the business or justification, the case of Jews and Greeks is the same. This he saith, that the Galatians might not think themselves disadvantaged from their not being under the law, as the schoolmaster that should lead them unto Christ.
There is neither bond nor free; neither doth Christ consider the qualities and circumstances of persons, whether they be servants or free men; for though they be servants, Christ hath made them free, 1Co 7:22; Eph 6:8; Col 3:11.
There is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus: neither hath Christ any respect to sexes: the male children under the law had many privileges; but it is all a case under the gospel, whether persons be males or females, Jews or Gentiles, rich or poor, servants or masters, bond-men or free-men.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
28. There is in this sonship byfaith in Christ, no class privileged above another, as the Jews underthe law had been above the Gentiles (Rom 10:12;1Co 12:13; Col 3:11).
bond nor freeChristalike belongs to both by faith; whence he puts “bond”before “free.” Compare Note, see on 1Co7:21, 22; Eph 6:8.
neither male norfemalerather, as Greek, “there is not maleand female.” There is no distinction into male andfemale. Difference of sex makes no difference in Christianprivileges. But under the law the male sex had great privileges.Males alone had in their body circumcision, the sign of the covenant(contrast baptism applied to male and female alike); theyalone were capable of being kings and priests, whereas all of eithersex are now “kings and priests unto God” (Re1:6); they had prior right to inheritances. In the resurrectionthe relation of the sexes shall cease (Lu20:35).
oneGreek, “oneman”; masculine, not neuter, namely “one new man” inChrist (Eph 2:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
There is neither Jew nor Greek,…. Not but that there were such in being; and in the churches of Christ, for the primitive churches consisted of both; but the meaning is, that there is no difference between them, the middle wall of partition being broken down, and that, in the business of justification and salvation, it signified nothing whether a man was a Jew or a Greek; he was never the better for being a circumcised Jew, nor never the worse for being an uncircumcised Gentile; both by nature are equally sinners, and stand in need of the justifying righteousness of Christ, and the regenerating grace of the Spirit. The Gospel was equally preached to both, and was made useful to some of the one and of the other; and who, believing in Christ, had a right to the same ordinances and privileges of the Gospel, and shared in the same blessings of grace.
There is neither bond nor free. There were such persons in the world then, and in the churches too; nor does the Gospel dissolve the civil and natural relations and obligations men are in and under to one another, it confirms and secures them; but the sense is, that God, in calling, justifying, and saving men, is no respecter of persons, as being high and low, rich and poor, bond or free, servants or masters: he calls, justifies, and saves men of every station and condition of life; and bond slaves and servants called by grace are Christ’s free men, and have an equal right as those that are free to all the immunities of the Gospel: in some Heathen nations bond slaves and servants were not admitted, only freemen, to be present at the sacred service, and worship of their deities r; but the Gospel makes no such distinction of men in its doctrine, worship, and ordinances, which lie open to all ranks and orders of men:
there is neither male nor female; among the Heathens s also females were not admitted to some of their sacred rites and ceremonies; and among the Jews the males only were concerned in many things both of a civil and religious nature; no female might be heir to an inheritance with a male t; females had no share in the civil government, nor in the priesthood; males were to appear three times a year before the Lord, and, according to their oral law, women and servants were exempted u; the mark of circumcision, the sign of the covenant made with Abraham and his natural seed, was only upon the males; but now under the Gospel dispensation there is no distinction made between male and female as to divine things; as they are alike called by the grace of God, they have the same right to Gospel ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s supper, and to every spiritual privilege. The apostle’s design is to show the common right of believers, of every nation, condition, and sex, and to encourage the Gentiles, and demolish the pride, vanity, and boasting of the Jews, their men especially, who valued themselves upon these “three” very things which the apostle here makes no account of; as that they were Israelites and not Gentiles, freemen and not servants, men and not women; and in their public prayers they give thanks to God in this form,
“blessed be the Lord our God, the King of the world, that he hath made me an Israelite; blessed be the Lord, c. who hath not made me a Gentile blessed be the Lord, c. who hath not made me a “servant” blessed be the Lord, c. who hath not made me a “woman””
instead of which last the woman say,
“blessed be the Lord, c. who hath made me as he pleased w:”
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus being alike chosen in him, united to him, redeemed by his blood, justified by his righteousness, regenerated by his Spirit, the children of God by faith in him, and heirs of the same grace and glory, they make, both Jews and Gentiles, bond and free, male and female, as it were but one new man in him; one body, of which he is the head, one spiritual seed of Abraham and of Christ.
r Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dierum, l. 2. c. 14. Aurel. Victor. de orig. Gent. Rom. c. 8. Aristophanis Thesmophor, & Bourdin in ib. p. 782. s Alex. ab Alex. ib. Aurel. Victor, c. 6. t Maimon. Nechalot, c. 1. sect. 1, 2. u Misn. Chagiga, c. 1. sect. 1. w Sedor Tephillot, fol. 2. 2. Ed. Basil. fol. 4. 1. Ed. Amst. T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 13. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
There can be neither ( ). Not a shortened form of , but the old lengthened form of with recessive accent. So means “there is not” rather than “there cannot be,” a statement of a fact rather than a possibility, as Burton rightly shows against Lightfoot.
One man (). No word for “man” in the Greek, and yet is masculine, not neuter . “One moral personality” (Vincent). The point is that “in Christ Jesus” race or national distinctions (“neither Jew nor Greek”) do not exist, class differences (“neither bond nor free,” no proletarianism and no capitalism) vanish, sex rivalry (“no male and female”) disappears. This radical statement marks out the path along which Christianity was to come in the sphere () and spirit and power of Christ. Candour compels one to confess that this goal has not yet been fully attained. But we are on the road and there is no hope on any way than on “the Jesus Road.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1 ) “There is neither Jew nor Greek,” (ouk eni loudaios oude hellen) “There cannot be (exist) neither Jew nor Greek,” In Christ, in the new nature, the Divine nature, the sinless nature, that is not polluted by race-sin, Joh 3:6; 2Pe 1:4. The Jew and Greek nature, do remain in them till death, however, after Salvation.
2) “There is neither bond nor free”, (ouk eni doulos oude eleutheros) “There can not be (exist) a slave or a freeman;” this means in the new man, the new nature of the saved person – one saved person does not have a slave nature and another a free or liberated nature, but all without conflict have the same kind of divine nature, free, Joh 8:36.
3) “There is neither male nor female,” (ouk eni Arsen kai thelu) “There can not be (exist) male and female,” in the Divine nature. If one were a male or female, Slave or freeborn before Salvation, he would be the same, in the flesh after salvation, but the standing of all would be the same before God in the Spirit nature.
4) “For ye are all one in Christ Jesus,” (pantes gar humeis eis este en Christo) “For you all are (exist) one in Christ Jesus,” one in nature, Divine, Supernatural, Holy – in the new nature, obtained in the new-creature, new birth through faith in Jesus Christ. 2Co 5:17; 1Jn 3:6; Eph 2:8-10; 1Jn 5:1; Joh 1:11-12.
To argue that the new nature of oneness of believers erases all race, sex, and social service orders in society is a perversion of the meaning, intent, and design of this Scripture. And such a contention tends toward moral infidelity, nudism, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, disregards for Bible Standards of ordination of elders etc. The oneness of a new nature, redemption, and heirship with Christ it is simply affirmed, comes thru faith in the Christ of God’s promise to Abraham, not thru deeds of the Mosaic Law. Any other application of the passage removes it from context and makes it a pretext for error.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
28. There is neither Jew nor Greek. The meaning is, that there is no distinction of persons here, and therefore it is of no consequence to what nation or condition any one may belong: nor is circumcision any more regarded than sex or civil rank. And why? Because Christ makes them all one. Whatever may have been their former differences, Christ alone is able to unite them all. Ye are one: the distinction is now removed. The apostle’s object is to shew that the grace of adoption, and the hope of salvation, do not depend on the law, but are contained in Christ alone, who therefore is all. Greek is here put, as usual, for Gentile, and one department for the whole class.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(28) This verse continues the proof that all Christians are, in the fullest sense, sons of God. Gal. 3:27 showed why this was so; the present verse shows that there are no exceptions, no inequalities. All Christians alike, no matter what their race, status, or sex, stand on the same footing of sonship before God. There is a unity or solidarity in the Christian body. What is true of one is true of all.
Greek.The spread of the Greek race through the conquests of Alexander, their ubiquitous presence, and the use of the Greek language as a universal medium of communication, led to the name Greek being applied to all who were not Jews. Jew and Greek is intended to be an exhaustive division of the human race, just as bond or free, male and female.
This verse marks the immense stride made by Christianity in sweeping away the artificial distinctions which had been the bane of the ancient world, and prevented any true feeling of brotherhood springing up in it. Christianity, at one stroke, established the brotherhood and abolished the distinctions.
One.The word one is masculineone man, a single personas explained in the paraphrase above.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
28. Neither Jew nor Greek In the offer of salvation by Christ all are on a level; in the salvation received all are one. The Jew loses his pre-eminence, and sits at the same communion with the Greek.
Greek A representative name for all Gentiles.
Bond nor free Though ranks are not at once overthrown, yet the terms of salvation, and the enjoyment of its gift, are as free to slave as to master, to one colour as to another.
Male nor female The terms and privileges of salvation know no sex.
All one One gospel, one Church of the justified, one final heaven.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’
And as all who are His are ‘sons of God’ there can be no difference between them. Being a Jew or a Gentile (thought of by Jews as ‘dogs’) has been done away in Christ, a full answer to the Judaisers. The Gentile does not have to become a Jew because in Christ he stands in an equal position of acceptability before God without doing so. (But he does become a member of the new Israel, the Israel of God (Gal 6:16) which incorporates both Jews and Gentiles. That is the central message of Eph 2:11-22. ‘Jew’ does not equal ‘Israel’, it is Jewish distinctiveness that is in mind here). Furthermore being bond-slaves or free makes no difference for they are now brothers (Phm 1:16), of equal standing before God and in each others eyes. Many saw slaves as mere chattels, not as persons (Aristotle called them ‘animated tools’), but Christ has changed all that for in Christ they are brothers. Even the distinction between male and female has been done away. No longer should the male arrogantly lord it over the female. They should recognise their equal worth before God. For ‘in Christ’ all are equal, of equal honour and of equal standing. For they are all ‘sons of God’ and united as one in Him. This relates, of course, to their standing and status before God, not to their inter-relationships within the world.
In the Christian world the difference between Jew and Gentile ceased because every individual became of equal worth. In Christ such distinctions cease. So the Law no longer affects them. Master and slave becomes a relationship between two brothers, a revolutionary concept, even though one still legally had rights over the other. And the female gains a position of equality with the male. This latter was especially important in view of the low opinion of women held by many, especially by the Pharisees, who would pray, ‘I thank God you have not made me a woman’, but they were not alone in their opinion.
But while this will affect the behaviour between these different functionaries in society it is not describing how that behaviour will be conducted. Many slaves of benevolent Christian masters would not want to be freed. There were worse things than slavery under a benevolent master. And women were still to recognise the ‘lordship’ of their husbands (Eph 5:22-33), and be ‘in subjection’ to them. There were still masters and servants. But in Christ they were all of equal value.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gal 3:28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, That is to say, nor Gentile. “All distinctions are now put an end to, by this happy union; all are equally accepted in Christ Jesus; and, being made one body in him, believers, of whatever nation, sex, or condition, are all cemented in the bonds of holy friendship, and animated with the views of the same happiness.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gal 3:28 . After ye have thus put on Christ, the distinctions of your various relations of life apart from Christianity have vanished; from the standpoint of this new condition they have no further validity, any more than if they were not in existence.
] is an abbreviated form for (1Co 6:5 ; Col 3:11 ; Jas 1:17 ), not the adverbially used preposition (Hom. Od . vii. 96; Schaefer, ad Bos . p. 51; Khner, II. 618), as Winer, Usteri, Wieseler, and others assume, with the accent thrown back. Against this view it is decisive, that very frequently and are used together (1Co 6:5 , and frequently in Greek authors, as Xen. Anab . v. 3. 11; Herod, vii. 112), and yet there is no added, whereby the shows that it stands independently as a compound word = or . Comp. Ellendt, Lex. Soph . I. p. 591. Translate: there is not , namely, in this state of things when ye have all put on Christ, a Jew , etc. The in Gal 3:28-29 shows that the individualizing form of statement, applying to the readers , is still continued; therefore Hofmann is wrong, although consistent with his erroneous interpretation of the second person in Gal 3:26 f., in taking as general: “in Christ ,” or “ now since faith has come ,” on the ground that is not added (which was obvious of itself from the context). As to the idea generally, comp. Col 3:11 ; Rom 10:12 ; 1Co 12:13 .
] Comp. Mat 19:4 . The relation here is conceived otherwise than in the previous , namely: there are not male and female , two sexes; so that the negative is not to be supplied after (Bornemann, ad Act . xv. 1).
. . .] Proof from the relation cancelling these distinctions, which is now constituted: For ye all are one , ye form a single moral person; so that now those distinctions of individuals outside of Christianity appear as non-existent, completely merged in that higher unity to which ye are all raised in virtue of your fellowship of life with Christ. This is the , Eph 2:15 . Observe the emphatic as in Gal 3:26 , and in Gal 3:27 .
] Definition of . They are one, namely, not absolutely, but in the definite sense of their relation as Christians, inasmuch as this unity is causally dependent on Christ, to whom they all belong and live (Gal 2:20 ; 2Co 5:15 f.; Rom 14:8 ). See Col 3:11 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Ver. 28. Ye are all one in Christ ] Souls have no sexes, and Christ is no respecter of persons. The servant paid the half shekel, as well as the master, Exo 30:12-16
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
28 .] The absolute equality of all in this sonship, to the obliteration of all differences of earthly extraction or position. See Col 3:11 ; Rom 10:12 ; 1Co 12:13 . = ‘il n’y a pas:’ De Wette quotes Plato, Gorg. 507, , . Buttmann (ii. 299), Khner (i. 671), Winer ( 14. 2, remark), maintain to be a form of the preposition , and the same of , , &c. But Meyer replies, that all those passages are against this view, where and occur together, as 1Co 6:5 ; Xen. Anab. v. 3. 11. Observe, . ., ., but : the two former being accidental distinctions which may be entirely put off in falling back on our humanity, but the latter a necessary distinction, absorbed however in the higher category: q. d. “there is no distinction into male and female.” . , generalized by the neuter, as being the only gender which will express both.
, reason why there is neither, &c. viz. our unity in Christ. On the unavoidable inference from an assertion like this, that Christianity did alter the condition of women and slaves, see Jowett’s note.
, more forcible and more strict than : for we are one, in Him , , as he says in Eph 2:15 , speaking on this very subject.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Gal 3:28 . Having now established the temporary and subordinate function of the Law, the Apostle finally repudiates every claim, whether on that or any other ground, on behalf of any distinct class to superior sanctity in Christ. All Christians, whatever their antecedents, are one in Christ. . Distinctions of creed or race are incompatible with true membership of Christ: the legal barriers and social cleft which severed freeman from slave, even natural divisions as deep-seated as those of sex, disappear in presence of the all-absorbing unity of the body of Christ. is a strengthened form of used for , as , , are for , , . . Special stress is laid on this pronoun by its insertion with : the Galatians were themselves a signal instance of the power of the Gospel to make men one in Christ: for their Churches were gathered out of the most diverse elements: Jew and Gentile, slave and freeman, male and female, had all contributed to their composition.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
neither = not. App-105.
nor. Greek. oude.
Greek. See Rom 1:14.
bond = bond slave. Greek. doulos. App-190.
male. Greek. arsen. App-123.
nor = and.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
28.] The absolute equality of all in this sonship, to the obliteration of all differences of earthly extraction or position. See Col 3:11; Rom 10:12; 1Co 12:13. = -il ny a pas: De Wette quotes Plato, Gorg. 507, , . Buttmann (ii. 299), Khner (i. 671), Winer ( 14. 2, remark), maintain to be a form of the preposition , and the same of , , &c. But Meyer replies, that all those passages are against this view, where and occur together, as 1Co 6:5; Xen. Anab. v. 3. 11. Observe, . ., .,-but : the two former being accidental distinctions which may be entirely put off in falling back on our humanity,-but the latter a necessary distinction, absorbed however in the higher category: q. d. there is no distinction into male and female. . , generalized by the neuter, as being the only gender which will express both.
, reason why there is neither, &c.-viz. our unity in Christ. On the unavoidable inference from an assertion like this, that Christianity did alter the condition of women and slaves, see Jowetts note.
, more forcible and more strict than : for we are one, in Him, , as he says in Eph 2:15, speaking on this very subject.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Gal 3:28. , there is not) These were formerly differences, now they are at an end, along with their causes and signs: for , with the preposition to which presently corresponds.-, .., the Jew, etc.) Col 3:11, note.- , male and female) In the circumcision there was the male: for the weaker sex, by which the transgression began, was without it.-, one) A new man, who has put on Christ, Eph 2:15.- , in Christ Jesus) construed with one.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Gal 3:28
Gal 3:28
There can be neither Jew nor Greek,-There is no difference between Jew and Greek coming into Christ. They all stand on an equal footing before God, and they must enter into Christ on the same terms.
there can be neither bond nor free,-[Social distinctions do not obtain in Christ; the rich and the poor, the master and the slave, the wise and simple meet together in Christ to share a common salvation.] But entering into Christ did not destroy the distinction between master and slave. Each had duties growing out of his position and relation peculiar to himself after becoming Christians. (Col 3:22; Col 4:1).
there can be no male and female;-Male and female are equally accepted in Christ, and without reference to that which distinguishes each, may enjoy the mercies and blessings of God in Christ. This had not been so under the Jewish dispensation. It does not mean that all could indiscriminately perform,all the work and duties in the church. All men cannot occupy the same or similar positions. The husband is to be the head of the wife, and the wife is to be subject to him. (Eph 5:23-24; 1 Peter 3). Saying that husband and wife are one does not mean that there are no duties peculiar to each in the marriage relation. The wife is to bear children, guide the house, be a worker at home; the husband and father provides for, and is the head of, the family. Men have obligations as men, from which women are exempted, and women, as women, that do not pertain to men.
for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus.-All with the peculiarities that pertain to each are admitted into Christ on the same terms. [These distinctions of individuals outside of Christ appear as nonexistent, completely merged in that higher unity to which they were all raised in virtue of their fellowship in Christ, but in the definite sense of their relation as Christians, inasmuch as this unity was wholly dependent upon Christ, to all believers live and belong. (Gal 2:20; 2Co 5:15; Rom 14:18).]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
neither: Gal 5:6, Rom 1:16, Rom 2:9, Rom 2:10, Rom 3:29, Rom 3:30, Rom 4:11, Rom 4:12, Rom 9:24, Rom 10:12-15, 1Co 7:19, 1Co 12:13, Eph 3:5-10, Col 3:11
male: 1Co 7:14
for: Joh 10:16, Joh 11:52, Joh 17:20, Joh 17:21, 1Co 12:12, Eph 2:13-22, Eph 4:4, Eph 4:15, Eph 4:16
Reciprocal: Gen 7:9 – General Gen 12:3 – in thee Gen 17:4 – a father Gen 17:10 – Every Gen 22:18 – And in Exo 12:48 – shall be Exo 12:49 – General Exo 35:25 – General Lev 3:6 – male Lev 4:28 – a female Lev 12:7 – a male Num 15:15 – One Num 27:1 – Zelophehad Num 27:6 – General Num 27:7 – General Num 30:15 – he shall bear Num 35:15 – General Deu 23:1 – wounded Deu 29:11 – the hewer Jos 17:4 – The Lord commanded Jdg 4:4 – General Isa 6:13 – so the holy Isa 49:18 – all these Isa 60:4 – they come Eze 17:23 – under Eze 47:22 – they shall have Joe 2:28 – your daughters Joe 2:29 – General Zec 3:4 – Take Zec 8:13 – ye shall Zec 9:7 – a governor Mat 3:11 – he shall Mat 8:11 – That Mar 7:26 – Greek Luk 3:8 – of these Joh 12:20 – Greeks Joh 17:23 – I Act 2:18 – on my servants Act 5:14 – multitudes Act 8:12 – both Act 10:11 – and a Act 10:35 – in Act 14:1 – Greeks Act 15:9 – put Act 16:13 – spake Act 19:10 – both Rom 3:22 – for there Rom 8:1 – in 1Co 7:21 – being 1Co 11:11 – General 2Co 5:17 – be Gal 3:29 – Abraham’s Eph 2:14 – both Eph 6:8 – whether Col 2:2 – being Heb 7:4 – Abraham Rev 13:16 – free
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE UNITY OF LIFE
Ye all are one man in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:28 (R. V.)
It is a sublime watchword. Doubtless we are often forgetful of it, even deliberately false to it. But the words are there to be a constant check upon us, to recall us from strife and jealousy and selfishness and self-assertion to the idealism of the Gospel. One man! We can hardly miss the force of the expression. It is absent to a great extent from the rendering in our Authorised Version, but in the Revised Version it is fully brought out. The life of all Christians is pourtrayed as one human life to which each individual existence is but contributory. The solidarity is a living solidarity. It finds its likeness not in the unity of that which is unconscious, but in the self-realisation of a rational and spiritual being. Ye all are one man in Christ Jesus.
I. Co-operation is a familiar idea to us all.We are accustomed to see great masses of men animated by one dominant motive, pressing on as some disciplined army to a common end, inspired by the same thoughts, moved it may be by the same antagonisms and hatreds, upheld by the same hopes and ideals. We are used to see men sink their individual differences for one supreme purpose, and forget what separates them in the acknowledgment of what they have in common.
II. The unity of Christians has its source in the personal life of Christ.The Incarnate, Crucified, Risen Saviour is the pledge of our human solidarity. It is not merely that we all look back to Him; it is not merely that we all believe in Him; it is not merely that we all hope for the fullness of His everlasting kingdom; it is that His Life embraces ours, and that in that wondrous embracement we all are one.
III. The words ought to haunt those of us who are engaged in public life.They bid us see things in a true perspective. They press upon us the realisation that even international divergencies ought to be merged in the conception of a higher unity.
IV. There ought to be, there can be, no peace for us so long as so many of those who are partakers of that one Christian life, which we owe to the Saviour of the world, are wretched, suffering, disease-stricken, sin-stricken, depraved. We cannot stand by and say that these things matter nothing to us. The call to us is to give ourselves. We are bidden serve those who are bound up with us in a common life. And this commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his brother alsoand in Him we are all brethren.
Rev. the Hon. W. E. Bowen.
Illustration
There is a beautiful Indian legendtold by Bishop Westcott in one of his sermonsof a Buddhist saint who had attained to the stage next Nirvana. The final reward was at last within his reach, but he turned away from it. Not, he said, till the last soul on every earth and in every hell has found peace can I enter on my rest.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Gal 3:28. , , -There is among such neither Jew nor Greek, there is among such neither bond nor free, there is not among such a male and a female. The is supposed by Buttmann, Khner, Winer, and Robinson to be another form of the preposition with a stronger accent, after the analogy of and ,-the notion of the verb being so subordinated that it is dropped (Khner, 379, 2). But what then is to be said of clauses in which and are used together, as 1Co 6:5; Xen. Anab. 5.3, 11; Plato, Phaedo, 77 E? Others take it as a contracted form of . The sense is not different, whatever view be adopted. In the New Testament it is usually preceded by , as 1Co 6:5, Col 3:11, Jam 1:17. is a strong negative-there is not among you, almost equivalent in strength to there cannot be among you. De Wette denies the reference in you, and understands it, there is not in this putting on of Christ; others give it in Christ (Koppe, Webster and Wilkinson), or in that state (Hofmann). But this narrows the reference, and does not harmonize with the last personal clause. In the spiritual family of God, the distinctions of race, social position, and even of sex, are lost sight of. National, social, and sexual distinctions cease to exercise their special influence. The Jew is not to the exclusion of the Greek, nor the Greek to the exclusion of the Jew-; the bond is not accepted to the refusal of the free, nor the free to the refusal of the bond. Not that in themselves such distinctions cease to exist, but they interfere not with spiritual oneness and privilege. They are so noted in the world as to divide society: Jew and Greek are in reciprocal alienation; bond and free are separated by a great gulf; to the male much was accorded in prerogative which is denied to the female, such as the ordinance on which the Judaists insisted; but these minor characteristics are now merged in a higher unity among the children of God. Such differences were specially prominent and exclusive in ancient times. 1Co 11:7-9.
The generalized neuters are not connected, as the previous two pairs, by , but by (Gen 1:27; Mar 10:6), for the distinction is not of race or rank, but of physical and unchangeable organization. Duality is denied: there is no longer a male and a female-no longer the two, but only one. The distinction in its ethical consequences ceases to exist: as a member of the spiritual family, the woman is equal to the man; there is not a man and a woman, but simple humanity. Having put on Christ, the woman is a child of God, equal to the man in all filial honour and enjoyment. See under Col 3:11. Some minor points of difference yet remain, as the apostle insists in 1Ti 2:12; 1Ti 5:9, etc., but they interfere not with the general statement. The reason is subjoined-
-for all ye are one (person) in Christ Jesus. The of the Received Text is well supported, but is found in A, B2, . The masculine is now employed, not the neuter , as it implies conscious oneness. Theodoret says, . The unity is organic, not unconscious or fortuitous juxtaposition, but like the union of all the branches with the root, and through the root with one another. There may be many disparities in gifts and graces, but there is indissoluble oneness in Christ Jesus, its only sphere, or through union to Him, its only medium. See under Eph 2:15.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Gal 3:28. There is an adverb of place, referring to the position named in the preceding verse of those who have “put on Christ.” In Him there is no distinction made between the various classifications mentioned as far as their spiritual relationship with the Lord is concerned. They are all made to compose one group in the sight of God, by their obedience to Christ and not because of any other relationship they previously sustained, either under the one or the other dispensation of religion.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Gal 3:28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, etc., there is no room for, and there can be no room. Paul negatives, not the fact only, but the possibility, as Jas 1:17. The great idea of freedom, fraternity, and equality, then, is to be traced to Christianity, although it is often carnally misunderstood and caricatured by men. Error steals the livery of truth, and anti-Christ the livery of Christ. It is to be understood here, of course, in a religious sense. The gospel makes all men equal before God, both as sinners, and as subjects of redeeming grace; it has broken down the national, social, and sexual partition walls of the ancient world, and raised women and slaves to the true dignity and the enjoyment of the rights of man, not in the violent way of a sudden revolution, but by the slow and silent, yet sure process of a moral transformation of society from within, a process still going on till its final consummation at the second coming of Christ.
For ye all are one (man) in Christ Jesus, one moral person in Jesus Christ the head, comp. Eph 2:15 (one new man); 1Co 12:12. The masculine gender in the original is chosen on account of Gal 3:16, and is more expressive in this connection than the neuter, which we find in Joh 10:30; Joh 17:11; Joh 17:21.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
As if the apostle had said, “Now, since the coming of Christ, there is no difference of discrimination between one nation and another, no regard to any national privilege, either of Jew or Gentile, no distinction of conditions, either bond or free; or of sexes, either male or female; but circumcised or uncircumcised, we are all one as good as another, in respect of outward privileges, or external advantages; but being sincere believers, we are all equally accepted of God in Christ.”
Learn hence, that no external privilege or prerogative whatsoever, without faith in Christ, is any whit available to salvation; none are debarred from Christ, nor more nor better accepted with him for any of these things: Both the circumcised and uncircumcised are his, if believing in Christ.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye are all one man in Christ Jesus. [Having declared that faith, that is to say, the gospel, brings us into sonship to God, Paul describes the particular step by which this is accomplished. That step is baptism, for by baptism we become part of the mystical body of Christ. We put on the personality of Christ in the sight of God, and so become, in an individual sense, sons of God, but the individual sense is almost wholly lost in the collective, so that all those racial distinctions and all the fictitious distinctions of caste, and even the distinction of gender, which made a man look upon a woman with contempt, are lost sight of. Not only are all men and women new creatures in Christ Jesus, so that old things are passed away, but they are all part of one new organism, which in glory and importance obscures all former differences.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Now, I am told that young Jews of old prayed the following prayer each morning upon rising from their nights rest. “Lord, I thank you that I am not a Gentile, a slave, or a woman.” They pray it, I don’t okay! The verse we have just read tends to disprove the thought of their prayer.
In short there is no room in Christianity for Archie Bunkers, even though we have some that are close to that mind set scattered through the church.
The word Greek can relate to specifically Greek people, but also it can relate to any nation/people that are different than Jew either in cultural or religion. It is the later thought in this context as Paul is speaking to the Jew/Gentile questions.
Bond in the verse is the normal word for slave – one that is controlled by a master/owner. This is of major note in Paul’s day in that there were slaves that had heard the Gospel and had accepted Christ. Philemon is a letter written concerning a Christian slave. There is no label of slave in the church; they are counted as one with all others.
This ought to be a priority in our churches today. There are many clichs and groups that segregate out by all sorts of demographics. The rich stick together, the poor stick together, the professionals stick together, the blue collar stick together, etc. This ought not to be the case.
Just a comment on how one church dealt with the rich poor differences. The rich loved to do their get togethers up in a big way and it usually cost money to attend through tickets. Being one of the poor at the time, we seldom attended these functions. Some of the better off couples made it a habit of buying extra tickets and providing them to those that couldn’t afford them. Others would invite other couples to attend with them.
This was a good way for the different groups to get to know each other and find out that they are real people too – in fact they probably had common interests. It was a good time of bringing people of the church together.
There are three sets of groups, each separated by the word “nor” however the final phrase is divided by a different term than the other two. The first two phrases are divided by a term that means simply neither or nor. The phrase “male nor female” actually is divided by a term that is normally translated “and” but is not translated “nor” normally. I assume that the first two divisions are not quite as well defined as the male/female grouping, although in our present American society the differences have been blurred to the point that one must wonder what sex a person is at times the way people dress/act.
That last phrase has a little word in it that is so big in concept; “one” really is a monumental concept to achieve within the church. We are one – declaration – not open for discussion – done deal – completed – over and done with – etc. So, why are we so many categories these days?
Let’s just list some categories we separate believers into these days.
Clergy – layman
Church leadership – simple member
Black – white
Brown – black
Rich – poor
Educated – uneducated
Professional – non-professional
Young – old
Middle aged – child
Mature – immature
Outgoing – inward
I have heard lately that they are doing separate youth worship services rather than the usual, everyone together. With the kids in Jr. Church and the youth in their service how could anyone consider the church fragmented?
Just enough to get your thought processes going – all these divisions are improper and unscriptural and we should root them out of the church so that we all can know that we are one with the other.
I have a study relating to the Bible’s many passages that speak to the “one another” PEOPLE that we are and should act like.
Just some other passages that relate to this truth:
1Co 12:13 “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”
Eph 2:14 “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;”
Col 3:11 “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.”
29 And if ye [be] Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
The term “seed” is a figurative use of the term “sperma” which relates to physical generation of life. It is normally translated seed and is the word for the seed that you plant in the ground for life to spring forth from. It cannot mean that any believer is the literal seed of Abraham, for that is a physical impossibility. We are his descendants in a figurative manner. Just what that means we need to consider in the application section.
Just what are we heirs of? Simply we are benefiting from the work of the seed – Christ and his work on the cross.
Heir is simply the people in line to inherit. When a person dies there is usually a will and if not the state divides up the remainder of the estate and gives it to those that are legal heirs, people that legally descend from the person that died. In fact one of the aspects of this word is the thought of partitioning or dividing. It can be translated appointment. It is not only something that is deserved, but it is something that is apportioned correctly and is given as a thing scheduled.
Kind of interesting to view your salvation in this light – as coming from that promise so long ago – God has been working on bringing this to pass for a long long time. It, to me, shows a tremendous love and concern on God’s part for insignificant me!
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all {a} one in Christ Jesus.
(a) You are all one: and so is this great union and conjunction signified.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Another difference is that under faith all believers share the same privilege and position. Paul was not saying that all distinctions between people have ceased. Obviously people are still either Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free, and male or female. His point was that within the body of Christ all have the same relationship to God. All are of equal value. Paul may have used a fragment of an early Christian hymn here (cf. 1Co 12:12-13; Col 3:9-11).
"The three pairs of opposites Paul listed stand for the fundamental cleavages of human existence: ethnicity, economic capacity, and sexuality. Race, money, and sex are primal powers in human life." [Note: George, p. 284. See his excursus "Was Paul a Feminist?" pp. 286-93, which also relates this passage to liberation theology.]
Most of the evangelical feminists regard this verse as the major passage that teaches the abolition of male leadership in Christianity. Paul Jewett, for example, believed that Paul’s teaching that woman is subordinate to man, for whose sake God created her, came from rabbinism rather than revelation. [Note: P. Jewett, Man as Male and Female, p. 112.] Daniel Fuller reflected the same conclusion but for a slightly different reason.
". . . he [Paul] supported, by way of accommodation, a Christianized slavery and patriarchalism, but with regard to both he left sufficient clues for the church to have understood that these teachings no longer applied after the ’neither Jew nor Greek’ issue had been settled." [Note: D. Fuller, "Paul and Galatians 3:28," Theological Students Fellowship Bulletin 9:2 (November-December 1985):12-13.]
Bruce took what I consider to be a more biblically defensible position on this verse.
"The first stipulation here . . . is that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek . . .; the breaking down of the middle wall of partition between these two was fundamental to Paul’s gospel (Eph 2:14 f.). By similarly excluding the religious distinction between slaves and the freeborn, and between male and female, Paul makes a threefold affirmation which corresponds to a number of Jewish formulas in which the threefold distinction is maintained, as in the morning prayer in which the male Jew thanks God that he is not a Gentile, a slave or a woman. . . .
"The reason for the threefold thanksgiving was not any disparagement of Gentiles, slaves or women as persons but the fact that they were disqualified from several religious privileges which were open to free Jewish males." [Note: Bruce, p. 187.]
Gentiles, slaves, and women did not enjoy the same access to God in Israel’s formal worship as did Jews, free men, and males. They could trust God for their personal salvation, however. The priests in Israel had to be Jews, free, and males. Now in the church every Christian is a priest (1Pe 2:9-10). Paul’s emphasis, however, was on believers’ unity in Christ, not their equality with one another.
"Gal 3:28 says nothing explicitly whatsoever about how male/female relationships should be conducted in daily life. Even the feminists acknowledge that the context of Galatians 3 is theological, not practical. [Note: Footnote 21: Letha Scanzoni and Nancy Hardesty, All We’re Meant to Be, pp. 18-19.] Paul is here making a theological statement about the fundamental equality of both men and women in their standing before God. Thus any ideas about how this truth should work itself out in social relationships cannot be drawn from Gal 3:28, but must be brought to it from one’s broader understanding of the nature of things." [Note: A. Duane Litfin, "Evangelical Feminism: Why Traditionalists Reject It," Bibliotheca Sacra 136:543 (July-September 1979):264. For a good evaluation of the feminists’ arguments, see ibid.; and Roger Oldham, "Positional and Functional Equality: An Appraisal of the Major Arguments for the Ordination of Women," Mid-America Theological Journal (Fall 1985):1-29; Kenneth Gangel, "Biblical Feminism and Church Leadership," Bibliotheca Sacra 140:557 (January-March 1983):55-63; and H. Wayne House, "’Neither . . . Male nor Female . . . in Christ Jesus’," Bibliotheca Sacra 145:577 (January-March 1988):47-56.]
The statement does not mean "that all male-female distinctions have been obliterated in Christ, any more than that there is no racial difference between the Christian Jew and the Christian Gentile." [Note: Fung, p. 175.]