GALATIANS 3 DOES NOT TEACH WE ARE ALL EQUAL AND IS NOT THINKING OF POLITICAL EQUALITY

 

Paul wrote in Galatians 3 that there is no Jew or Greek or male in female in Jesus or slave and free.  This is one of of the most deliberately twisted texts of all time.  Even those who ridicule Paul zoom in on this text.  They are Machiavellians.  The text simply says that male or female, slave or free, Jew or non-Jew you can become a member of Jesus Christ's God family and inherit the blessings promised to Abraham's seed.  Paul addresses this to "brothers and sisters" so he uses sex based language.  Yet some today want you to think he is saying that being male or female don't matter.  They don't when it comes to conversion and that is all Paul is on about.  Worse, the free he mentions were keeping slaves...

The "Word of God" as written by Paul, Galatians 3

Galatians 3 - Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.

Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.

So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.

Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,  for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

WHAT DOES THIS PASSAGE MEAN?

Galatians 3 is not addressed to civil leaders or to governments. It is not calling on any nation or state to implement equal treatment for all.

 

One point of view is, "It talks about those who are baptised into Christ only." 

The passage is not talking about people who are insincerely baptised. They would not be baptised into Christ.

Anybody being baptised for the sake of going through the motions is not really baptised in the sense that the power of baptism has not been allowed to work. It is only an outward ceremony. We do not know for sure if Paul really means baptism in water. The Bible talks mostly about a baptism in the Holy Spirit."

 

This might be about those who go through a baptism ceremony or who claim to be baptised supernaturally by the Holy Spirit.  Whatever, it is saying that ONLY JESUS KNOWS WHO BELONG TO HIM AND WHO HAVE TAKEN THE EQUALITY!

 

If you get equality by being a true follower of Jesus nobody can see that so it is not making a case for say legal equality or whatever.

Many read the passage as saying that by virtue of being human we are all equal. They need to read it properly. In fact it is denying that we are all equal for the person in Christ or not in Christ cannot be equal. It is speaking of how those who Jesus brings to himself in faith and devotion are all united as in connected. Unity and equality are not the same thing. A family is united but the baby is not equal to the parents in authority or any role.

Some say that passage poetically says we are all one man in Jesus meaning we are his body parts. Is it saying all who are in Christ are equal as persons? No. It says they are equal as parts of Christ. It is about Christ not human dignity. Your finger is equally part of your body though it is not as useful as your tongue. It is equal in that it is in your body but not equal with other parts in importance.

But the passage does not mention the body of Christ doctrine. Being one in Christ just means that all are connected in Christ by grace and grace is given to those who failed to obey the law of God be they Jews or not. It no longer matters if you are a Jew or Gentile - the two are now saved by grace.

The body of Christ doctrine describes how Jesus works through the members of the Church. Paul in Galatians is talking about how grace and Jesus unite people in the first place.

Some read the text as banishing slavery. That is a stupid reading for Paul never said slavery should be abolished and never challenged slavery. Not a single New Testament text explicitly rejects slavery. Texts that say all are equal are not enough - they are too general.  All systems that are about equality end up discriminating against people over equality.  Perfect equality is impossible.  Texts advocating equality are nothing special.

 

People have always boasted that people are equal but their actions said different. Indeed scholars say the early Church didn't bluntly oppose slavery but accepted it as a fact of life. They deny that Christians necessarily thought that this meant accepting it as good or moral. That is a lie for people have always challenged the way things are done at least verbally and not a word in the New Testament explicitly condemns slavery. Some of the teachings are alleged to undermine it but were they intended to? "Love your neighbour as yourself" cannot be assumed to mean that the believers regarded slavery as wrong for who is to say they were consistent? And if slavery was a part of society it does not mean Christians had to keep slaves but they did.

The text says there is no slave or freeman in Christ. If there is no slave there is no free person anymore!

It says all who have the Spirit have an equal share in the inner presence of Christ.

It says we are Abraham's heirs. We may be equal in that but not necessarily in anything else.  Why Abraham?  This is about the promise to him that if people were circumcised they would be his spiritual heirs.  Women were lucky as they would be heirs without this gruesome experience.  Paul is saying that if you receive Jesus you automatically become heirs without circumcision.  This excludes Jewish Christians who thought differently.  And what about the children of Ishmael?  Abraham's heirs are traced through Isaac while Ishmael the other son is treated as a non-entity.  And what about Paul writing later that woman was the image of God in man but man was the image of God full stop? 

Paul when he said there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free in Christ was linking it to his idea that if you are of Jesus then you are of Abraham’s stock and heirs to the promise made to him. In other words, you are one class, Jews.  The New Testament is clear that the gospel is about creating Jews without circumcision being a requirement as it was in mainstream Judaism.

It is not talking about legal rights at all.

It is not talking about social rights.

It is talking about spiritual unity. It does not say what is given is a right. It is not talking about rights even!

Christian feminists claim that the passage says there is no male or female in Jesus so women should be ordained to the priesthood just as men are. But the passage is using hyperbole for clearly there are men and women in Christ.

There are no men and women before God in the sense that he will give them Abraham's inheritance and the presence of Jesus in their hearts. But otherwise there are men and women.

The book Christianity is Not Great says that Galatians 3:26-28 which says there is no male or female or slave or free or race in Jesus for all are baptised into the Christ and clothed with him. It says this is not a socio-political egalitarian text. It is not about how society should treat Christians or anybody. It is about how Christians stand before God. The text would mean there are no free people anymore if you take it to be about how people must be equally treated in society.

I would stress that the text says those different people are clothed in Christ. It is not talking then about them being equal but about Jesus making them one by covering them in himself. It says nothing about people being equal in themselves. Jesus somehow almost becomes them so the equality they have is his not theirs.

The book refutes the notion that the Bible improved things for slaves. It's God allowed masters to beat up even female slaves. As Paul was clear that he accepted Old Testament morality as valid and even argued that disobeying it is the reason we need a saviour, so he would not have intended to demand freedom for slaves.

 

Paul's equality declaration is really discrimination for he says there is neither Jew or Gentile. That is an attack on the Jewish race and culture of which circumcision was a core part. To be a real Jew you had to be snipped. Remember that Paul in context says that the children of Ishmael were rejected by God so he does not mean what he writes to be taken too far. Equality in getting joined to Christ does not imply equality across the board.

We conclude that Galatians 3 is being twisted by those who turn it into a ban on sexual equality and on slavery.  Tom Wright former bishop of Durham is right to say that it is about how faithful acceptance of the death and resurrection of Jesus which took place for you means you are in Christ and no longer Jew or Gentile.  It is saying the religion is Christ and is not about individuals or labels.

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