Ministry Musing

By Donna Kelly

Galatians 3:26-28 – “Each one of you is a child of God because your faith in Christ Jesus. All of you have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. In Christ there is no Jew or Greek, slave or citizen, male or female. All are one in Christ Jesus.”

The church in Galatia was not just struggling, but torn with strife over the issue of what Gentiles had to do to become a ‘Christian. In the middle of the first century, this was perhaps the most important moral question facing the church. The dilemma was whether or not the Gentiles who came to faith in Jesus had to be circumcised and follow the Mosaic law in order to be a Christian. Even Paul and Peter were, at one time, at odds over this question. If adherence to the law was required of Gentile Christians, then that would undermine the foundation of the gospel which states that human righteous is based on what God does, not human obedience.

Since none of us can stand before God on our own, we now stand in Christ and that fact serves to break down the barriers between us. This means we need to see each other as clothed in Christ so that even the very basic human distinctions of race, class, economics, political affiliation, and gender fall apart. Being clothed in Christ doesn’t make the differences disappear; they simply lack the ability to have any bearing on faith or service or on our ability to love and be loved. Our status is now as a trustworthy, faithful, reliable grown-up in Christ!

Paul describes the differences that no longer matter as Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. I wonder if Paul were to write today what differences would he use? Would he say, “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.

Donna

Contact Donna at Donna at: donna@sotpmail.com