Day 2

Lisa Scheffler, author

In Snow White, the evil queen is so jealous of her step daughter that she tries to have her killed. In Cinderella, the wicked stepmother gives her biological daughters anything they could wish for and treats Cinderella, her step daughter, like a slave.

These fairy tales are dramatic and extreme, but they play upon the very real fears that step-children and adopted children have. They worry that they won’t be accepted and that their siblings will be privileged and favored over them. It’s something that good step and adoptive parents try their hardest to avoid.

It’s something that God the Father refuses to tolerate in his eternal family.

Read

Galatians 3:26-29

²⁶So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ²⁷for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Reflect

The first century was dominated by strict social hierarchies. There was a Jewish prayer recommended by rabbis for men to pray that thanked God that “I am not a Gentile, a slave, or a woman.” The Roman world was no better. In their history of the great philosopher Socrates, they remembered, “There were three blessings for which he was grateful to Fortune: first that I was born a human being, and not one of the brutes, next that I was born a man and not a women, a Greek, and not a barbarian.” Throughout the early church, Christians had to struggle to shed the value system of their culture and embrace the “all” that Paul repeats in verses 26 through 28.

In Christ, the mistreatment of those with less privilege and power is unacceptable. In verse 26 Paul notes that all believers are children of God and have been baptized into Christ. Baptism not only declared your faith in Christ, it signified that you were a part of God’s people. So, Baptism not only replaces circumcision as the primary rite, it is available to women the same as men.

When Paul says that there is no “male and female” rather than “male or female” in verse 28, he is taking his hearers back to Genesis 1:26-27 where scripture teaches us that God made humankind in his image, he created them “male and female.” We are all image bearers of the eternal God, and when we accept Christ, we become his child.

When we gather around God’s table as his children, distinctions that create hierarchies are obliterated. Paul needed the Galatians to understand this. Jews weren’t more valued than Gentiles, slaves weren’t worth less than free people, and men and women have equal worth in the family of God.

In God’s family, everyone is an heir. In the first century, slaves couldn’t own property. They weren’t even allowed to marry, so they couldn’t have any legitimate heirs. They were stripped of their personhood and became property. In the kingdom of God, there won’t be any of this dehumanizing behavior. The eternal inheritance we receive in Christ is offered to anyone regardless of ethnicity, social status, or gender. In Christ we are all children of God through faith!

Paul is not saying that these distinctions are non-existent, only that they can’t be used as an identity markers that grant status to some and exclude or permit the oppression of others. Many of us take pride in how our gender, heritage, and experiences make us who we are, and that’s not at issue here. In fact, the body of Christ can be stronger because of all the different perspectives our distinctiveness brings. When we find strength in our differences instead of using them to push others down, the Spirit can unite us.

Differences in ethnicity, social class, and gender within a church can benefit everyone, if we’re willing to learn from each other. For example, we should consider what Black and Asian Christians who have firsthand experience with prejudice and discrimination could teach us about faithful endurance and loving our enemies. Those who lack power or status in a society have might be able to show us how to better trust God and experience joy in suffering. Women who’ve been silenced, ignored or even denigrated because of their sex can teach us about patience, and how to extend grace and forgiveness.

In Christ, when we see one another as a true brother or sister, worthy of love and with wisdom to share, we can strive to live according to Paul’s statement, “we are all one in Christ Jesus.” We can also work together to fight the prejudice and discrimination that oppresses and exploits those society deems less worthy.

Respond

How do you see differences dividing believers today? How can an emphasis on what Paul says here help?

Take some time to praise God for your inclusion into the family of God. Ask the Spirit to guide you in how you should treat your spiritual siblings.