“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” – Galatians 3:27-28
There is great encouragement and great challenge in the extraordinary truth of these verses! When we put our faith in Christ, we are born again, new creation, one with Christ, and one in Christ. We are adopted as children of God and become one with all our brothers and sisters in Christ of every race, nationality, ethnicity, and social status. This is glorious!!!
The encouragement is that we are equal and we are one in Christ. The external circumstances of our lives are radically unimportant compared to the internal reality of who we are in Jesus Christ. There is no place for racism, xenophobia, or class division in Christ. There is no place for the radical separations and divisions encouraged and embraced by our secular culture. This is the encouragement of this truth.
The challenge of this truth is that we are truly one in Christ. What affects one of us affects all of us and we must care for the pain of any fellow Christian. Thus there should be no injustice or hurt committed against one Christian, one group of Christians, or one race of Christians that we don’t all feel deeply and minister to. There can be no casual dismissing of the deep cries of pain and injustice raised our brothers and sisters of other races. We are one in Christ. Thus we must be concerned with the genuine well-being of all those with whom we are united – black or white, rich or poor, free or persecuted, citizen or immigrant. We are one!