A little over 10 years ago, the President of France proposed a decree that would ban anyone from wearing religious symbols of any kind. The decree was partly aimed at forbidding Muslim women from wearing their traditional burqa, but it was broad enough that it would ban any religious symbol: no crosses, nothing. His argument was that the French people were being divided by all their different religions and couldn’t focus on their common identity as people of France.
The thought was that the emphasis should be on being French first, secular second, and religious a distant third. The powers that be wanted the French people to rally around the flag, for the nation of France to be the unifying factor rather than the divisiveness of their individual religious preferences.
The thought behind it was that our individual identities can sometimes serve to define us. Think about all the identities people cling to and often refuse to let go of: mother, brother, teacher, druggie, loser, drunk, gay, football player. We have all these identities floating around out there that people think define who they are, sometimes so deeply that when that thing is ripped away, they don’t even know who they are anymore. People let these identities not only define them, but they even let them divide. Think about how deep the political divides are right now in our country.
We’ve been talking about Galatians the last few weeks, and the warnings Paul was giving to the Galatian church about false teachings, especially false teachings that Jewish Christians and Non-Jewish Christians, or Gentile Christians, should be separated from one another because Gentile Christians were considered unclean and not suitable to mix with Jewish Christians. Paul talked about the Old Testament law that would make this true, but spends quite a bit of time talking about why it doesn’t apply to Christians who are under the new covenant of faith established by Jesus.
At the end of chapter 3, Paul then makes a very memorable conclusion, that ties up all his thoughts about Christian identity, regardless of what our background is or what the law said before Jesus.
Let’s read these verses, and see what Paul’s big point is. Join me in Galatians 3:26-28. “For you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (NASB)
The first two verses, verses 26 and 27, are Paul’s way of summing up his arguments from chapter 2 and most of chapter 3. That’s why each verse, each sentence starts with the word, “for”. It’s Paul’s way of saying, “because”. “Because you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Because all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
Let’s look at each of those verses because Paul is reminding us of the importance of his argument in those verses before he makes his final point.
He first says that we are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus. When Paul says, “all” are sons and daughters, he actually doesn’t mean every single person alive. The “all” refers to those who have gone through faith in Christ Jesus. All those who have come to God through Christ are sons and daughters of God. Can this happen any other way? No.
This starts all the way back at Genesis. Genesis 1 tells us that God made mankind in His image, in His likeness. So the really neat thing about humanity is that every single one of us bears the IMAGE OF GOD. We are all image-bearers. This is very complex and includes that we were created with an eternal soul, but quite simply, it means that we were created for relationship with God. We were created to be with Him. Each of us has that purpose. We all have the potential of doing amazing things in this world because we bear God’s image.
But we are not all part of God’s family. John 3:16 says this, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” (NASB) The key phrase I want you to zero in on there is that God gave His ONLY Son. Only Son. There is no other. Christ alone was God’s only Son. So in order to be a part of God’s family, we must be adopted into that family, because we are not all naturally born into His family when we are born.
Ephesians 1:5 says that we must be adopted as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ Himself. In John 3 Jesus has a conversation with Nicodemus and tells Nicodemus that he must be born again. We must be born again through faith in Christ in order to be adopted as sons and daughters of God, in order to be a part of God’s family. John 14:6 assures us that Jesus is the only way to do this.
There we are. If you are in Christ, you are a son or daughter of God, adopted into His family.
Paul then says, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Briefly, we want to remind ourselves of what this means too, because it’s part of Paul’s main point here. Clothing ourselves in Christ brings to mind the image of putting on clothes, putting on a jacket.
Romans 13:14 helps us understand this. “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” Putting on Christ, clothing ourselves in Him, means that we make no room for the flesh. We get rid of self and anything that our selfishness lusts after. But it’s not just denying self.
Colossians 3:12-16 says this, “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so must you do also. In addition to all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ, to which you were indeed called in one body, rule in your hearts; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Putting on Christ also means putting on Christ’s CHARACTERISTICS. We put on things like compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, love, unity, peace, thankfulness, and wisdom.
We also put on the things of eternity, the imperishable. 1 Corinthians 15:53 says, “For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.” We put a focus and emphasis on the things that are eternal, the things that do not go away or die. We focus on the things that bring God glory.
We put on Christ, clothe ourselves with Christ by denying the self, putting on Christ’s characteristics, and focusing on the things of eternity.
And then here’s Paul’s main point in all this, his thoughts on Christian identity and how it relates to the law. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
His main point actually builds on the two verses before. Remember, I said that Paul starts each of those two sentences with the word, “for”, and it’s actually like he’s using the word “because”. “Because you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Because all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
His main point is that regardless of your national identity, your cultural identity, your job, your gender, regardless of any other identity that you had before coming to Christ, none of that really matters much anymore, and it’s certainly not a reason that any Christian should be divided. We are one in Christ because we have all been adopted as sons and daughters and we have all clothed ourselves with Christ.
Whatever else you are, you are a Christ-follower first. And Paul is saying that whatever other identity you have, is not a reason to be divided in the church. That’s what Paul’s whole explanation of the law was about, was to show that since the Jewish Christians were in Christ, and the law about eating with those who were unclean was no longer applicable, they needed to stop letting it cause divisions in the church.
We are one. There is no Jew or Gentile.
These social divisions and identities that we sometimes hold onto have no place in the church. They have no place because, as Romans 2:11 indicates, Christ saves all of us in the same way. We can all come to Him, not because of what we have done or who we are, but because of who He is and what He has done. There is no place in the church for divisions because as Romans 2:11 says, “there is no partiality with God.”
Colossians 3:11 is similar to our passage this morning, “a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, and free, but Christ is all, and in all.” This emphasizes that all in Christ have equal status, no one person or group is inferior or superior, and all should receive equal treatment within the church.
So, Paul says, “For you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” You have been adopted by faith in Christ into God’s family. You have clothed yourself in Christ, denied yourself, put on Christ’s characteristics and focused on the things of eternity. Because you have done this, don’t let anything divide the unity of the church, and do not let yourself be separated by any identity for we are all in Christ.
1. Do old social divisions affect the unity of the people in my church? How can I help break down those divisions and bring greater unity?