Read: Galatians 3:23-29
As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (v. 27 NRSV)
In this passage from his great letter on Christian freedom, the apostle Paul takes up the same theme that Luke emphasized in the last meditation (Acts 8:26-40). And not surprisingly, water—the water of baptism—is once again prominent. Paul argues that “in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.” The law, once necessary from Moses to the Messiah, is now no longer needed since Jesus the Messiah has come.
Those who have been baptized into Christ have thus clothed themselves with Christ. We have in Christ a new identity. We are all part of the Messiah’s family. Therefore, Paul concludes, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” Through baptism we all, regardless of our ethnicity or class or sex, are one in Christ. Paul is not saying that these aspects of human identity are irrelevant; we don’t somehow cease to be Chinese or Dutch or American, or stop being male or female. But Paul is saying that these typical identity markers are not important for our standing before God or each other. As the old saying puts it, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. Racism, ethnocentrism, classism, sexism and the like have no place in the church. Our most basic identity is found in Christ.
As you pray, ask God to strip away anything that will hinder your unity with other believers in Christ.
Steve Bouma-Prediger is the Leonard and Marjorie Mass Professor of Reformed Theology at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. A graduate of Hope College, his Ph.D. is in religious studies from The University of Chicago. His most recent book is Earthkeeping and Character: Exploring a Christian Ecological Virtue Ethic.
When not teaching or writing, he spends as much time as possible canoeing or backpacking in his favorite places in North America or simply hiking among the magnificent trees in southwest Michigan parks.
