Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Galatians 3:28

"There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one [man] in Christ Jesus." — Galatians 3:28 (ASV)

The second result of passing from law to grace through faith in Jesus Christ is that all who believe become one with each other so that there is now “neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female,” but all are “one in Christ Jesus.” In what sense is this true? Clearly, it does not mean that differences of nationality, status, and sex cease to exist. A Jew remains a Jew; a Gentile, a Gentile. Instead, having become one with God as his sons and daughters, Christians now belong to each other in such a way that distinctions that had divided them lose significance.

Race is the first example. In Paul’s day there was a deep division between the two, not only nationally but also religiously. Gentiles were uncircumcised and therefore not children of Abraham. They did not have the law or the ceremonies; they were not of the covenant. This barrier Paul now claims to have been broken down in Christ (cf. Ephesians 2:11–18). Today this principle must be extended to deny the significance of all racial barriers. In Christ there must be neither black nor white, Caucasian nor Oriental, nor any other such distinction.

Social status is a second example (“slave nor free”). Again, this is not meant to deny that in actual fact there are social distinctions among people. It is merely meant to affirm that for those who are united to Christ these things do not matter. On this pattern the ideal church should be composed of members from all spectra of society: wealthy and poor, educated and uneducated, straight and long-hair, management and labor, and so on. When Christians treat each other as true brothers and sisters in Christ regardless of their social standing, then the power of such distinctions is broken and a basis is laid for social change.

There is also the example of sex, for Paul declares that there is neither “male nor female.” It is hard to imagine how badly women were treated in antiquity, even in Judaism, and how difficult it is to find any statement about the equality of the sexes, however weak, in any ancient texts except those of Christianity. Paul reverses this. Indeed, in this statement we have one factor in the gradual elevation and honoring of women that has been known in Christian lands.

When Paul concludes this breakdown of the distinctions that are superseded by Christianity, he speaks of the fact that all who are in Christ are “one,” one unified personality as the living body of Christ. In this body all are truly one with one another. The only permissible distinctions are those of function (cf. 1 Corinthians 12).