Galatians 3:27-29 – 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. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Some folks don’t like the male language of the Bible – God the Father, God the Son, and Christians as the sons of God. So, they seek to eradicate this kind of language which appeals to the cultural trend away from sex (how you were born) and gender (how you behave) having anything to do with one another. Proponents of this kind of false teaching love to appeal to Galatians 3:27-29.
For starters, our sex and gender are park of creation and not culture and therefore unchanging like the laws of gravity. In Genesis 1:27 God created us, “male and female”. Jesus teaches the same thing repeatedly. In Matthew 19:4 He says, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female.” In Mark 10:6 He says, “from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female’”. Additionally, the Bible repeatedly speaks to men/husbands/fathers, and also to women/wives/mothers as distinctive groups. Therefore, what Paul cannot mean in Galatians 3 is that, after Jesus, sex and gender no longer exist.
So, what does Paul mean? Historians tell us that, in that day, a religious group called the Pharisees would pray daily, “I thank you God that I am a Jew, not a Gentile; a man, not a woman, and a freeman, and not a slave”. They wrongly thought that their culture, gender, or social status made them better people who God preferred. So, they did not think they needed Jesus.
But what Paul is saying is simple. Jews need Jesus, and so do Greeks. Slaves need Jesus, and so do free people. Men need Jesus, as do the women. Simply, everyone needs Jesus.
Once you are a Christian, you are no longer primarily to consider your identity in such things as your race, nation, culture, social status, beauty, intellect, income, or life stage. Instead, all groups of people are brought together as a new group “in Christ”. As you read the New Testament, you will discover that believers are only called “Christians” a few times. But, more than two-hundred times the apostle Paul refers to believers as “in Christ”, “in Him”, and “in the Beloved”. It is hard to overstate the magnitude of this reality. Positionally, a believer is in Christ and therefore given all the blessings and benefits belonging to Jesus Christ. Practically, a believer has Christ in them through the Holy Spirit to transform their life and legacy.
Are you in Christ? Is there any other identity that you need to now consider secondary and not primary as something that distinguishes you but does not define you?