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Neither

             So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)

I know I’ve discussed these verses a couple of times, but the center of the passage is the verse of the day on Biblegateway.com. The point is simple, but just as in Paul’s day, people don’t get it. We seem to be all about the modifiers. I’m not a person- I’m a white person, a female person, an American person, a Christian person, and who-knows, maybe a neurodivergent person, etc. All those things separate me from all those who are not white, female, American, and Christian. The modifiers control where I belong and don’t belong

This is not to say that there aren’t valid uses of these distinctions. Paul didn’t reject his right to declare himself a Roman citizen. Especially when the distinction deals with what we believe (which is the basis for how we behave) the distinctions can be real and important. Part of that importance may lie in our needing to change them. When the distinctions are based on something like skin color, education, or socio-economic status, they are superficial.

There are a lot of different sorts of people we should want to be: loving, joyous, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled come to mind. Wouldn’t being those be far better than being a specific color or gender? Elsewhere, we’re told not to consider people’s wealth. Women are told that their beauty should be internal, which suggests that physical beauty, like skin color, shouldn’t matter.

All of the things the world turns to for its identity are of little value.  If we are citizens of heaven, that is what matters. And if we are not, again, that is what matters. And if someone tries to force us to make something else matter? We’re to show compassion, but not to adopt their standards.

 

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