Skip to main content

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.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more