There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)
Women should remain
silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be
in submission, as the law says. (I Corinthians 14:34)
(See also I Corinthians 11:2-16)
In 57 AD, Paul wrote I
& II Corinthians, then Galatians. As we come to these verses two thousand
years later, Paul seems to be flip flopping. But the letters were written to
specific groups of people in response to specific circumstances. In Corinth,
the problem was with people being out of control, or licentiousness. In
Galatia, the problem seems to have been legalism. Paul made it clear that
neither option was acceptable. That is the first lesson from these verses.
The second lesson is one with
which our society struggles. Sadly, the church joins in and plays by society’s
rules. We’re told that whether we’re white, black, brown, yellow, or chartreuse
is a key point of identity. We’re told that whether we’re male, female, or
something else is vital to our identity. Neither of those truly defines us.
Sometimes, our socio-economic bracket or education is taken as a key. Or our heritage.
Or our nationality.
But for those who are in
the Church, the only identity that is supposed to matter is our identity as a
Christian. When we introduce ourselves, instead of “My name is Karen, and my
pronouns are she, her, and hers,” it should be, “My name is Karen, and I am a
Christian.” I can’t imagine introducing myself either way. It’s not that people
don’t figure out quickly that I’m a Christian, but I tend to see myself as an
embarrassment to any positive identity I can claim.
There’s a scene in the
Michael Keaton Batman movie (if I remember correctly,) in which Bruce Wayne tries
to tell the woman to whom he’s attracted who he is, and he just can’t. I think
sometimes, we’re like that.
Comments
Post a Comment