Americans 3:27-28

A Creative Restatement of Paul

Check out one of my favorite statements in all of Scripture:

“As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 3:27-28

I believe these verses have a lot to say today, which inspired me to write a creative restatement of Paul’s words. How would he write and elaborate if he were writing to my people today?

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

“Though past tense, your baptism into the person of Christ is as present, practical, and real as the everyday clothes you’ll wear today. Good news: this “in-Christness” has undone all of our exclusions. Pick a group, any group! We must reconsider whatever assumptions we once held.

We may have carved up the globe into “developed” and “developing” countries, but God is border-blind. No matter what you might otherwise hear, think, read, watch, or feel… God’s image is in all.

There is no underclass, no person to be used, and no “haves & have-nots” in the Kingdom of God. So, if you’d like this Kingdom to come on earth as in heaven, please stop treating humans as things. People are not a means to your end, nor are they assets to profit from.

There is no “men vs. women,” no “men over women,” no “men plus women,” no “men are from Mars, women are from Venus,” no animosity or suspicion or objectification or disinterest or subjugation or hierarchy disguised as gender norms. There is only us… friends and co-partners in God’s world.

For all of us - yes, all - find our very being in the same source of life and love, Jesus Christ.”

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