You asked

how does the old testament vision of a united people of god inform paul's message here?

The passage, plainly, with room to sit with it.

Galatians 3:28

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Paul is writing to believers in Galatia, probably in the mid-1st century CE. He's addressing a controversy about whether non-Jewish followers of Jesus need to follow Jewish law to truly belong. This verse comes at the climax of his argument that all who believe are children of Abraham and heirs of God's promise, regardless of their former identity.

What old distinctions in our world today might this passage call into question for those who follow Jesus?

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Read alongside it

Isaiah 56:7
God's house is envisioned as a house of prayer for all peoples, including foreigners.
Ephesians 2:14-16
Paul speaks about Christ breaking down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile, creating one new humanity.
Colossians 3:11
This letter echoes Galatians' theme of unity, stating there is no 'Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, freeman,' but Christ is all and in all.

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