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how does this idea of 'oneness in christ' relate to the old testament's understanding of israel's identity?

Adds the setting and its conversation across both testaments.

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.”

The apostle Paul wrote this letter to the churches in Galatia, likely around the mid-1st century CE. He was addressing a controversy where some were insisting that Gentile (non-Jewish) believers needed to follow Jewish law, like circumcision, to be truly part of God's people. In this verse, Paul is summarising his argument about the equal standing of all believers through faith in Jesus.

What does it mean for us to live out a unity that transcends deeply ingrained societal or identity markers?

Then — the setting

Paul wrote to the Galatians, likely in the 50s CE, from a Jewish background, grappling with how the arrival of Jesus the Messiah reshaped the identity of God's people. The distinctions he lists — Jew/Greek, slave/free, male/female — were fundamental categories of identity, status, and legal rights in the ancient Mediterranean world. Being a 'Greek' or a 'Jew' defined one's cultural, religious, and often social standing; 'slave' or 'free' determined one's legal personhood; 'male' or 'female' often dictated roles in public life, inheritance, and religious participation. Paul wasn't erasing these social realities but asserting their irrelevance in one's standing before God 'in Christ Jesus.'

Across the Testaments

The Old Testament deeply defines Israel's identity as a distinct people, chosen by God, set apart through the covenant with Abraham, the Law of Moses, and practices like circumcision (Genesis 17, Exodus 19-24). This distinctiveness served to make them a 'light to the nations' (Isaiah 49:6). Galatians 3:28, in the New Testament, doesn't negate Israel's historical role but redefines the basis of belonging to God's people. It shifts from ethnic or legal markers to a shared spiritual reality 'in Christ,' where the blessing promised to Abraham is extended universally, fulfilling the intention for Israel to be a conduit for God's blessing to all peoples (Genesis 12:3). This 'oneness' in Christ broadens the scope of God's people beyond ethnic Israel, incorporating all who believe, without requiring them to become ethnically Jewish.

Keep thinking

Read alongside it

Ephesians 2:14-16
Describes Jesus breaking down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile, creating one new humanity.
Colossians 3:11
Echoes Galatians by stating that in Christ there is no room for distinctions like Greek, Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free.
Genesis 12:3
God's promise to Abraham that through him, all the families of the earth would be blessed, hinting at a universal scope beyond Israel.

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