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what social hierarchies were most rigid in the roman empire that paul was challenging?

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.”

Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians to address a community grappling with the question of how Gentiles (non-Jews) could belong to the new Christian movement. Some were insisting that Gentile believers needed to adopt Jewish customs like circumcision.

What does it mean for individuals and communities today to be 'one' despite deeply ingrained social distinctions?

Then — the setting

The Roman Empire, during Paul's time (mid-1st century CE), was structured by rigid social hierarchies. These included ethnic distinctions (Roman citizens vs. provincials, Greek vs. various 'barbarian' groups), legal status (free citizens vs. freedpersons vs. slaves, with slaves making up a significant portion of the population), and gender (men held legal and social power over women). These distinctions permeated daily life, dictating rights, roles, and status. Paul's statement was radical because it declared these fundamental, divinely-ordained or culturally assumed, societal divisions to be nullified 'in Christ Jesus' within the nascent Christian communities.

Across the Testaments

This passage is in the New Testament and directly challenges the traditional social categories prevalent in the Roman world. The Old Testament, while establishing a covenant with a specific people (Israel) and outlining distinct roles (e.g., male priests), also contains within it impulses towards inclusivity, such as care for the sojourner and the poor (Deuteronomy 10:18-19, Exodus 22:21-22). Paul's declaration in Galatians expands this inclusivity, arguing that the messianic age inaugurates a new community where the fundamental divisions of the ancient world no longer define one's standing before God or within the believing community, thus fulfilling and extending the universalistic promises implicit in the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12:3).

Keep thinking

Read alongside it

Colossians 3:11
Echoes Paul's theme of new identity in Christ transcending ethnic and social status.
1 Corinthians 12:13
Uses the metaphor of the body to illustrate unity amidst diversity among believers.
Deuteronomy 10:19
Reminds Israel to love the foreigner, foreshadowing an expansive understanding of community.

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