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what social or legal distinctions existed in the roman world that paul was addressing 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.

The Apostle Paul is writing to the churches in Galatia, likely around the mid-1st century CE. He is addressing confusion and disagreement over whether non-Jewish followers of Jesus need to adopt Jewish laws and customs, particularly circumcision. This verse comes at the climax of his argument that faith in Jesus, not adherence to the law, is what brings people into God's family.

How might our own contemporary social distinctions create barriers to unity, and what would it mean to overcome them in a meaningful way?

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Read alongside it

  • Colossians 3:11

    Echoes Galatians 3:28 by stating that in the new humanity, there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free.

  • 1 Corinthians 12:13

    Uses the metaphor of one body to emphasize that all, whether Jew or Gentile, slave or free, are baptized into one Spirit.

  • Romans 10:12

    Paul affirms that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches on all who call on him.

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