"Thinking Eternally, Acting Locally." - Neal August
Scholars have long recognized the egalitarian sentiments in
Paul’s letter to the Galatians, particularly in verse 3:28, “There is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor
female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (NASB20). They note Paul’s concern
that requiring Jewish ethnic practices (like circumcision) for full membership
in the Church would divide Christians, assert Jewish privilege over Gentiles,
and enslave both under spiritual Powers. While many understand the place of
3:28 in Paul’s argument, few recognize its Scriptural basis, the underlying
theological framework, and how Paul conceptualized his “egalitarian” approach
to ministry and mission. We can recognize the apostle’s understanding by
observing the patterns of his argument throughout his letters.[1]
In short, Paul bases his egalitarianism on Christ’s death and resurrection, the
outpouring of the Spirit, and the nature of God.
In the biblical conception, inequality and the privilege-oppression
dynamic begin in idolatry. Humans elevate the good aspects of God’s creation to
the point of worship, particularly those aspects which order our world and mark
out distinctions in creation’s diversity. For example, God creates the sun, moon,
and stars that order days, years, and seasons (Gen 1:16-18), and humanity
worships them (Deut 4:19; 17:3; 2 Kings 23:5). God creates beasts of various
kinds (Gen 1:20-26), and humanity worships them (Rom 1:23). God creates cooperating
authorities (Rom 13:1-3), and humanity worships government (Rev 13:12, 15;
14:9, 11). In the process, humanity becomes more like the idols they worship
and less like the image of God (Ps 115:8; 135:18; Isa 6:9f; Rom 1:23ff; 8:29;
12:2; Phil 3:19ff). At the same time, the idolator sees others in terms of
their idolatry. A person who idolizes wealth from the vegetation of the ordered
seasons will enslave a person of a different race to feed his greed. The
idolator has objectified another human, treating him as less than the image of
God. Or man who idolizes sex and masculinity, sees women in those terms,
objectifies them, treating them as both subordinate to men and less than the
image of God. The result is the establishment of various privileged-oppressed
patterns of behavior that objectify, exploit, and diminish the image of God in
humanity.
However, even within this privileged-oppression dynamic,
both privileged and oppressed are imprisoned by the spiritual forces behind
these idolized, ordering powers of creation thru sin, though the former enjoy the
benefits that result from greater collaboration. There are numerous designators
for these forces. Both Paul and Peter identify them, in part, as
“principalities and powers” (Rom 8:38; 13:1-3; Col 1:13-16; Eph 1:21; 3:10;
6:12; 1 Cor 15:24; 1 Pet 3:22). The idea of spiritual forces behind the
ordering powers of creation is well-recognized.[2]
The same idea is present in the so-called gods that were said to exist behind
idols (1 Cor 10:19-21). Similarly, there are spiritual powers (such as angels)
closely connected to nations,[3]
governments (1 Cor 2:8; Col 1:16; Rom 13:1-3), and even churches (Rev 1:20).
One term Paul uses for these ordering powers of creation is stoicheia
(Gal 4:3, 9; Col 2:8, 20). This term has a range of meanings dependent upon its
context. It can refer to the essential elements of the universe (2 Pet 3:10,
12), to basic principles of religious teaching (Heb 5:12), or to the spiritual forces
that are connected to the elements of the cosmos (T. Sol. 8:2, 4). In
Colossians 2:8-10, Paul warns the church to not be “taken captive” (sylagogeo,
a likely pun on synagogue) by false philosophies and traditions rather than
that of Christ who is above all “principality and power,” and who has both
disarmed and triumphed over the powers in his death (vv. 14-15). In 2:18, he
warns them about the worship of angels (see Acts 7:42-43; Amos 5:25-27). As in
Galatians, Paul dissuades the Colossians against circumcision (2:11-13) and
both Jewish calendric and its aesthetic practices such as food,
drink, festivals, new moons, and sabbath days (Col 2:11, 16, 21-23). In
Galatians 4:3 and 4:9, Paul mentions the stoicheia of the world,
identifying them as basic elements of pagan idolatry that held the Gentiles in
bondage, and from which Christ has freed them (again, see Col 2:20). In doing
so, Paul again identifies the basic elements of the Jewish Law as stoicheia,
citing the observance of days, months, seasons, and years (Gal 4:10). This
follows a close connection between (or identification of) angels and the
mediation of the Law (3:19), an idea that is present elsewhere.[4]
Therefore, in both Galatians and Colossians, Paul likens religious practice
under the Law to pagan idolatry; both were characterized by bondage to
spiritual powers. That, of course, is Paul’s argument in Galatians 3. The Law
confined the Jews under bondage and under sin,[5]
with the intent of separating them from the corruption and influence of the pagan
Gentile world (Eph 2:12-19). In Acts 10:12 & 11:6, the noted “unclean”
animals that, in part, separated Jews from Gentiles are the same mentioned in
Rom 1:23 and Genesis 1:20-26. Yet, the Spirit is poured out upon the Gentiles
as had happened to the Jews at Pentecost (Acts 2:2-4, 17-21; 10:44-47).
Importantly, there was nothing evil in the Law itself (Rom
7:7). Rather, it was human sin corrupting the Law in the flesh (Rom 7:5, 25; 8:3-8).
The same corruption was at work with other ordering aspects of God’s good
creation. The biblical conception is of sin corrupting aspects of our base
natures, then corrupting others, and finally creating corporate solidarities or
allegiances along the lines of the aforementioned orders and distinctions. The
term Paul frequently uses to denote this corruption-solidarity dynamic is
“flesh.” In neutral terms, the Hebrew conception of “flesh” (basar)
lends itself to solidarity thinking in terms of marriage (“one flesh” [Gen
2:23f.; 1 Cor 6:16]), families or kin groups (“bone and flesh” [2 Sam 19:12f.;
Gen 29:14; Rom 9:3]), and humanity in general (“all flesh” [Gen 6:12; Joel
2:28f.]). While the Greeks had a term for “flesh” (sarx) and a term for
“body” (soma), the Hebrews had only one word, basar (“flesh”), to
cover both ideas. Therefore, there are times when “flesh” and “body” are near
synonymous terms in Paul (1 Cor 6:15-19; 15:39-40; Eph
5:28-33).
Paul teaches that participation in Christ’s death (Rom
6:3-11; Col 2:12, 20; 3:32; 2 Cor 5:14-15; Phil 3:10) strips believers of
“fleshly” solidarities - essentially dying to such solidarities and dying to
the ordered distinctions that create them. For example, both Paul and Jesus say
the “one flesh” solidarity of marriage ends at death (Rom 7:2-3; Mark 12:25).
Similarly, Paul says that the jurisdiction of the Law ends at death (Gal
2:19-20; Rom 6:14; 7:1, 4-9). In Colossians 2:20, Paul tells the Gentile Christians
that they’ve died with Christ to the stoicheia. We can add to this that
death to sin liberates from the slavery to the body of sin, or the flesh of sin
(Rom 6:2-22; 8:3). There are different ways in which Paul expresses this idea,
including, being baptized into Christ or into his death (Rom 6:3-5; Col 2:12),
stripping off or crucifying the “old self” or “old human” (anthropos [Rom
6:6; Eph 4:22; Col 3:9]), and removing the body of the flesh (Col 2:11). But
while death in Christ breaks the old solidarities of the flesh, participation
in Christ’s resurrection (Rom 6:4-11; Col 2:12-13; 3:1) creates a new
solidarity in Christ, energized by the Spirit. Paul refers to this as being
clothed with or putting on Christ (Gal 3:27; Rom 13:14;
1 Cor 15:53-54) or putting on the “new self” or “new human” (anthropos
[Rom 6:6; Eph 2:15; 4:24; Col 3:10]).
Importantly, these distinctions and solidarities aren’t
eliminated by participation in Christ; they are just no longer the bases for
exclusion, division, privilege, and oppression. Rather, believers are One in
Christ, and creation returns to the ordered goodness of God’s original
intention, which is why Paul can state that neither the Law’s circumcision (Gal
5:6; 6:15; 1 Cor 7:19) nor food sacrificed to idols (1 Cor 8) ultimately
matters.
In Galatians, some Christians were mandating circumcision as
a requirement for full membership in the Church and in the family of Abraham. Paul
responds to this perceived threat to the freedom of the Christian (2:4; 5:1,
13) by noting the Law’s intent, which included contemporary confinement until the
fulfillment of God’s promise to bless the Gentiles in the family of Abraham. He
argues that requiring circumcision and other “works of the Law” (see 2:11-14) will
divide the Church along ethnic lines (3:16), assert Jewish privilege over and
against Gentile Christians, and bring them back under the bondage of the same
kinds of spiritual powers from which Christ had freed them (1:4; 4:3, 9-10).
The word “promise” (epangelia) is mentioned six times
in Galatians 3 (twice more in Galatians 4), starting with verse 14, which
identifies it as the “promise of the Spirit.”[6]
It is in Acts 2 that the promised Spirit was poured out on
Jesus’ Jewish disciples,[7]
so that Peter (v. 17-18) could proclaim it to be the fulfilment of Joel’s
prophecy:
“It will
come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind [literally
“flesh”]; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will
have dreams, your young men will see visions. And even on the male and female
servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days” (Joel 2:28-29 NASB).
In Acts 10:44-47 (see also 11:15-18; 15:8), the Spirit then
comes upon Gentiles.
In chapter 3, Paul reminds the Galatians that they’re
received the Spirit of promise (3:2-3, 5, 14; see also 4:6; 5:16, 18). He then
notes in vv. 27-28,
“For all
of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There
is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither
male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Paul is citing Joel 2:28-29. Both passages are about the
Spirit coming upon people. Instead of “flesh” (which includes both Jew and
Gentile), Paul makes the point explicit since the distinction is vital to his
main point, but he similarly includes the references to men and women and both
slave and free – the free being implicit in Joel.
E. C. Rust says, “Joel promises a democratization of the
prophetic consciousness in the new age when God shall pour out his Spirit upon
all flesh.”[8]
And note the language Paul uses in v. 27: “baptized into Christ” and “putting (enduo) on Christ.” This is the language of dying to the solidarities of the “flesh” (Gal 3:3) and living in the solidarity of Christ – a solidarity energized by the Spirit, rather than the flesh (3:3; 4:29; 5:16-25; 6:8) - so that Jew, Gentile, slave, free, man, & woman are now one in Christ. And Galatians isn’t the only letter in which Paul makes a connection between Joel 2 and the solidarities of the “flesh.” In 1 Corinthians, Paul writes,
“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:13).
In this chapter, Paul notes the varieties of gifts,
ministries, and effects but the same Spirit, Lord, & God (vv. 4-11), with
the example of many members but One body (vv. 12-13, 20, 27) with One Spirit
(v.13), in which there should be no division (v. 25; see also 1:10; 11:18).[9]
Again, body and flesh can be near synonyms in Paul and in this letter (1 Cor
6:15-19; 15:39-40). Again, we have the language of participation in Christ’s
death. In chapter 15, when he addresses the reality of Christ’s resurrection, the
believer’s relation to that resurrection, the subjugation of “principalities
and powers” (vv. 24-28), the inability of the flesh to inherit the next age
(vv. 35-50), and how resurrected believers will bear the image of the heavenly
Christ (vv. 47-49), Paul says the perishable will “put on” (enduo – same
as in Gal 3:27) imperishable (vv. 53-54; see also vv. 42-52). In chapter 6, he
had already noted the Christians participation in Christ (vv. 14-15), noting
the “one flesh” solidarity of marriage (v. 16; see also 7:4). Back to 12:13,
Paul says that all our baptized into One body with One Spirit, whether Jews or
Greek or slaves or free. This is the same argument Paul used in Gal 3:27-28,
and he appears to be thinking again of Joel 2:28-29. Even as he applies the
Oneness of Christ’s body to the varieties of gifts by the One Spirit, he
emphasizes the importance of all these gifts. Even if some gifts and their
positions are more important to the body (12:28-30; 14:1-40), Paul encourages
the Corinthians to earnestly pursue those gifts and positions (12:31; 14:1, 39;
11:5). Regardless, we see a pattern emerging in Paul’s thinking: participation in
Christ’s death and resurrection takes off the old solidarities of the flesh and
puts on the new solidarity of Christ – a solidarity energized by the Spirit (6:17-19;
12:11-13; 15:42-47). We see the same line of reasoning in Colossians where Paul
writes,
“Do not
lie to one another, since you stripped off the old self with its evil
practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed to a true
knowledge according to the image of the One who created it— a renewal in which
there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised,
barbarian, Scythian, slave, and free, but Christ is all, and in all” (Col 3:9-11).
Here again, Paul tells the Christians that they’ve died to
the solidarities of the “flesh.” Paul had already noted that the Colossians had
died and been raised in Christ (1:22; 2:12-13, 20; 3:1, 3). They’ve stripped
off the old self and put on (enduo – as in
Gal 3:27 and 1 Cor 12:13) the new self (see 2:11). And just as in Galatians
3:28, there is now no distinction among Greek-Jew, circumcised-uncircumcised, barbarian-Scythian,
and slave-free. “Christ is all, and in all.” Bound together in the unity of
Christ’s one body (2:19; 3:14-15). The pattern in Colossians 3 is the same as
in 1 Corinthians 12 and Galatians 3, even if particularities are stressed more
than others in a given letter and even if the distinctions vary: death and
resurrection in Christ, new solidarity in unity (3:14-15), including victory
over the Powers (1:16; 2:15), the stoicheia (2:8, 20), and references to
Jewish ethnic rituals such as circumcision (2:8, 11-23: 3:11). References to
male and female are absent here, but barbarian and Scythian are included. Of
course, Paul was primarily an apostle to the Gentiles (Rom 11:13), and his variations
on the “all flesh” of Joel 2:28 bear this out. Nevertheless, the pattern
reveals the principle - one that could be interchanged depending upon situation.
Circumcision separated Jews and Greeks, “culture” separated Greeks from
“barbarians” and Scythians. Certainly, patriarchy separates men and women.
Indeed, as a sign of the covenant, circumcision established both Jewish and
male privilege.
We can see further evidence of this pattern and principle in
Ephesians 2. Gentiles once separated and excluded have now joined in the “blood
of Christ” (v. 13), tearing down the divider of the Law’s commandments and ordinances
in his flesh (vv. 14-15), putting to death the hostility (v. 16), making Jew
and Gentile into one new person (anthropos - v. 15), in one body (v. 16),[10]
by one Spirit (v. 18). Two chapters later (4:17-25), he notes that the Gentile
Christians are no longer excluded from the life of God, no longer walking in
the futile thinking of their idolatrous ways. They’ve taken off the old self
and put on (enduo) the new self, renewed in the spirit of their minds,
all members of one body.[11]
Additionally, in Romans 13:14, Paul tells the church to “put on” (enduo)
Christ and make no provision for the flesh. He immediately follows this in 14:1-23,
reprimanding them on quarrels and disunity over the subjects of eating,
drinking, and kosher diets, noting that no food is truly unclean (14:14), but
that the believer should make considerations for the conscience of the “weaker.”
That’s similar to the point Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 8 on
the respecting the consciences of “weaker” believers and food sacrificed to
idols. He nevertheless notes that because there is One God, One Lord, by whom
all things are made (v. 6), all foods are open for consumption. He’ll touch on
this point again at 10:26, asserting that all food is kosher because all the
earth is God’s and all that it contains (Ps 24:1). In Acts 10, Peter's vision
of unclean animals to eat results in his understanding that all Gentiles can
come to God because God shows no partiality (v. 34). Paul agrees with Peter
(Gal 2:6; Eph 6:9; Rom 2:11). The idea of divine impartiality comes this from
Deuteronomy 10:17, which bases societal justice and impartiality on the
impartiality of God (see also 2 Chron 19:7). Thus, because God is impartial,
his image-bearers are to be impartial (Deut 1:17; Job 13:10; Ps 82:2; Prov
18:5; 24:23; 28:21; Mal 2:9; 1 Tim 5:21). In his letter, James calls partiality
a sin, reprimanding his audience for their unequal distinctions,[12]
while tying impartiality to “love of neighbor” (2:4-9). Indeed, that’s a point Paul
makes in Colossians 3:10-15: to put on the new self is to put on compassion and
love, dwelling in the one body of Christ. In Christ, neither circumcision nor
circumcision matters, but faith working through love (Gal 5:6).
While Paul appears to have rightly understood the “pouring out of my Spirit on all flesh” to refer to the solidarity of all humans (Gen 6:17), implying both Jew and Gentile, he also understood it to refer to all types of "fleshly" solidarities needing the Spirit poured out upon them. The so-called "Household Codes" in Ephesians 5:21 to 6:9 are a further elaboration of what it means to be filled with the Spirit (5:18) and covers many of the same ideas found in Galatians 3, Colossians 3, and 1 Corinthians 12, also probably based on Joel 2:28-29, particularly as it covers the similar subjects of the Spirit working through the “fleshly” solidarities of women and men, parents and children, free and slave. Paul had already talked about the Spirit working thru the "fleshly" solidarities of Jews and Gentiles in 2:11-22.
As such, the “household codes” describe a life of mutual submission (v.21), love of neighbor as self (5:28-33), reciprocity (6:5-9), and impartiality (6:9). As “one flesh,” “one body,” or “one self,” (1 Cor 6:16; 15:39; Eph 5:31; Gen 2:4; Matt 19:5-6; Mark 10:8), the wife and husband each “have authority/rights” (exousiazō) over the other’s body (1 Cor 7:4), just as an individual as “authority/rights” (exousia) over one’s self (1 Cor 7:37; 8:9; 9:4, 5, 6, 12, 18), even as no one is to “have authority” (exousiazō) over others in the Church (Luke 22:25; 1 Cor 6:12), even as the Church is one body (Rom 12:4-5; 1 Cor 10:17; 12:12-13, 20; Eph 2:16; 4:4; Col 3:15). Therefore, the "Love of wife as self" is the same as "love of neighbor as self" (Lev 19:18; Mark 12:31; Gal 5:14). However, I'd note the old solidarity of marriage ends at death, but the new solidarity in Christ necessarily continues into eternity (Mark 3:33-34), extending beyond Israel (Luke 10:29-37). Also, note “masters according to the flesh” (6:5) – similar to Gentiles in the flesh (2:3) and circumcision in the flesh (Col 2:11). Again, both distinctions and “fleshly” solidarities are parts of God’s good creation; the problem arises when they are used for privilege & oppression.
Returning to 1 Corinthians 8, Paul’s point in v. 6 about
their being One God, the Father and One Lord, Christ is a reference to the
Shema prayer of Deuteronomy 6:4-5 that the Lord God is One, in which Paul now includes
Jesus. In 12:9, 13, he mentions the One Spirit. And as we look through all these focused
passages, we see the unity of Church based on the unity of God: One Lord (Col
3:15; 1 Cor 12:4; Eph 4:5), One body (1 Cor 12:12-13, 20; Eph 2:16; 4:4; Rom
12:4-5), One Christ (Gal 3:16), One Spirit (1 Cor 12:4, 8-9, 11, 13; Eph 2:18;
4:4), One Father (Eph 4:6), One God (Gal 3:20; 1 Cor 12:6; Gal 3:20; Eph 4:6). If
God is One then he is the God of all races, sexes, ages, & classes. Not
just men. This is the social justice implications of creative monotheism. And
just as with God’s impartiality, so with his love. In Matt 22:36-40, Jesus
takes the greatest commandment of Deuteronomy 6:5, combines it with the second
greatest commandment of Leviticus 19:18 ("love of neighbor"), which
we understand as irrespective of distinctions.[13]
Love, impartiality, unity, and equality flow out of the Oneness of God. And God
wants his creation and his image-bearers to reflect that unity and equality.
Therefore, we can see how Paul conceptualized his
egalitarian approach to ministry. The apostle understood the basic problem of
inequality, which faced both society and the Church: humans worship the ordering
aspects of creation and the various marks of distinction as idols. In doing so,
they create solidarities or allegiances (“flesh”) with a privilege-oppression
dynamic, which separates and excludes as the basis of unequal, societal
injustices. Once again, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with these orders
and distinctions or with these solidarities or allegiances. Food, drink,
circumcision, the Law, marriage, race, and sex are all the good creation of a
God. It is only when these good creations are idolized and used as the basis of
oppression and injustice that become tools for evil. Paul’s solution to this
privilege-oppression scenario is participation in Christ's death &
resurrection. In doing so, we die to the idols and the “principalities and
powers” behind them, shedding the old solidarities, putting on the new
solidarity of Christ.[14]
We become part of that One unified body, for One crucified and resurrected Lord,
by One poured out Spirit, all accomplished by One creator God. This is the
thinking that undergirds Paul’s teaching in Galatians 3:28. Properly
understood, it is a fundamental point of biblical egalitarianism.
[1] In
this article, I accept the tradition of attributing Pauline authorship to both Colossians
and Ephesians along with the generally undisputed letters. The authorship of Second
Thessalonians and the Pastorals do not factor into my argument.
[2] Rev
7:1; 14:18; 16:5; Jub. 2:2; 1 En. 21:3; 43:1; 60:11-24; 80:1,
6-7; 2 En. [Longer recension] 4:1-2; 12:1; 15:1; 16:7; T. Sol.
4:6; 8:2; 18:1-42
[3]
Deut 4:19; 32:8 (LXX); Dan 10:13, 20-21; Sir 17:14; 1 En.
89:59-61; 4QDeutj,n; 1 Clem. 29:2.
[4]
Deut 33:2; Ps 68:17; Jub. 1:27-29; Acts 7:53; Gal 3:19; Heb 2:2; Somn.
1:140-44; Ant. 15.5.3)
[5]
Gal 3:19, 22-24; 4:1-3, 5, 8-9, 21-31; 5:1, 18; Rom 5:20; 7:8-13; 11:32
[6]
See also Eph 1:13; 3:5-6; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5; 2:33, 38-39.
[7]
See Isa 32:15-20; 44:3; Ezek 36:24-30; 39:29; Joel 2:28-29; Zech 12:10; Rom 5:5; Titus 3:5-6.
[8]
E.C. Rust, Nature and Man in Biblical Thought (London: Lutterworth
Press, 1953), 137.
[9] 1 Corinthians 12 shares many of the
same ideas of Romans 12: diversity amidst unity, the analogy of the human body
and the “body of Christ,” and the gifts of the Spirit.
[10] If
you’re thinking of man and woman becoming “one flesh,” you are on the right track.
[11] The
deluding effects of idolatry are noted in Scripture (Ps 115:5-8; Zech 10:2; Rom
1:21-22, 31). What Paul says here in Ephesians 4 about the futile thinking of
idolators and need for mind renewal, he says in Romans 1:18-32 and 12:1-8,
including being members of one body and the aforementioned unity amidst charismatic
diversity.
[12]
See also Acts 10:20; 11:12; 15:8-9 and Romans 10:12.
[13]
See also Romans 13:8-10 and Galatians 5:14.
[14] In
2 Corinthians 5:1-17, in much the same way that justification by faith in
Christ is the new badge that identifies in the present the final verdict on the
last day, Paul points to that final judgment in which the Spirit who presently
“clothes” the believer in the new solidarity in Christ as a pledge from God (v.
5; see also 1:22; Eph 1:14), bring a renewed, imperishable body. Therefore,
because of participation in Christ’s death and resurrection (vv. 14-15), “we
recognize no one by what they are in the flesh” (v. 16).
