Galatians 3:28,29 - Neither Jew nor Greek

3:28

There is a similar verse in Col 3:11, though with some differences. First of all let’s look at what Paul is not saying. He is not saying there are no differences between Jews and Greeks, slaves and free, men and women. What he is saying is that in Christ we are all one. Our cultural, social and ethnic background matters and has had in effect on our lives, some good, some bad, some neither good not bad. But our identity, worth and value is found purely in Christ. Being a Jew did not make you any more in the kingdom of God than a Gentile, it did not make you any more righteous. In this list of three comparisons here we should note that the Jew of the day considered it to be far better to be a Jew than a Gentiles, far better to be free than a slave, and far better to be a man than a woman! Paul is saying that in Christ these distinctions no longer matter. In Christ men and women are equal, Jews and Greeks are equal, slaves and free are equal. This is also why the earlier dispute with Peter over eating together was so important.

3:29

And if we are Christ’s then we are Abraham’s seed. We belong to Christ. It is not just a matter of our choosing one belief system over another, we actually belong to Christ, we are His. Earlier Paul referred to Abraham’s seed, using a very Jewish argument in putting emphasis on it saying seed rather than seeds. Paul now rounds this argument off by referring to us as Abraham’s seed, so seed here is being used in both the singular and the plural sense. It is singular in that everything come through Christ, and it is plural in that it applies to all who believe in Christ. If we believe in Christ then we are full members of the family!