Problem Passages: Galatians 3:26-28
This post is a part of the series comparing the teaching on various gender passages in the Bible. Read more about the series here.
Galatians 3:26-28 says,
For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (ESV)
Summary of Disagreements
What could be problematic about this verse you may wonder? Its scope. All Christians agree that salvation is for everyone, regardless of race, gender or social status. But how does that practically translate to the present life on earth? Will God use men and women in the same way?
Complementarians emphasize the broad context of Galatians, which is Paul’s defense of justification by faith alone and not by keeping the law (end of chapter 2). They conclude this verse has no bearing on the gender roles they believe were established at creation. Men were created to be leaders, and women should never lead men.
Egalitarians focus on the context of chapter 3, which is living by the same Spirit which birthed your salvation. They conclude that since both male and female are called “sons,” this inheritence is applicable right now on earth. There should be no distinction in gender roles in the church. The Holy Spirit will gift either men or women with leadership abilities or teaching in the church. Gifting is the qualifying factor, not gender.
Does this verse erase all differences here and now? Nobody argues that men and women are identical. Both sides of the argument agree there are inherent biological differences between men and women. The context of this verse is “in Christ.”
Egalitarian
To an egalitarian, this verse is trump. Galatians 3:28, and the truths taught in the entire book, are the filter by which Egals sift the other gender “problem” passages. Egals question any interpretation of a passage that limits the “sonship of God” for any believer.
Egals believe Galatians 3:28 is the great equalizer. Not only do all humans have equal access to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, they continue to live in the same manner by which they were saved (Galatians 3:3,11); through faith and not by the flesh (good behavior). Egalitarians believe Galatians 3:28 applies to a Christian’s living faith – sanctification – as well as salvation.
Paul spoke these words to a culture in which one’s class, gender, and ethnicity determined one’s value, status, and sphere of influence. Some insist that Galatians 3:28 speaks only of access to Christ, or salvation. But remember, Paul sent these words to a believing church that was divided over whether Christians should observe Jewish law (Gal. 2:11&ff). This passage concerns church life and practice, to be lived by kingdom values, not cultural prejudices. -Mimi Haddad, What Counts is the New Creation.
Egals believe there is no need to look back to the Old Covenant for God’s instruction on gender roles because the New Covenant does not follow the order of the Old One. In the words of Paul, “What counts is the new creation.”(Galatians 6:15) Egals reject the Complementarian belief that God’s creation order establishes a precedent that rules His Spirit’s generosity in Christ’s Church.
Egalitarians also use Galatians 3:28 to prop Jesus’ words in the gospels that flatten hierarchy and authoritarian structures. They believe in the equality of servanthood and the plain sense understanding of Jesus’ words on worldly superiority.
“Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” -Matthew18:1-3
“But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” -Matthew 23:8-12
And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater,one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.” -Luke 22:25-27
The Spirit of God is given without measure. His gifts have no litmus test of gender. In living the life of the Spirit, the egalitarian asks…why are we so concerned with things of the flesh?
Further Reading
Galatians 3:28 is it only about salvation?
What Galatians 3:28 can not mean.
Complementarian Understanding
It is a rare Complementarian that would not agree all Christians are equal, BUT…
…this passage does not abolish the gender-based roles established by God and redeemed by Christ. ~John Piper and Wayne Grudem. Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. 71-72.
To a comp, Galatians 3:28 must be limited to a heavenly inheritance because of two core beliefs:
- They believe God established gender roles at creation. This means the roles of men and women are inherent as part of God’s design. This “creation order” is how a Comp understands the entire Bible, even the New Covenant.
- They believe God works through authoritarian structures, or hierarchy.
Elizabeth Elliot says,
Acceptance of the divinely ordered hierarchy means acceptance of authority – first of all, God’s authority and then those lesser authorities which He has ordained. A husband and wife are both under God, but their positions are not the same. A wife is to submit herself to her husband. The husband’s “rank” is given to him by God,as the angel’s and animals’ ranks are assigned, not chosen or earned. – Let Me Be Woman.
Complementarians bolster these core beliefs by arguing that Peter commands wifely submission in 1 Peter 3:1-7, as well as recognizing the spouses’ joint inheritance of grace. They argue gender distinctions and co-inheritance are not exclusive with each other.
Because God created men to lead and women to help, Galatians 3:28 will not change God’s gender design. Hence, Comps believe it must be limited to justification, or our eternal salvation. Galatians 3:28 does not negate God’s commands elsewhere that women should not take postitions of authority over men.
Further Reading
Fifty Crucial Questions: Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
Male and Female equality in light of Galatians 3:28
Galatians 3:28 |
||
| Egals Believe… | Comps Believe… | |
| There is no male nor female in Christ… | …Transcends worldly roles. All believers have equal access to the gifting of God’s Spirit. The Spirit does not limit the teaching and leading gifts to men. | …Does not negate God’s creation order which establishes certain behaviors of men and women. The Spirit will never gift a woman to teach or lead men. |
My children are…
Self-centered : They naturally believe their needs and wants should come first.
Resilient : They are able to recover quickly from setbacks. (ie: irrepressible)
Full of energy : They keep going, and going, and going.
They need all these qualities to grow up, which is hard work!
These qualities make them:
- Valuable: They have great importance and usefulness to me.
- Vulnerable: They are open to harm (physically and emotionally) and easily persuaded.
- Imperfect: They are lacking. They have faults and make mistakes.
- Dependent: They rely on me and trust me to support them physically, emotionally and financially.
- Immature: They are not fully developed.
I’m learning from the recent posts at Under Much Grace to value the inherent character and traits of childhood. When I say value, I mean that these traits have worth in the function of raising a child to be an adult; that there is merit to allowing the child to experience the trait; and that it is important not to steal these traits of childhood from them. They are vital tools on the road to independence. When I say I’m learning, I mean, I have not valued these traits, but I am beginning to understand their importance to the raising of healthy adults. I am changing.
“It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble.” Luke 17:1-2
A little confession
I am pretty lazy.
That might be a bombshell for everyone but my mother and a few sisters. I hide it well. But I notice my lazy streak flaring up in my daughter. She takes the easiest route. She leaves things half done. She does her work as quick as she can (translation: poorly and messy) so she can relax. She does not jump into new projects with enthusiasm, because she is counting how much work it will involve. In other words…a mini-me.
I’ve been wondering if my old complementarian position was influenced by my inclination to take the easiest route? I can remember many times saying something like this. “Once you understand God’s plan for wife’s submission, things become so much easier!” And truly, it did. It was easier to do let my brain numb up when his arguments sounded convincing rather than research for a few hours to counter them. It was so much easier to let him take the blame for our failures, because I was ”submitting.” I was doing the complementarian “duck and let God hit him” manuever. The trouble was, I was getting whacked as well! Not only in the pain of living with past mistakes, but in burying my talent in the ground and ignoring it…in other words, being lazy.
No so anymore. I’m still submitting, but it looks very different. And dangit! It’s more work! I realize I have a responsibility to present my viewpoint and apply my rationale to decisions. I can no longer “check out” as my lazy nature likes to do. I believe our decisions will be stronger and better when I work at them, too. And I believe wholeheartedly God wants me to dig up that talent I buried out of laziness - disguised as “wifely submission” – and start investing in the path our life will take.
Recently, that means working at understanding legalize and crunching numbers…ick! Many times, I admit it’s too much for me. I ask for the same clarification over and over. That stuff won’t stay in my random access memory! I want to give up and let him do all the work. It is here I recognize how wifely submission fit well with my lazy streak. I wasn’t necessarily submitting to him, but to my own pleasure!
There was a reason God created male AND female, and it wasn’t so men would always have a servant to care for them. But, because together, they are one. I am trying hard to not let my laziness create an imbalance this time around.
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them.
male and female he created them.Genesis 1:27
Why Twelve Men?
I don’t accept that because Jesus picked twelve men, he was excluding women from church leadership. So, why twelve men? Honestly, I don’t know for sure. My tendency is to look to history for answers. Here’s my guess.
The significance of Twelve Jewish Men
There is more to the Twelve than their role as foundation pillars of the church. (Notice, I do not call them apostles because I don’t wish to confuse the fact that there were more than twelve that were called apostles. So I will distinguish Jesus’ chosen twelve apostles as the Twelve.) To teach that the Twelve were only the founding leaders of the church is to miss their prophesied purpose to Israel.
Although they hold much responsibility in birthing the church, the significance of their number and gender is found looking back to the Old Covenant, not forward to birth of the Church. These men were chosen to mark the END of Israel’s time, and to be an eyewitness to the finale of God’s promise to Israel: the fulfillment of Messiah who will bless the entire world. Hence, there is a gender and numerical symbolism at play. As twelve Jewish males, they were symbolic for the twelve tribes and their patriarchal heads. In this role, their number and gender is not an example for the new church to follow, but indicative of the closure of the Old Covenant.
Twelve men will judge the twelve sons of Israel.
These chosen Twelve men fulfill Isaiah 1:26.
“I will restore your judges as at first.”
Jesus confirms this purpose in Matthew 19:28 and Luke 22:30.
“Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
“…you may…sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
What did they judge about Israel?
Acting as “justice” for Israel involved the transitioning of covenants from the nation of Israel to a global priesthood of believers. As judges, they passed sentence on Israel by initiating the transfer of the Holy Spirit to all nationalities. Their ministry ended Israel’s unique connection to God. Their preaching also warned of coming catastrophes. They watched the signs of the time as Jesus instructed and warned the Jewish people “Judgement was near!”(Matthew 24) For Israel, the final judgement or “the end of the age” was the Roman dispersion of the Jewish people, and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.
The Twelve may also have a future role in passing sentence on Israel at the final judgement… but I’m not sure what that looks like.
The Twelve are linked to Israel and the fulfillment of the patriarchal Old Covenant. The Old Covenant was designed around promises to men, the service and sacrifices of males, and would be fulfilled by a future coming male Messiah. This is why there were twelve; why they were Jewish and why they were male. This is also why Judas Iscariot was replaced quickly after his suicide. Because twelve was important symbolically to Israel. Yet, when James died 10-15 years later, he was not replaced. It was the end of “times.” The chosen Twelve and their message, “Judgement is near, but Salvation has come for everyone!” concluded the Old Covenant in the transitional period preceding the destruction of the temple in 70 AC and the explosion of Christianity to the Gentiles thereafter.
Twelve was no longer an important symbolic number to the Gentiles, neither were the patriarchal promises to the sons of Israel.
What counts is the new creation. (Galatians 6:15)
The Chosen Twelve condemned/judged/ended the old era of Israel, but their teaching also built the foundation of the Global Church. But in this role, their number, nationality or gender is no longer significant. How can I say this beyond a shadow of a doubt? Because the old was gone, and the new has come. Jesus insists we don’t pour our new wine back into the old wineskins. (Matthew 9) The church is new wine, folks! Patriarchy and male-based religion based on circumcision and exclusion is an old wineskin, and we must burst those weak constraints.
The Chosen Twelve men were tasked with judging Israel. But, “Do you not know,” Paul says, “that the saints will judge the world? Do you not know that we will judge angels?” (1 Cor. 6:2-3). All believers will fulfill this role as judge at the end of our “age.” Our covenant is not only with a chosen few, but with all who will believe. Our sphere of justice is not one nation, but the whole globe. Our temple is a personal and intimate indwelling of the same Spirit, and our priesthood knows no restriction to heritage, nationality or gender.
The example of Twelve Jewish Males is not for the new Church, but a dying symbol of Old Israel.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17
The Twelve were male.
The title has been given as a reason why women can’t hold leadership in the church of Christ. Jesus picked twelve men. That automatically disqualifies women from church leadership.
Yep, the twelve were male.
So what?
They were also circumcised, Jewish and rather dense. Shall we make these qualifications for church leadership as well?
Click on that link and contemplate the liberties found in the New Covenant. My next post will be why I think Jesus picked 12 Jewish men.
