The Heart of the Gospel for Racial Reconciliation

Galatians 3:26-28 says the follow:

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:26-28

Two of the most powerful words in the Bible is “in Christ.” It’s not just a prepositional phrase. The Greek background carries the ideas of adoption and belonging to God’s family.

The power of what Paul says in Galatians 3:26-28 emphasizes both our unity “in Christ” and a celebration of our differences. The practice of baptism mentioned in Galatians displays the gospel. The church celebrates people of all races and backgrounds professing their declaration of following Jesus.

Brad R. Braxton in his commentary on Galatians makes this point about the words of Paul in Galatians 3:28:

“…the declaration (Galatians 3:28) affirms that Christ has liberated believers not from the tyranny of difference but from the tyranny of sameness.”

No Longer Slaves

Paul reminds the readers of Galatians their unity in Christ while also acknowledging their differences.

The gospel calls us to hold in tandem our equality in salvation and baptism, and freedom to be who God created us to be in His image.

Throughout the whole Bible, we see God’s heart for humanity to reconcile to Himself and in relationship to each other. I hope we take time to reflect on passages like Galatians 3:26-28. The writers of scripture carry a repeated importance significance of racial and ethnic reconciliation.

I pray we take time to see in the pages of scripture God’s heart for racial reconciliation. Now more than ever, we need the good news of the gospel.

I shared a sermon on Galatians 3:26-28. You can watch it at the link below:

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash