The Best Place to Be
Galatians 3:26-29 NKJV
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 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. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Paul starts chapter three with the words, "O foolish Galatians." I don't believe he was trying to be harsh. Paul was frustrated that the gospel of Jesus Christ that he had preached to these people was being distorted. Men had come in behind Paul and were preaching that you must become circumcised and keep the Mosaic Law in order to be saved. Paul was refuting these false claims by declaring what Jesus had done was far better than the Law. The Law was to bring the Jews to Christ so that they could be made right with God through faith. The Law pointed to the answer; it was not the answer. The final answer was Jesus.
In our passage for today, Paul is showing the Galatians, and us, what we have through faith in Jesus. We are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. That is a huge statement. We are sons of God, not servants of God. We are all sons with the rights and privileges that ancient cultures understood belonged to sons. And this is not a gender thing; for those of us who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. I realize that is one of those statements that we simply have to receive by faith. We are united with Him through baptism. Not baptism in water, but baptism into Christ by the Holy Spirit. Please don't ask me to explain it. All I know is that in the eyes of God, when He sees us, He sees us in Christ.
This revelation was so strong in Paul that what he proclaims in verse twenty-eight is startling. For those of us who have been baptized into Christ, there is no longer the natural distinctions that identify us. There is neither Jew nor Greek. So in Christ, being Jewish or Gentile no longer matters in God's sight. There is neither slave nor free. In a culture where slavery exists, that is a huge delineation. If you were a slave in those days, you had virtually no status at all. But when approaching God's throne of grace, He did not see a slave or free person; He only sees someone in Christ. And the final kicker: in Christ, there is no male or female. This had to rock the culture of the ancient world. In many circles, women had no voice and no authority. But in Christ, women would have both. God was not seeing them through the lens of gender but through the lens of Jesus Christ.
Paul goes on to talk about all of those who are in Christ are the seed of Abraham. But that is a lesson for another day. The key message here is that the place to be is in Christ.
Application
That is still the place to be, in Christ. It is a life-changing revelation that opens the door to the inheritance that God has for us. In Christ is where we gain strength and identity. In Christ is where inferiority loses its hold on us. As I heard a man say, "I look a whole lot better in Christ than I do in myself." We no longer approach God from the place of being Jewish or Gentile. We don't come as rich or poor, male or female; we come on the basis of being God's sons, part of God's family through faith in Jesus. The best place to be.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, it is such a privilege to be Your son in Christ. Thank You, for doing for me what I could not have done on my own. In Christ is truly the best place to be.