Sermon for the 9th Sunday after Pentecost
July 21, 2024I think I’ve told you all how certain elders have complained to me that I choose very unpleasant scriptures on the Sundays they’re signed up to preside—scriptures that are violent, or about sin or the devil. When they complain, I always tell them, “At least I didn’t give you a passage about circumcision!”
Well, if that were to happen—if a passage about circumcision was going to be read during a Christian worship service—then, chances are, that passage would probably come from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. You see, the Galatians were under considerable pressure from some unnamed preacher (or maybe more than one preacher) to become Jewish before they would be accepted as true Christians. And, of course, this process would require circumcision, regardless of the age of the male convert.
To say Paul was against this idea is putting it mildly. He was almost violently opposed to this way of thinking. But, though he uses some rough language to make his argument, he also waxes very eloquent from time to time in the Letter to the Galatians. And his eloquence reaches its peak here in chapter 3, in the passage you heard this morning.
And before I get into it, I want us all to be aware that the phrase “children [sons] of God” was a phrase in the Hebrew Bible that referred to Israel as God’s chosen people. And so when Paul uses it in Galatians 3, we’re supposed to take notice.
So now, let’s talk translation: Because English and Greek are so different, the word order for Galatians 3:26 is almost always changed when translating. In English, just about all translations of Galatians 3:26 are similar to the one we just heard: “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” That’s the way it works best in English—a language which has to follow a pretty strict word order.
But in Greek, the first word—and therefore the one that’s emphasized—is all: All, therefore, are. In English, we stress the word we want to draw attention to. Our voices go up when we reach that word in a sentence. But not all languages can do that. So when Paul writes in Greek, putting a certain word first in the sentence, he’s emphasizing that word; he’s saying unequivocally that it’s not just those who have taken the extra step to first convert to Judaism before converting to Christianity. It’s for all—for everyone. And it’s not through altering themselves physically or obeying some other law or regulation. No, it’s through faith in Christ Jesus.
And I think there’s a lesson in this for all of us who live in today’s world and express our religion through today’s church. Paul was writing to a church that was being told that their faith wasn’t enough for them to be called children of God; they had to do something else. But it is enough. Paul said it over and over again. And even more important: Jesus showed it not just in words, but in deeds. Faith is enough—enough to set us free, enough to make us children of God, enough to make us family.
We’re always going to meet people who want to add requirements to Christianity, but the Bible tells us it’s what’s in our heart. We don’t all have to agree on all the different nuances of Christian faith and practice. Nobody else can tell us that their Christianity has to be our Christianity. Our faith isn’t in another person. It’s through our faith in Jesus Christ that we are God’s children. Each person is unique, so each person’s faith is unique. And so are our doubts. And yet despite all this, Paul writes, “You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
So as we try to remember that we all relate to God in unique ways, Paul reminds us that, in fact, God doesn’t even see our differences, for “there is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” This is Galatians 3:28, and there’s been more commentary written about this single verse than just about any other. Paul wrote it to the Galatians, but a lot of scholars believe that these were words the Galatians already knew. In fact, scholars believe these may have been words spoken to them and over them when they were baptized. So Paul was using them to remind them (and us) not to go back to the distinctions that once held sway over their lives. Whereas once we might have looked to our ethnic group, or our social standing, or our career, or our gender as being what identified us as people, Paul is telling us that those things no longer matter; our identity is found in Christ.
One of these distinctions goes back to creation: Genesis 1:27 tells us, “Male and female he created” us. And here in Galatians 3, Paul says that in Christ we are no longer male and female—from God’s creation to God’s new creation. This doesn’t erase biological gender, but it does create equality and unity in the church.
Though Paul seems to be quoting a liturgical formula here, the one he’s truly emphasizing is the disappearance of the distinction between Jew and Gentile. Christ has broken down this once all-important barrier. The distinctions between the two groups no longer matter. The church doesn’t look into ethnic group or parentage before embracing a new member of the body of Christ. Through our trust in Christ Jesus, we are all one.
This unity is a huge theme of the Apostle Paul, and two places where it’s most obvious are in Galatians 3 (which we’ve just been talking about) and Ephesians 2, so let me read to you part of that passage:
Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He brought this Good News of peace to you who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.
Christ has brought peace to us, uniting us—both Jews and Gentiles—into one New Israel. I like how Paul talks about Christ as peace-bringer. So let’s use a new metaphor for the church: A river. Think about how, when they’re close to the source, streams are usually shallow, and often very rocky. When people go whitewater rafting, they don’t do it near the river’s lower reaches, but way up closer where it begins, because that’s where the water is more turbulent.
And so here we have two streams coming together to form a river. By themselves, they’re narrower and more turbulent. But together, they’re broader and more peaceful. Christ is that point of confluence, the place where the two streams come together. And once they are in Christ, there is peace and there is no longer a distinction between which water came from which river.
So certainly there should be peace within the church. There should be depth and broadmindedness. But the church should also bear peace to the world beyond the edges of our faith community. As Jesus told us in Matthew 10:8, “Give as freely as you have received.” Therefore, if we have experienced God’s love and if Christ has made peace within us, then how can the church be a hateful presence in the world, one that promotes division? Today, let us resolve anew to share the love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the peace of the Holy Spirit—both within the church and outside these walls.
—©2024 Sam Greening
