Gal 3:28 — Male and Female in Christ

Introduction

Today we are looking at this verse here in Galatians 3.28, where Paul says, 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. And we are going to be focusing particularly on the reference there to the fact that there is neither male nor female. In Christ and trying to understand what that means.

Last Sunday, I preached on the verse just before that, verse 27. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And I would say that that sermon last week was slightly more topical than usual. I am preaching through Galatians. We have been looking at this whole passage here about the coming of the new covenant and what that means for our relationship to the law. But I wanted to focus on verse 27 and talk about baptism and specifically how in the context Paul compares baptism with circumcision. And so we see many interesting parallels between baptism and circumcision.

Promise, that is God’s covenant with Abraham. Promise that God made to Abraham concerning the offspring who would come and how he would achieve the inheritance for us. Then the next major epoch of redemptive history is the giving of the law. So promise, then law, and then what Paul refers to as faith. Which we saw as his synecdoche, that is his part for the whole, to refer to the New Covenant, since the New Covenant focuses so much on faith, promise, law, faith. So Paul is giving us the whole sweep of redemptive history from the old covenant to the new, and showing us how the coming of Christ, the offspring, was promised long ago, and that Christ has now come. As the text says there in verse 25, now that faith has come, now that the new covenant has arrived, we are no longer under the supervision of the law, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith.

Now it is interesting that right here in this context, as Paul is dealing with this wonderful picture of redemptive history and showing us how it is all fulfilled in Christ and how our union with Christ is the key to unlocking the whole scripture and what God is calling us to in him, it is in this context that he makes this important pronouncement in Galatians 3.28, that in 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.

They say, look, Paul says here that the male-female distinction no longer matters in Christ. Therefore, they say men and women are equal, and male headship in the church and in the home is abolished. Now, they do recognize that Paul does have other teaching in his other letters that seems to go against that?

For example, in 1 Timothy 2, verses 11 and 12, Paul says, let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet. There is another verse similar to this in 1 Corinthians 14, verses 34 to 35, similarly also focusing on this idea of quietness and submissiveness. He says, Paul says, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the law also says.

If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. These other passages are the ones that they say are the historically bound texts. That is, they are not the timeless fundamental theology of the Apostle Paul.

Galatians 3:28 declares that there is neither male nor female in Christ. Some interpreters contrast this statement with other passages they regard as negative or even misogynistic, particularly Paul’s teaching that women are to be submissive and quiet in the church. That is not how we understand Scripture, but it is their argument.

But those are the historically bound texts. Those are the texts that are just Paul accommodating to his culture. First century Greco-Roman culture was very hierarchical and patriarchal. And so Paul, as a product of his own time, he made some offhand remarks that fit in with that cultural context. And so he was accommodating to the patriarchal culture of his time. His prohibition against women serving in leadership in the church or his call for women to be submissive to their husbands. These were not intended to be universally binding for all time. Those statements were temporary. Those were just part of the need for the church to accommodate to the culture of that day.

But Galatians 3.28, the passage that we are focusing on today, 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. That is the universally binding for all time text. That is where you really see Paul’s true theological beliefs, when he is not accommodating to the culture.

The Egalitarian Reading

In their view, Paul was really an evangelical feminist or an egalitarian at heart, even though he did have some harsh things to say about women in other passages. And so we need to take those other passages and subordinate them to this passage. This passage is the one, this is the clear text, this is the one that we should take as being, this is the true principle, and the other ones we should reinterpret in light of this text here. And at first that seems plausible, although for those of us who have a high view of the inspiration and inerrancy and authority of scripture, we are going to be troubled by this idea of saying that we can dismiss certain passages as being time-bound and not universal and permanent. But you can somewhat see the point they are getting at, because here, Paul makes such a clear statement, it is such a powerful statement, that in Christ, the male-female distinction is no longer relevant. And so you can see why they might say that Paul was really an egalitarian at heart, and those other passages have to be interpreted in light of this one.

Three Responses

Reading Church History

How should we respond? There is a number of things we can say. First of all, the first most obvious response that we should say is this approach to interpreting all of the teaching of the New Testament, including the teaching of Paul, this way of balancing the harsh text with this supposedly clearer text, this is a brand new thing. It is only been in Bible-believing evangelical circles in the past, what, 20, 30 years? It is a very recent innovation for how to interpret these passages.

So that is the first response. It seems improbable that it took the church twenty centuries to discern this approach to interpreting the Bible. And that then suggests, does it not, that maybe something else is at work. In other words, that the reason why some Christians have gone with this approach is because they are trying to accommodate to contemporary culture. Just as they are accusing Paul of accommodating to his first century culture, I think that it is more likely that the evangelical feminists today are actually the ones who are guilty of that because it is such an innovative and recent interpretation.

One in Christ

He does not say merely that men and women are equal; he says that they are one. Galatians 3:28 declares, “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.” Paul is clearly teaching our unity in Christ. This unity does imply a kind of equality, and that is true.

Whenever we say that two things are equal, we must ask in what respect they are equal. An apple and an orange are not equal in color, shape, or flavor, though they might be equal in size or weight. In the same way, the context makes clear that Paul affirms the equality of male and female with respect to union with Christ.

And also the whole context, the whole context of Galatians 3 is that Paul is talking about salvation. The whole argument of the letter to the Galatians is that the Galatian Christians are being tempted by the false teachers who are saying that they need to be circumcised and keep the law to be justified and forgiven and to be considered the offspring of Abraham who will inherit the inheritance. And Paul is saying that is not true because now that faith has come, now that the new covenant has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. Rather, we are justified by faith, verse 24. So then the law was our guardian, our custodian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith.

It is clear then that Paul is affirming that male and female, as well as Jew and Gentile, and slave and free, are equal in terms of our experience of all that we have in union with Christ. We are equally forgiven in Christ. We are equally justified in Christ. That is, we are equally reckoned and counted as righteous before God in Christ. We are also therefore equally heirs of the inheritance, because we are righteous in Christ, not in ourselves, but in Christ we are reckoned as righteous, therefore we are heirs of heaven.

And we also equally possess the Holy Spirit, who is the down payment of the inheritance. It is a leap then from that, that is from equality in Christ, equality in terms of salvation, to argue then therefore equality in authority and equality in leadership in the home and in the church.

Created Roles Remain

In other letters, Paul makes clear that Christian men and women have different roles and responsibilities. And what is interesting is that in those other passages where he speaks of the roles and responsibilities of men and women, both in the family and in the church, that he does not appeal to the historically relative cultural accommodation argument.

He appeals rather to creation. He appeals to the creation ordinance. For example, in 1 Timothy 2, that I quoted earlier, when he says, I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet. I did not read the next verse, but the next verse makes it very clear. Verse 13, he gives the reason why. The reason why he does not permit women to teach or to exercise authority. Over a man.

It is not because, oh, we need to make sure that we are a good testimony to our first century culture. It is not because, the patriarchal culture suggests that we should do this and so we need to follow that. No, he says, for Adam was formed first and then Eve.

So he is appealing all the way back to the creation account in Genesis chapter two. And I believe that he is actually appealing specifically to Genesis two verse 18. You know what verse that is? That is the one where God says it is not good that man should be alone.

I will make a helper that is suitable for him. And so God then formed the woman out of his rib and brought her to the man and said, here is this helper who is suitable for you. Adam was formed first and then Eve. And that means that she was formed to be the man’s helper. He is grounding this idea of male headship specifically in the family, but also in the church. He is grounding it in creation, not in the need to accommodate to the culture.

What is their role? Their role is to be the spiritual leaders of the family. They are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. They are to take care of their families, to provide for, to protect, and to spiritually lead and encourage their families.

Wives also have a role and a responsibility. What is the role and responsibility of the wife? It is that she is to respect her husband. Ephesians 5 verse 33, let the wife see that she respects her husband. Let him lead, follow his lead. And this is something that the woman is to do voluntarily.

It is a gracious thing done ultimately out of reverence for Christ. Not simply out of obedience to the man in her life, but rather out of reverence for Christ. When a wife strongly disagrees with her husband’s spiritual direction, the wife can humbly express her view, but ultimately, she is called to graciously submit, and the key is to submit and trust God.

That is always the difficulty? When a woman is having a struggle, and there is a conflict, And she is really, really not at all in agreement with what her husband’s suggestions are, with the direction he is leading things. She is really thinking this is not going to be good. There is something really, really bad that is going to happen if we go down this path.

the key is to graciously submit and trust God. To trust God that maybe God will open her husband’s eyes and he will see the error of his ways. Or to trust God that if something really bad does happen, that he will take care of her. Just as Sarah had to do. Remember in 1 Peter 3, Peter mentions this idea. He talks about specifically the case of wives who are married to unbelieving husbands. The wife is a Christian, but the husband is not. And it is a really scary thing. It is a hard thing to be in a relationship like that.

But the Apostle Peter, just like Paul, encourages the godly Christian women to trust God and to not be afraid of the outcomes that she is worried about. That means that the wife must not be constantly bucking the authority of her husband, not constantly criticizing him, not constantly trying to control him, not withholding emotional and physical intimacy to try to get her way, but she must graciously submit to God’s leadership through her husband. Even though her husband is a sinner, like she is, yet she must trust the Lord that he will lead the family through him. Women also, as Paul says, must not aspire to public teaching roles in the church, but instead must focus on the high and noble calling of being helpers to their husbands.

I mentioned already that in 1 Timothy 2.13, when he says that Adam was formed first, and then Eve, he is alluding to that verse in Genesis 2.18, that the wife is the helper of her husband. Women must not aspire to roles of authority in the family or in the church, but rather they must be helpers to their husbands and godly mothers to their children.

That is a wonderful thing to think about, is it not? How a mother’s particular role as a mother, her own faith, her own godliness and love for the Lord has such a unique and powerful impact on the children. Yes, the father should be teaching his children, catechizing them, praying with them, reading the Bible to them. But there is something about the mother’s day-to-day interactions with the children, especially in the area of discipline of the children, that has such a unique and powerful impact upon the children. It is a wonderful calling that God is calling the mothers to. It is a glorious and wonderful calling. God uses a mother’s faith and love for her children in a unique and powerful way, spiritually, for the covenant nurture of the children.

He says, yet, so even though he has just said women are to remain silent in the church and they are not to aspire to have public teaching roles in the church, yet he says, she will be saved through childbearing. She will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control. And at first you might be scratching your head and saying, what, that does not make sense. Does that mean that women who do not have an opportunity to have children of their own, to bear children, that they are not going to be saved? No, that is not what Paul is saying. He is using the word saved here in the sense of progressively sanctified and persevering to the end.

That is true for all of us, including the men of the church. All believers must persevere in faith, love, holiness, self-control, obedience to the Lord, and the calling to which he has called us. Paul says specifically that the women of the church are to persevere as Christians by fulfilling their calling. Ordinarily, this includes motherhood—not merely bearing children, but rearing and caring for them. Women who persevere in their calling as Christian women and mothers will be saved at the end, just as men must persevere in loving and serving the Lord in faith, love, and holiness. This is an encouraging promise to the women of the church, especially after Paul’s restrictive statements that women must remain silent and are not to teach in the church.

But he is saying, look at this wonderful calling that God has given you. You will be saved through this, through fulfilling this calling of motherhood. Now, of course, we always have to add, this is one of those verses in the Bible where there is an implied qualifier to it, which is, this is the ordinary way? This is the ordinary means that God is calling most Christian women to.

There are exceptions. Some women are called to singleness, while others are married but unable to have children. In such cases, Paul might encourage adoption or another nurturing vocation, such as teaching, through which a woman can fulfill her calling in the Lord’s service. Galatians 3:28 therefore does not support evangelical feminism.

The Meaning of Galatians 3:28

Distinctions Remain

Non-Jews by birth who become Christians remain non-Jews. Slaves who become Christians remain slaves. We see that in Paul’s writings that he exhorts the slaves to continue to serve the Lord even as slaves. Men and women, boys and girls, remain men and women, and boys and girls, even in Christ.

Equal Standing in Christ

Paul’s point, rather, is that these distinctions no longer have the same weight and the same significance that they used to have outside of Christ. Outside of Christ, outside of the church, these distinctions, especially in Paul’s day, were hugely important. Whether race or socioeconomic status, I think the slave-free distinction, we could translate that into a socioeconomic difference, or the distinction of sex. Outside of the church, outside of our union with Christ, those distinctions are hugely important.

Your relative worth in society was determined by these things. Especially in Greco-Roman culture, these distinctions really mattered. And they were also relatively fixed. Obviously, the male-female distinction is fixed, but also the Jew-Gentile distinction was largely fixed until the coming of Christianity into the world, but also even the slave and free distinction. Slaves could get their freedom, but it was also a very strong boundary between slave and free.

But the point that Paul is making here is that this reality of union with Christ, and the whole context here, he is talking about how Christ is the offspring that God made the promises to, going all the way back to the Abrahamic covenant. And now that Christ the offspring has come, we are in union with the offspring. We are in union with Christ. And so now, inside of this reality of our union with Christ, these distinctions of race and socioeconomic status and sex, they no longer have this massive weight that they used to have. They are no longer so decisive. They no longer exclude.

God does not favor Jews over Gentiles, free people over slaves, or men over women, as if women were second-class citizens in his kingdom. Gentiles, slaves, and women are not disadvantaged in God’s sight, nor are they permanently confined to an inferior status before him.

Why? Because this reality of union with Christ is so glorious and so powerful and overwhelming that it overshadows and swallows up all of these distinctions and makes them somewhat irrelevant, not ultimately irrelevant, but makes them spiritually irrelevant. The glorious reality of our union with Christ does not abolish the male-female distinction, but what does it do? It transforms it and sanctifies it.

Social Implications

There are social implications as well. Our spiritual unity in Christ does not leave our relationships unchanged. It certainly impacted the Jew-Gentile relationship in the first century. Jews are no longer able to say, at least believing Jews who are Christians, were no longer able to say to their Gentile brothers in Christ that they are second class citizens, that they are unclean, that they are somehow permanently separate from God. There is no room for ethnocentric pride in the church that looks upon fellow Christians of other ethnicities as inferior. That is because of the transforming power of the gospel to change these relationships. Our spiritual unity in Christ does not leave those relationships unchanged.

And so how can we then see how this affects the male-female relationship? The transformation occurs not in the area of creation. The male-female distinction is a created distinction that goes all the way back to Genesis 1 and 2. That is not abolished in Christ, but what happens is that the transformation occurs in the areas where sin has crept in and distorted the male-female relationship.

In Christ, the woman’s desire to control her husband can be healed. In Christ, the man’s tendency to be passive and to abdicate spiritual leadership can be healed. This is what union with Christ does. It does not abolish the male-female distinction, does not abolish male headship and the call for women to submit to their husbands, but it heals the way in which sin corrupts and disturbs that relationship. I think that specifically this area of the man’s tendency to be passive and to abdicate spiritual leadership, I think that is one of the key areas where we can see the transforming power of the gospel. This is not merely a modern phenomenon. This goes all the way back to the Old Testament.

A Warning from Solomon

Do you remember Solomon? Solomon had many wives, and of course we can talk about that particular issue, the sinfulness of polygamy. But there was another element there to that situation that the Bible mentions. The Bible mentions specifically in 1 Kings 11, the very first paragraph of 1 Kings 11, that Solomon clung to his wives. He clung to them in love. And this was not good because When he became old, it says, his wives turned his heart away from being totally loyal to God to serve other gods. Solomon let his love for his wives cloud his spiritual focus.

Remember before this, in the narrative in 1 Kings, it is really interesting if you read it. In 1 Kings, prior to chapter 11 when it says, but Solomon had many wives and he loved them. Prior to that, it is just this glorious, idyllic picture of Solomon as he is the one that builds the temple and he is reigning over this glorious kingdom, everything is at peace, and the Queen of Sheba comes and admires his reign and his glory. Everything seems so beautiful and almost perfect?

But then the text says, but there was a fatal flaw in this picture. Solomon was only a type of Christ. He was only a picture of Christ. And like every type of Christ in the Old Testament, the type has a flaw because the type is not Christ. And so we see Solomon, his fatal flaw was that he let his love for his wives turn away his heart.

He was completely before this. He was completely devoted to serving Yahweh alone. That is what the whole point of his building the temple was all about. Building a temple for the true worship of Yahweh. Building a temple that would be focused upon absolute covenant loyalty to God alone. No idolatry, no going after the pagan ways of the pagan gods around them, but being wholly true and faithful to God. And he was setting up and ordaining and creating this wonderful temple worship, organizing all of the priests and the Levites and the singers and the musicians of the worship, all of this to honor God and to honor him.

But he had another love, another love that began to shift his spiritual focus. When he was old, the text says, his wives turned away his heart after other gods. And he allowed them, he let the wives, they were from different surrounding nations, he allowed them to set up their own little shrines to their own gods. He himself was probably worshiping Yahweh only, but he let his wives turn his heart away and let them cloud his spiritual focus, drifting from loyalty to Yahweh alone.

I think that this is like an age old thing. It is not just a contemporary phenomenon. I think it is an age old thing that we as men tend to get attached to our wives. We put them on a pedestal and we let them turn our hearts away from the Lord. We can, we can let them if our wives are not godly. And we want to please them more than God? And we just somewhat like make excuses and defer to what they want, instead of saying, no, the Lord has called me, like Solomon could have said, look, the Lord has called me to be this king, to serve God’s people, to lead them in the true worship of God, and I am sorry, but you cannot set up those shrines to your false gods, we cannot do that. And yes, that would have displeased them, it would have been hard for him, but he had to please God more than his wives.

Husbands and Wives

Husbands, you must exercise leadership in the home. But of course, to do this, you have must get your own house in order first? Make sure that your own personal worship and prayer is vital. Make sure that you have mastery over your own passions, that you are not living an undisciplined, disorderly, pleasure-seeking life characterized by addictions and things that would distract you from service to the Lord. Make sure that you are a good provider and protector for your family. And exercise that spiritual leadership, not in a sinful way of lording it over your wives, but rather treating them as sisters in Christ and as partners with you in building a Christian home.

Serving the Lord in a Christ-like way, as Paul says in Ephesians 5. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. That passage also mentions the importance of the husband having a priestly role in the family. Just as Christ sanctifies the church and cleanses her by the washing of water with the word, so also husbands must minister the word of God to their wives. Of course, as a man, as a mere man, a husband cannot sanctify his wife, that is the Holy Spirit’s job, but he can as a priest in the family. Wash her with the word and lead her spiritually in the things of God. My impression is that wives long to have husbands like that, that are godly, leading their families spiritually. And they would be glad to submit to husbands who are seeking to serve the Lord and lead their families to be these wonderful Christian homes where our children can be raised up in the faith and become leaders of the next generation.

Different Callings, Equal Honor

And the wonderful thing too is that even though the Bible is very clear that women should not aspire to authoritative leadership in the home or in the church, yet the Bible does speak of women as having a calling as well. You also have a vocation, just like the men do.

Your calling is to be the helper, Genesis 2.18. Your calling is to love your husbands and love your children. Paul says in Titus 2:4-5: Christian women are to love their husbands and children and to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home (meaning homemakers), kind and submissive to their own husbands. You have a wonderful calling too. It is like a career. Do not aspire to the careers that the worldly women want. Aspire to this glorious calling and vocation of Christian motherhood, of being a helper, just as Adam at the beginning.

He was commissioned with this amazing cultural mandate to go and be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, but how could he do it on his own without a helper? That is why God made Eve to be his helper, to help him in this great calling of the cultural mandate that was given at creation.

That cultural mandate, of course, now in Christ has been taken up within the covenant of grace and we are now populating heaven as Christian families have children, raise them in the faith and catechize them as godly mothers impart their faith to their children. God is using this as part of the Great Commission. The Great Commission is not only go into all the world and preach the gospel to the heathen lands, the Great Commission is also fulfilled in Christian families, where God is raising up a godly offspring through the covenant nurture of godly fathers and mothers. What a wonderful calling and vision this is, and it is all transformed and sanctified and elevated in Christ. This is the reality that we have in union with Christ. We have this calling and this great commission that God has called us to in Him.

And when we fail, when we fall short, as we all do, we can always go to the Lord and ask for His forgiveness. Husbands, when you fall short of exercising spiritual headship and leadership in the home, repent of that and ask the Lord to help you to do better. Wives, when you find that spirit of rebellion and challenging your husband, beginning to take over, you can repent of that too and submit to your husbands and trust the Lord that he will guide your family through the loving, Christ-like love of your husbands.