The People of God

Galatians 3:26-29…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. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Tucked into the context of Galatians, this passage is trying to make sense of the Jewish/Gentile relationship when it comes to the Spiritual realm. Jewish believers thought they were superior, that the OT promises were theirs alone and, if taken to a logical extension, thought themselves superior to Gentile believers (see Cephas “Peter” and his refusal to dine with gentiles when his cronies show up in chapter 1). Paul is writing to show equality and unity in the church; to correct the error in theology and practice. We are all made in the image of God. Yes, the story of God originated with Abraham and Israel was the vessel to take God to the world, but now, the church has been grafted into the people of God. There is one people of God. All who look to Christ as Savior, have God as our father and are heirs to the promises of God.

How does this affect us?

Simply. If we believe that all of our brothers and sisters in Christ really are co-heirs with us, it should affect the way that we treat them. Being a co-heir means they have just as much worth, dignity and value as you, your family and your friends. There are co-heirs that drive us crazy, but we are still called to love and treasure them.

Even as I write this, names come to my head, as do stories of times that I fall short. The good news is that all my sin has been crucified with Christ. It has been washed away. Today is a great day to start anew and treat others the way that we want to be treated. If we call our kids to do it, we must do it as well.

We are family, all my brother, sisters and me. We are family.

Brian Tryhus
FBC Family Pastor