Today’s QQ: Examining Galatians 3:28, does “male and female, one in Christ” have implications for women beyond salvation?
Let’s start with a bit of context. Paul sent a letter to the “churches of Galatia” (1:2), in it he describes the newness of life “in Christ.” No longer under the Mosaic Law, believers become “sons of God” through faith in Christ (vv. 25–26). In other words, each person, male or female, who professes faith in Christ becomes a member of the family of God, a “son,” and is declared a full heir “according to the promise” (v 29).
Paul further explains that a believer is baptized “into Christ,” and receives the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (v 27). Warren Wiersbe writes, “This baptism of the Spirit identifies the believer with Christ and makes her part of His body (1 Cor 12:12–14). Previously, circumcision—a visible sign of the Abrahamic covenant—marked a Jewish male’s body. Now, through believer’s baptism, all receive the “mark” of faith.
Scriptures: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28, NIV).
Galatians 3:28 is a significant verse in the conversation about the nature of equality between women and men. The first hearers of this verse lived in the first-century world. A world in which there were slaves, and slaves were considered property. Gentiles were disrespected by the Jews. And, the vast majority of women held a lower status than men, as well as few legal rights. Oneness is Christ eliminates three distinct divisions—Gentile/Jew, slave/free, and male/female. Paul’s declaration that all are “one in Christ” would have been considered a radical statement. Through faith in Christ even Gentiles, slaves, and women are declared “sons of God.”
Scholars have variously described Galatians 3:28 as “the feminist credo of equality,” “one of four evidences that promote the full participation of women in the church,” “the Magna Carta for humanity,” and “the most important text… that supports biblical equality.”Andrew Bartlett in Men and Women in Christ, and Johnson in RBMW, as well as other commentaries, note the similarity of Galatians 3:28 to Genesis 1:27: “God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.” Bartlett comments, “The differentiated biological functions of men and women derived from the original creation are not carried through in the same way into the age to come.” He is describing the promise of eternal unity expressed in Matthew 22:30, “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”
Scholars’ Views: The crux of the matter: Does oneness in Christ have salvific and social implications, including for women?
Egalitarians argue, “Yes,” while complementarians argue, “No.”
Complementarians
Thomas Schreiner and S. Lewis Johnson, Jr. see verse 28 as affirming believers’ equality in Christ through salvation, but argue that Paul was not writing about the social functioning of the church body. Both hold to the hierarchical view which ascribes leadership to men and submission to women.
Similarly, Robert Saucy believes that Paul affirms the equality of all believers, personal and spiritual, but that this verse does not negate “a complementarian order” of the sexes.
In contrast, George and Dora Winston, who identify as complementarians but believe in the public ministry of women, argue, that through oneness in Christ “disparities of race, social standing, and sex are no longer taken into account.” All believers are sons of God, consequently “male power among Christians is an intrusion of the world into the church.” In their view, qualifications for church office rest on the spiritual standard of maturity and sound character (1 Tim 3:1–13; 5:7–10; Titus 1:5–9), so, “being a Jew, a freeman, or a male can no more be a requirement for having a particular role or function than being a Gentile, a slave, or a woman may exclude one from it.”
Views of Two “Not Comp or Egal” Scholars
Here are the interpretations of a couple of scholars who don’t claim to be complementarian or egalitarian:
Andrew Bartlett writes, “There is ample evidence in the New Testament that the equality of men and women in the gospel had a powerful impact. The Christian message transformed women’s relationships with men. Women became men’s sisters in Christ, equal standing before God and active partners in the gospel (Acts 2:16–18; Rom 16:1–12; Gal 3:28).”
In her book Neither Complementarian nor Egalitarian, Michelle Lee-Barnewall expresses her belief that Paul’s emphasis was not on equality, but on relational unity—a unity among believers made possible through oneness in Christ. She writes, “The people of God were called to be a witness to the world. The eschatological body of Christ combined Jew and Greek, slave and free, barbarian and Scythian, and male and female into a unity in which all were called to love and serve the other.” Their ethnic, social-ranked, and sex-based distinctions “were transcended in Christ,” and “it was precisely because these distinctions existed that the believers’ unity and love would be so remarkable… a hallmark of the Christian community.”
Egalitarians
Cynthia Westfall explains that, overall, egalitarians see verse 28 as establishing that all three pairings, Gentile and Jew, slave and free, female and male, are “equal to serve.” In other words, both sexes are qualified to lead in the church. In the rest of Paul’s letters, he identifies people in the church by their spiritual gifts, not their race, class, or gender. She concludes that those called to lead in the church “are slaves at the foot of the cross, and every woman is qualified to be a slave.”
Philip Payne writes, “‘There is no male and female’ undermines the law’s purity regulations that kept women from full participation in worship.”
Egalitarian Rebecca Groothuis explains that the new covenant as it relates to men and women’s priestly functions signifies that both have equal access to lead:
The new covenant instituted the high priesthood of Christ and the priesthood of all believers… this leaves no room for addition, development or duplication in the form of men who believe they stand in the authority of Christ vis-à-vis women… Physical distinctions such as race and gender no longer demarcate unequal levels of religious privilege (Gal 3:26–28).
Key Takeaways:
Galatians 3:28 has spawned polarized interpretations. Yet, we must include it in the larger theological puzzle to determine a coherent view of women. Therefore you must discern:
- Is the oneness of Galatians 3:28, specifically the male–female part, limited to a believer’s personal salvific relationship to God?
or- Is the oneness of Galatians 3:28 also applicable to the interpersonal relationships between men and women and how they function in the church?
Article Resources:
Andrew Bartlett, Men and Women in Christ
Andreas J. Köstenberger & Thomas R. Schreiner, eds., Women in the Church, 3rd ed.
George and Dora Winston, Recovering Biblical Ministry by Women: An Exegetical Response to Traditionalism and Feminism
Michelle Lee-Barnewall, Neither Complementarian nor Egalitarian
Robert L. Saucy and Judith K. TenElshof, eds., Women and Men in Ministry: A Complementary Perspective
Ronald W. Pierce and Cynthia Long Westfall, eds., “Male and Female, One in Christ,” Discovering Biblical Equality, 3rd ed.
S. Lewis Johnson Jr., “Role Distinctions in the Church,” in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: New Testament
Until next time,
