Wednesday 26 March 2025

Psalm 104:24-35

Background
Writing to the Galatians, Paul criticised practices which separated out Jewish and Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians. He described (2:11-14) how he and Peter disagreed in Antioch over meals shared between Jews and Gentiles. This was not normally Jewish practice, but had become part of the way Christians lived, until Peter found himself overcome by anxiety about other Jewish-Christian leaders and pulled back.

The argument considered in Monday’s reading highlighted the shared foundation of Christian belief. It springs from faith in Christ through grace, enabled by the Holy Spirit, which goes back to God’s promises to Abraham.

In today's reading, Paul considers the question ‘Why the Law?' (v. 19), and comes to the conclusion that it is a sort of training school, enabling Jews to learn how to be close to God. Once Christ comes, there is no more need for training. In Christ, all people can draw close to God as children.

Paul used this approach to collapse the distinction between Jews and Gentiles. He refused to contemplate a Christian society which differentiates between its members. He moved on to a broader vision of the Church as a place where all social distinctions are secondary. The ethnic and religious differences between Jew and Greek, the differences of economic status and fundamental freedom between slave and free, the differences of gender and sexuality between men and women – all are swept away by the life-changing action of baptism into Christ.

Paul was describing the spiritual reality of the new Church community. We know that some Christians remained enslaved, while others were slave-owners (see the Letter to Philemon). The Church included people who identified as male and female. And those brought up as Jew or Gentile could not easily let go of their roots. Nevertheless, said Paul, this is all secondary to the new, unifying identity given through baptism. The heart of our being is our allegiance to Christ. We are all one in him, clothed in his righteousness at the moment of baptism.

Paul’s vision has never fully become reality in the Church, which has tended to maintain the divisions of whatever society it’s located in – as witnessed in the UK by the racist treatment of some of those who arrived on the Empire Windrush boat from the Caribbean, and thereafter. But Paul's words express a longing for the Church to become more and more fully the one body of Christ – diverse yet fully united.

To Ponder:

• If Paul was writing Galatians 3:28 today, what binary opposites might he name and challenge?
• What distinctive characteristics do you recognise in yourself? How might these find their place in a Church pushing towards unity in diversity?

Prayer
Rainbow God, in whom every human identity finds its source, lead us away from anxiety and suspicion of those who differ from us, so that your Church may shimmer with many-hued reflections of your being, through Christ, who welcomes us all. Amen.

Bible notes author: The Revd Dr Caroline Wickens
Caroline Wickens is the Superintendent of the Manchester Circuit. She has taught biblical studies in Africa and the UK, and continues to be fascinated by this amazing book.