Galatians 3:28—Neither Male and Female
Thinking about Unity and Equality in Galatians.
Galatians 3:28-29 is often touted as THE egalitarian manifesto in the New Testament for gender, racial, and economic equality. For, Paul teaches that in the realm of Christ there is a negation of sexual, ethnic, and class divisions as a source of hierarchy and superiority over others.
I believe that!
But we still have to ask, is that the main point of the text? How was Gal 3:28-29 heard by its original audience?
To be honest, Paul is principally concerned in Galatians that people might think some men are a little closer to the Messiah, more a child of Abraham, because they have no foreskin on their “thingy.” Paul does not deny the value of circumcision for Jews as a sign of the covenant (see Rom 3:1), but there is a sense, a plane, in which circumcision counts for nothing (see 1 Cor 7:19; Gal 5:6), because circumcision-ness is imputed to Gentiles who have faith (Rom 2:25-29; Phil 3:3).
Yet there is the danger that we read Gal 3:28-29 in light of our debates about equality, the history of slavery, and multiculturalism. While that might be agreeable to Gal 3:28-29, it might not be the main point.
In a recent article in BAR, Karin Neutel argues that Paul’s point is less about equality than it is about harmony:
She writes:
Seen in the light of first-century cosmopolitan ideals, Paul’s declaration of unity thus takes on a distinctly ancient form. It does not proclaim the equality of all people, regardless of their social positions, as is sometimes assumed by readers today. Rather, it envisages a social ideal of harmony and connection, where those factors in society that create division and conflict have been removed.
Paul’s conviction that he was called at this crucial moment to participate in God’s ultimate plan for the world caused him to imagine what a new and ideal creation would be like and how people would live in such a new creation. His summary of this ideal as “neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, nor male and female” resonated with the concerns expressed by his contemporaries.
That’s an interesting point, one that I know I need to digest and mull over.
Yet I still think Gal 3:28-29 provides a type of egalitarian trajectory in and from the New Testament!
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