We Are One Family in Christ

Main Point: Everyone in Christ is an Heir with Christ

The main complaint the Jewish believers had against he gentile Christians was their ethnicity.

The Jewish people, like most peoples throughout history believed themselves to be better than the people around them.

We know all too well about the problems racism can cause.

From the Nazi’s to slavery, it’s been well documented what happens when one people believes themselves to be better than another

But race isn’t the only dividing factor. There is also class.

When we think about genocide, we often consider the Nazi’s to be the best, but that overlooks the largest murder of the 20th century; socialism

The Nazi’s took 20.9 million lives, but we often forget the Soviets took 61.9 million and the Chinese communists took around 100 million

One of the most powerful tools in getting man to turn against each other is the idea that one mans success is at the hands of another man

Another great way we separate ourselves is via sex.

Historically, a lot of wrong has been done to women simply because they are women.

Because they are smaller and weaker, men have taken advantage of that.

From systemic abuse, and allowing women to be property to domestic abuse

With so many different ways to divide and so many identities we can have, how can we overcome them?

Paul now turns his attention to the unity of believers in Christ.

We were all bound under the law.

23-24a

One of the fundamental teachings of Paul is that of our depravity. Today we refer to it as total depravity.

Depravity is our way of saying, man is naturally evil and unable to be holy

Depravity: Morally Corrupt

Total Depravity: Man’s Inability to Save Himself

First Paul refers to it as being “held captive” or “imprisoned”

This illustration of being imprisoned by the law gives the impression that no matter how hard one tries, you are unable to overcome your natural, sinful nature

If that wasn’t enough, Paul gives a second illustration

In verse 24 the law is referred to as a guardian.

Some translations may use the word schoolmaster, teacher or tutor, but these are not great translations.

The Greek word here, paidagogos, is best translated guardian

It referres to a person, typically a slave, who was placed in a position of authority over a child

The paidogogos job was to discipline a child, not educate

They would often take the child to school and then congregate in a room with others waiting for the school day to end and then escort the child home

At home they would instruct and lead the child

In ancient images they were often depicted with a rod used to punish the child

Again the idea here is that the child is placed under the rule of this guardian by the parents and until the child is of age, they cannot escape the tule of this guardian

Just like a prison or a guardian, the law holds man deeply in sin

The only thing that breaks the hold of the law on man is Christ

Our inability to do good requires our justification by faith

24b-25

Since we are completely unable to do good works, the law requires that our salvation be by faith

With the establishment of the law, be it the Mosiac law or the command given to Adam, man was placed in a predicate:

Either completely follow God’s command or die

So what is the purpose of the law? To mandate salvation by faith

We see this in vers 24…

we are told the law was our guardian until Christ, “In order that” or in other words “so that”

This shows us a direct connection between God giving us a law that we are unable to keep and our salvation being by faith

In other words, Paul could have said “The law was given so that your salvation would be by faith”

He’s linking back to verse 21 where he explains that had God given us a law we could follow, then salvation would not be by faith

by placing us under a law that we cannot keep, we become beggars relying on the gracious mercy of our God instead of independently righteous.

The law came not to bring death, but to bring dependence. Dependence on grace.

The moment we realize we are not better, we can come together

We are all siblings in Christ

26-29

It’s said a lot that “we are all children of God” but that’s not 100% correct.

The Bible does not refer to everyone as a child of God

We are all created by God, but we are not all His children

What we are told is that a child of God is a child of God through faith

It is in Christ that we receive our sonship

Another place the idea of being a child of God is linked directly with faith is John 1:12

John 1:12 ESV

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

It’s important to understand that not everyone is a child of God.

This is a status that is bestowed on us by faith through our union with Christ.

It is through our baptism into Christ that we receive sonship.

Now our baptism with Christ is not by water, but by the Spirit.

It is the moment of salvation, when we are untied with Christ, that we receive sonship and become an heir with Christ

In Romans 6 Paul speaks of our salvation as being baptized into Christ, that if we share in a death like His we will share in a resurrection like His

That our old self was crucified and we will now live with Him.

This is what Paul is talking about here.

This is not a new command to be baptized for salvation. Why would Paul spend this entire letter telling the Galatians circumcision is not require to simply replace one sacrament with another?

That would make no sense.

Instead what he is teaching is that circumcision is not required because we are saved by faith and that salvation is a baptism into Christ

So if we are saved by faith, united with Christ, we then also get to share in being a child of God through Christ

He then goes on to write a passage of scripture so many people know, verse 28

Here he is teaching not that ethnic, class and sexual identity do not exist, but that in Christ they have no meaning.

How awesome is it that in Christ, there is no rank or classification that lifts one person higher than another.

The Jew is not better than the gentile.

The German not better than the Jew

The free man not better than the slave

The rich not better than the poor, the poor not more moral than the rich

The man not better than the women and the woman not better than the man

In Christ we are all equal

In Christ we are all sinners saved by grace

And since we are in Christ, we are all siblings in Him

And since we are siblings in Christ, we are heirs according to the promise

What promise? The promise to Abraham.

The promise that Abraham would have many children and through him the whole world would be blessed

Unity in Action

There are no lower class citizens in the Kingdom of God

anyone who is a believer in Christ is a child of God

Some may have more public skills

Some may

There is no room for racism or sexism of any kind within the Kingdom of God

That person you may think of as a lesser man due to his ethnicity, skin or sex color is a child of God

They were made in the same image of God you were

Christ died for them, and that alone should tell you their value. They are valuable enough for the Son of God to shed His blood for their soul

We are no better than the unsaved

too many in the family of God go around believing their salvation means they are better than those outside the family

In reality, you are not better than they are, you are simply forgiven

And why were you forgiven? Not because anything in you makes you deserve forgiveness.

You were forgiven simply because the father in heaven choose you.

And you should never mistake the fact that you were chosen with the lie that you were worthy.

So you should never, not even for a moment, look at the people outside the church as anything worst than you.

Because you are the forgiveness of Christ away from eternal damnation

if it weren’t for his grace, you’d be every bit as lost as them

it is through faith and grace, by Christ that you are saved.

It is not anything you have done.