Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
One of the best kept secrets of modernity and post-modernity is the reality that the entire doctrine of human equality is founded squarely, not on the Declaration of Independence, nor on “science” nor on empirical observation nor on naked displays of force, but on a mystical doctrine known only by revelation from God himself. It was not self-evident to the ancients that “all men are created equal.” To many of them, empirical observation led to exactly the opposite conclusion: some people are smart, some stupid, some rich, some poor, some strong, some weak, some swift, some slow. Therefore, it seemed obvious to the naked eye in antiquity that some were born to dominate and others to be dominated, some were human, others were somewhat less than human. But the Judeo-Christian tradition insisted that all were in God’s image and that “God is no respecter of persons.” Beside providing the foundation of our civilization’s attitude toward the human person, this mystical revelation is raised to enormous heights in today’s verse, for it speaks not only of our being created equal, but of our being redeemed equal. Every human person is not only made in God’s image, he or she is intended to share eternally in God’s Trinitarian life. Our oneness in Christ is a vastly greater thing than our oneness in Adam. Today, thank God that he plays no favorites but wills justice for all on earth and the eternal happiness of all in heaven.
