Galatians Unleashed

The context of this well-known verse is Paul talking about how all of us have an equal opportunity to be reconciled to God based on faith. The Galatians wondered if they as non-Jews needed to get circumcised and convert to Judaism to be saved. Paul argued extensively that Gentiles did not need to become Jews to escape the coming wrath of God. Faith in Jesus Christ is enough.

The same applies to status and gender. It doesn’t matter if you are a free person or a slave, a rich person or poor. Those in Christ have equal access to God by faith. Similarly, it doesn’t matter whether you are a man or a woman – both are reconciled to God by faith.

Paul’s wording in Galatians 3:28 is striking. In Greek, he says that there is “neither Jew nor Gentile.” Similarly, he says there is “neither slave nor free.” But when he gets to the third set, he changes his wording. He says there is “not ‘male and female.’” Male and female don’t matter – the distinction is undone when it comes to our access to God.

We have to wonder if this is an allusion to Genesis 1:27 where it says that God made humanity in his image, “male and female.” Although differences in our bodies obviously remain, Paul is saying that “male and female” don’t matter when it comes to our faith. This is true of our spirituality and our relationship with God. In this context, God really doesn’t care whether you’re a man or a woman. You’re fully welcome!

So we have to wonder why there would be any intrinsic barrier between men and women when it comes to spiritual things or matters involving spiritual leadership. There could be cultural and social barriers for sure. But there is nothing about our bodies that implies a woman couldn’t lead or speak authoritatively on God’s behalf. It seems like any barriers of this sort are artificial, humanly created rather than divinely ordained. In Christ, male and female don’t matter spiritually.

In 1853, one of the founders of the Wesleyan Church, Luther Lee, preached the first ordination service of a woman in America. Galatians 3:28 was his text. Here was his conclusion long before there was such a thing as secular feminism or modern liberalism within the church:

We come back to what we observed in the previous section. Whatever leadership and ministry might be, they are a matter of what the New Testament aligns with the spiritual part of our being. Therefore, what spiritual basis could there be to forbid women to lead or minister in the age of the Spirit? There is certainly nothing inherent in a woman’s body that would prevent her. 

Women are no more sinful than men. Women are no less intelligent than men. The capacity for leadership or wisdom is not confined in any way to one gender or the other. Some men make better leaders than some women. And some women make better leaders than some men. It is a matter of individual giftedness, not gender. For this reason, it would be truly puzzling if God confined leadership to one or the other gender.

But as we will see, the Bible does not confine leadership or ministry to men. The only barriers are earthly in nature. Perhaps before Pentecost, the consequences of the Fall created some barriers – although even here there were obvious exceptions in the Old Testament. We will return to them in the next lesson. 

But now that Christ has redeemed women and men from the Fall, the only barriers must be cultural, social, and – indeed – sinful. The Church should not concede such limitations to human, sinful culture – even in human church culture! In the Church, we live by heaven’s rules. And in the kingdom of God, there is no longer “male and female” – not when it comes to spiritual things.

Galatians 3:28 is more profound than meets the eye. It shows us what Acts 2 looks like when the great equalizing of the Spirit is fully played out. What it looks like is that sons and daughters prophesy. Sons and daughters lead. It happened as an exception in the time of the Old Testament. In the age of the Spirit, it should be the norm in the Church.

We might mention briefly a question that is sometimes raised about homosexuality. Couldn’t this line of thinking be used to justify liberation on that issue, and doesn’t that call this line of argument into question? This is known as the slippery slope fallacy. It is also a diversion from the topic at hand, which rises or falls on its own.

However, there are some significant differences between the two issues. For one, the seven passages that mention same-sex activity in the Bible are all strongly negative. There are no passages that affirm it in any way. By contrast, as we will see, women minister throughout Scripture and are affirmed in those functions.