Jesus Equalized

What Did Jesus Do?

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free,
there is no male and female, for you are all
one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3.28

Not to sound like Yoda, but God created a balance to all things. Light and dark. An expanse under the waters and an expanse above the waters. Sky and seas. Humanity both male and female. Just about the only imbalance in creation was between God himself and his creation. God was definitely over and above all that he had made. At least he was until the serpent tried to insinuate that there was supposed to be a balance between God and man, “you will be like God...” (Genesis 2.5). So man tried to equalize himself with his Maker, and in so doing threw the whole of creation out of balance. Now evil contended with good for supremacy (It had been no contest up to that point.), the partnership between man and woman became full of contention and mistrust, there was a tragic disequilibrium. Inequality and discord seized the place of equality and harmony.

It took the work of the Son to equalize what the serpent had upset, and to restore the quite proper inequity between the Father and his children. All men may be created equal, as the Declaration of Independence proclaims; but man was not created equal with God. With man's proper relationship to his Creator restored, equality of man's relationship to his fellow man (and to woman) was also recovered.

So it was that Paul could write to the church in Galatia about the absolute equality and balance of the Body of Christ. This was, and is, quite distinct in a world where gross inequality, as initiated and fostered by the lies of Satan, still reigns in many places, in many hearts. Exploitation, oppression, and strife abide where there is patent inequity. The last place where one should find inequity today is the Church, yet, sadly, it does not take long to recognize that the Body of Christ often perpetuates inequality based on economic status, ethnicity, and gender. This is a scandal.

Yes, there are differences, but these are not to be the basis for division in the Church, but, by virtue of the spiritual equality of all who are in Christ, a means by which the world can see the great restorative work of the Son, who makes children of God out of Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female. Do you wish to do the Father's will? Then treat every man and woman as your equal. That's what Jesus, though fully God, did in becoming fully man and dying for our sins.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4