Faith is the equaliser
Faith is the equaliser: By faith in Jesus Christ
I love to read Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Here we see Paul’s account of his own salvation and his part in it. Before we get to the topic for this week, let us have a look at the introduction. Read chapter one first, and then continue here.
Paul makes it clear that he is not an apostle because of the influence of people (Galatians 1:1), but because of the life-changing experience he had – a personal encounter with the Saviour (Acts 9). This event changed his entire outlook on the faith which he first tried to eradicate. He then shows his surprise that people who had come to faith through his preaching would so soon follow someone else’s (Galatians 1:6). His conversion and the revelations that followed are unique as he came to his knowledge directly from Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:12). He recounts what happened after his conversion. When we read the account in Acts, we get the idea that once he had been converted, he spent some time in Damascus and then went to Jerusalem immediately. Read Acts 9:19-30. In Galatians he emphasises that there was a long gap, three years, between his time in Damascus and his arrival in Jerusalem. It was here that he had his public confrontation with Peter (Galatians 2:14). He then writes this:
20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20
What we have here is the start of the account of faith as the equaliser. Whatever Paul was before, a scholar of the law, he is no longer that. His knowledge of the law would still be useful in his ministry, but living out the law is no longer the focus. His old life is crucified – killed – with Christ and he now lives in faith because of the salvation offered to him. It is this salvation message that he now teaches, but never forgets that it was the law that brought him to this point. In chapter three he starts his explanation that all nations would be blessed, not just the Jews (Galatians 3:8). The Jews could already have read this in their scriptures, but they chose to ignore it, believing that only they had the right to salvation. He takes a swipe at the Jews that they who had first access to the law did not bother to keep to it (Galatians 3:10). Of course, he speaks from experience as he grew up with the same law, having been taught by Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), a Pharisee.
As we continue with chapter three, we see how he explains that the law pointed the way to Christ. Once Christ came, the law as the schoolmaster was redundant (Galatians 3:25). It is now that Paul steps up the pace. Once you have accepted Christ and the salvation He offers, whatever you were before is irrelevant. You are no longer a Jew or a Greek so whether you were a follower of the law (Jews) or a cultured and learned person (Greek), a slave or a free man, a man, or a woman, you are not just the same now, you are one in Christ Jesus. You are now all from the seed of Abraham, no matter where you were from before. Finally, you become an inheritor of the promise that the Jews thought only applied to themselves:
26For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. – Galatians 3:26-29
The custom of circumcision which the Jews had used for so long to differentiate between them and the rest has become irrelevant. They had to accept that they and the uncircumcised gentiles were now eating around the same table, whether they liked it or not. The law made provision for the treatment of slaves and suddenly these slaves, once converted, shared in the same promise that their masters thought belonged to them only (Philemon 1:16). As far as women were concerned, in both the lives of Jews and gentiles women had very little say, could not participate in the religious rites men had access to, and had very little status. This has now changed. They too, are now equals.
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul continues the idea that we are all equal once we have accepted the gospel of salvation:
10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. – Colossians 3:10-11
He includes two more groups – Barbarians and Scythians – as if to show that culture and race become one in Christ, irrespective of what they were before. The Greeks considered themselves as the cultured ones, and the Barbarians as the uncultured because they did not speak Greek. The Greeks referred to all non-Greeks as barbarians and formed the term βάρβαρος (barbaros) because they believed their languages were uncultured, sounding bar-bar, from there the name. The Scythians inhabited the area of what today is southern Russia and people of the time believed they were even worse than the barbarians. The gospel of salvation was available to them too, as Paul tells Timothy:
5For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 7Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. – 1 Timothy 2:7
There is one God, and one mediator, so that all those Paul preached to, the gentiles here referring to those he mentioned to the Colossians, can become one group of saved people in God’s presence. All people will hear the gospel, in all languages. John saw these groups in heaven:
9After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. – Revelation 7:9-10
Think about it: John has already seen people in heaven, some who right now are still be saved. Their background before their salvation means nothing. There is saving grace for everyone, no matter if your language sounds “bar-bar” to others, or if you have habits that others frown upon.
In our time, nothing stands out more than division. Whether class, wealth, race, ethnicity, gender, language, or culture, being in a better position than others based on any of these is important to people. Faith is the great equaliser and for many, giving up some or all the privileges that their position has given them, is difficult. The young rich man is an example (Matthew 19:22). There are other examples that show that none of the things mentioned make any difference anymore.
- The man on the cross (Luke 23:42-43) had nothing to show except a life of crime. He did not do anything of note in his life and was a believer on Earth only for the time it took him to die on the cross. However, he received eternal life because of faith, even if for us it seems unfair. He placed his trust in Jesus right at the end of his life, and it was enough to save him.
- Lazarus was a beggar (Luke 16:20). He probably did nothing to gain a place in heaven. Yet he is mentioned as being in Abraham’s bosom, in the presence of God. The difference between the beggar and Abraham? The first is not even mentioned by name. The other was one of the most important characters of the Bible. Yet they share the same position in heaven.
- The parable of the men hired at different times (Matthew 20:1-16) shows how it is not the time spent as believers that will make a difference, but that we made the choice, even if it was in the very last hour. There are many known examples of people who gave their lives to Christ only to die a few hours later – maybe someone in hospital who lived a life away from God but came to their senses on their deathbed. Their works did not save them, faith did, and they received the same reward as those who had been “on the road” for many years.
Conclusion
I used to work in a truly multi-cultured society. I often frowned upon the customs of those around me. I like languages, and always tried to find out what languages they spoke, and how these languages work. Arabic, Urdu, Swahili, Pashto, Hindi, Telegu, Tamil, Farsi, Filipino, even Sanskrit, were but a few of the languages I was exposed to daily. As different as they are, these same languages are now used to bring people together in Christ, and they, including me, are one family. This is the power of the gospel of salvation through faith, the equaliser.