During and shortly after the age of slavery in the United States, Christians created and selected congregations to attend based in part on the color of their skin. Even today, there are multiple congregations of the church in the same town, separated primarily by the skin color of their members. A person who walks in, being in the minority for the given congregation, might be told that their church is across town or even across the street. This kind of division needs to stop. It has no place in God’s family.
When Paul wrote to the Galatians, they were dealing with prejudice over their uncircumcised status. In the second chapter, Paul recounted an interaction with the apostle Peter, who had influenced all the Jews to separate from their Gentile brethren. This separation was no small matter. They were in the process of dividing the church over whether a person was physically circumcised, a question that had already been settled in Acts 15 during the council in Jerusalem, an event referenced earlier in Galatians 2. Paul said the separation was hypocritical since the gospel teaches salvation for all by faith in Christ Jesus, yet these were acting as if something more was required for full fellowship.
Near the end of the third chapter, Paul reasoned that everything that separated people outside Christ should no longer have any effect once we are in Christ. He said, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28). Those who persistently divide the church over people’s skin color are false brethren who are trying to steal the liberty and the unity that exists in Christ for all Christians. All Christians must unite with their brethren, regardless of skin color, because we are all part of God’s family, and there must be no division in it.
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