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A Baptismal Statement Worth Living
While Matthew 28:19 is often recited 28:19 before baptizing, Galatians 3:28 was possibly a Pauline “baptismal statement”. Let’s add the other similar baptism statements by Paul.
• Colossians 3:11 – In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.
• 1 Corinthians 12:13 – For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink.
• Galatians 3:28 – Neither is there Jew nor Greek; neither is there free or slave; neither is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Here’s an application I think we need today. Imagine if since the first boats landed in the New World, all the way through Colonies, Independence, Civil War, Civil Unrest, up to today. Imagine how much of America’s past racial, nationalistic, and social, angst might have been less sinfully enforced if when baptized, it was said and people believed, “There is no Colonist or Indian, no white or black, no free or slave, neither American or Hispanic, legal or illegal, nor male or female, but Christ is all and in all, as we all were given one Spirit to drink, because we are all one in Christ Jesus.” We don’t need John Lennon’s “imagine there is no religion” because our reality is Christ is our religion (re-again; ligament-binding), reconnecting us not only to God but one another. Regardless of whether this is a baptismal statement, since nothing is required to be said and anything can be, let’s live out the reality of this statement that we are all one.
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