23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.Galatians 3:23-29
When Jesus came to this earth he brought with him a new covenant. It was a covenant of more than just tolerance but of love, hope, peace, and unity. Nope where is that more parent and in the third chapter of Galatians. In this chapter Paul is talking about the division among the Galatian Christians. Some believe in circumcision and others do not, but there's a stronger message year for us.
In Galatians 3:28, Paul says, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all you are one in Christ Jesus." In my mind, we can extend this further there is no block of white there is no straight or gay and there is only those who believe in a the goodness of mankind and those who don't.
If we believe in the goodness of mankind and then there is no division among us. We are all one. That oneness brings us all together. We are blessed Jesus does not see division. He only sees the love of mankind. He wants us to see the same thing: the goodness in others in the goodness in ourselves.
Once we quit seeing divisions in mankind, we will know the true meaning of the spirit of Jesus. We will know hope. We will know peace. We will know love. And we will know unity.
Hi Joe, just wanted you to know I found your blog this morning and have spent the last two hours reading it! I love your honesty. Reading your blog is going to be a new favorite pastime for me. I have a lot of catching up to do!
ReplyDeleteThank you. That's very kind of you to say. You made my day. :-)
DeleteIt is sad that this fundamental part of the teachings of Jesus has been forgotten along the way.
ReplyDeleteI think that every Scripture in the New Testament, as the Old Testament and Old Covenant was fulfilled with Jesus death on the cross, about homosexuality is taken out of context. Romans 1 is about pagan worship, idolatry..and then it leads on about men who have sex with men and women who have sex with women but it's clearly not about redeemed homosexuals. 1 Cor 6 is about homosexual prostitution and fornication. 1 Cor 7 was written when there was no concept for homosexual marriage. 1 Timothy is out of context when it is translated homosexual or GBLTQ. I believe that love is the most important thing and is the obedience to the faith that Paul refers to on more than one occasion and is the very essence of the Gospel of Jesus. Thus the Scriptures cannot be about what most people loosely translate or read into them. Mark Hill
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