What Unity Does
Division is a powerful impetus towards some of the greatest injustices ever perpetrated by mankind. Racial division has led to the holocaust, chattel slavery, the horrendous treatment of indigenous peoples in North America, the Rwandan genocide, apartheid in South Africa, and more. Class division led to the forced starvation of 3 million Ukrainian farmers under Stalin’s communist regime, the Cultural Revolution of Mao Zedong led to the death of forty million, and Pol Pot’s killing fields claimed a million lives. Gender based division led to the subjugation of women withholding rights and privileges from them—such as the right to vote or own property—up until the twentieth century. Surely, this is evidence enough to show that division, being united to the wrong things in our sin, has led to great evils. And this is not even to mention the things taking place in our own time such as the killing of George Floyd, the disappearing middle class, and the horrendous practice of trafficking young women for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
In the face of such overwhelming sin, we need to ask ourselves, “how does a relationship with Jesus Christ deal with the racial, class, and gender divisions that plague the human species?” The answer to this question comes out of what we have previously been looking at in this series of posts: our unity in Christ, our unity to Christ, and our unity with Christ. The result of our Christian unity is the end of old racial divisions, class divisions, and gender divisions. The rest of this post will look at each of these types of division and show how—according to Scripture—when we are in Jesus Christ, these things that used to divide us are destroyed.
1. Racial Divisions
In the bible the biggest racial conflict exists between the Jewish people and the Gentiles. The Jewish people at the time saw themselves as the inheritors of God’s promises, the rightful owners of God’s blessing, and God’s chosen people. Those outside of the Jewish people were seen as lesser than. They were considered to be unclean, full of idolatry, and despised for their way of life.
Yet, in the New Testament we find something extraordinary. With the coming of Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross, we see Jewish people going to the gentiles sharing with them the good news of salvation. The Apostle Peter preaches the gospel to gentiles in Acts 10 and the Holy Spirit falls upon them in the same way he fell upon the Jews who came to know Jesus. Furthermore, the Apostle Paul goes consistently and repeatedly to the gentiles to preach the gospel to them and plant churches among them. Why this change of heart? How does someone go from seeing themselves as racially superior, to living and working amongst the people he used to despise? The key lies in Ephesians 2:14-16.
This passage of Scripture is all about the Gentile-Jew relationship. It is directly addressing the question we just asked and in response it tells us the reason for this change of heart amongst Jewish Christians, a new identity in Jesus Christ. Verse 14 says, “For he himself [Jesus Christ] is our peace, who has made us both one and broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility”. Notice, the language Paul chooses to use here. Paul says that Jesus Christ is their peace, that he has made them one, and that he has broken down old hostilities between them. Simply put, when these people came to know Christ, they entered into a new set of relationships with one another. Their previous identities—as Jew and Gentile—were superseded by their common identity in Jesus Christ, in the family of God. These age-old enemies both gained access to the family of God becoming brothers and sisters in Christ. Therefore, any sort of “dividing wall of hostility” between them has been broken down. It’s gone, done away with, they are united together in Jesus.
This example clearly demonstrates that our unity in Christ demolishes the old racial divisions that used to ensnare us. When we are in Christ, we are united together around him and in him, becoming one body together. Race is no longer allowed to divide us when we are united in Christ because “one new man” has been created in Christ and we are all partakers of that one man.
2. Class Divisions
One of the most obvious examples of how class divisions are destroyed through the
Gospel comes in the book of Philemon. This letter of Paul’s is to a slave owner asking him to receive back his runaway slave Onesimus. The book of Philemon gives us a great picture of how the gospel of Jesus Christ changes the relationship—or at least should—between master and slave.
In the ancient Roman world, there was an obvious division between slaves and their masters. In particular, if a slave were to run away, strict penalties would be enacted upon their recapture. Physical punishment was common and if a slave ran away multiple times, they could expect to face the death penalty for their actions. This is what makes the book of Philemon so surprising. In the midst of a very strict culture surrounding slavery Paul admonishes Philemon, a slave owner, to accept back his runaway slave Onesimus not as a slave, but as a brother in Christ. We see this clearly in the second half of verse 15 and the beginning of verse 16, “that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother.” This ask would have been radically counter-cultural and it can only be explained by the fact that when people are united in Christ these old class distinctions are superseded by their new identity in Christ.
Another passage that further confirms this idea is Galatians 3:27-29, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 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”. Here we are given more reason to think that old class divisions have been radically shifted thanks to the gospel. Instead of viewing people in the church as “slave” or “free” we should see each other as “one in Christ Jesus.”
From this and the above example of Philemon it is clear that our unity with Christ destroys the old class divisions we once held to. In today’s world this may not look so much like master and slave, but certainly it can be extended to the employer/employee relationship, or the rich/poor relationship. Likewise, it should be understood in both directions. Our Christian unity does not allow for the rich to despise the poor, but it also doesn’t allow for the poor to hate the rich, instead in Christ we are all one.
3. Gender Based Divisions
Another area of division that the gospel speaks into regards gender. It is a common belief that Christianity is an oppressive religion for women. However, a brief look at the New Testament would show this be completely false. From the ministry of Jesus to the Acts of the Apostles to the letters of Paul the New Testament continually elevates the status of women challenging old beliefs about male superiority.
The culture of the time very evidently saw women as less valuable than men. The abandonment of female babies in the Roman empire was common, women were legally inferior to men, and in marriage they were often at the whims of their husband. Yet, with the advent of Christianity women’s status increased. Jesus himself scandalized the world by speaking with the sinful woman near the well (John 4). It was also women who were the first people to whom Jesus appeared (Matt. 28:9). Likewise, women played a prominent role in the early church. We are told of Lydia, for example, who was one of the first converts in Asia Minor (Acts 16:11–15). We are told of the husband-and-wife pair of Aquilla and Priscilla who teach Apollos the gospel (Acts 18:26). All of this testifies to the fact that in the New Testament women are given a place of importance not given to them in the culture they were a part of.
Likewise, turning again to Galatians 3:27–29 we see the same argument for an end to class divisions being made regarding an end to gender-based divisions precisely because “you are all one in Christ Jesus”. In other words, men and women united together in Christ Jesus become one family, brothers and sisters in Christ, a part of the body of Christ, and they are both worthy of dignity, honor, and respect as belonging to Jesus Christ.
Yet, we also need to be careful here. The world around us always overcompensates for the past and it is no different here. The language of the world wants to erase all differences between men and women. However, this is unbiblical and does a disservice to God’s creative purposes. God intentionally created men and women differently. One is not superior to the other, they are different. An end to gender-based division does not mean an erasure of gender, but it looks like putting the spotlight on the beauty and goodness of the differences between men and women revealing to the world the wisdom of God’s creative purposes.
Conclusion
Race, class, and gender are all divisive issues in our culture today. Christian unity speaks to all of them. The Christian is someone who has been given a new identity in Jesus that supersedes all previous identities. The gospel speaks into the issue of race, class, and gender by explicitly telling us that we are all one in Christ Jesus. It shows us that by being united together in Christ these previous things no longer define us.
As a church let us seek to be united together in this way. Do we see believers of other ethnic backgrounds as lesser than us? Or as brothers and sisters in Christ? Do we see people of higher or lower socio-economic status as evil, bad, disgusting? Or do we see them as new creations? Do we see our male or female counterparts as inferior? Or do we see them as equal members of the kingdom of God? The Bible is extremely clear, these old reasons for divisions are done away with through the power of the gospel. Now we are all united together in Christ which destroys these divisions once-and-for-all. If we wanted to answer the question: what does unity in Christ do? The answer would simply be: it destroys the things that used to divide us.