This past Sunday I preached from and read Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. It was such a blessing to be reminded again that our salvation is complete in Christ, and that we are not able or responsible to add any value to the price Jesus paid upon the cross.

This morning, as I was updating my Facebook and Twitter posts and contacts, this note from John Piper came across my Twitter feed. It read as follows.

“You know that when you were Gentiles…” 1 Corinthians 12:2

“No one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly.” Romans 2:28

--- Gentiles are not “Gentiles” in Christ.

--- Jews are not “Jews” outside of Christ. Therefore…

This reflects the wonderful declarations of our equality in Christ; “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (5:6). “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (3:26-28).

What a wonderful blessing is ours in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior. God does not hold some of us as being “more saved” than any other. Nor does He hold anyone of us as being “more worthy of receiving the promise” than any other. In our salvation and justification, we all stand on equal footing before the Father, in Christ.

This is big news in any society which has had its understanding of the order God created skewed by sin. In many parts of the world women were (and frequently continue to be) viewed more as servants and child-bearers than as a helpmeet for their own husband whose affection and fidelity belonged to her alone. As we say at the resurrection, it was to women that the initial news of Jesus resurrection was announced. They were thereby affirmed as persons whose testimony was equal to that of any man’s testimony. God entrusted to them, the news of Jesus’ resurrection.

Here, in Galatians, we see why. Because, in Christ, there is no difference in our status before God. Either we are in Christ, and therefore able to stand in God’s presence, or we are not in Christ, and therefore unable to stand in God’s presence. The issue of our justification is one of total equality in Christ…because it is IN CHRIST’S RIGHTEOUSNESS that we come and NOT IN OUR OWN UNRIGHTEOUS AND FILTHY RAGS.

Let us therefore, be “led by the Spirit” who will then cause us to bear “the fruit of the Spirit” which is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other” (5:18-26).

May the Lord’s peace rule in your hearts as you dwell in His Word.