There is neither Jew nor Gentile: Galatians 3:26-28

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26-28

God's message, that everyone is invited to the party. We see Jews and Gentiles called out first. That being, Jews and non-Jews, which effectively includes everyone. Why the distinction, and more specifically, why the focus and apparent hierarchy placing Jews first? The explanation, it follows logically from God's plan for mankind. Mankind being all of us, you and me and everyone else.

Go back to Genesis, where the first people were created. When was that? I would say less than 15,000 years ago, which flies in the face of modern day secular science. As this might open up a discussion taking us away from today's focus, I will reign myself back in. Anyway, scripture tells us of a perfect world where God had fellowship with His prospective children. Prospective used here because there was a catch. Not a catch in that the arrangement was deficient in any way. Rather, a catch in that God arranged the relationship in a way that forced it to be genuine: it required willing participation on the part of both parties. Put another way, it required free will.

That requirement for perfection statistically, and somewhat oddly, demanded the likelihood of bad choices. Those choices being made on our part, and thus, a perfect scenario became corrupt. Looking around today, we see clearly the end result. A supposed perfect and loving God who has made an error? Not according to scripture, as God transcends time and has incorporated compensation into the plan; compensation in that He Himself would and has since taken on flesh, condescending to Earth and assigning accountability unto Himself in order to correct what had become flawed.

And this is where the distinction and focus on Israel and the Jews came forth. God, as mentioned, took on flesh as a Savior. He offered Himself to account for our bad choices. It follows, then, that He had to arrive on the scene somewhere and through somebody. Simply put, He dropped in as a Jew, and performed His earthly work as such. All the while knowing that His offer would be opened up to everyone. Everyone being all people past and present, that including timeline B.C.

I had a pastor back home in Binghamton, New York, who put it quite plainly to me. He referred to Himself and I as adopted Jews. A tree had been established out of necessity, and I was now grafted in. He could have shown up anywhere, into any society, at any time. Turns out He did it the way He did and it is done. The key element being, thankfully, His plan for salvation includes me. I really do not care when and how, only why and who. I only care about being included.

Perfection, then, required apparent imperfection, only to be corrected with perfect love and sacrifice on the part of One who was blameless. I have a hard time envisioning any earthly author concocting a story like that.