Sermon: Pentecost “No Male or Female” - Galatians 3:15-29, May 24, 2026
Scripture: Galatians 3:15-29
Preacher: Ryan Slifka
Sermon: Pentecost “No Male or Female”
I am going to start today’s sermon with an extremely controversial statement. Ready?
Women are… Women are… equal to men. Women are equal to men.
Some of you laughed, not because you found the idea laughable. But that it’s a rather bland, obvious thing to say on the left coast of Canada in 2026Though women are not always treated this way. The idea that Women are equal is no a widely-held belief. It borders on the obvious
Now, as obvious as this may be to us here, where’s this idea come from? Who thought it up? Is it one of those things Thomas Jefferson referred to as a “self-evident truth”? Is it something like “common sense,” so obvious that it doesn’t need an argument? Kind of like water being wet? If so, why did it take us so long to recognize something so clear?
A couple years ago we were visiting some of our oldest friends. They’ve always been very progressive–one of them identified as non-binary at the time, and was always on the cutting edge, passionate about social justice issues. And perhaps not entirely surprising–a staunch atheist. At one point we were deep into conversation and I asked where all passion, this deep sense of right and wrong came from? Where’s this deep sense of equality you have among people rooted if you don’t think there’s a God, or that there’s an overall point, or transcendent purpose to the universe? And the answer was something like this: “we as a society have decided it.” This is a conclusion that we as a culture have agreed upon.
Now this may be true. But it also means that at some point our culture could just decide otherwise, and that would be that. Without some kind of solid foundation, if it doesn’t come from somewhere outside of us, the idea women are equal is not an unchanging truth, or a moral fact. If you’re not bothered by that, fine. But if you are bothered by that, it’s a problem. Because it means that, we as a society could just change our minds about it. And that would be that.
At this point you might be wondering where I’m going with this. And the answer is: straight into our passage from Galatians. Why? Because within this passage we find one of the great sources for women’s equality in the whole of the western tradition–verse 28:
“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free.” And, of course: “there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
Really, there are few sentences that have been more transformative in history than this one.
For the past few weeks we’ve been hearing a lot about circumcision. It’s at the heart of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatian Churches. Paul is arguing that being found righteous for God, being a part of God’s people does not depend on keeping the law of Moses. Meaning that non-Jews could become part of the new Christian movement without having to do things like get circumcised. How? By faith in Jesus Christ, in his death and resurrection.
Here Paul continues his argument from last time about the Old Testament patriarch Abraham. There’s so much here, actually. A sermon series’ worth in of itself! But in order to make the case for Gentiles–non-Jews–being included he makes an analogy about inheritance. A rather complicated one, but keep with me.
Way back when God promised Abraham, and his offspring an inheritance 439 years before Moses received the law on Mount Sinai. The “offspring” God meant, Paul argues, was not Abraham’s literal children, but the coming Messiah–Jesus Christ.
In the same way that adding a codicil or amendment does nothing to cancel out the original will, adding the Law, including the requirement for circumcision as an addendum, does nothing to cancel that original promise. The promise, as the original document overrides the Law as a later addition.
Why then the Law? Well, Paul says, the Law was like a kind of school-teacher, or disciplinarian there to knock some heads together to keep the kids in line. The law served as a guardian until Christ came. But now that Christ has come, the promise is received by faith, not by circumcision.
The circumcised have no higher status, on account of following the law. But on account of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, all are fully equal participants in the people of God. All are offspring of Abraham. No Jew or Greek. Just one in Christ Jesus. All are equal heirs to the promise.
Now, what’s most interesting is that even though his whole point is about the relationship between Jews and non-Jews in the church, it doesn’t stay there. It’s extended to slave and free as well. And it’s extended, of course, to male and female. Now, Paul addresses these elsewhere in his other letters, but not in Galatians. Scholars think that Paul is quoting a formula that the Galatians likely already knew. But the implication is the same.
Following the logic it means that whether you are a free person, or a slave owned by another person, in Jesus Christ you’re all equal. Same status, no one has anything over the other. What a radical statement. If you’re an ancient Roman that sounds insane because OF COURSE slaves are lesser than free people and masters. Slaves are property to be used by anyone for any purpose. And here it’s saying that in Christ there is no slave or free. Some slave is worth the same in the eyes of the Lord? Laughable!
And women! Like, you can’t get any lower than this, can you? Slave women are literal property, that’s obvious. But free women. Even they are the property of their fathers and husbands–entirely. And here Paul’s saying that in Christ there is no male or female, either. I mean, this is even more insane than the whole slaves thing! Male slaves at least could get circumcised. But not only is some slave equal in the eyes of the Lord, women are, too? Independent entirely of their relation to their husbands. It’s more than laughable, it’s absolute lunacy.
I mean, if the Galatians think that the Jew and Gentile being equal thing is a bridge too far, just imagine how radical his stuff about slaves and women sounds. And if it sounds that way, because it is. Because Paul is saying that anything that confers anyone automatic status in society at large, whether ethnicity, whether social class, or even gender, counts for nothing in the new community of Christ. It’s really easy for us to hear this now and nod along as obvious. But for Paul’s hearers this is new stuff. New, and potentially dangerous.
Now, to be clear. Nowhere does Paul say (or Jesus, for that matter) say that slavery should be abolished. It’s more or less assumed, and slaves are encouraged to obey their masters. Paul’s no Abraham Lincoln, Malcolm X or Martin Luther King. If it’s not encouraged or affirmed, slavery’s also not directly criticized or challenged. And the situation when it comes to women is similar. Though women could be prophets, and had clear leadership roles in the early Christian movement (which was radical in of itself), elsewhere Paul (or someone using Paul’s name) teaches women to obey their husbands and excludes women from teaching men. Paul’s no Betty Friedan, or Nellie McClung, even. Not by a long shot.
But even with Paul’s own cultural and moral limitations, the idea still made its way.
You could think about it like a stick of dynamite with a really long fuse. It may take time for it to ignite, but it eventually does. And it changes stuff. The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, tiny seed planted, but eventually grows and takes over like a weed. It may not have immediately sprouted into a full grown tree of 21st century enlightened feminism, but here the seed, the germ of human equality was planted.
You wanna know where this idea came from? There ain’t many better places to look than right here in Galatians 3. And that’s in the first century! Nearly 2000 years ago. It’s amazing. Way ahead of its time.
The most amazing thing, though? It wasn’t made up. It wasn’t determined or discovered. That’s the limit of secular versions of human equality. But this one, we didn’t just decide it. No! No, it comes from God. It’s reality. It’s truth. One that comes from the Creator of the universe. Delivered in the wake of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And here’s another thing, too. It’s equality. But it’s more than equality. Jews and Greeks, slaves and free people, men and women. Every human being regardless of race or ethnicity, economic status, or gender, are not just equal in worth, or in dignity. Which they are. But what Paul’s talking about here is even more than that. Not only are you all one in Christ Jesus, he says, the last line is this: “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.”
The promise given to Abraham is yes, and fulfilled in Jesus Christ is justification—being set right with God, yes, the forgiveness of sins, yes. Eternal security, absolutely.
But here, the inheritance he’s specifically talking about is the Holy Spirit. “Does God,” says Paul right at the beginning of this chapter. “Does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law or by your believing what you heard?”
The inheritance Paul is talking about here is the very power and presence of the living God. Not just God—but the gift of God himself in Creation. Pentecost Sunday! The gift of the Holy Spirit! An inheritance given not only to the older brother—God’s people Israel, but to all to have faith in Jesus Christ. God’s own Spirit poured out on all flesh in the words of the prophet Joel. All flesh. Male, female, slave, free, Jew or Greek.
Like, we might think of equality in something like—say—the ordination of women to church ministry as a matter of fairness, or justice. But from the perspective of God’s Word equality also has to do with God’s own power, God’s own gifts. God gives God’s Spirit without regard to earning or identity. Christian equality is not a matter of earning or deserving or the correcting of an historical injustice, even. But a matter of grace. Grace!
Christian equality is acknowledgment that if God gives somebody—anybody—a gift, whether it be wisdom or knowledge, or even preaching or teaching. Then to deny that person the opportunity to use such gifts is to not only deny their status as a full inheritor of the promise. But to deny the will of the gift-giver. The gift giver-being God. Whose Spirit blows where it may.
And this is the truly radical edge of the gospel. Not that we are merely equal in status, but equal in purpose, equal in calling. Because all are equally endowed with the Spirit of the living God, created to glorify God in this life and forever. This is good news not only for women, slaves, and Greeks. But for all who are in Christ Jesus. Good news for you.
Good news because God says! God says that you’re not only worth as much as anybody else, but you are Abraham’s offspring, a child of the promise. Promised the very presence of the living God in the church and in your life. And because of that, you’ve been given a purpose. One that no one can take away.
Because in Christ Jesus there Greek or Jew, no slave or free, no male or female.
But also no clean or unclean, rich or poor!
No immigrant or citizen!
No settler or indigenous!
No liberal or conservative!
Disabled or abled, gay or straight!
Whether you’re young and ready to take on the world, or old and ready to give up on it all! Whether you’re a type A industry tycoon or an apathetic addict who can’t get it together at all. A single mom, or a divorced dad, a life chock-full of achievements or a resume that’s just an empty sheet of paper.
In Jesus Christ your worth is not up for debate, nor is your place in God’s family up for grabs, nor is your calling is not reserved for somebody else. But you are Abraham’s offspring, an heir to the promise—a vessel for the Spirit of the living God.
So stop believing the lie you are too little, too broken, or too late to be used by God.
Because if God has given you his Spirit, then it means you matter, your life matters, and you have been given gifts to glorify God. Gifts to share. So share them.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and yes indeed! The Holy Spirit! Amen.