Articles
Our Oneness In Christ
While having dinner with some folks during a gospel meeting some years ago, we were treated by a near monologue from one of our fellow dinner guests. He was telling us why he and his wife were more comfortable in the former congregation they attended more than in the one they now attended. They presently attended where our hosts were members and I was preaching in the meeting. The reason for their enjoying the former group was that most of them were nearer to their “socioeconomic status,” which he obviously thought to be quite high. Being the nice cultured fellow that I am, I bit my tongue and did not say the first thing that came to my mind, which was, “Why don’t you go back to where you came from?”
If there is any place where people can feel like, and be treated on equal footing, it ought to be in the congregations of God’s people. Being in Christ is a great equalizer. Both the rich and the poor should feel both “poor in spirit” (Mt 5:3) and “rich in faith” (Jas 2:5) at the same time. Paul said of those in Christ: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28 KJV) This covers ethic, social, and gender differences.
An informed humble faithful Christian recognizes that all people are really of one ethic background. All came originally from one couple and then from four couples. (Gen 1, 2, 6). He recognizes that the “bond” (low on the socioeconomic scale) are “free” in Christ and the “free” man realizes he is under servitude to Christ and righteousness. (1 Cor 7:22; Rom 6). He realizes that, while the roles of males and females differ because of the creation and fall of man (1 Tim 2:11-14), both males and females are “heirs together of the grace of life.” (Cf. 1 Pt 3:7).
In Christ and His local churches, there is no room for any “Big I"s or "little you”s because we are all one in Christ. If one can’t live with that, then he, like Peter on one occasion, needs a serious attitude adjustment.
