SPELLING EDITED L-7. WHAT DOES GALATIANS 3:28 TRULY MEAN? What do the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3:28 truly mean in the light of the whole word of Almighty God? Let us first read this verse alone and apart from the rest of God’s word first and then we will read the context. But before we draw any hard-fast conclusions we must compare any interpretation that we arrive at to the rest of God’s word to see if our interpretation agrees or disagrees with the WHOLE of God’s word. Galatians 3:28. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are ALL ONE IN Christ Jesus.” The first thing we need to know and understand is that what the Apostle Paul and the other Apostles of Jesus teach was taught to them by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Please do not just simply take my word for it. I firmly believe that every Christian should see the truth for themselves directly from the word of God. And that is why many of the studies that I write are so long. I could simply give my readers the Scripture references like other websites but I know from my own experience that I did not always look up those Scriptures for myself. I simply took the author’s word as being Scriptural and Biblically sound because he gave Scripture reference for what he or she taught. But later I found that I was deceived because those Bible references were taken out of their context. So I learned the hard way concerning how to study the Bible for myself. Now please understand that Christians do not MEAN to deceive anyone but because they read Bible studies without considering the context they became deceived to repeat or to “parrot what they were taught” NOT knowing that they were taught an error or false doctrine. So to avoid misleading any of my readers into error, I try to always give the Scriptures in their context and to teach my readers to ALWAYS read the CONTEXT and compare Scripture with Scripture. So let us begin this study in God’s word by you reading for yourself the verses that clearly teach us that Jesus CONTINUED to teach his disciples THROUGH the Holy Spirit AFTER Jesus ascended into heaven to be seated at the right hand of his God and Father. Please read John 16:12-15. “I have yet many things to say unto you, BUT you cannot BEAR them NOW. (In other words, Jesus had many more things to TEACH his disciples and some of those things would be very difficult for them to BEAR. And if Jesus taught those hard to bear things too soon he could have lost all of his followers. Keep in mind that Jesus only spoke what Almighty God the Father commanded him to speak and teach. And also remember in John 6:60-69 how many of his disciples LEFT off following him when he taught them that they must eat his body and drink his blood. It was TOO much for them to bear or UNDERSTAND what he truly meant by his words. And rather than giving Jesus a chance to EXPLAIN what he meant they walked away from Jesus. And I said all of this because that is how important this one verse truly is. There are some things that Paul teaches that are HARD to bear for a Jewish Christian and even for some Gentile Christians who have been wrongly taught that they must keep all the Law of Moses in the Old Testament in order to please God) 13. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, HE will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. (I implore all my readers to always hold fast to this PROMISE of Almighty God that his very own Spirit of TRUTH will lead you and guide you into ALL truth. You may become deceived by false teaching at times but deep inside of you there is that inner witness from the Holy Spirit who is telling you that something is just not quite right. Do not simply dismiss that small still SENSING inside of you. Talk to God and ask him what he is trying to show to you. BUT ALSO, ALWAYS compare what you are hearing with the WRITTEN word of TRUTH because you could be hearing your own reasoning. If you are hearing from God the Holy Spirit will never contradict the WRITTEN word of God) 14. He shall glorify ME: (Anything that dishonors Jesus is NOT from God) for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. (And anything that CONTRADICTS the written word of JESUS under the New Covenant written in the New Testament is NOT of Almighty God the Father because it was Yahweh, the Father, who GAVE the words to Jesus to teach to his DISCIPLES for them to teach to us. And then for us to teach to others and for those that we teach to teach to others until the true gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached to the whole world. And EVERY Christian is a LINK in this chain of preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ even if you only share God’s word with just one person. Do not be like the servant who buried the talent because of fear. Share your own personal testimony as to how you were saved with others) 15. All things that the Father has are mine: THEREFORE said I, that He (The Holy Spirit) shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.” In other words, Jesus tells the Holy Spirit what to communicate to each individual believer. To say this another way, Jesus was still teaching the church THROUGH the Holy Spirit, using dreams and visions and the still small voice of the Holy Spirit within us all the way through to the Apostle John on the isle of Patmos when John was told to write down the book of Revelation. And any revelation after the Apostle John died is never to be added to the Bible as SCRIPTURE. God does still indeed speak to us through dreams and vision and even through angels but what is from God HIMSELF will never CONTRADICT his written word, add to his written word, or take away from his written word. Let us now read in Acts 1:1-5 where Jesus told his disciples that he would continue to teach them through the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:1-5. “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2. Until the day in which he was taken up, AFTER THAT (Or after Jesus ascended into heaven) he (Speaking of Jesus) THROUGH the Holy Ghost had given commandments (Or instructions and teachings) unto the apostles whom he had chosen: (In other words, THROUGH the Holy Spirit Jesus CONTINUED to TEACH his disciples MANY things which Jesus told them that he would do in John 16:12-16 and that some of those NEW things that he would teach to them would be HARD to BEAR. Now use some common sense. WHAT things would be HARD to BEAR for the ALL Jewish Christ church? What things did the Apostle Paul teach that caused him to be EXAMINED by the other Apostles as to whether or not Paul was a true Apostle of Jesus Christ? Just use your common sense my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ. What were the HARD teachings of the Apostle Paul that even the Apostle Peter said were hard to BEAR? It was the teaching of Jesus that Jesus gave by many revelations to the Apostle Paul that the Law of Moses contained in ORDINANCES was ABOLISHED at the cross that was HARD to BEAR or to RECEIVE as being the TRUTH for the all-Jewish Church) 3. To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: 4. And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, you have heard of me. 5. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” Are you seeing anything yet? Are you seeing that IN our Lord Jesus Christ there is no more holding onto the religious customs of the Jews OR the holding onto the pagan religious customs of the Gentiles? For you see, BOTH groups of people had their OWN customs that they were taught all their lives as things that they MUST DO. But once a person, whether they are a Jew or a Gentile, becomes a Christian, they are set FREE from all those religious customs that they once believed whether they were Jewish customs or whether they were pagan religious customs of the Gentiles. Paul is teaching us in Galatians 3:28 that we who are IN Jesus Christ there is no more Jewish customs and no more pagan Gentile customs. Now, Orthodox Christianity focuses mostly only on Christians not being in the bondage of the Jewish customs under the old covenant, the Law of Moses contained in ORDINANCES because that is what the Apostle Paul seems to focus upon. But when you study a little deep the cultures of the GENTILES you will find the Gentile Christians had to ALSO let go of keeping their pagan religious customs as well. Let us read Galatians 3:28 again with this little bit of light that you have just learned about having to let go of CUSTOMS whether Jewish or Gentile. But this time let us read verse 28 in its CONTEXT. Galatians 3:1,21-29. “ O foolish Galatians, who has BEWITCHED you, that you should not obey the TRUTH, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? (So the greater context Paul is CORRECTING false teaching that has deceived some Christians into following wrong teaching that has caused them to DISOBEY the TRUE gospel of Jesus Christ)... ...21. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. (Here we see that the contention is over the Law of Moses. If you read ALL the words of the Apostle Paul you will find that he was CORRECTING those who desired to be teachers of the Law of Moses to compel Christians to keep the Law of Moses contained in ordinances which Jesus ABOLISHED at the cross. Paul NEVER teaches us to not keep the MORAL laws of God, but at the same time, Paul WARNS us to NOT keep the Law of Moses contained in ORDINANCES. Please read Ephesians 2:15 “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;” In other words, IN Jesus Christ we are all ONE, there is no more Jew and Gentile, male or female, rich or poor, slave or freeman) 22. But the Scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 23. But before faith came, we (Speaking of only the Jews) were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterward be revealed. 24. Wherefore the law was our (Again, speaking of only the Jews because only the Jews had a covenant with God) schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25. But after that faith has come, we (Speaking of EVERY Christian Jew and Gentile, male and female) are no longer under a schoolmaster. (So then, ALL the Law of Moses contained in ORDINANCES that applied to WOMEN are ABOLISHED by the New Covenant. And, therefore, Christian women are NOT under all the CUSTOMS of the Jewish faith that we see Paul CORRECTING in his letters to the church.) 26. For you are ALL the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (And God is no respecter of persons let alone showing favoritism between his children) 27. For as many of you as having been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ALL of you are ONE IN Christ Jesus. 29. And if you be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Again, common sense teaches us that a natural-born Jew and a natural-born Greek can NOT change his or her nationality. And a slave can not free himself from being a slave. And a male or female can NOT change their gender even though some try. So this verse has to mean something else. And that something else, to ME, means the customs and the things that the society places on people. We have already talked a little about the customs but what about those things that society teaches us? What about STATUS in society? Does not society teach us racism? Does not the “high society” look down on poor people? And even in different cultures and customs the men and women have different roles. In the Jewish and Islamic culture the women are treated more like property owned by the men, as in, the husbands “lord OVER” their wives and the wives literally have no rights to speak of. But in SOME Gentiles cultures and customs, it was the women that DOMINATED and controlled the men in that society. And as we dig deeper you will see that in the culture and society in Ephesus and in Macedonia, the WOMEN were even given leadership in high-ranking government positions. And in Ephesus, there was a pagan Gentile and also all WOMEN religion which believed that EVE was created FIRST and gave birth to Adam. I will give a link to some YouTube videos at the end of this study if you want to search the sources that those videos give as their research on this subject. But, for now, in the church, we have NO such customs of LORDING OVER each other. The leaders of the church are NOT to lord over the flock. And also, the brothers and sisters in the Lord are NOT to lord over or rule over each other. Does not Jesus teach us to NOT lord over one another? Please read Matthew 20:25-28. “But Jesus called them unto him, and said, You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. 26. BUT it shall NOT BE SO among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; (In other words, Jesus teaches us to NOT exercise dominion and authority over each other in the body of Jesus Christ. So if your pastor or your husband or men, in general, are using Scripture to lord over you then THEY are being disobedient to the word of Jesus. And THEY will be JUDGED BY the words of Jesus and NOT by what their church denomination has taught to them. Please read John 12:44-50 because it is the words of Jesus by which we will be JUDGED) 27. And whosoever will be CHIEF among you, let him be your SERVANT: 28. Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Now, Jesus teaches a lot about being humble servants and it would take a whole study on this subject alone to cover all the verses but I do want to cover three more passages of Scripture so you can get a bigger picture that as Christians we are NOT to lord over each other including the husband lording over his wife and the parents forcing their children into submission. We are to humbly submit to each other by LISTENING to understand. And this even includes the elders and overseers of the flock to humble themselves to LISTEN to their flock. Let us start with 2 Corinthians 1:23,24. “Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth. (It seems to me, that Paul is repenting here in that he may have been a little too hard on the Corinthian church and perhaps exercised authority in the wrong spirit so to speak. More out of anger than correcting them in love and patience. This second time Paul wants to spare them from his sternness by coming to them in person because he knows that his correction in letters is a bit harsher or more stern than his correction in person) 24. NOT, for that we have DOMINION OVER your faith, BUT are HELPERS of your joy: for by faith you stand.” The main point that I want you to see is that Jesus taught Paul by the Holy Spirit and by dreams and visions to NOT lord over and exercise DOMINION over the flock but rather to be HELPERS and overseers of the faith lest some swerve away from the true faith to be deceived by false doctrine. Now let us read 1 Peter 5:1-6. “The ELDERS which are among you I EXHORT, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: 2. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, NOT by constraint, but willingly; NOT for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; (The word “constraint” means to CONTROL, to limit, to restrict, and to COMPEL. So this verse can be interpreted in three ways. One way is to not allow yourself to be forced or coerced into being a leader in the church. The second way is to not accept leadership under the stipulation or limitation that you can not teach anything other than what that church denomination says you can teach. And thirdly do not use CONSTRAINT over the flock that you have accepted to be an overseer of. In other words, teach the flock as you would have someone teach you) 3. Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. 4. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. 5. Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, ALL of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: (And ALL means that even the ELDERS and leaders of the church need to be subject to the flock) for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. 6. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:” But sadly, there are some pastors and even some WHOLE church denominations who refuse to listen to any guidance from others. Here is an example that is given to us in the Bible. 3 John 1:9,10. “I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loves to have the PREEMINENCE among them, receives us NOT. 10. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither does he himself RECEIVE the brethren, and forbids them that would, and casts them out of the church.” Again, sadly, there are some pastors who demand strict obedience to their every word and if you dare challenge what they teach by simply asking questions they will cast you out of their church. So if you have ever been made to feel unwelcome in a church please understand that Jesus always welcomes you in HIS church. Please read Isaiah 66:5. “Hear the word of the LORD, you that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but He shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.” Also, read Luke 6:22,23. “Blessed are you, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, FOR the Son of man's sake. 23. Rejoice you in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.” At times, it may not seem that we have anything in this present world to rejoice in but we can always REJOICE in the PROMISES of God looking for that great and notable day when we receive our reward of eternal life and every tear shall be wiped away. So never cast away your confidence of faith in God’s word which has great recompense of REWARD. Some rewards we receive in the present world but the greatest reward of all comes in the world to come. Now, the purpose of this study is to help both men and women to PROPERLY understand the passages of Scripture that are being used mostly by men to lord over their wives. Basically, those men are MISUSING certain Scriptures to coerce their wives into submission to them. And sadly, even some pastors are misusing those same passages of Scripture to keep women from teaching in their church. They are like the pastor in 3 John 1:9,10 who LOVED being the top dog so to speak over his congregation. And pastors like that do not usually RECEIVE being corrected even if the correction comes from their own church denomination. So it is hard for other Christians to get them to see that they are teaching ERROR. However, the FLOCK can still be reached with the TRUTH of the whole word of Almighty God when the individual Christians are open to RECEIVE sound Biblical teaching of the WHOLE word of God as opposed to holding fast to the INTERPRETATION of Scriptures that are taken OUT of their CONTEXT. For example, some pastors use 1 Corinthians 11:4-10 out of context to wrongly teach that women MUST wear head coverings all the time except when they are in their own home with the door shut so no one but their husband can see their hair. Let us read 1 Corinthians 11:4-10 out of context. “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. 5. But every woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. 6. For if the woman is not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it is a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. 7. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. 8. For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. 9. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. 10. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.” Now, even if you did not know that the Apostle Paul is CORRECTING what was written to him in a letter by some Jewish Law of Moses keeping Christians who were EXAMINING him as to whether or not he was a true Apostle of Jesus Christ because of what Paul taught, you should still yet be able to discern from the CONTEXT that Paul was NOT teaching that women must wear head coverings. Please closely consider Paul’s final answer on this subject of whether or not women must wear heading coverings. 1 Corinthians 11:16. “But if any man seems to be contentious, we have NO SUCH CUSTOM, neither the churches of God.” The context is talking about the Jewish CUSTOM for women to wear head coverings and Paul ends those contentious debates by teaching us SOUND Biblical TRUTH that IN the Lord, the church has NO SUCH CUSTOM for the women to wear head coverings. Now, because of this FALSE teaching that women MUST wear a head covering at all times outside of their home some women have been placed in such extreme FEAR that if they do NOT wear a head covering then they are living in SIN. But yet there is nothing in that passage of Scripture that says anything about the woman committing sin. Rather, that passage of Scripture citing the Jewish custom says that if a woman prays without a head covering then she bring SHAME to her husband. In other words, when our children dishonor us in front of others we feel SHAMED. Our children did not sin against God or us. They simply dishonored us by being disrespectful to us. My point is that even IF Paul is teaching that women must wear head coverings then women only need to wear a head covering when they pray and when they prophesy. To add anything else would be adding to the word of God IF SO BE that Paul is teaching the word of God under the New Covenant. But as you will see in the studies under the heading >>>CAN WOMEN BE PASTORS?<<<, that Paul was simply answering questions, comments, and accusations toward him as being a false teacher all the way through 1 Corinthians but primarily beginning in 1 Corinthians 7:1. Here are some links to some YouTube videos. Most are teachings from MEN because I can understand that some women may not trust a woman teaching the Bible when you yourself have been taught that it is a sin for women to teach men the Bible. And even when women are teaching women there may still be some fear when any teaching contradicts the teaching of Christian men. So for that reason, I chose to use mostly teaching videos from Christian men. And as always, I do not support EVERY teaching by anyone when they get off on other subjects and other church doctrines such as the doctrine of the Trinity. I save the best two video teachings for last. In this first video, there are two different men teaching. The first half is from a radio teaching and in the second half, you can see the teacher. The video is around 13 minutes long. In this second video, I do not agree with his teaching on the Trinity but I do agree with his conclusion on the subject of the abuse of Scripture when it comes to lording over women. The video is also around 13 minutes long. Ephesians 5:22 and 1 Timothy 2:11 Also, here is a link to a video teaching that I came across in my research on the role of women in the church. It is titled Women in leadership! Must women keep silent? And here is another video showing how women are faced with choosing God over their families misguided beliefs and, therefore, they are faced with LOSING their family. Twisted Scripture - 1 Timothy 2:12. And below are some more video teaching by others. Once you understand that Paul was CORRECTING the false teaching that women must keep silent in the church then you will know that God desires women to teach and preach the word of truth to all people, both MEN and women, saved or unsaved. Thanks for reading and watching the videos. May God bless you richly as you continue to seek the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of Almighty God. Your brother in our Lord Jesus Christ, Brother Mark. RETURN TO HOMEPAGE AT Here are some links to some of the research sources that I used. Some of my readers have been asking for video teachings so I have been searching for some good sound Bible video teachings by others on the subject that I myself do not yet have video teachings on those particular subjects. And this is one of those subjects that I myself have not yet made any video teachings. Here is the link to the article that I quoted from in some of my studies on the subject of women because it was the most in-depth and unbiased article that I found. Junia, a Female Apostle: An Examination of the Historical Record And here are some links to some video teachings on WOMEN in the Bible. In this first video, there are two different men teaching. The first half is from a radio teaching and in the second half, you can see the teacher. The video is around 13 minutes long. In this second video below, I do not agree with his teaching on the Trinity but what I do agree with is a conclusion on the subject about the abuse of Scripture when it comes to lording over women. Ephesians 5:22 and 1 Timothy 2:11 The following video is also a short video that teaches us a little about Jewish CUSTOMS and how the Jews viewed women as basically their PROPERTY. I chose this video so that you can see that the Jewish Judaizing Christians did not agree with the teachings of the Apostle Paul and they were EXAMINING Paul as to whether or not he was a true Apostle of Jesus Christ. Now, this next video teaching is rather long but I believe this man put a lot of research and study on 1 Corinthians 15:34,35 and the other verses that SEEM to teach that women must not be used by God to teach men in the church. Now, while I agree with his research on those verses I DISAGREE with his own personal opinion on women wearing head coverings. He simply failed to do any research on that particular subject of the Jewish CUSTOM of women wearing head coverings. Please understand that there are many good Bible teachers on PARTICULAR subjects BUT on OTHER subjects they may simply “PARROT” what they were previously taught by their church denomination WITHOUT doing their own in-depth Bible studies on those other subjects. Around 18 minutes into the video, he talks about Junia and later alludes to Junia being Joahna but I would listen to the whole video the entire context. In the following video, I find one of the best explanations and teaching on 1 Corinthians 14:34,35 that I ever came across. But because this video is by a WOMAN I listed it toward the end. For you see, some may wrongly think that teaching about women by a woman might be biased. But in truth, this woman shows the PAIN that some women suffer needlessly because of false teaching. And to me, her teaching is SOUND Biblical teaching on this subject concerning women being used by God as teachers in the church. In this next video, there is a list of the NAMES of all the women in the New Testament for those who want to do their own Bible study of how God uses women in the Bible. NAMES of women in the New Testament And this last video I just added for those want-a-be scholarly type men that like quoting the Greek just to look smart. Xenophon of Ephesus 5 and 1 Timothy 2 Derived from Greek ξενος (xenos) meaning “foreign, strange” and φωνη (phone) meaning “voice”. That is to say, xenophone means a strange voice. |
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