It’s likely that we’ve all heard someone say something like, “We don’t have all these races. There’s only one race… the human race.” While that may, in essence, be true, American values and social norms have established structures that sort us into racial, ethnic, gender, class, and ability identities. These societal constructs of identity keep divisions fomenting.

As arbitrary as these divisions and categories are, they have significantly influenced how we navigate social and institutional spaces and inform our view of who we believe to be deserving of the sacred affirmation of dignity, hospitality, and socioeconomic opportunity.

These social designations are not benign; they have sway over all of us. They influence our sense of self and determine how we perceive others. Adjusting, or more aptly put, breaking these perceptions requires more than rhetorical shifts of political correctness and social savviness—as these methods allow us to remain comfortable with our conditioned biases.

From Paul’s pen, an alternative to our current norm is suggested. In Galatians, the apostle writes, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28).  Paul rightly acknowledges the most common of social distinctions but quickly pivots and declares there is no privilege, no inherent advantage in or consequence of our status, class, or gender before or “In Christ”! God does not bequeath more of his favor to us based on our socially derived, bestowed, or constructed status. Herein is the good news of the Gospel.

God’s Love, which distinguishes us as beloved, is neither subject to nor heightened by our differences, whatever those differences may be. Most of us are keenly aware that this quality of welcome and hospitality is uncommon – that outside of Christ, what distinguishes us serves to divide us. The challenge, therefore, is for us to be well practiced and discipled in what it means to be “In Christ” – to love, lead, and relate to others as those that are “In Christ”…  

With this, we must also understand that our work is not to tear down those societal structures but to realize that by renewing our minds and living lives transformed by Christ, we live in opposition to them as exemplars of God’s will and witnesses to how his power has overcome them.  (Romans  12: 1-2)