Going back to Galatians 3:26-27, let us focus now on verse 27:

“²⁶ For ye [the believers] are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷ For as many of you as have been baptized [transferred] into Christ have put on Christ [as your new life and person].

Those of us who have trusted Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, we “have been baptized [set] into Christ.” This is not water baptism, for the Bible reads that we “have been baptized into Christ,” not baptized into water. When we trusted Christ alone as Saviour, the Holy Spirit baptized us into the Church, which is called “the Body of Christ.” And for us today, this dry baptism is the ONLY baptism that applies to us during this age of the pure grace of God, whereby He does all for us.

“For by one Spirit are we all baptized [set] into one body [of Christ] …” (1 Cor. 12:13).

Paul later wrote; there is “One Lord, one faith, one baptism,” (Ephesians 4:5 (KJV)

The Holy Spirit who baptized us is not the preacher or the priest; the Holy Spirit of God administers the only valid baptism for today’s age of the “Dispensation of the Grace of God” (Eph. 3:2).

For those who don’t yet know its meaning, a “dispensation” is an age in which God has set or reset particular basis for relationship with humans. There are eight such ages seen in the Bible.

When the Holy Spirit baptized (or set) us believers into the One “Body of Christ,” He totally identified us with Christ’s death into which we were transferred, so that we could then simultaneously receive His resurrected life to be our new life.

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized [set] into Jesus Christ [not water!] were baptized into his death? ⁴ Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: [so] that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even [that is] so we also should walk in newness of [His resurrection] life.” (Romans 6:3-4).

Just as Christ died, we ‘died to sin’ with Him and “in Him.” Now, being dead, the Sin-nature no longer has dominion over us.

“For He That Is Dead Is Freed From Sin [Sin here is a noun, representing the person of Satan, ‘we are from Sin’s dominion and power’].” (Romans 6:7)

Because Christ was raised from the dead, we believers are also raised to “walk in newness of life.”

“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: [so] that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so [that] we also should walk in newness of life.” (Rom. 6:4 (KJV)

“For in that he [Christ] died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. [11] Likewise reckon [now count] ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin [Sin’s dominion], but [and rather] alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Therefore, we have victory over the (still resident) Sin-nature in our lives when we simply walk (by faith) in this truth of our new identity “in Christ.” Literally, we have “put on Christ” (Galatians 3:28). We have been made to now be “the righteousness of God in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21). God our Father sees us in Christ: He sees Christ’s righteousness, not our unrighteousness.

God will always accept us grace believers “in Christ” (Ephesians 1:6). We will forever be the individual members of “the Body of Christ” - “the children of God.”

All Believers Are Equal “In Christ”

Now, let’s return to our main text of Galatians 3:26-28 to consider verse 28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek [Gk. ethnos, gentile], there is neither bond [slave] nor free, there is neither male nor female: ….”

• “There is neither Jew nor Greek [Gk. ethnos, Gentile]” — Prior to today’s “dispensation of the grace of God” the Law of Israel distinguished between the Jew (“the Circumcision”) and the Gentile (“the Uncircumcision”) (Ephesians 2:11-12): Today during “the dispensation of the grace of God” this distinction has been temporarily suspended (verses 13-18). In our dispensation of God’s pure grace, God looks beyond nationality. He only sees Christians as members of “the Body of Christ” and lost people.

Today, “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.” (Galatians 3:28 (KJV)

“… [9] For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;… [22] Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them [Jew and Gentile] that believe: for there is no difference: [23] For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:9, 22-23).

The present day church, which is the Body of Christ, is not made up of Jews and proselytes, as in Acts 2:10, but it is the “New man” in which there is “neither Greek nor Jew” (Colossians 3:10-11). Neither is the church of this dispensation made up of Jews and Gentiles, as in Acts 21:20, 25, but in it they are “both one” and the “middle wall of partition” has been broken down (Ephesians 2:14-18). The saved Jew and the saved Gentile of this dispensation are no longer recognized as Jews and Gentiles.

• “There is neither bond nor free” — This refers to social-economic statuses: today’s employer-employee relationship. In Bible times, masters (“free”) employed slaves (“bond”). God gives no special status to Christian masters (employers), nor does He grant Christian slaves (employees) any special standing (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:20-24). Again, when God looks at mankind, He only sees those that are “in Christ” and those that are not. “Neither is there respect of persons with [God]” (Eph. 6:9c; Col. 3:25b).
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• “There is neither male nor female” — All members of “the Body of Christ” are equally “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). In God’s eyes, Christian women are of no lesser value than Christian men, and vice versa.

Galatians 3:28 can best be summarized by comparing it to 1 Cor. 12:13, a verse we briefly considered earlier:

“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”

While “the Body of Christ” consists of men and women, Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, all genuine Christians of all races are equally saved in God’s sight … just as all lost people of all races are equally dead and lost in their trespasses and sins.

Paul tells us all Christians “are complete in [Christ]” (Colossians 2:10), but few ever study the Bible dispensationally (as we do here) to discover their identity “in Christ.”