Grace in Our Differences
“The Law” as exemplified by the Ten Commandments has many purposes. Here Paul proclaims that the law is able to “lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” What unites us is that none of us are able to keep the commandments of God. What gives us hope is that in Christ, we may be in right relationships with God, our true selves and others. What gives us joy is that as we become one in Christ we can celebrate the uniqueness of each person in the body of Christ. Eugene Peterson says in Traveling Light (p. 114): As a son or daughter in Christ all these differences of race (Greek and Jew), of status (slave and free), of sex (male and female) which provoke envy and make enemies are subordinated to the central, common relationship which we have in Christ. Now all those basic harmonies and continuities in which we are created can be experienced and developed. We are free in relationship to each other, discovering an equal acceptance. Other persons are not enemies to fear, not superior beings to envy, not deadbeats to avoid. In Christ every person is or can be experienced in a new way, a person we are free to receive and love without fear of being diminished or intimidated.
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