Paul declares in Galatians 3:28 that there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, and that there is neither male nor female. Instead of being segregated by those very real group categories, he argues that all believers are one in Christ. In that statement, Paul is trying to illustrate an ideal. He is putting forward what should be the case, even if it isn’t always so. According to Paul, we should exercise a greater allegiance to our shared membership in the body of Christ over any individual allegiance to any lesser body. But as a result of the fall, human nature is to divide into groups and then isolate ourselves in them at the exclusion of everyone else.
This exclusionary tendency to ignore a higher shared status ironically reveals itself in the vibrant, on-fire, early church. In Acts 6:1, we read where the Hellenist Christians complained against the Hebraic Christians because the Hellenist widows were being left out of the daily food distribution. In this one simple verse, Luke reveals to us how the early Christian church was divided into at least two categories: the Hellenists and the Hebrews. The Hellenists were Greek speaking Jews who used a Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuigant. The Hebraic Jews were those who maintained a strong tie to Judea – the birthplace and crucible of their culture. They relished the fact that they used the original Hebrew scriptures, and that their language and culture had not been adulterated by anything in the grecian world. For whatever reason, the Hebraic widows were getting food in the daily distribution, and the Hellenist widows were not. The bible does not identify the reason for this, but we can infer from the text that the Hellenists felt that favoritism was at play.
In their wisdom, the apostles appointed and laid hands on seven men to serve the widows (Acts 6:4-6). This allowed the apostles to continue in the ministry of the word, while also giving an opportunity for service to other Godly men of the church. Interestingly, all seven men bore Greek names. The apostle’s decision ensured that all the widows would get needed attention, and signified that Hellenist believers were just as much a part of the body as those who were Hebraic. It’s important to note that the Hebrew culture laid the foundation for Christianity. But it is also important to note that when the New Testament writers quoted the Old Testament, they generally quoted from the Septuigant and not the Hebrew texts. This makes sense, given that they were operating in a largely Greco-Roman world.
Just like today, the early church struggled with divisions that made them lose sight of their membership in a larger body. Paul reminds us in his first letter to the Corinthian church that a functional human body is made up of many parts that do different things, but that are unified to serve the whole (1 Corinthians 12:14-31). May our identification with Christ supersede all other identities.
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