Five-minute study · Day 186 · Galatians 3
Galatians 3:28
A word worth stopping on: there is ἔνι eni
'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.' The word 'is' in this verse is eni, and it does more work than its size suggests. Eni is an emphatic form. It means 'there exists.' Paul is making three denials, each one dismantling a social wall that defined the ancient world. Three walls. One sentence. Read aloud in baptismal liturgy as new converts stood dripping in front of the congregation.
Word study: there is
- Greek
- ἔνι
- Pronounced
- eni
- Strong's
- G1762
- Definition
- There is, there exists. An emphatic form of en, carrying the sense 'it is possible' or 'there exists within.' Used to make strong declarative statements about what does or does not exist within a given sphere.
Eni appears only six times in the New Testament. BDAG defines it as an 'equivalent of enesti, there is,' used in emphatic declarations. James 1:17 uses it: 'With whom is no variableness.' Colossians 3:11 echoes Galatians 3:28 with the same structure: 'Where there is (eni) neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free.'
The declaration 'ouk eni' ('there does not exist') is absolute. Paul is saying these distinctions do not exist within the sphere of union with Christ. The three pairs he names represent the three fundamental social divisions of the ancient Mediterranean world.
Jew/Greek: the religious-ethnic division. The synagogue prayer known from later sources (Tosefta Berakhot 6:18) has a man thanking God 'that you did not make me a Gentile.' Paul says: in Christ, this division has no existence.
Slave/free: the economic-legal division. Approximately one-third of the Roman Empire's population were enslaved. A slave was property, legally equivalent to a tool. Paul says: in Christ, this division has no existence.
Male/female: the gender division. Paul's language here shifts from 'neither...nor' (oute...oute) to 'and' (kai): 'not male and female,' echoing the Greek translation of Genesis 1:27, 'male and female created he them.' The echo is deliberate. The original creation distinction is acknowledged and then declared irrelevant to standing in Christ.
Betz's Hermeneia commentary argues this verse preserves a pre-Pauline baptismal formula. New converts heard these words as they came up from the water. The social identity they carried into the pool, every category that placed them above or below someone else, was declared nonexistent in the new reality they entered.
Historical context · Mid-first century AD, Pauline churches
Baptism as Social Revolution
The early Christian baptismal service was a public event with theological and social consequences. Candidates were typically immersed in running water, often in a river or a purpose-built basin. They removed their old clothing before immersion and put on new white garments afterward. The symbolism was visible: the old self buried, the new self raised.
Betz's Hermeneia commentary on Galatians argues that Galatians 3:27-28 preserves a liturgical text spoken during baptism. 'For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ' (v. 27) accompanies the robing. 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female' (v. 28) is the declaration spoken over the newly baptized person.
The social impact of this declaration was immediate and disruptive. A Galatian church might include a Roman citizen and his slave standing side by side, both wet, both wearing white, both hearing the same words spoken over them. A Jewish convert and a Greek convert would share the same water, the same declaration, the same community meal afterward. Women and men heard themselves named in the same breath, their standing in Christ declared identical.
The three pairs Paul names correspond to the three great social hierarchies of the Greco-Roman world. The philosopher Diogenes Laertius records that Thales was grateful for three things: 'that I was born a human and not an animal, a man and not a woman, a Greek and not a barbarian.' A similar Jewish thanksgiving appears in later rabbinic sources. Paul takes these three categories of privilege and systematically declares them abolished 'in Christ Jesus.'
This did not eliminate social structures overnight. Paul's letters show him navigating the tension between the baptismal declaration and the social realities of slave-owning households, gender roles in worship, and Jewish-Gentile table fellowship. The declaration was eschatological: it announced a reality that the community was called to live into, even when the surrounding culture had not caught up.
For reflection
Paul names three walls: ethnicity, economic status, gender. Each one defined a person's worth in the ancient world. Which of these divisions, or their modern equivalents, most shapes how you see other people? Be honest. The baptismal declaration says that division does not exist in Christ.
The declaration was spoken aloud over wet, newly baptized people standing in front of the whole congregation. It was public, not private.
Sources: BDAG; Betz, 'Galatians' (Hermeneia); Diogenes Laertius; Tosefta Berakhot 6:18