Let’s take a look at equality from the New Testament standpoint and explore some of the information that is new to the New Covenant!
Video with slides. Push the green box with the triangle to start video.
Audio only. Use the white circle play button to listen to this without slides or video.
Society has struggled with equal rights for millennia. Nations have risen against nations, people have been held as slaves on huge scales, and even today there is mass oppression in many parts of the world. Let’s take a quick walk through the Bible and see what it has to say about equality.
Slide 2 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.'” And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. “But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. (Luk 4:16-29)
This is the beginning of Yeshua’s ministry. There’s a theme He had running, kind of as an undercurrent, throughout His earthly ministry, that most of Christianity misses. This is a theme of equality. First Century Judea had a lot of problems with respect to equality. It was a world that those of us who have been born and raised in the west have no ability to comprehend. The Jews wanted to be left alone and were not interested much at all in others joining them, for lack of a better word. Granted, there were proselytes, but they were never accepted to the level of a native born Israelite. Their exclusivity was a problem because Judea was occupied by the Romans who had a pretty brutal view of society. If you had Roman citizenship, you had rights and were by all measures more of a human being than if you did not. This comes into play when Paul becomes the apostle to the Gentiles and uses his Roman citizenship to further the kingdom of God. Within the Roman life was a caste system as well, which is something we know nothing about, either. In a nutshell, some people were definitely more equal than others withing Roman citizenship but those who were not Roman at all were of much less value than those who were and attaining that citizenship was difficult.
So what does this all have to do with Yeshua in the synagogue? The Jews had a similar “us versus them” view of society. It’s part of the word goyim, or nations. The Jews believed, rightly so, that they were the chosen people and were special to Yahweh. But they also had a wall of separation, they did not care to mix with other nations. This is completely understandable because that’s what got them smote repeatedly. When Yahweh re-established Judea through Nehemiah and Ezra, the people read the Torah aloud. When they realized they had married those from forbidden nations, they sent them away and “purified” the land. They realized they had been sent into captivity for a few reasons, one of which was blending the worship of the nations with the worship of Yahweh. This is where the synagogue system began and where they started studying Torah weekly. This did a pretty good job of keeping them on the straight and narrow, particularly after the Maccabean revolt, but it also served to create an insular society. So what we had in first century Judea was a nation that did not care to mix with other nations being occupied by a nation that liked to gobble up other nations and destroy those who didn’t want to be gobbled up. That’s a lot of friction. And then, in the synagogue, Yeshua starts His ministry by reminding his fellow Jews that Yahweh worked miracles for gentiles in the days of Elijah and Elisha, miracles that were not performed for Jews at the time. And it really made them mad. To the point of wanting to do Him harm.
It’s very important to understand that He started His ministry with this message because the New Testament does have new information. The New Testament shows a shift in the way Yahweh interacts with the world with Yeshua’s sacrifice. Yeshua starts His ministry alluding to this.
Slide 3 “This Yeshua God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET.”‘ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Messiah—this Yeshua whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Yeshua the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” (Act 2:32-39)
Do you see the shift? “The promise” is for those present, their children, and those who are far off… as many as God will call to Himself. When you see the phrase “the promise” in NT scripture, it’s speaking of the promise made to Abraham to make his descendants more numerous than the stars. Peter is telling them that Yahweh is calling all people, not just Jews, here at Acts 2. It’s interesting these words come from Peter because he seemed to have a problem with this later in the New Testament, but let’s take a look at “the promise” in detail.
Slide 4 For you are all sons of God through faith in Messiah Yeshua. For all of you who were baptized into Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua. And if you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. (Gal 3:26-29)
These people still had to deal with the injustices of their day but within the congregation, they all had to come to the reality that they were equal with respect to salvation. They were still literally male and female and those who were slaves were still literally slaves, but they had to treat each other equally within the assembly.
Back in Acts 2, the Jews and proselytes who witnessed the results of the Ruach falling on the apostles were from all over the known world. They had come to Jerusalem to keep Passover and Pentecost. After they witnessed the miracles of that Pentecost, with many of those who crucified Yeshua repenting and being baptized, they took that information back to their home congregations. They sowed seeds ahead of the apostles coming with the Gospel. Here, ten or fifteen years later, Paul is re-affirming Peters words, that those who were far off were being called by God. Paul is making it clear that anyone who accepts Yeshua as the Messiah becomes a child of God, and an heir according to the promise. This, brothers and sisters, is equality. This is why we call each other brother and sister, because we are in the family of Yahweh. And we need to treat everyone we meet as if they are already family or potentially family, which is how we live in equality.