“And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: and there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.”
Mark 1:9-13 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/mrk.1.9-13.KJV
When Walls Come Down
"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Galatians 3:28 NIV
These words from the Apostle Paul would have been startling to the first-century Church. At a time when divisions ran deep—ethnic, economic, and gender-based—Paul was boldly declaring something revolutionary: in Jesus, those walls come down.
The early Church was a diverse, fragile community. Jews and Gentiles came from vastly different religious and cultural worlds. Slaves and free people had different legal and social standing. Men and women operated within strict societal roles. And yet, Paul wasn’t saying those differences disappeared—he was saying they no longer determined a person's worth, status, or identity within the family of God.
Unity is not just a bonus feature of the Gospel, it's central to the message! Jesus formed a new kind of community, one where every person stands on equal footing before God because of ...