“A false balance is abomination to the LORD: But a just weight is his delight. When pride cometh, then cometh shame: But with the lowly is wisdom. The integrity of the upright shall guide them: But the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. Riches profit not in the day of wrath: But righteousness delivereth from death. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: But the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: But transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: And the hope of unjust men perisheth. The righteous is delivered out of trouble, And the wicked cometh in his stead.”
Proverbs 11:1-8 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.11.1-8.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 ...