There are different kinds of Christian communities. How can we all agree?

Galatians 3:28There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 4:15-16Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Colossians 3:11In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

We have many titles, descriptors, and associations that form our identity. This was the case in the early church, and after dealing with many church conflicts, Paul knew this truth more clearly than most. But Paul always reminded believers that what they had in common—their identity in Christ—outshone all those little modifying (and dividing) words. Instead of being a “free female Gentile Christian” or a “Jewish male slave Christian,” Paul directed people to think of themselves and each other as merely “Christians.” Before everything else, they all belonged to Christ and were one in Christ.