Who are we, really? Where do you find your identity? When William Howard Taft III was appointed U. S. Ambassador to Ireland, his young daughter was enrolled in a school in Dublin. Asked to tell a little bit about herself, she proudly explained, “My great-grandfather was President of the United States My grandfather was a U. S. Senator. My father is U. S. Ambassador to Ireland. And I am a Brownie.” It sounds like she knew who she was. Brownies were the lowest rung in the Girl Scouts!
A member of the royal family in England introduced himself as the Prince of Wales. Another man did not believe him, so he said, “If you are the Prince of Wales, I am the King of England.” Later the latter discovered it was true. The next time the Prince of Wales saw him he smiled and said, “Hi dad!”
The churches in Galatia had lost their identity. As Gentiles saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, they had foolishly decided to reclaim all the Jewish festivals and identity markers as their means to serve God. In effect, their decision belied the saving power of Christ’s sacrifice for them. Paul would not have it. As a Jew who had become a Christian he had moved beyond finding his identity in Judaism. He called the Galatians to do the same.
In order to show the Galatians who they were, Paul started where they were. “In Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith.” A famous Ivy League School once proudly unveiled a new building with the partial inscription of this verse: “You are all children of God.” They left out the qualifiers, “in Christ Jesus” and “through faith.” All are created in God’s image, but only in Christ and through faith in him do we become children of God.
Identity politics seems to overwhelm us today. We may proudly summarize our whole identity with a political affiliation, or some sort of orientation, or as those who are for or against vaccines and masks. Paul’s words help us to extricate ourselves from this web. Our identity is found in Christ alone. This connection transcends Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female and every other status. So we take no pride in place, face or grace.
A boy in Tennessee who never knew his father was reminded by his pastor that he was a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ. The preacher told him to go claim his inheritance. That boy, Ben Hooper later became the governor of Tennessee. In the end we must find our identity in relationship with Christ and not in the faddish identifications of our culture. Being God’s child gives us the grace to live as he has made us, without chasing the approval of others who want us to change our identity to something less important and lasting.
