I’m sure that got your attention. Mankind has categorized human beings into various classes throughout history. The Jews were best at this in that they saw everyone outside of their physical heritage as being “Gentiles.” This phrase is sometimes translated as “Dogs.” This could have contributed to the reason they were so hated throughout history. They saw themselves as “God’s Chosen” elite in contrast to the rabble of the rest of the world. To the Jews “all” lives weren’t equal and all lives did not matter. In reaction to this they were persecuted violently. Hitler made the extermination of Jews a high priority in the German nation until the Allied Forces invaded Berlin and he reign of terror ended with his suicide in a cement bunker along with his wife. Hitler elevated the Arian race above all others to the extent he wanted to exterminate the inferior races, not just the Jews. To Hitler and his clan, all lives were not equal and all lives did not matter either. But isn’t this the way of the world? Not all lives matter! This is not an ancient problem. It’s been around since the beginning of time and is still going on today. Here are ten examples of recent horrible genocides. Herero Genocide: 1904–1907. Armenian Genocide: 1915–1923. Holocaust: 1933–1945. Cambodian Genocide: 1975–1979. East Timor Genocide: 1975–1999. Guatemalan Genocide: 1981–1983. Kurdish Genocide: 1986–1989. Bosnian Genocide: 1992–1995. Rwandan Genocide: 1994. Darfur Genocide: 2003–Present. The way of the world has always been “Not all lives matter.” No, as a general rule yet today people don’t like those who look different, dress different, live different, act different, eat different and believe different than they do. The worst part of this is that “religion” has been the most profound distinction between peoples that have cause such devastation. The shame of “Christendom” is that it has been as guilty of this as any others. It’s not only the Crusades that bear witness to this, but also the Inquisition as well as some post reformation atrocities committed by both Catholic and Protestant groups.
This is such a disgrace because Jesus did not come to set up another religion to be at odds with all the other religions in the world. He came to destroy religion as well as all the other human distinctions between the peoples of the world. As the Colossians struggled with the infighting of various groups within their number Paul exhorts them to change their attitude about that. Paul spends some time exalting the Characteristics of Christ. He points out Jesus’ role in creation of all things and calls him the firstborn of all, the preeminent of all, the reconciler of all, the ruler of all, the nourisher of all, the forgiver of all and concludes with the claim “Christ is all and in all.” Colossians 3:11 says, “As a result, there is no longer any distinction between Gentiles and Jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarians, savages, slaves, and free, but Christ is all, Christ is in all.” The Galatians were having a difficult time with these distinctions and Paul had to address the problem with them as well. But there gender had become an issue as well. Galatians 3:28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
I do not want to preach for the sake of the advancement of Christendom as it has been expressed throughout history. I just want to preach Christ. I like the way Norm Geisler said it in his Colossians commentary, “In Christ distinctions are removed. These include national distinctions… religious distinctions… cultural distinctions… and economic or social distinctions.” When a person comes to Christ in faith, He destroys all other distinctions. Paul tells the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” So, going back to Colossians 3, Paul says that once they have taken off the “old self” they now have “put on” the new self in which there is no distinctions anymore. “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” But there is still one more distinction that cannot be missed. In Christ there are no more distinctions, but outside of Christ the distinctions still exist and rule our world. There are still those who have not received Christ. John says in John 1:12, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
1 Norman L. Geisler, “Colossians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 681.