3:11 {9} Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond [nor] free: but Christ [is] all, and in all.
(9) He tells them again that the Gospel does not refer to those external things, but true justification and sanctification in Christ alone, which have many fruits, as he reckons them up here: but he commends two things especially, that is, godly harmony, and continual study of God's word.
3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew. Where there cannot be Greek and Jew (Revised Version). In Christ there can be no distinction of race, or of caste. The Greek, when he is converted, becomes a new being; not a Greek, but a Christian. So of Jew, Roman, Scythian. They are all naturalized into a new kingdom, that of Christ, and belong to a new holy nation (1Pe 2:9). All the old barriers to fraternity are removed.
Barbarian. The Greeks long called all who were not Greeks barbarians, but in the apostolic age applied it more particularly to those who had not accepted the Greek civilization.
Bond [nor] free. The master and the slave were on a level in the church. Max Muller says,
Humanity is a word which you look for in vain in Plato and Aristotle; the idea of mankind as one family, as the children of one God, is an idea of Christian growth.''
But Christ [is] all, and in all. He is the life of all the new creation, and in all.
3:11 Where - In which case, it matters not what a man is externally, whether Jew or gentile, circumcised, or uncircumcised, barbarian, void of all the advantages of education, yea, Scythian, of all barbarians most barbarous. But Christ is in all that are thus renewed, and is all things in them and to them.
3:5-11 It is our duty to mortify our members which incline to the things of the world. Mortify them, kill them, suppress them, as weeds or vermin which spread and destroy all about them. Continual opposition must be made to all corrupt workings, and no provision made for carnal indulgences. Occasions of sin must be avoided: the lusts of the flesh, and the love of the world; and covetousness, which is idolatry; love of present good, and of outward enjoyments. It is necessary to mortify sins, because if we do not kill them, they will kill us. The gospel changes the higher as well as the lower powers of the soul, and supports the rule of right reason and conscience, over appetite and passion. There is now no difference from country, or conditions and circumstances of life. It is the duty of every one to be holy, because Christ is a Christian's All, his only Lord and Saviour, and all his hope and happiness.
