No male and female = no role differences?
Galatians 3:28 — Case Closed?
Galatians 3:28 (ESV) says, “no male and female”—so does that mean there are no role differences between men and women in the church?[1]
Not quite. Context matters:
But now that faith has come... in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. ...There is neither Jew nor Greek... slave nor free... no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus... heirs according to promise.
— Galatians 3:25–29 (ESV)
Paul wrote this passage after confronting Peter (Galatians 2:11–12), who had wrongly implied Gentiles must adopt Jewish customs to belong fully to Christ. Paul's point is clear: everyone baptized into Christ—Jews, Gentiles, slaves, women—shares equally in God's inheritance.
However, equality in Christ doesn’t erase distinctions in roles. Even Peter affirms this: wives be subject to husbands (1 Peter 3:1), and husbands honor wives as fellow heirs in the grace of life (1 Peter 3:7). Equal inheritance doesn't mean identical roles, neither at home nor in church.
Those who use Galatians 3:28 to remove role distinctions miss Paul's point. If taken literally, it would lead to absurdities—like having no elders or everyone being an elder. Paul rejects this idea outright:
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
— 1 Corinthians 12:17 (ESV)
Galatians 3:28 emphasizes unity in Christ and shared inheritance, not the removal of God-given distinctions.
