True Equality

by Henry Morris, Ph.D. *

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28).

One of the wonderful aspects of America's great Declaration of Independence is its repeated recognition of God as our Creator, beginning with its thrilling assertion that "all men are created equal" and that this fact is "self-evident."

However, it is not self-evident that men are all born equal. Even in colonial America, there were those who were bondmen (that is, slaves), and these were not equal politically with their owners. Furthermore, some men were wealthy landowners, some were poor clerks. And women were hardly equal to men in terms of suffrage or wages or various other ways.

As a matter-of-fact nowhere in the world has there ever been a society in which all people were true equals in physical beauty, in mental or physical strength, or in many other ways. In truth, such a society would hardly even be desirable if it could ever be produced.

How is it, then, that we are created equal? The only possible answer is that we are equal in God's sight. He is, indeed, the One who has created us and we are all equally responsible to Him.

Yet, "all have sinned;" and "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 5:12; 3:10). Consequently, all people were lost sinners, unfit to enter God's perfect kingdom. But "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8), and He is "the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world." (1 John 2:2).

When we believe on Christ as our Savior, we each are created equal in Him "according to the image of Him who created him" (Colossians 3:10)—whether Jew or Gentile, slave or free, man or woman,—"For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:26).

* Dr. Henry M. Morris (1918-2006) was Founder of the Institute for Creation Research.