Bible Strands
Colossians 3:11
Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Colossian church, pivoting from the "new self" of verse 10 to the virtues of verse 12, with this verse as the hinge: identity precedes conduct.
The words — ἔνι (eni), a rare locative form of εἰμί, gives the negation "where there is not" its force; the social categories are not merely downplayed but absent from the location Paul names. The second half, Χριστὸς τὰ πάντα (Christos ta panta, "Christ all things"), states the reason for that absence.
The thread — Galatians 3:28, 1 Corinthians 12:13, and Romans 10:12 repeat the same move: Jew/Greek and slave/free pairs are dissolved by union with Christ or the Spirit. Colossians 3:11 is the only one of the four that adds "barbarian, Scythian," extending the list to the ethnically peripheral.
Why it lands — The verse does not ask the reader to feel inclusive; it asserts that the categories by which the ancient world ranked a person have no standing in the place where Christ is all and in all, and the virtues of verse 12 follow as the expected behavior of someone who has stopped sorting people that way.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Cross-references
- Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
- 1 Corinthians 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.
- Romans 10:12 For there is no difference between Jew and Greek: The same Lord is Lord of all, and gives richly to all who call on Him,
- Ephesians 3:6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.
- Ephesians 1:23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
- Romans 9:24 including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles?
- Romans 3:29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,
- Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. What matters is faith expressing itself through love.
- Matthew 12:18 “Here is My Servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations.
- John 17:23 I in them and You in Me—that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me.