--- title: The First Christian Creed: Solidarity Across Race and Gender description: The very first Christian creed aimed not to divide, but to create ties of solidarity precisely across ethnic, class and gender lines canonical: https://time.com/5410308/early-christian-solidarity/ author: Stephen Patterson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-01T15:00:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:42:11.625Z article:section: History og:title: The First Christian Creed: Solidarity Across Race and Gender og:description: The very first Christian creed aimed not to divide, but to create ties of solidarity precisely across ethnic, class and gender lines og:url: https://time.com/5410308/early-christian-solidarity/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49178c629575ccc1/69893b76929fad6f4abf1b2f/paul.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: 'Saint Paul Preaching at Ephesus', 1649. Artist: Eustache Le Sueur og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The First Christian Creed: Solidarity Across Race and Gender twitter:description: The very first Christian creed aimed not to divide, but to create ties of solidarity precisely across ethnic, class and gender lines twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49178c629575ccc1/69893b76929fad6f4abf1b2f/paul.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Early Christians Were Focused on Solidarity Across Race, Class and Gender. Then Things Changed > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: The Museum of the Bible Opens in Washington D.C. [Watch (HLS stream): The Museum of the Bible Opens in Washington D.C.](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KFxA2ZBM.m3u8) (2:11)  _Published 2017-11-17. TIME spoke with Steve Green, the Museum of the Bible's Chairman, on the purpose of the museum and the role of the Bible in U.S. politics._ by [Stephen Patterson](https://time.com/author/stephen-j-patterson/) ## Stephen Patterson Oct 1, 2018 3:00 PM UTC  'Saint Paul Preaching at Ephesus' by Eustache Le Sueur, 1649\. Located in the collection at the Louvre, Paris. 'Saint Paul Preaching at Ephesus' by Eustache Le Sueur, 1649\. Located in the collection at the Louvre, Paris. Print Collector/Getty Images by [Stephen Patterson](https://time.com/author/stephen-j-patterson/) ## Stephen Patterson Oct 1, 2018 3:00 PM UTC Jesus is remembered once to have said, “Who made me a divider? I’m not a divider, am I?” That line, found in the Gospel of Thomas, may strike an ironic note today: nothing, it seems, divides us more than Jesus — believer from non-believer; evangelical from liberal; Christian from Jew or Muslim. Religion divides us along ethnic lines and by class, and it imposes distinctions in male and female gender roles not tolerated anywhere else in society. So it may seem a stretch to think that the very first Christian creed aimed not to divide, but to create ties of solidarity precisely across ethnic, class and gender lines. In fact, the early Christians made solidarity the very focus of the new communities they created. Their experiments with unity soon fell apart, but their attempts — and how they went wrong — are nevertheless worth remembering today. The first Christian creed said nothing about the nature of God or Jesus Christ or salvation. It spoke of “the children of God,” and urged a spirit of “oneness” that could unite Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female. Many today will find that idea incredible. But scholars of the New Testament have known of this early creed embedded in one of Paul’s letters for more than a century. You can find it today still there in Galatians 3:26-28\. Unearthing it from this context and restoring its original lines requires some exegetical spadework, and scholars will quibble on its precise wording, but none doubt its existence or its age. When the first followers of Jesus were baptized, this (more or less) is what they heard: --- > “” --- This creed was a riff on an ancient cliché, attributed by some to Socrates, others to Thales, that went something like this: “I thank the Fates every day that I was born a Greek, not a barbarian, free, not a slave, and a man, not a woman.” That was how ancient free men defined themselves and their privilege: by their ethnicity (Greek, Roman, etc.), their class (free), and their gender (male). Race, class and gender have been used by every people in every time and place to draw a line between _us_ and _them_, to the advantage of us, of course. But these early Jesus followers decided to assume a different posture: there would be no us, no them. Ethnicity, class, gender — these things would no longer count for anything. They simply would not exist. “For you are all one,” they said. Not “you are all the same.” Sameness wasn’t the point. The point was “oneness” — _solidarity_ that transcended race, class or gender. But did anyone ever believe it, live it? For a time, yes — but not forever. Take “no Jew or Greek,” for example. The Apostle Paul devoted his life to this proposition. His most distinctive idea, “justification by faith,” was originally a strategy for including non-Jews in his (mostly Jewish) Christian communities. Faith, or “trust,” would be key, he argued, not observance of the Jewish Law. But Paul succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, and solidarity quickly fell by the wayside. Soon, non-Jews would outnumber and crowd out Jews until, finally, there were no Jews left in the community. “No Jew or Greek,” at last, became simply “no Jews”; sameness had redefined oneness. What about “no slave or free?” The ancient world was built on the fact of slavery. Challenging it would have signaled sedition. Still, some dared to. In the early second century, Ignatius of Antioch wrote to Polycarp of Smyrna, advising that “slaves should not long to be free by means of the common fund.” In Smyrna at least, some were using church funds to buy the freedom of slaves. But most early Christians rejected this idea. The final biblical word on it came not from Paul, but an imitator of Paul who wrote in the early second century, “Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their masters as worthy of honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be defamed” (1 Timothy 6:1). That word [stood fast](http://time.com/5171819/christianity-slavery-book-excerpt/) until the 19th century, when Christian abolitionists, first in Europe, and later in America, first began to question the Bible’s endorsement of slavery. And “no male and female?” Scholars today believe that women in fact did play a role equal to that of men in the birth of Christianity, as even a simple reading of the Acts of the Apostles reveals. In Acts, each of Paul’s original churches is founded by a woman, or a woman and a man working together. But the Roman Empire was strongly patriarchal. By the second century most churches were mirroring the patriarchal culture around them. The same forger of Paul who put slaves in their place did the same for women, writing, “Let a woman learn in silence and all submissiveness. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men” (also 1 Timothy—2:11-12). That word still stands today in most churches. So the first Christian creed was forgotten and its vision of solidarity across lines of race, class, and gender fell victim to banal human divisiveness. “Who made me a divider?” Human nature. And yet, that original remarkable creed is still there, peering out from the pages of Paul’s letter. Perhaps someone might yet take it, and its vision, seriously.  Oxford University Press Oxford University Press _Stephen J. Patterson is the Atkinson Professor of Religious Studies at Willamette University and the author of_ [The Forgotten Creed: Christianity’s Original Struggle Against Bigotry, Slavery, and Sexism](https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/the-forgotten-creed-9780190865825?cc=us&lang=en&) _(Oxford University Press, 2018)._ ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] My family has been blessed by the Bible in multiple ways. This is the hub of museums in our nation. It just made sense that we would put it right here in Washington DC. [ MUSIC ] What role Should the Bible pay in American politics? Yeah, and that's a discussion, what the Bible's role should be in politics, from day one. There is a separate role for the church and the state. That one should not be involved Completely in the other, but our nation is built on a worldview. Now, you're gonna have to pick a worldview to build a nation on. Our founders built that, on concepts they found in the Bible, and it has worked out real well. The idea hat all men are created equal, as an example, has two biblical concepts right there, the idea that we're created, is a biblical concept. That idea that we're created equal, our founders got that from the Bible. We want to invite all people to engage with the Bible. That includes Congress. We think Congress ought to know the foundation of the nation that they're running today. The museum's board is made up of mostly evangelical white men. And it's funded in large part by you. So what do you make of some critics who say, isn't the museum just evangelical propaganda? Yeah, I think of a movie reviewer that reviews a movie they haven't even seen yet. I think the early criticism you have to take with a grain of salt. Let's wait til we're open. Let people come take a look to see what we've done. Our goal is to present this book, not from particular perspective, faith tradition. It's about a book. I want an Atheist to feel comfortable when they come in and feel like that they're just learning about a book. We're not pushing an agenda. It's not about espousing our faith. We just want to educate people, and if you want to believe that it's fairy tales, that fine, but just be knowledgeable about what you believe. [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5410308/early-christian-solidarity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5410308/early-christian-solidarity/"},"headline":"The Early Christians Were Focused on Solidarity Across Race, Class and Gender. 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