The subject of much controversy and misinterpretation amongst Christians, Galatians 3:28 comes from Saint Paul's letter to the early church in Galatia, an area inhabited primarily by the Celtic Galatians but also with a minor Jewish population. The focus in Paul's letter, and Chapter 3 in particular, is that Gentiles (Non-Jews) should be accepted into the Christian church and should not have to adhere to the requirements of the Mosaic law (Which required converts to be circumcised). The people who Paul addressed this letter to believed that in order for Gentiles to convert to Christianity, they must adhere to all the aspects of Jewish law, including circumcision. This is known as Judaizing, and is considered heretical in most major churches.

With this context in mind, it becomes immediately clear that Galatians 3:28 is part of Paul's condemnation against the heresy of the Judaizers. Paul states that their is neither Jew nor Greek, Slave nor free, male nor female, because all are one in Christ. What Paul is saying here, is not that race and sex don't exist, but instead that all human beings possess an inner soul, with all people's souls being equal regardless of race or sex. What this means is that, even though racial distinctions exist, all people of all races will be judged equally before God once they have died, therefore salvation (and by extension the church) is open to those of all races and of either sex.

Some however, have unfortunately misconstrued this verse to suggest that racial differences do not exist, and have used it to pressure Christians into rejecting the objective reality of race. Others have used it to argue that men and women are of equal standing, and some have even used this verse to advocate for Transgenderism, suggesting that the verse is evidence for Transgenderism to be biblically acceptable.

Perhaps the best response to these ideas, particularly in the aspect of race, comes from Saint Augustine's Commentary on Galatians:

As can be seen here, St Augustine affirms that as Christians we are united by our faith and thus our souls are equal in the eyes of God, however he dispels the notion that racial distinctions do not exist and points out that these distinctions are to be respected and treated as a "wholesome rule". It is clear then, that Paul is not denying the existence of racial distinctions, and as the Church Fathers have pointed out, despite our unity in faith, we are still distinct from each other racially in accordance with the races that God fashioned (Acts 17:26), clearly disproving attempts made to show that this verse illustrates the irrelevance of race.