3:11

This verse is the result of 3:10, that is, as a result of the new life believers have in Christ, differences between people are no longer important—only Christ is. 3:11 is similar to Galatians 3:27–28, 6:15, and Romans 10:12. If you have already translated these passages, you should compare them with this verse.

3:11a

Here: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Here does not literally mean “in the place where I am.” It means, “in this new life God has given to you.”

there is no Greek or Jew: If the phrase there is no Greek or Jew is translated literally, people may misunderstand it to mean, “Greeks and Jews do not exist,” or “there are no Greek or Jewish believers.” This phrase is an idiom that means that differences between Jews and Greeks are not important, and it does not matter whether a person is a Jew or Greek.

Greek: Paul was probably using the word Greek to mean “Gentile,” that is, non-Jewish people. Good News Translation and New Living Translation (2004) translate it “Gentiles.”

circumcised or uncircumcised: This phrase is parallel to the phrase “Greek or Jew.” Jews were circumcised and this marked them as God’s special people. Greeks/Gentiles were not circumcised.

If your language does not use a lot of parallel phrases, you could combine these two phrases and say:

It does not matter if you are a Jew, circumcised ⌊according to the law of Moses⌋, or an uncircumcised Gentile…

3:11b

barbarian: The Greeks called any person who was not Greek a barbarian. It means “foreigner” and implies someone who was uncultured.

Scythian: The Scythians were a fierce, savage people who invaded other peoples’ countries and killed the occupants and caused other sorts of damage. People were afraid of them and considered them one of the worst kinds of “barbarians.” You can translate this using a term in your language that refers to people who are primitive or uncivilized.

slave: A slave was a servant who had been bought by someone and therefore belonged to this person. He had no freedom to do what he wanted to do or to go where he wanted to go. He had no possessions of his own and was completely dependent on his owners for everything.

free: This is the opposite of a “slave.” The word free can be translated as “free person,” or “person who is not a slave.”

3:11c

but Christ is all: This contrasts with 3:11a–b. Paul was saying that all these differences between people did not matter—the only thing that was important was Christ. He is the most important thing in the universe, he is supreme over all things and over all people.

3:11d

and is in all: Most scholars believe that this means that Christ “lives in all believers.” The Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, and New Living Translation (2004) make this explicit in their translation.

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