by David Zahl
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:28

Identity is simply anything we use to justify our existence. And it’s a matter, therefore, of both distinction and indistinction—meaning, we want to stand out in our identity, but we want to stand out in order to blend in. So we have this conflict going on within us—something you see playing out constantly on social media—in which we want to be seen as uniquely us but to be accepted by others and brought in closer to be a part of the crowd.
Now, the same generation that invented the big, dysfunctional parade of social media is the one that grew up under the pop-cultural therapists like Oprah Winfrey, in a culture of extreme validation. This generation didn’t just graduate from high school to college, but from kindergarten to first grade. It reminds me of that scene in The Incredibles, where the father doesn’t feel like going to his son’s fourth-grade graduation, complaining, “He’s just going into the fifth grade. It’s not a graduation.”
We think we have to stand out to blend in. But now the corollary has sunk into our DNA, deepening the conflict in us by reminding us that “when everybody is special, no one is.” We are longing for connection, but we are also afraid of intimacy. The beauty of Facebook, and the source of its power, is that it enables us to be social while sparing us the inconvenience of actually showing up and the embarrassment of really being known. In this sense you might say social media is a vehicle of control. And what does the doctrine of original sin say about us if not that we are people who are addicted to control? We especially want to control what others think of us. We want to manage our images, our identities. We want to be our own PR directors.
Now think about Galatians 3:28. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female.” That is a deconstruction of identity, if there ever was one.
But what’s this got to do with grace? Well, our attempts at managing our identity are really about justification. Self-justification is at the core of our very souls. So it’s no coincidence that the gospel of grace addresses this head-on and establishes the Christian’s identity outside of him- or herself and inside of Jesus Christ.

Thought to Remember for Today

We tend to believe our achievements are not something we do but who we are. So when achievement is taken away or simply gets threatened, we go bananas. This is one of the reasons we all need the beautiful, saving word that we are justified by faith in Christ.

Fitzpatrick, E. (2016). Grace untamed: a 60-day devotional. Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook.