In Colossians 3, Paul talks about the unity of believers in Christ. Verse 11 says, "Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all, and in all."
This verse is so familiar, I'm afraid we read over it without understanding all the words. Two questions--
1. Who were the Barbarians and Scythians? I'll give you one clue. They are not opposites. Notice the words are separated only by a comma and the word "nor" is not used as in the other pairs of words.
2. In Paul's day, where did the Barbarians and Scythians live? Since the words are capitalized, they are not general terms but refer to people of a particular region.
Post your answers to these questions. I'd like to see if you come to the same conclusion I have.
2 comments:
This is my view:
The barbarians were people generally North of the Roman Empire who were uneducated and uncultured. These people included our European ancestors in Germany and Switzerland. The Scythians were a particular group of people from what is now the Ukraine and Southern Russia. They were also likely considered to be barbarians by those who were part of the Roman Empire.
Those are my thoughts. Enlighten me!
- Merle
Right! To describe them in one word, the Barbarians were "uncivilized" (I guess that puts us Germans in our place) and the Scythians were "savages."
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