Colossians 3:11

Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.

All the distinctions stressed by such divisions as these are transcended; and, as Ellis put it, "At the foot of the cross, the ground is level ... not a uniformity of status in the present world order, but a change in attitude by which the stigma of being different is loved away."[31]

See Galatians 3:28 for another exhortation similar to this one, the principal difference here being the inclusion of "Scythian," which inclusion, according to Barry, was "clearly intended to rebuke that pride of intellect, contemptuous of the unlearned, which lay at the root of Gnosticism."[32] The word "Scythian" hardly means anything at all to modern readers; but as Hendriksen pointed out:

In the seventh century before Christ, these Scythians, savage and warlike nomads from the northern steppes, had deluged the countries of the Fertile Crescent, including Palestine, and, having subsequently been repulsed, had left a memory of dread and horror.[33]

Summarizing the barriers that were removed in Christ, they were (and are): barriers that come of birth and nationality, those derived from the ceremonial and rituals observed, the barriers of race, training, experience, social status, or anything else that tends to divide people and lead some to look down upon others as inferior to themselves.

Christ is all and in all ... Here again the absolute supremacy of Christ is affirmed and extolled. Note that Christ is "in" all Christians. See my comment on this under Colossians 1:27.

[31] E. Earle Ellis, op. cit., p. 797.

[32] Alfred Barry, op. cit., p. 113.

[33] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 153.