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According to Roman Catholic historian Garry Wills, in Galatians 3:26 - 28 Paul is quoting a baptismal formula that he learned in the diaspora churches. So egalitarianism was already being practiced in the earliest Christian gatherings when Paul joined. Or, t seems to me, at least it was the ideal they sought, as opposed to general norm of male superiority that predominated in first century Mediterranean culture.

Wills notes that the "hymn" does not keep perfect symmetry by saying "man or woman" since it is a quotation from Genesis "man and woman he created them" (1:27). "There is no more man and woman as originally divided since they are now united in Messiah."

Wills believes that the early gatherings of the churches were the most egalitarian groups of their day and that there has been a concerted effort over the centuries to hide or diminish this fact. This is in the chapter entitled "Paul and Women" in Wills' book What Paul Meant published in 2006.