In the public conversation about racial reconciliation, we find a wide array of proposed solutions for the disparities between blacks and whites, as well as among other ethnic groups, that continue to inflict pain and suffering across our communities.
Most recently, Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality have risen to the top of the list as ways to understand the causes and to offer remedies for racism in America. Even among Christians who see the merits of the historical motivations of CRT, many view its most recent iterations with a healthy skepticism. Others suggest that these theories are not the Gospel but can serve as an archeologist’s trowel and brush that uncover the true and sobering realities of bigotry embedded in our social structures. And still others, motivated by a more radical secularism, attempt to revise history, push the historic influence of Christianity out of the public square, and use the issue of racism for promised social capital or political gain.
Whatever we think about these theories, racism persists in many corners of our communities. After all the marches, all the signed declarations, and all the legislation (most of which have been very helpful), we still live among a people who show favoritism, in communities where those who hold power often build systems that allow them to keep power, and with neighbors who treat people who are not like them with suspicion, and sometimes with outright violence.
Finding Common Ground
Interestingly, I meet people from every walk of life who grieve over the ongoing reality and harmful effects of the sin of racism. If we can get past the media’s affinity for selling anger and the political elites’ attempts to highjack the issue, there’s a lot of common ground on the actual problem of racism.
What I’ve noticed, however, is that we can’t seem to get past the media’s affinity for selling anger and the political elites’ attempts to highjack the issue.
Many people view racism as a political or social issue. And in many ways, it is. But Christians have allowed secular voices to frame the discussion so that our only engagement on the subject is in response to a non-bibliocentric framework. As a result, our public and private conversations begin on a political platform, which is well too far downstream to make any meaningful impact.
So let’s go back upstream.
Racism is, at the root, sinful. Denying fellow image bearers mutual respect and dignity, judging people because of the color of their skin, withholding love from people who do not look, live, or share a common lineage with us is sin, and certainly enslaving and oppressing fellow human beings are immoral acts. Racism in any form is an offense against a holy God and worthy of eternal punishment.
Sin Divides
One of the first things sin did when it entered the world was to divide. Sin divided Adam and Eve from God. Sin divided Adam and Eve from one another. And sin soon divided Cain and Abel. The divisions among us are never by divine design. They are always demonic.
Racism in any form is an offense against a holy God and worthy of eternal punishment.
Racism, however, is not the only kind of division expressed by fallen humanity. Tribal divisions, cast divisions, and social divisions are just as insidious among people groups around the world. Historically, people who hold power, regardless of their color, tend to do whatever they can to keep it. Left in our sin, we discriminate against people, we view them as inferior, and we build barriers to protect us against their kind.
The horrors of chattel slavery, Jim Crow era segregation, along with the inhuman treatment of Native Americans illustrated along the Trail of Tears, and the atrocities of the Holocaust all serve as a reminder that sinfulness and its profound destruction are not limited to only one segment of humanity.
Struggles Among First Century Christians
The New Testament tells the story of first century Jews, who promoted practices designed to keep Gentiles at a distance. Heroes of our faith, like Peter, were reluctant to view Gentiles as worthy of God’s love. But in his mercy, God did not leave Peter and his contemporaries in their sin of favoritism.
Much of first century Christianity, actually, was the working out of a cross-cultural, multi-ethnic Gospel missionary enterprise that God had put into motion through his servant Abraham generations earlier.
Here’s one of the apostle Paul’s tutoring sessions on the matter:
Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you. Galatians 3:8
Those of Abraham’s seed—the Jews—were not favored by God in an exclusive, God loves them and no one else sense. Instead, they were chosen by God to bear witness that the Gospel—the redeeming and reconciling work of God in Christ Jesus—was for all people—every nation, tribe, and tongue. Hallelujah!
That’s why Paul went on to write:
For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. 28 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:27-29
In Christ, Jews do not stop being Jews and women to do not stop being women, nor do we lose our ethnic identity, but we are grafted into a new family. We are united in Christ. In an ontological way, in the substance of our being, we, even Gentiles, become Abraham’s seed.
Being reconciled with God through Christ means we are reconciled with everyone else who is reconciled to God through Christ. The dividing wall that previously existed between unbelievers is removed for everyone who trusts Jesus as Lord! Hallelujah!
What does our union with Christ mean for our Christian witness in a culture of division?
1. We pursue the unity with one another that Christ purchased for us.
Jesus prayed for our unity and then his death on the cross made it possible. So as his resurrected life is pressed out through ours, we love one another, and we reject specious efforts to divide us. And as a spiritual discipline, we pursue unity with other believers.
This kind of love is no casual or squishy thing. It requires effort to build relationships, overlook offenses, and forgive freely. Following Jesus’ lead, the apostle Paul told the squabbling Corinthians that nothing is greater than love.
2. We model repentance wherever favoritism persists.
It seems the goal of Paul’s exhortation to Peter described in Galatians 2 was that Peter’s behavior would become a compelling Gospel witness to believers and unbelievers, Jews and Gentiles, that no one is justified by the law, but by faith in Christ alone. Peter’s usefulness in the kingdom required his repentance.
Likewise, our Gospel influence depends on the depth of our repentance. Jesus-people must be the lead-repenters in the culture. We humbly invite the Spirit of God to examine and refine our attitudes and actions, so that we can live out our identity in Christ and serve as “ministers of reconciliation” among our neighbors and the nations.
That means we listen and learn from others. We seek to understand. We show genuine interest and empathy. We pray for one another and bear one another’s burdens. And as ambassadors of Christ, we invite other people to follow Jesus with us trusting him to transform hearts and minds.
3. We act justly wherever injustice conceals the reign of Jesus.
Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
Jesus reigns as eternal King, but his kingdom is not yet fully realized on earth as it is in heaven. But just because our acts of justice on this side of eternity are incomplete in their result, they are not inconsequential. Those living under the weight of injustice, including racism, need help today. They need the power, influence, and voice of those who possess power, influence, and a voice. They need neighbors who will pay attention, get involved, and help make wrongs right. And they need hope for a better future that is found only in Jesus.
One Last Word
Reconciliation is more than a race issue, but it’s certainly not less. Jesus’ work of redemption reconciles us to God and to one another, and then endows us with power and responsibility to apply his healing mercies on the deepest wounds of our society.
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Original Photo taken by Daryl Crouch at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC, 2018.