A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE ON RACISM

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

A lot is being written and stated these days regarding the church’s
responsibility where the issue of racism is concerned. The torrent of
views coming from within and without conservative evangelical circles is
mind-boggling and at a minimum, disjointed and confusing. Somehow, the
church has been saddled with the responsibility to end racism and worse,
she has been indicted and convicted for being a contributor to the
problem. The objective of this article is to provide a biblical
perspective on the issue of racism without regard for the modern
attitudes that seem to be influencing most of what is said about the
subject.

And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have
all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do.
And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may
not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord dispersed them from
there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the
city. (Gen. 11:6-8)

By the time we get to the historical event at Babel, the human race
had fallen from divine fellowship with God through Adam. That fall sent
the race spiraling downward into extreme moral confusion until finally,
God looked down and saw that the hearts of men were given over to
wickedness continually. God called Noah and his family out from the
human race and then eradicated every evil doer from the planet by way of
the flood. However, it wasn’t long before the human race was again
rapidly declining toward a level of depravity that God would not abide.
And here, in Gen. 11, we
see the culmination of depravity and, yet another curse issued by God
upon the human race. As a result, the human race was divided into
various people groups and scattered across the earth, resulting in mass
confusion. So then, from this account we come to understand that the
existence of the various races that make up the humanity, is directly
attributable to another divine curse as a result of sin on the part of
humanity. The existences of the various races are the resulting tension
and confusion among them is the direct result of the curse of Babel.

Paul said in Romans 5, in Adam, we all die. We all experience the
curse of Adam’s covenant failure. The curse was universal. The flood was
also universal. God destroyed all but eight souls. After Babel, we are
all sentenced to the curse of racial confusion. The issue with racism is
seen in the way human beings classify themselves and then elevate their
race and themselves above others. The issue isn’t skin color. The issue
is self-promotion. The issue is the idolatry of the race of which we
happen to be a part. The issue is the age-old problem of the idolatry of
self. We are prone to worship ourselves and we are prone to worship our
race. In so doing, we necessarily relegate other races to a lower place
than our own. This practice of partiality is the heartbeat sin of
racism. It isn’t about being black, white, brown, or red. It is the
idolatrous exaltation of one race or type of human over another. It
extends far beyond skin color, cultural differences, or language. It
extends into social status as well. To be sure, Scripture has a lot to
say about the matter.

To begin with, Gal. 3:28
explicitly informs us that there is neither Jew nor Greek in Christ
Jesus, there is neither slave nor free, male nor female. The benefits of
the New Covenant are extended to all. While it is true that Paul did
not have racial equality in mind as he penned this text, it is just as
true that the text carries irresistible inferences regarding the issue
of race. God shows no partiality for men based on anything in man,
including his race, gender, or social status. Just as Babel shows us the
curse of God with the resulting confusion, Pentecost is a picture of
the reversal of that curse. Peter made this point abundantly clear in
Acts 2 when he pointed to Joel and thundered that God was now pouring
his Spirit out on all flesh without distinction. Man, or better,
humanity is created in the image of God. No one race was created in the
image of God. All of humanity, being descended from one couple, is the
image of God. As a result of this truth, all humans are people cut from
the same divine cloth: God’s image. Yet, we make off boundaries for each
other based on all sorts of criteria, race just being one of them. The
Christian must understand that it isn’t the criteria for discrimination
that is the problem, but the discrimination itself. Discrimination is
the showing of partiality and as the New Testament clearly teaches, such
partiality is worldly and ungodly on every level.

James, when dealing with the issue taking place with his audience says this, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:4)
The Greek word διακρίνω (diakrino) means to differentiate by
separating, to make a distinction, to evaluate by paying careful
attention, to render a judgment, to be at variance with someone, to be
uncertain. This word appears 19x in the NT. It was this word that Peter
used in Acts 15:9 when he rehearsed the Gentile conversion that took place back in Acts 10: and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. (Acts 15:9)
Peter’s point was that God made no distinction between the Jew and the
non-Jew when he poured out his grace upon both groups in the New
Covenant. James, who is writing not long after this event in Acts 15 commands his audience, My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. (James 2:1)
James’ audience lives in a culture where the rich are distinguished
from the poor in that they receive special or different treatment. The
attitudes toward the rich are different from what they are regarding the
poor. This worldly way of thinking and behaving has entered the
churches and threatens to contaminate the godly communities. James is
taking action to ensure that this leaven is purged from the churches.

The Greek word employed by James is προσωπολημψία (prosopolempsia).
It appears 6x in the NT when we take all its forms into consideration.
Paul uses it in Eph. 6:9 to inform slave owners that there is no partiality with God. He uses it in Col. 2:25
to say that there is no partiality in the divine judgment. Finally,
Paul also uses it to say that there is no partiality with God. The
entire idea of partiality is attached to unjust thinking. James informs
his audience in 2:9 emphatically that partiality is sinful behavior. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. While
James is dealing with the partiality displayed between the rich and the
poor, it seems equally true that any kind of partiality of this stripe
would be sinful and meet the same rebuke. All partiality is sin. There
is no partiality with God. Therefore, there should be no partiality in
us.

The practice of racism comes under the category of showing
partiality, which as I have pointed out, is a sin. We would say it like
this, racism is the symptom of a problem but not the problem itself.
Racism is rooted in the showing of partiality, which is itself rooted in
an idolatrous heart. You begin with idolatry, move to showing
partiality, which then manifests itself in a number of ways, racism
being one of them. The truth is that most people who condemn racism are
guilty of showing partiality in other ways. And if that is true, then we
have to talk about hypocrisy. I will leave that aside for the time
being.

I was told by one pastor over at SBC Voices
that I could not call a black man to repentance over his issue of
unforgiveness regarding racial discrimination because I am white. Such a
view is clearly showing partiality. And the Scriptures are clear that
God does not show partiality, that there is no partiality in God, and
that for Christians to display such partiality is sin. So, this man,
despite his political ideology and intense rhetoric, finds himself in
the position of displaying the very attitude he is supposedly
condemning: partiality. We must be better thinkers than this.

There is partiality in the church and that is far more obvious to all
of us than the narrower sin of racism. We do treat people differently.
Large contributors are given more say than small ones. Celebrity pastors
and preachers are given far more weight than their lesser known
counterparts. We, as Christians, are enthralled with the guys who are
“up there” in the lime light. We gather “in clique” with certain people
and not with others and we set boundaries, even if those boundaries are
subconscious. We break down our Sunday Schools by age, marital status,
and gender. While that may not be egregiously wrong, we should ask if it
is at all helpful or productive. I don’t think it is. I think it
contributes to a subcultural divide between us and them. See, there it
is. The “us and them.” My older group, but not that old, and the younger
groups. If we believe that diversity enriches understanding and
strengthens our bond as a community, it seems to me that we should
structure our most fundamental programs to reflect that philosophy. For
some reason, we don’t. I am not saying there should never be a men’s
class or a women’s class on particular subjects or as an opportunity to
gather as men and as women. But I think such opportunities should be
secondary rather than part of the fiber of our training programs.

There is no room for partiality within the community of Christ. James writes concerning such partiality, So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:17)
Partiality is worldliness. Partiality is sin. Genuine faith purges
worldliness and sin from our behavior, from our mindset. Faith, if it
does not purge the mindset of partiality from you, is dead. Racism is
partiality! Can you see where I am going with this?

For some people, the issue of racism is an opportunity to take what
does not belong to them in the name of reparations. For some, it is an
opportunity to ascend to positions not rightfully earned. For others, it
is an opportunity to manipulate others, from the civil authorities to
politicians, to the boss, small businesses, and even the church. For
some, the issue of racism is an opportunity to look righteous in front
of others through political posturing and extreme rhetoric. Still, for
others, it is an opportunity to appeal to black Christian communities to
join their organization and to increase numbers and dollars within that
organization. We are all sinners and we all have a tendency to use the
pet sins of our respective cultures in unhealthy and ungodly ways. We
use them to manipulate others. We use them to make ourselves feel good.
We use them to make ourselves look good. Make no mistake about it, many
pastors who are riding the current racism train at the moment are some
of the very same pastors who do very little to correct the plethora of
partialities going on in their respective denominations and many of
their own churches. This is not much different than watching thousands
of pastors refuse to discipline unbiblical divorce over the last several
decades, all of the sudden get worked up over gay marriage. They use
God’s design for marriage as an argument against gay marriage but never
brought it up to enforce biblical principles of marriage and divorce.
Sorry pastor, but if you permit unbiblical divorce in your church for
years without discipline, then you have lost your right to talk about
God’s design for marriage to anyone, including the gay movement. And for
you pastors who are beating the soap box of racism, I suggest you also
start working on the sin of partiality that very likely permeates your
own congregations, and perhaps, possibly, your own heart. Do you treat
people differently based on your own personal set of criteria? Search
your heart. Do some merit time from you while others do not? Do the
opinions of one person weigh heavier than the opinions of another based
on some sort of shallow criteria, like giving? Do you unwittingly
promote partiality in your church through programs, structure, or other
more subtle ways? Don’t point the finger at the racist until you can at
least be honest with yourself about ALL issues of partiality.

The guilt by association message in this discussion is not the sort
of approach I see in Jesus or any of his apostles. It is unjust judgment
to indict someone for the sin of another on the basis that they belong
to the same people group. All Germans cannot be indicted for the sins of
the Nazi party, or of Adolf Hitler. To say that all white people should
feel guilty for the sin of slavery is like saying that all black people
are guilty of whatever any other black person does within the black
community. Just as it is a sin to indict all rich people for greed on
the ground that many or even most rich people are greedy, it is also a
sin to indict all humans within a people group for racism on the ground
that many or even most in that people group are racist. Christians are
to render judgment, but that judgment must be just. God does not judge
me based on the sins of America or the sins of Germany or the sins of
Ireland or England (my ancestors got around apparently). God judges me
based on my behavior, not the behavior of those in my family, in my
community, in my church, or in my broad people group. If I am guilty, I
am guilty before God. If God has declared me innocent, I am innocent.

We are all sinners battling sin, first and foremost in our own
hearts, and in our own families, our own small groups, and our own
churches. It is far too easy to focus on issues like racism all the
while ignoring the obvious sins right in front of us. Are we more
concerned with what God sees in our hearts or with what others hear from
our platforms and pulpits? Is it our appearance before God that drives
our actions or our appearance before men?

[Contributed by Ed Dingess]