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I’ve been seeing a lot of folks, especially on the right, saying that we should stop talking about race, that if we did stop talking about it, racism would simply go away. But is that true? Would we be better off if we stopped talking about race? Moreover, is that what the Bible encourages us to do?
Well, it is true that the biblical message is one of Jews and gentiles coming together to make “one new man” without regard to ethnicity.
But was that done by merely ignoring the differences and conflict that emerged from their different subcultures?
Let’s look at how ethnic conflicts between Jews and gentiles were addressed in the early church. In one sense, Jews were a privileged class since they were more closely connected with the faith and were the earliest leaders in the church. But in another sense, they had been colonized by the Roman pagans, some of whom were now seeking to join the movement. These distinctions in status created conflict between Jews and gentiles.
We see hints of these racialized conflicts very early on. In Acts chapter 6, we read that the Jews who had adopted more Greek cultural practices were complaining that their widows were being overlooked for food distribution by the more traditional Jews. Instead of saying, “well, lets just not talk about race,” the apostles appointed leaders to oversee the food project and make sure it was equitable. So here we find a principle–if there are inequities, we should address them.
This problem only gets worse once full-on, uncircumcised gentiles start converting to the faith. Circumcision had been practiced by the Jews for centuries. Since Christianity was a Jewish movement, these Jewish Christians felt that they had the prerogative to require that gentiles had to be circumcised before they could join in full fellowship with the Jewish believers.
But how did the apostles, those whom Jesus chose to lead his church, respond to this problem? According to Acts 15, they called a whole church council. After much deliberation, they declared that God does not discriminate but makes the Holy Spirit available to all without regard to race. However, since there were racial conflicts and discrepancies, they had to be addressed. They would not allow the Jews to require circumcision for gentiles, but they would ask that gentiles, out of respect for Jewish customs and sensitivities, not eat meat that had been sacrificed in pagan temples or in conjunction with other pagan customs. Here we find another principle–you’re all one people in Christ, but since cultural distinctions persist we must find ways to accommodate each other so that we can live together more peacefully.
Unfortunately many Jews persisted in requiring circumcision for gentiles. This angered the apostle Paul so much that he wrote to the church in Galatia that he wished those trying to force circumcision would go all the way and emasculate themselves!
So let’s remind ourselves of our principles–we should seek to live as one people where racial distinctions are unimportant, but where racial discrimination exists, we should address it and seek to end it. Where it creates conflict, both parties should seek to be sensitive to the other’s concerns so that the conflict won’t become greater.
In applying these principles today, we should be concerned with both facts and attitudes. Is it a fact that racial discrimination exists? If so, avoiding talking about it won’t fix the problem. The discrimination must be addressed. So a careful, unbiased assessment of the facts is important. But our attitude also matters. As white Christians, are we sensitive to the concerns and cultural distinctions of Christians of color, or do we, like some of the Jewish Christians, seek to force our cultural values and concerns onto them, making white Christianity the norm instead of just one unique expression of the faith, as we see in more conservative white strains of Christian practice?
As Christians of color, are we primarily concerned about creating a world where we are unified without regard to race, our are we seeking to make racial distinctions more prominent by strengthening racial separations and lumping people into good and bad broadly on the basis of race, as we find in the more progressive strains of black and woke thought?
Or are we looking to build what Martin Luther King, Jr. called the blessed community–where we are judged not by our ethnic identifiers but by the content of our character? Where, as Paul said, there is no Jew or gentile, for we are all one in Christ.
Music credit:
F E E F I F O by Failed Kingdoms. Available here: https://soundcloud.com/failedk