What Does The Bible Say About Racism?
Bible On Racism? The primary thing to understand in this conversation or discussion is that there is only one race or caste – the human race. White people, Africans, Asians, Indians, Arabs, and Jews, are not different races or ethnicities. Rather, they are different sub-species of the human race. All human beings have the same physical characteristics (no doubt with slight differences). Most importantly, all human beings are created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26–27). God so loved the world that he sent his Son to lay down his life (John 3:16). This “world” explicitly encompasses all ethnic groups.
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God shows no partiality or inclination to anyone (Deuteronomy 10:17; Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9), nor should we need to. James 2:4 describes those biased as “judgments with evil thoughts.” Instead, we should love our neighbors (James 2:8). God divided man into two “ethnic” groups in the Old Testament: Jews and Gentiles. God’s intention for the Jews was a kingdom of priests that would serve the Gentile nations. Instead, the Jews were proud of their pride and despised the Gentiles for the most part. Jesus Christ came and put an end to it, destroying the dividing wall of enmity (Ephesians 2:14). All forms of racism, prejudice, and partiality are insults to Christ’s work on the cross.
Jesus commands us to love one another as He has done for us (John 13:34). If God is unbiased and loves us unbiased, then we should also love each other on the same level. Jesus teaches us in Matthew 25 that if we do even a little good to our brothers, we do to them. If we treat a person with disrespect, we are treating a person who is created in the image of God unfairly; We are hurting someone whom God loves and for whom Jesus died.
Racism, in various forms, at various levels, has been a pestilence to man for thousands of years. Brothers and sisters of all castes, this should not happen. Victims of racism, prejudice, and favoritism need forgiveness. Ephesians 4:32 declares, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, and forgive one another as God forgave you in Christ.”
The racist may not deserve forgiveness, but we are by no means deserving of God’s forgiveness. Those who practice racism, prejudice, and favoritism need repentance. “Consent yourselves to God as having been raised from the dead, and entrust your organs to God to be weapons of righteousness (Romans 6:13). Pray that Galatians 3:28 becomes fully real,” now There was no Jew or Greek, no slave, no free, no man or woman, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.“
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How Do You Respond To Racism? With Example
In America, a white police officer brutally murdered a black George Floyd in handcuffs. After that, there were worldwide demonstrations against racism. The question is, why does racism still persist? If seen, the slavery of blacks ended in America only in 1863. From 1452, the slavery of blacks was not only moralized but also glorified by referring to the Bible. So even after slavery was abolished, legal segregation remained for another century.
This also ended after the protests, but America supported the apartheid government in South Africa for another forty years. The apartheid government collapsed. After that, pre-white universities in South Africa were forced to admit black students. But even two decades later, only five percent of blacks were successful in some sort of higher education.
How Should We Respond To This Situation According To Scripture?
In Galatians 3:28, Paul shows us one of the ways the true gospel impacts human relationships. It says this in Galatians chapter 3, verses 28 there is no Jew or Greek slave or free male and female since you are all one in Christ Jesus see at the foot of the cross we are all equal.
All that matters is that every single one of us is broken sinners before a holy God in desperate need of grace and salvation, and that’s exactly what Jesus offers every single one of us.
I want to point out three categories that Paul references in this verse. He mentions Jews and Greeks, slaves and free and males and females, and he’s saying that there’s no Jew or Greek, there’s no slave or free, there’s no male and female. Now what Paul is not doing is saying that there are literally no differences between these two groups of people.
Of course, we know that there are real differences between men and women. Even for you who may be watching and me, there are real differences between you and me. I have red hair. Maybe your hair is a dif color. I have blue eyes. Your hair might be a different color. I have white skin. Your skin might be a different color.
In this verse, Paul is referencing three categories in his culture where one group of people were seen as inferior to the other. Jew saw themselves as better than Greeks. Free people were seen to be better than slaves. Men were seen to be better than women.
When Paul records these three categories, he says that there’s no longer Jew or Greek slave or free male or female but that we’re all one in Christ. What’s he really saying? anyway, thinking that it causes one to see another group of people as inferior to another is inconsistent with Christianity and incompatible with the gospel.
The principle we see in this passage is simple. The gospel destroys the pride that divides racism and is a modern-day example of the categories that Paul references in his letter. And just like these examples, racism is inconsistent with Christianity and incompatible with the gospel.
The gospel puts an end to this way of thinking. So what do we do? We have to start by getting honest with ourselves and God by seeing if there are any racial prejudices in our own hearts. As we seek God humbly and honestly, if there is any form of racial prejudice in our hearts, we ought to repent, that is, change our minds and direction.
So that we can see people of color the way God sees them as image-bearers of God made with value and purpose worthy of being honored and celebrated.
So as we follow Jesus, Christians should unapologetically condemn racism as an evil idea from the pit of hell, and we ought to hold each other accountable to make sure there is no room for racism and the way we think, speak and act.
