top of page
Writer's pictureBible Brian

Scripture vs. Racism


As tragic as it is, racism still exists in the world today. Even more tragically, it has entered the Church in various forms. All sorts of people, congregations, even whole denominations, hold racist beliefs. But as many racists as there are who claim to be Christian, it's clear from scripture that racism is 100% incompatible with Christianity. Racism is a sin, and like all sin, it must be repented of.


There are several ways in which the Bible opposes racism, the first of which being that "race" itself is an alien concept to God. To be sure, God did create various races. Angels are not humans are not dogs are not cats are not mice are not butterflies. Each earthly creature was designed with intent that it reproduce according to its kind (Genesis 1:11, 21, 24). Organisms which are different kinds cannot hybridise. You cannot, for example, expect a giraffe and a fox to make a girrox. Zoos can make ligers because lions and tigers are the same kind, but they cannot make zebrons because zebras and lions are not. A farm can produce a mule because horses and donkeys are the same kind, but a shorse will never exist because sheep and horses are not the same kind.


And yet, every creature on this earth that can ever be considered a man can interbreed. A black man can breed with a white woman. A white man can breed with a Chinese woman. A Chinese man can breed with an Indian woman. There are zero "races" that cannot interbreed. This is because Adam, the first man, is our "father", and Eve, his wife, is the mother of all the living (Genesis 3:20). Acts 17:26 further confirms that all nations (the Biblical equivalent of "race") were made from one blood/man (depending on the translation).


This ties into the second way in which the Bible opposes racism. Just as we are all descended from Adam, so also do we all die in Adam. This thought is a little less uplifting. Rather than lifting all races to one level, it lowers all races to another. Yes, mankind is higher than all the animals in dignity, but with that comes a greater accountability. The result is that unlike animals, who have no concept of true morality, we are capable of understanding good and evil, and unfortunately we often choose the latter.


Notice that there is no partiality here. Not once does God single out one race and say "you are worth less than another, therefore you are more accountable". In fact, true to form, the only nation God ever seems to hold more accountable is Israel, the very nation to whom He entrusted His word! Surely if God was ever going to elevate one race to "superior" status, it would be the Jews! And yet, His statements to them were very harsh. Deuteronomy 7:7: "The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;" Deuteronomy 9:6: "Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people." These people, to whom God revealed Himself more thoroughly than to any other nation up until the time Jesus sent out His apostles, were never chosen as a superior race. How much less we gentiles? (If you're a Jew, just reverse that logic).


But the greatest way in which the Bible opposes racism is that it does not even falter in its treatment of humanity with regard to salvation. All human beings are related by our common ancestors: Adam and Eve. All human beings, like Adam and Eve, are stained with sin. But none of us, not even one, are any less loved by God, nor are we excluded from salvation. In fact, in saving us, God makes the only thing like a racial distinction in the entire Bible: Believers are a new nation (1 Peter 2:9) in which He fails to distinguish between Jew, Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, male or female (Galatians 3:26-28; Colossians 3:9-11). God just does not care who you are, or where you came from, we are told to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). And that is a goal in which we shall certainly succeed, because Revelation 7:9-10 tells us joyfully that a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues will all stand before the throne of Christ, clothed in white, waving palm branches and gleefully shouting "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"


This, ladies and gentlemen, is not a God who says that black people are more closely related to our ape like ancestors. This is not a God who says that no Edomite shall enter Heaven. This is not a God who says all white people are guilty for the crimes of 17th - 19th century slave traders. My brethren, we serve a perfect God who looks upon Adam's helpless race and declares "I love these so much that my own Son's life is a price I am willing to pay that they may be redeemed, forgiven of their sins and raised to life, so that they will worship me exactly as I built them for!"


Racism has no place in the Church. It is a despicable doctrine. A detestable thought crime. An abomination to God. It is even an affront to the Gospel, an offence so grievous that I dare say that if someone is racist, they probably aren't even saved, for how can one be saved by a Gospel they don't even understand? The Bible says that he who hates is a murderer, lacking eternal life (1 John 3:15), and that he who does not know love does not know God, for God is love (1 John 4:8). So how can you hate those of a different race without losing your eternal life? How can you claim to know God, a prerequisite for saving faith, if you do not love those of a different "race"? A true racist can never be Christian, and a true Christian can never be racist.


I strongly expect that there are zero racists who follow this ministry, but on the off chance that this article reaches one, I have a request that is more for your benefit than anyone else: Repent, and give glory to the God of all nations. Abandon your bigotry, get saved.

14 views
bottom of page