The Good News! (The Bible’s Answer for Racism, Part 6)
By Ben Quine
The world is a messed-up place. There is pain, separation, brokenness, and death. Our fallen nature causes people to divide each other into groups defined by physical characteristics, and to treat each other horribly based on those groups. People lie, cheat, steal, and murder.
God calls this wickedness sin, and in the previous articles we have seen that, according to the Bible, the sin of racism is the unequal treatment of people because of their skin color, or the devaluing of someone or some group because of physical characteristics. God is very careful to instruct His people not to favor the poor or the rich, the powerful or the powerless, and He wants equal justice to be shown to all without favoritism (Leviticus 19:15). Biblical justice requires everyone to be treated equally under the law. Racism is inherently unjust because it insists on giving some people special treatment while intentionally holding back or punishing others, (e.g. Jim Crow Laws, Modern Social Justice, Critical Race Theory, and “Anti-Racism”).
Our holy and just God requires full payment for sin, and the bad news is that our debt - physical & spiritual death - (Romans 6:23) is far more than we could ever pay (Matthew 18:23-35).
But that is not the end of the story! Remarkably, even though the whole of humanity rebelliously disobeyed Him in sin, God still loves us! He is our shepherd, and He delights in having fellowship with us (Psalm 100:3). So in love, God created a way to rescue us when we were hopelessly lost:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
This is incredible! God loves the people He created, so He sent His perfectly sinless son to rescue us…
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit (1 Peter 3:18)
Jesus Christ the righteous One died for us, the unrighteous, to bring us back to God! This is the greatest news in history. So if you have never done so, I implore you right now to to repent of your sins, to believe on the Lord Jesus as your rescuer (“Savior, Messiah/Christ”), and you will be reconciled to God. This is the first step in erasing the brokenness and division caused by sin.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (II Corinthians 5:17)
Now, as believers in Jesus, we are children of God – new creations who are capable of living a new quality of life by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ didn’t save us just to get us into heaven. He saved us to restore our relationship with Him, so that we could be the salt and light of the earth here. If you are a Christian, God Himself (the Holy Spirit) has come to live in you to direct you, transform you, and empower you from within to live in a way that is pleasing to Him.
In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13)
Offer your life in submission to Him every day, ask Him to fill you, direct you, and create His fruit in you. As humans we still have a DNA of sin that cannot be fully escaped in this physical world. But as we allow the Holy Spirit to transform our lives from the inside-out, killing the sinful urges of the flesh, we will become more and more like Christ. And His incredible fruit, which we cannot produce by our own effort, will begin to fill our lives:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:22-24)
What will this fruit produce? Unity!
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:11)
By God’s reckoning, in Christ all believers are new creations, we are all equal, and by the power of the Holy Spirit we can experience unity and reconciliation! Paul shows how Jesus tore down the greatest social divides of his day (Greek/Jew, circumcised/uncircumcised, civilized/barbarian/Scythian, slave/free).
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 7:9-12)
What a beautiful picture of Heaven! Though here on Earth there is sin and separation, one day in God’s presence we will stand together without any favoritism or injustice. Imagine the incredible diversity among His children gathered from every nation, tribe, people, and language! And in that day there will also be perfect unity. As it was in the garden of Eden, creation will again be together in harmony, singing the praises of the King of kings.
If a culture is to have any hope of reconciliation, it must begin with individuals turning to Christ to rescue us from our sins. We must then be transformed from the inside out by the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:1) so that we can “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1). This is the spiritual solution to the sin of racism. We must treat each other as the Bible instructs us to: with equal justice and no partiality. This does not mean that Christians never sin. (In some ways it hurts the most when Christians do wrong.) We will never be perfect on earth, but we are called to be the light of the world here and now. Throughout history, Christians have led the way in the struggle against racism, and we have been given that high calling again today.
All people are equal: we are equal biologically, since God created us as one human family; we are equal spiritually, since before God we are all guilty of sin and in need of redemption; and for those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, we are all equal in Christ! This is why racism is so wrong.
As Christians we have a special responsibility to see the spiritual side of the racism struggle in our land. Learn to notice when people don’t give spiritual answers to this issue. Direct the conversation to the spiritual aspects. Put aside pride and boastfulness. Pray for our country and share the Gospel. Treat each other well. Teach what God’s Word says about racism, restitution, and reconciliation. We should all say along with Paul: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” (1 Timothy 1:15)
We’ll cover justice and reconciliation in the next few articles! It is beautiful that now, with the Holy Spirit, we can truly treat each other correctly, with dignity as fellow image-bearers and children of God!
Check out our Christians Engaged Store to purchase all 4 of the books - Answers for Difficult Days. (4-Book Bundle $40 , shipping not included).
ABOUT BEN
Connect with him at Cornerstone Curriculum
Ben Quine, the second son of David and Shirley Quine, was blessed to grow up with a Charlotte Mason/Dr. Schaeffer/Biblical Worldview education -- a tremendous gift! Through the years, Ben has served as a Cornerstone consultant, assistant, and co-author. He has written several Bible studies for the Answers for Difficult Days series, which equips churches to address the issues our culture is wrestling with today, from the foundation of Scripture. Ben is also the editor of The Worldview Library, editions of classical literature with student helps that afford the reader a deeper understanding of the concepts presented in each work.
Trained as a classical pianist and instructor, Ben is committed to inspiring his students with the love of great music and equipping them with the tools to perform at the highest level. This training has resulted in his students' successful performances from local festivals and competitions to Carnegie Hall.
Ben loves Shakespeare, Dickens, photography, listening to recordings of "the great pianists", running, biking, and spending time with his wife Julie and their three sons.