These days the topic of race has become front and center in America’s culture war. The reason this is happening is because the two primary worldviews that are clashing in modern society have entirely different views of the nature of man, and one side desires to use the topic of race as a weapon to gain a political advantage. They reason that if they can stir up racial tension, they can pull adherents to their side by presenting themselves as advocates for a particular racial group and the other side as enemies. In order to do that, though, they have to create a perception that one group is being oppressed by the other.
The founding ideals of America as expressed in the Declaration of Independence are that: … all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” While the ideal has not ever been fully achieved, American society has seen significant and continuous progress toward that ideal.
The ideal itself is based on biblical beliefs. The underlying notion is that God is no respecter of persons, so human beings should not be either. As long as that remains the ideal, progress in race relations can continue to advance.
Those who hold to Marxist beliefs, however, have an entirely different belief about the nature of man, and that different belief results in a different set of priorities for the advancement of society. Rather than looking to promote equality and racial harmony, their goal is political dominance using racial division as a tool to accomplish their goal.
Marxism’s teaching about he nature of man includes these beliefs:
- There is no God, so man is nothing more than a naturally evolved animal.
- Humanity naturally evolved from less complex living organisms.
- The oppressed in society should have priority over the oppressors (though there is no objective rationale as to why that should be the case, nor an objective standard for defining what that even means).
- Distinctions between oppressed and oppressor must be emphasized in order to determine how discrimination should properly be applied. The legitimacy of some form of discrimination is assumed.
In order to see how that compares to a Christian view, let’s take a look at the way the Bible reveals the nature of man.
1. All Are Descended from One Family
A biblical view of man begins with the belief that all of mankind descended from one original family – Adam and Eve. This forms the foundation of the idea that there is ultimately no distinction between various sub-groupings of human beings.
The first several chapters of Genesis describe how God created Adam and Eve, and how the rest of mankind descended from them.
In Acts 17:26, Paul presented the gospel to the Areopagus assembly. He focused on God’s providential governance of history. Here he wrote: and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.
2. Man Is Created in the Image of God
The Bible teaches that man was created in the image of God. This does not mean that human beings physically look like God, but that He put in humans the personhood characteristics that make up His own personhood. This is another indication that all human beings exist as creatures that transcend temporal characteristics such as race.
Genesis 1:27
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 9:6
Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.
3. God’s Purpose Applies to All Nations
Another indication that race is not a defining characteristic in evaluating humanity relates to the fact that God’s purpose for humanity is not based on a national or ethnic foundation. God has revealed that his purposes for mankind relate to humanity on an individual, not a collective level.
Isaiah 42:1-7
42 ” Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. 2 “He will not cry out or raise His voice, Nor make His voice heard in the street. 3 “A bruised reed He will not break And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. 4 “He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.” 5 Thus says God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and its offspring, Who gives breath to the people on it And spirit to those who walk in it, 6 “I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations, 7 To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the dungeon.
Matthew 28:18-20 tells us that: 1) Jesus Christ is the Messiah of all nations 2) all have sinned and are judged impartially, 3) Christ died to offer justification to all through faith, and 4) God’s Spirit has been poured out on all flesh. Thus, the Church has a mandate to take the gospel to every nation.
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ” All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 ” Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Revelation 5:9 tells us that Christ has redeemed people “from every tribe and language and people and nation.” In fact, this fourfold grouping (tribe, language, people, nation) is found seven times in the book of Revelation (5:9; 7:9; 10:11; 11:9; 13:7; 14:6; 17:15). In the symbolic world of Jewish apocalyptic literature, which the Book of Revelation falls into, the number four represents “the world” while the number seven represents “completion.” So what we have in the book is this four element phrase used seven times. That is a way of emphatically asserting that all peoples and ethnicities are included in the final gathering of God’s redeemed people around his throne to sing his praises.
Revelation 5:9
And they sang a new song, saying, ” Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
4. God Does Not Make Distinctions Between People
Finally, Scripture reveals in a direct way that God does not look at people based on temporal distinctions. Every human being is equal in His sight.
Leviticus 19:34 tells us that because God is impartial and desires to bless the nations, He commanded His chosen people Israel to love foreigners and treat them impartially.
‘The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus teaches that loving one’s neighbor means loving those in particular who are different from you ethnically.
Luke 10:25-37
25 And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” 27 And he answered, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” 28 And He said to him, “You have answered correctly;DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE.” 29 But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. 31 “And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 “Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 “But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 “On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” 37 And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
Romans 2:11
For there is no partiality with God.
In Romans 3:22–24, Paul taught that “all” are affected by sin and justification is accomplished for all by faith in Jesus Christ, regardless of national or ethnic heritage.
22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
Galatians 3:28-29
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.
Ephesians 2:14-16
14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.
Colossians 3:11
… a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
Implications Concerning Race
In explaining the distinction between the Christian and Marxist (Naturalist) point of view, there are some important implications that can be discerned. The Marxist view, with its relativistic morality, is seeking to promote equity in society, while Christian beliefs promote equality.
When equity is emphasized:
- individuals will not be free to pursue the outcome that they wish to pursue. An equity approach focuses almost exclusively on economic and political outcomes. Thus, those who choose a direction in life that might elevate them in some way must be cut down to size by taking resources they produce and redistributing them to others who produce less.
- a definition of morality must be used that is completely relative based on the personal preferences of those who hold political power. The rights and desires of the individual are considered to be of no consequence, while the rights of the “oppressed” take priority (and those in power get to arbitrarily define who is in which group).
When equality is emphasized:
- there will not be equal outcomes. Different people have different interests, different intellect, different desires, and a host of other differences that are non-material. That is just a fact of human existence. As a result, people choose different life paths for different reasons, and the different life paths result in different outcomes.
- a definition of morality is asserted that has an objective basis. This provides for individuals to all be treated by the same standard no matter who they are.
Ultimately, though, it is not a matter of selecting one or the other of the belief systems mentioned here and choosing to follow it. Rather, it is a matter of discerning what represents reality and aligning one’s life with that. If the wrong one is chosen, the ultimate result will be societal chaos. If the right one is chosen, the result will be societal order. Societal chaos results in degradation in every part of life – politics, economics, education, and yes, even race relations. Societal order results in freedom and progress – and racial harmony.
And all of this is dependent on one’s view of the nature of man. It is only a biblical view that will result in the kind of racial harmony that reflects America’s national ideals.
© 2021 Freddy Davis