A Look At Broken Culture: Race

Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:7; Genesis 11:6-7; Romans 10:12

Critical Race Theory, explicit racism, implicit racism, 1619 Project, equality acts, Black Lives Matter... every time we turn around, race is thrown in our faces. It begins to feel like nothing you ever do will be good enough, or nothing others do can be good enough. This is the world's view, but what does the Bible have to say about "race"?

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So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 1:27

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Genesis 2:7

And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

Genesis 11:6-7

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.

Romans 10:12

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God did not create different "races" of people. He created humanity with diversity. He showed His creativity in our individual looks and in our skin tones. Beyond that, we are the same. We fight over skin tones, but the pigment that makes one person white, another black, and others in between is the same pigment (melanin).

In Genesis chapter 11, God forced people to segregate. This was not based on skin color, but on language. People grouped up with others they could communicate with. With those groupings, like cultures and traditions developed. Similar traits (like complexion) were shared and became the norm for that group. Yet, all these groups still belonged to the human race.

Skin color receives so much attention because it is one of the first things we observe about a person. Complexion is so unimportant that a baby born to an African couple in Kenya could be adopted at birth by a Chinese family. The baby could be taught the Chinese language, culture, traditions, and history, and (though he/she has a dark complexion) be more Chinese than a baby born to a Chinese couple in New York City.

The Apostle Paul wrote that there is no difference in the Jew and the Greek (Romans 10:12). Physically, there were huge differences. Greek meant the Hellenized world, which was all of the Roman empire. This covered an area including modern day Great Britain, France, Spain, Turkey, Syria, Israel, Northern Africa, and all in between. These were people on 3 different continents. Paul was not talking about physical differences. He was talking about spiritual differences. We are saved by Christ and adopted by God. Earthly races do not matter because we are all in the same family.

The world argues about race, but the church should not. For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints (I Corinthians 14:33). When we start separating ourselves from others based on any criteria other than the church (those who are redeemed and born again) and the lost, we can be sure God is not in it.

Father, thank You for not dividing us by race. Forgive us for creating such divisions, especially in Your church. We know that people can only be reconciled through Jesus. Help us to be willing to reconcile and to unite in the name of Christ.