The Biblical Racist

“Black’s don’t have souls.”

I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. It was, without exception, the most bigoted, obnoxious, offensive comment that had ever soiled my ears – and here it was being said to me, at my dining room table, while I was sharing a meal with this so-called Christian.

Taken back by the sheer absurdity of such a comment I regained control of my reason and countered.

“So tell me, exactly what colour do you think the Ethiopian eunuch was in Acts chapter 9, who was saved, and subsequently baptised, after receiving the gospel from Phillip?”

The rest of the meal was quiet. Our no-longer welcome guest quickly finished his meal, made some excuse for leaving, and I never saw him again. His sister called me a couple of day later asking if I would invite him to church. I told her that unless God changed his heart, he would be the last person I would like to attend our small multicultural gathering of saints.

I couldn’t believe what he said! I had heard of people who thought this, but had imagined that those accounts were exaggerated, perhaps from a few people who would be more at home in a museum – but certainly nobody who would be allowed out unsupervised.

How do people who call themselves Christian, who are supposed to take the Bible as their authority for all matters pertaining to faith and practice, how do they become so biblically illiterate – so clueless to the strong stance the Bible takes against racism?

*

If we look at the Bible, what does it say about being prejudice, showing partiality, or, as the King James says, being a respecter of persons?

Old Testament

Moses and Zipporah. Moses is one of the most important men of the Old Testament. He was used to miraculously lead the Israelites out of captivity, to pen the first 5 books of the Bible, and it to him that God delivered the Ten Commandments. His wife, Zipporah, was an Ethiopian (Numbers 12:1). And just in case you are so desperate to defend your racism that you believe that Ethiopians didn’t used to be black, read Jeremiah 13:23. Miriam and Aaron did not like this one bit . . . they confronted Moses on this issue and God punished them and vindicated Moses (Some commentators note that the punishment that Miriam was given was to give her leprous white skin – read the account in Numbers 12).

Ruth and Boaz. Not only is this one of the most beautiful love stories of the Bible, it is also a picture of Jesus Christ being our redeemer. And the marriage was inter-racial. Ruth was a Moabite, and Boaz was an Israelite.

New Testament

The days we live in are New Testament times. Christ has come, paid the price of sin for those who believe in Him, and – through Him, we are declared right with God. Christians should be characterised by their love for Christ; ‘If ye love me, keep my commandments’ (Jn 14:15).

Is it possible to be a Christian and not love Christ? I don’t think so, but loving Christ means to desire to keep His commandments. Okay, so where does He command us not to be racist?

Jesus teaches that the greatest two commands are to love God, and love your neighbour as yourself. The Jewish scribe who was trying to trick Him into incriminating Himself then asked the follow-up question; ‘And, who’s my neighbour’ (Luke 10:29). In reply Jesus tells one of the most famous parables of His entire ministry – one that everyone has heard of, one that people use the terminology from even if they are not professing followers of Christ – the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Why did Jesus use this example?

The problem with the religious leaders in Israel was that they redefined God’s laws to suit them. If the law ‘love thy neighbour’ was inconvenient, they just redefined their neighbour as people that they loved already, making it easy to be obedient.

But this was not the obedience that Jesus taught. He deliberately used the Samaritan as the hero of the story because they were, perhaps, the people who the Jews hated the most. They were a different race that had interbred with the Jews and corrupted their religion.

This parable should prick us in the matter of racism, or its close relative, xenophobia. If we are obedient Christians then we are to love our neighbours as ourselves, and explicitly that includes neighbours of a different race.

And then we have the Epistles. There are many places where we are instructed not to be prejudice, show partiality, be racist, be a respecter of persons. For sake of time I will just mention one:

‘But if ye have respect to persons (show partiality, are prejudice), ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.’ (James 2:9-10)

The principle here is that, not only is partiality, racism, being a respecter of persons, a sin. In God’s eyes, He then regards you as a lawbreaker.

Thankfully, Jesus died to pay the price of sin for whosoever believes in Him. And this includes the sin of racism.

And the Christian who dwells in, even enjoys, this sin? . . . he is not biblical, he is not obedient . . . he is rebelling against the instruction of God. Call it what it is; sin, and confess it as per I Jn 1:9.

*

In short, the biblical racist does not exist. Racism is defined as a sin in the Bible. It doesn’t distinguish between black-on-white, or white-on-black. It is sin. You may not agree with the Bible on this matter, but then understand that you are disputing your cause with the Author of the Bible, not me.