Racial Reconciliation is a Gospel Demand
Dr. Jarvis Williams asserts that, racial reconciliation is not just an implication of the Gospel, but an integral part of its very demand. Paul, in Ephesians 1, says that the Gospel is the unification of all things in Christ. In Ephesians 2, he explains it unifies Jews and Gentiles into one. This means Jews and Gentiles share equally in God’s spiritual blessings, becoming one new man through Christ. Dr. Williams asserts that many Christians, however, reduce reconciliation to merely a social issue.
Dr. Williams isn’t asserting that racial reconciliation is required for salvation; Paul clarifies that salvation comes by God’s grace through faith, not by works. Dr. Williams is discussing the gospel, not salvation. In the 1st century, a Roman general’s victory was proclaimed as gospel or good news by a runner announcing triumph and spoils for the citizens. Similarly, Paul tells us the good news of Christ is forgiveness of trespasses and the unity of all things in Christ. In Ephesians 2, the good news is reconciliation to God and across racial and ethnic lines.
Since reconciliation with God and racial and ethnic unity are central to the gospel, we are compelled to live out both as a church body. Segregated churches are certainly not a sign of God’s transformational power nor is the perception that we’ve brought the racial hierarchies of society into the church.
In verse 15 Paul states “God’s purpose was to create in himself one new humanity” – elevating racially diverse unity, in one organized entity, as God’s very purpose. Our essay, One Book One Story, demonstrates a Biblical theme flowing from Genesis 12 through Revelation 7: God is on mission to establish his kingdom to include every nation, tribe, and people group. How do we know that God’s central purpose is to bring this diversity together in unity, and not just ensuring that all the ethnicities are individually reconciled to God? Jesus warns us in Matthew 6:15 that “if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” And 1 John 4:20 says, “If we say we love God but hate any of our brothers or sisters in his family, we are liars. If we don’t love someone we have seen, how can we love God? We have never even seen him.” And in John 13:35, Jesus, praying for unity, says, “By this, all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Aubrey Sequeira, adjunct professor of Gulf Theological Seminary in Dubai, notes that the polemic against ethnocentrism is pervasive throughout the Gospels. Jesus often offended the ethnocentric pride of the Pharisees by his associating with Gentiles, tax-collectors, and sinners. The Gospels teach that citizenship in God’s kingdom is obtained by faith in Christ not ethnic identity. The call to repentance includes repentance from ethnic and racial pride. John Piper frames it, “Faith in Jesus trumps ethnicity.” This theme is evident in stories like the Centurion’s faith, the Good Samaritan, and the healing of the ten lepers, of whom only the foreigner returned to give thanks. Also, the healing of the Syrophoenician’s daughter, and the cleansing of the temple. Clearly, Jesus was not afraid to challenge ethnocentric pride.
In Modules 3 & 6 of Embracing Unity Academy we look at how American churches mirror early church ethnocentrism.
Comments