How the Gospel of Christ Destroys Racism

Racist people completely misunderstand the gospel.

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Looking down on other races, nations, or cultures of people is nothing new in this world.

In fact, one of the underlying issues in our study of Romans is the tension between some Gentile and Jewish Christians. The tension was rooted in prejudice toward the other group.

In this article, I plan to look at three things with you:

1. Explore biblical examples that show racism and prejudice are not new problems in this world.

2. Go back to the beginning to see how God created us to show why racism is wrong.

3. Consider how the gospel of Christ confronts racism head-on and destroys it.

I’m going to use the word “racism” because it’s the one we are most familiar with in thinking about this subject. But what we will study will include things like thinking less of someone because of their nationality, occupation, etc.

3 Biblical Examples of Racism and Prejudice.

While we could find more than three examples, these are the three we will focus on.

The Egyptian’s View of Shepherds.

When Joseph brings his family of shepherds to Egypt, he tells them something rather interesting.

Pharaoh will summon you and say, ‘What is your occupation?’ Tell him, ‘Your servants have taken care of cattle from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen, for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting to the Egyptians.” (Genesis 46:33-34)

There are a few different thoughts about what precisely Joseph meant by this statement.

• One idea is that the Egyptians despised foreign shepherds. Around the time of Joseph, there was tension between Egypt and a group of people known as the Hyksos, who were from the same region as Jacob’s family (Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 18-50, 603).

• Another idea is that wealthy Egyptians - like Pharoah - despised shepherding because they thought it was beneath them (Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 18-50, 608).

As Joseph’s family prepared to live in Egypt, he warned them about how the Egyptians “looked down on” their “family business.”

The Jews and the Samaritans.

There was intense bitterness and hatred between the Jews and Samaritans that went back hundreds of years.

When Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink of water, she replied, How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” The reason for her question was given: “For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans” (John 4:9). During this time, Jewish people wouldn’t even drink from the same cup as Samaritans.

This prejudice wasn’t one-sided however - the Samaritans would give it back to the Jews as well. Once, when Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem, a Samaritan village refused to receive Him simply because they knew He was going to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51-53).

The Jews and Gentiles.

Finally, we come to the prejudice that existed between the Jewish people and the rest of the nations (the Gentiles).

The prejudice of the Greek and Roman world toward the Jews was mostly based on religious differences.

In the Hellenistic Age, for instance, Jews’ social segregation and their refusal to acknowledge the gods worshipped by other peoples aroused resentment among some pagans, particularly in the 1st century BCE [BC]–1st century CE [AD]. Unlike polytheistic religions, which acknowledge multiple gods, Judaism is monotheistic—it recognizes only one God. However, pagans saw Jews’ principled refusal to worship emperors as gods as a sign of disloyalty. - (Britannica)

The Jews saw themselves as superior to the Gentiles because they refused to worship idols and because of their higher moral standard based upon the Law. In fact, to prepare his Jewish audience for the gospel, Paul first humbles their thinking about themselves in comparison to everyone else (Romans 2-3).

We could find other examples in the Bible and there are abundant examples of various forms of racism and prejudice in history.

But all of this hatred, bitterness, racism, and prejudice - is this what God intended among His creation?

God’s Creation of Mankind Shows Why Racism is Wrong.

When God created humanity on Day 6 of creation, He said something critically important.

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)

People - men and women - have been created in God’s own image, according to His likeness. Every person alive today - and who has ever lived - is a descendant of Adam and Eve. A person’s race, nationality, culture, profession, gender, or religion does not change the fact that they are made in God’s image.

As a result, each person has a soul that is worth more than all the wealth in this world (Matthew 16:26).

In fact, part of the reason God sent the flood upon the earth in Noah’s day was because people stopped treating each other as made in God’s image - they would even kill each other to get what they wanted (Genesis 6:5, 11-13).

Why Are Racism and Prejudice Wrong?

Racism and prejudice look at people made in God’s image and say, “You’re really not that valuable because you’re black or because you’re a woman or because you’re Middle Eastern.”

Racism is a refusal to be like Jesus.

And we can know that because of what the gospel teaches us.

How the Gospel Confronts and Destroys Racism.

Jesus told Nicodemus that God had sent Him into this world to save the people of the world because of how much He loved them.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)

As you read through the book of Acts, you discover that the gospel of Christ and the blessings God offers through Him are extended to everyone - Jew and Gentile. It’s the same gospel offered to all people.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. (Romans 1:16)

Jesus died and rose for everyone, and the good news of who He is, what He has done, and what He brings is offered the same to everyone.

Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus that it was always God’s plan “that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs [along with Jewish people], of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel” (Ephesians 3:6).

• Given the same inheritance.

• Members of the same body (church - Ephesians 1:22-23).

• Partakers of the same promise.

• Saved by the same Savior through the same gospel.

He made the same point to the churches of Galatia when he wrote:

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)

Paul’s point was that the inheritance given to a person in Christ is the same regardless of whether they were a Jew or Gentile, slave or free person, male or female (Galatians 4:1-7).

So, because God made all people in His image, and Jesus died for all people because of God’s great love for all people, and the good news of Christ is for all people…how then should we think of people who are different than us?

We have come to Christ to imitate Him and to walk as He walked (Ephesians 5:1-2).

Can we truly follow Christ and not love others as He does? Can we truly be Jesus’ disciple and not value each person the way Jesus does?

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The gospel of Christ confronts and destroy racism and prejudice by showing us how God has created all people in His image, and by demonstrating His deep love for all people of all nations.

Those who cling to racism and prejudice have completly misunderstood who God is, what He came to this earth to do, and what He offers us.