A Christian Response to Racism in Society

The latest incidence of racially motivated brutality in the States is both deplorable and heart breaking. Beyond the pain of murder that will be felt by the relatives and friends of the victim, the pain resonates outwards and further deepens the divides between people groups. These groups are divided not only by race but by ideologies – the chasm between political left and right has widened even further.

The purpose of this article is not to pick a political side. My purpose is to ask – how should Christians respond? Not only to this particular incident, but what about racism in their society generally? Some Christian posts have encouraged us as Christians to “get angry” about the racial divisions we see today. They want Christians to go out and “do something” about the state of race relations today. The problem is, what exactly is the “something”?

As a demographic group – measured by those who tick this box during a census –“Christians” are very numerous in western nations like the United States. They are also the most common religious group in many African countries. So if all of those who fall under this religious heading were to vote in a particular direction, then the laws of these countries would ultimately change. If all self-identified Christians were to take to the streets tomorrow in protest, the government would do more than just take notice. Many presidents, ministers and civil servants identify themselves as Christian on the census sheet, so their countries would effectively grind to a halt as even they joined the protest.

So the argument for political action goes – if every Christian would stand up for a particular cause, then that cause would win the day. Sounds like an excellent idea, right? In this way, we could change the world’s legislation into something truly “Christian” and the world would be a better place – right? There are several problems with this thinking, but they all stem from one core issue that can be addressed through answering the question – What does it mean to be a Christian?

For many who tick the “Christian” box on the census questionnaire, this distinction is part of their general identity. It is one more thing on the list that identifies them alongside their gender, race, employment status, age group, nationality, etc. In those terms, I am a female, white, self-employed millennial from South Africa. Oh yes, and a Christian, too. The church is just another group of people I identify with that helps define who I am.

Yet this is not Christianity. Jesus Christ did not come into the world and die on the cross to add a religious category to the Roman Empire’s census sheets. He was a Jew, yet he did not come to make the Jews more politically powerful. The Jewish people were subjugated by the Romans at the time and the laws in the Empire were often exceedingly unjust. Slavery was commonplace and racism among Jews towards the “others” (Gentiles) was not only prevalent but considered righteous.

Yet Jesus paid startlingly little attention to all of this. While His earthly ministry was aimed mainly at the Jews, His primary job was much greater than preaching to one ethnic group. He came to die for the whole world (John 3:16). Once this was accomplished, the floodgate was opened so that anyone from any nation could become a disciple of Christ (Matt. 28:19). These disciples were later called “Christians”, a term they gladly accepted because it encapsulates their hearts’ most ardent desire – to be like Christ (Acts 11:26).

If we are to answer our question, then, we need to figure out what being like Christ means. Becoming a Christian, in the Biblical sense of the word, is much, much more than adding that characteristic to our present identity. It is changing our identity altogether. This is why the term “born again” is so apt – when you are born naturally you are born into a racial, cultural, socio-economic and national group. You are further defined by the age in which you were born. Being “born again” effectively confines all of your old identity to the scrap heap and gives you a completely new one.

According to Paul, the result of this radical change is: 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. (Gal. 3:28). Our defining categories have been thrown out of the window. We are now new people living new lives with new identities (2 Cor. 5:17). While we still have all of those physical characteristics, they no longer define who we are. I am still a white female South African, but those things no longer dominate the way I view myself or those around me. They have been relegated to boxes checked on the census page.

This is Christ’s way of dealing with racism, sexism, and every other evil “ism”. It is totally opposite from the world’s way of dealing with (or failing to deal with) these problems. The world’s approach to the divide between people groups is to try and strengthen the one against the other. To deal with sexism, they try to strengthen women by attacking men. Feminism is wonderful, while masculinity is “toxic”. Yet men still beat and kill women on a daily basis. Similarly, in dealing with racism, black lives are exalted while white privilege is sneered at. Yet racism in our societies shows no signs of abating.

In this way, each side ups the ante with each new incident. Each side digs itself a deeper trench to defend against “enemy lines”. The war is intensified with each step. Beyond physical characteristics, we increasingly identify ourselves according to our political ideologies – liberal or conservative – that help us identify friend or foe on the battlefield.

When Christians are called to “do something” politically, we are asked to enter the fray – pick a side and fight for it. Yet Christ’s way is not to strengthen either side. His way is to lay down our arms altogether. Jews were to fellowship with Gentiles, slaves and freemen worshipped together as equals, the wealthy were no longer honoured more than the poor (Acts 10:9-23; Philemon; James 2:1-7). The Gentile groups were also diverse – including Greeks, Romans, Africans and a huge number of other peoples that were part of the Roman Empire at the time. Yet in Christ, all were one.

When you lay down your arms on a battlefield, you are likely to get severely wounded, even by friendly fire because you could be seen as a traitor. Yet that is what He has called us to do, and that is exactly what the church did in the Book of Acts. Hundreds of Christians were killed as a result of metaphorically laying down their arms within their societies. Indeed, Jesus foretold of this persecution while He was on earth, warning that even families would be split apart as a result of people choosing to follow Him (Matt 10:34-39). Yet despite of this huge loss of life (and sometimes because of it) the gospel was preached to all nations and thousands of people from all parts of society became part of the church of God. This was a revolution, the like of which had never been seen before and has yet to be matched since.

That is all nice in theory, or for that time in history, you may object. But what do we do about the ills of our society right now? There is a plan of action, but the action must happen in God’s order, not man’s. Christians are being urged to go out into the world and “do something” to make it better. Yet this is not where the action must start. In God’s order, the action starts with the individual and then expands to the church, which in turn influences the people outside the church (Matt. 5:13-16).

First, the individual Christian must truly abandon their former identity. If this thought has not even occurred to you before and you are a Christian according to the census paper only, then stop right there. You need to come before the Lord Jesus Christ and ask Him to work this change within your heart. While a sincere request can be in the form of a short prayer, the answer must be something real. “You” as in who you consider yourself to be – your core identity – must be given up to God to be put to death. Then God gives you a new identity – Christ’s identity – and you are given a new life (Rom. 6:5-7).

This first action of killing your old identity and assuming a new one is just the first step in what is to become a lifelong tussle. The old “you” will want to come back – the old prejudices, ways of thinking and living will all threaten to come back. You need to kill each one of those things as they pop up in your thoughts or deeds and ask God to replace them with Christ’s characteristics (Rom. 7:21-25). This is what it really means to be a Christian. To become more like Christ every day until the day we see Him face to face and are finally made perfect, as He is perfect.

This transformation happens at the rate of one person at a time, not one nation at a time. Down through history, men have tried to jump the gun on this process by forcing whole nations to accept the “Christian” tag. Yet this is man’s way of doing things, not God’s way. God works in the heart of each person on an individual basis. There is no shortcut to this process. Laws against racism do not fundamentally change racists. Only God can do that from the inside out, one person at a time.

Once an individual has become a Christian, they need to learn how to act like one. This is part of the process above, which acts on both a personal level and through your relationships with others. It is one thing to say that you have cleaned up your act and another thing to demonstrate that in your actions towards others. For this purpose, God puts Christians together in churches where we are able to both demonstrate the changes He makes within us and to help each other grow in the Lord (1 John 3:10-15).

The church is more than just a place where Christians get together and help each other, though. One of its functions is to be a practical demonstration of how society could work if each individual within it becomes more like Christ. This demonstration is what reaches out into the world (John 13:35). When a slave entered a church in the first century AD and was greeted like an equal by a Roman citizen, he knew he was in a different kind of world. When a Roman governor noted two people in his town from two cultural groups that usually detest each other instead walking together as friends, he knew that these were no ordinary people. When a Jewish man willingly entered a Gentile’s house and ate dinner with him, the Gentile realised that this Jew was not of this world.

This is what Christians are called to do in the face of injustice and evil in the world. We are to declare through our lives that we are no longer of this world – we will not fight for one side or the other, we will not identify ourselves based on physical characteristics or ideological concepts (Rom 12:2). Especially within the church, we will demonstrate what it means to love one another and serve one another regardless of race, gender, socio-economic status, or any other grouping. Our overriding law is self-sacrificial love for one another (1 John 4:7-11). And this love is to radiate outwards into each workplace, family and friendship a Christian enters.

This is not an easy route, nor is it a quick one. Christians then and now still struggle to get rid of our old natures and fully demonstrate our new identities in Christ. Churches then and now still experience rifts and divisions based on cultural, racial or economic differences. Then there are the many thousands today who warm the pews in churches or tick the appropriate box on the census sheet and yet who have never even met the One whose name they use to identify themselves.

The more prevalent these issues are within individuals and in churches, the weaker our testimony becomes before the world and the more we are tempted to take a shortcut by “fixing” society through our votes or civil actions. That Christians are encouraging each other to use man’s methods to try and fix society today is a terrible indictment on the state of the church. Instead of looking outwards to see where we can make some sort of political difference, we need to take a hard, critical look inwards. I will give a few practical examples based on race, but these can also apply to other groupings.

If you are a Christian, you need to take a long, hard look at your thoughts and feelings towards people who fall into a different group to your own, be it racial, cultural, or ideological. Then go beyond thoughts and feelings and look at your relationships in real life. How do you behave around people of a different race? Do you ever fellowship with Christians from a different race? Do you ever create opportunities to display Christ’s love for these brothers and sisters? We need to examine ourselves in these matters and be willing to repent of anything that falls short of the standard of love and servant-hood set by Christ Himself (John 13:13-17).

For church leaders, is your church a racial monoculture? If you happen to be in a country or area where there is little racial diversity, perhaps that is not a problem. But if the church is set within a multi-cultural society, then one needs to know why certain races are absent. Do they feel unwelcome? Has no one in the church ever invited a person from another race to come? Do the church members resist the idea of fellowshipping with others of different races?

If this examination reveals problems then changing the status quo will be difficult, no doubt. Trying to change things may well reduce church attendance, as those who are there to warm the pews become uncomfortable with the nature of true Christianity. Even the true Christians who have yet to fully kill the racial issues that came with their old identities will find it difficult to change. The churches in the New Testament often found it hard to mix different racial, social and cultural groups, as we see from the many times these issues are addressed in the epistles. But God’s way is the way of the cross, and death is never easy. If individual Christians and churches are to have even a fraction of the impact they once had during the early days, we have to do it God’s way.