Racism and God

“Every aspect of the way God views and saves sinners

 is designed to undermine racism and lead to 

a reconciled and redeemed humanity 

from every people group in the world.”

John Piper - Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian

God, the exalted Sovereign of the universe, is perfect. Unlike me, He never changes. He does not have a shifting concept of morality, for He knows, and has always known, what is right and wrong. He does not merely grasp with His intellect the difference between right and wrong; rather, He defines what is right and wrong from His own character. I don't need to fear that He will lay down an unjust or immoral law, because "this God, his way is perfect" (Psalm 18:30). I don't need to fear that He will someday call me to do something unloving, because His whole law can be summed up in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Galatians 5:14). 

And He has not left us on our own to grasp hopelessly for an understanding of Him and His law. He has come in the Person of Jesus Christ, who is "the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature" (Hebrews 1:3). When we look at Jesus, we are looking at God—at what He is like and how He acts (John 14:9-10). Moreover, God has inspired a true and clear word, the Bible, by which we know Him and His commandments (2 Timothy 3:16). Ultimately, this word points us to Jesus (John 5:39-40), and it also points us to God's infallible moral standard (Jesus and this standard are closely connected). This word is a "lamp to our feet and a light to our path" (Psalm 119:105). We know God and how to live a life pleasing to Him through this word. It is a sure and irrevocable standard of truth, morality, and purpose. 

Racism flies in the face of all of this. It dishonors God and subverts His law. It is not wrong because it offends us mere mortals, but because it offends God. The biblical witness to this is vast and multifaceted, offering us a solid foundation for condemning all racism as sin.

God created everyone in His image (Genesis 1:27), meaning He created everyone so that they would represent Him in the world and be able to worship, reason, feel, and love like He does. He cares deeply for every human, because He is the One who has given them life and being (Psalm 139:13-16; Genesis 1:26). There is no one on earth that He does not care about, for He is the "One from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named" (Ephesians 3:15). He does not place more value on one race than He does another, because He is "King of all the earth" (Psalm 47:7). He shows no ethnic or racial partiality, "but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him" (Acts 10:34-35).

God's love for everyone on earth comes to its fullest expression in Jesus Christ. All of us, from all races, have marred God's image by sinning and falling short of His glorious standard, making us worthy of death (Romans 6:23). We have spat in God's face and chosen to go our own selfish way (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Genesis 8:21). But God has not left us to our fate. Rather, He sent His own Son to die the death for which we have made ourselves worthy. As the apostle Paul said, "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). That is, while we were going on in our opposition to God, He saved us by the self-sacrificial, loving death of His Son. We stand unworthy of such a God, but He valued us, all of us, enough to send His Son to die for us.

When we judge another person based on the color of their skin, we show that we have turned our eyes from the One who cherishes everyone equally. When we oppress a group because of their race, we set ourselves up as the antithesis of the One who gave Himself up for every soul, from every race. When we think less of others in our hearts because of their race, we sin against the One who told us that merely thinking in a sinful way, absent of external action, is still detestable in His sight (Mark 7:20-23). We refuse the One who gave us a new commandment, that "just as he loved us, we are to love one another" (John 13:34, paraphrase). We consider worthless those whom God considers valuable. All who do such things rightly fall under God's just condemnation. His word, His perfect law, has told us so.

The condemnation of racism, however, need not be final. Redemption is possible. If anyone will believe in Christ and what He has done, God will forgive his or her racism. Indeed, God promises that if we will confess our sins, no matter how deep or how serious they are, He will forgive them (1 John 1:9). Moreover, God will not leave us clueless on how to change, for "good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way" (Psalm 25:8). As for those who do not turn from their racism, God promises that He will bring justice (Romans 12:19). 

No matter what we do, God will go on creating, loving, and valuing people of every race. He will go on redeeming a people for His own possession from every skin color and nationality. He will go on showing the unconquerable love of His Son on a cross to anyone who will lend Him an ear. And in the end, we are promised that there will be a glorious, diverse group of blood-bought saints singing praises to Him forever:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” -Revelation 7:9-12