Racism Is Sin — by Earl James

“God has selected the church to partner in the work of reconciliation.”

Racism is sin because it is an offense to God.

There are some critical reformed theological understandings we have about God and the earth.  We believe that:

— The world and everything in it belongs to God.

— The world and everything in it is broken because of the Fall and because of sin.

— The Holy Spirit is at work reconciling the world to God.

— God has selected the church to partner in that great and vast reconciliation work.

We also know from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians that the Holy Spirit gives gifts.  Among them are gifts such as love, healing, leadership, administration, helps, knowledge, wisdom, discernment, tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophecy, and all the rest.  Paul wrote that everyone has at least one gift, that no one has all of them, and that we are to use these gifts in ways similar to how the body uses its parts.  Paul reminded his readers that the eye cannot say to the hand “you are not needed” and that the stomach cannot say to the heart “I am more important that you.”  Just as all the body’s parts must be used in order for the body to thrive, so the body of Christ must use all of the Spirit’s gifts to it in order for it to do its part of God’s great reconciling work.

Paul also taught in Galatians about the fruits of the spirit.  There are a number of them:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  The Spirit’s intention with these fruits is to mature the church into the character of Christ.  From this maturity, the church can stay solid and sure as Jesus in the face of the conflicts, injustices, and crises the church must face in its reconciling work.  All people, and the church as a whole, have the challenge to grow along a continuum for each fruit from less mature to more mature.

But, despite the Spirit’s intentions and efforts to empower and mature the church, we face this.  Nowhere do we learn from Scripture that the Holy Spirit gives gifts or matures fruits according to race or ethnicity or nation of origin or language.  Nowhere do we learn from Scripture that the Holy Spirit differentiates or discriminates between people based on race or ethnicity or nation of origin or language when the Spirit empowers and matures the church to do its reconciling work.

However, in our collective experiences in the United States and around the world, we often differentiate and discriminate against other people of God based on their race or ethnicity or nation of origin or language.  We generally gather to our tables, whether they are tables of work or worship or life, people who share our particular race or ethnicity or nation of origin or language, and exclude others the Spirit empowers and matures.   We generally act as though our preferences that result in such separation should trump what the Spirit prefers and validates.  Racism is sin because we personally, systemically, and historically ignore the Spirit’s own intentions about God’s reconciling work and the Spirit’s distribution of gifts and maturing of the body of Christ to accomplish that reconciling work.

What is the collective outflow of our preferences to validate our separateness over the Spirit’s intentions about reconciling the world to God?  Many.  Here are three.

1. The church is not in one accord about immigration and solving its protracted challenges in ways that reflect the reign of God.
2. Many in the church hold to a version of nationalism and national pride based on America’s past, a past replete with highly discriminatory, racist legal and cultural patterns, and hold that version as their desired end in itself.  They either miss or intentionally ignore the need for the United States to be reconciled to the tenets of the reign of God.
3. Many of our systems – education, correctional, economic, and financial included – disproportionately disadvantage people of color when compared to whites.  Decisions not to utilize the gifts and fruits of all whom the Spirit has equipped render the church under-equipped to participate in these parts of God’s reconciling work.

What can the church do about this sinful separation from the Spirit’s intentions about God’s gifts and fruits?  There are several ways to start.  Here are a few.

1. We have to become aware that we actually separated from the Spirit’s intention when we operate in race-based, ethnicity- based, nation of origin-based, and language-based ways.  We have to train ourselves including having trusted, empowered others to point out when we lack a broad enough spectrum of people whom the Spirit has gifted to:
   1. Make decisions with us.
   2. Lead with us.
   3. Work with us.
   4. Worship with us.
   5. Live with us.
   6. Reconcile the world to God with us.
2. We have to change our story from one that says “The Spirit actually does not equally give gifts or mature fruits for use in building God’s reign” to one that says “As the Spirit provides, so shall we receive and use.”

We have to do these and other things in our congregations, throughout our denominations and non-profits, businesses and governments.  We have to do this where we happen to live, work, and worship.

When we do these things and make these changes, we work to eliminate this racist offense to God.  We, then, find ourselves in more and more ways on the side of the Spirit as partners with the Spirit in reconciling the world, including our country, to God.

Please click on this URL to view a video version of this essay:  https://www.rca.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=6340.

by Earl James