What Does the Bible Say? Summer Series 2022
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The Bible Speaks to ‘Race’
The Bible Speaks to ‘Race’
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”
So God created man in His own image;
He created him in the image of God;
He created them male and female.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”
The Hebrew word, אָדָם, means ‘humankind.’ Only in Genesis 3 will this word be used as a proper noun/name: Adam.
God created humans, ‘in Our image, according to Our likeness.’
Scholars are still trying to explain all that it means to be created in God’s likeness and image. What we do know from the immediate context of Genesis 1 is that humans were assigned responsibility to ‘fill,’ ‘subdue,’ and ‘rule’ over every other creature that God made.
This suggests that God created humans to serve as His representative on earth, and to fill the earth with their offspring, ultimately covering the entire earth.
That God created humans as ‘man’ and ‘woman’ means that it takes both male and female to fill the earth, rule, and subdue!
All races have a common origin - we are all descended from Adam and Eve, and then later Noah, and his sons.
All humans share one common origin; all humans are fallen because of the sin of Adam and Eve; all humans are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ; and all humans are destined for either heaven or hell.
BUT, some of you might ask....’What about the curse of Ham?’
When Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him, he said:
Canaan will be cursed.
He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers.
He also said:
Praise the Lord, the God of Shem;
Canaan will be his slave.
God will extend Japheth;
he will dwell in the tents of Shem;
Canaan will be his slave.
First, Ham IS NOT THE ONE cursed! The Hebrew word used as a proper name in other contexts means ‘hot’ and in later Hebrew usage, Ham is another word for the territory we now know as Egypt.
Canaan - the son of Ham - is the one who is cursed. Knowing Hebrew history through the OT what we can see is this: Canaan was a constant thorn in the side of Israel - who are clearly identified as the descendants of Shem. According to Genesis 10-11, the descendants of Shem and Japheth move far from one another and have little or no contact in OT history.
One important issue for us is this: Canaan shares the same racial characteristics as his grandfather, Noah, and his father Ham and his uncles, Shem and Japheth!
A second and crucial issue is this: all humans are part of God’s eternal plan!
BUT, what about RACE/RACISM?
First, let’s be honest. There are distinct differences between people.
distinct differences between man and woman.
distinct differences between people with ancestry in Europe, Africa, South America, Native Americans, Asian, and so on. Even in these broad categories there are distinct physical differences between Asians, Africans, South Americans, Native Americans and so on.
distinct differences in skin pigmentation, height, body type, and so on.
So if we all share a common origin, if we all share a common Creator, why is there such a fuss about Race?
RACE AS A SOCIAL CATEGORY
That we are different is not in question. The challenge comes as we define our own identity and the identity of others.
One author notes:
There was a period, from about 1500 to 1700, when race did not predetermine one’s station and worth in society. This is not to say that racism did not exist; it surely did. But during the initial stages of European settlement in North America, the colonists had not yet cemented skin color as an essential feature of life in their communities. Race was still being made.
Tisby, Jemar. The Color of Compromise (p. 26). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Yet another scholar suggests
Traditionally, white Christians paid little attention to slaves’ souls. The pre-1700 views that black slaves were less than fully human, did not possess souls, and were incapable of learning, as well as simple indifference by white Christians all led to a lack of interest in proselytizing slaves. During the early provincial period in America, however, this began to change.
Divided by Faith (p. 22). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
We don’t have time to dive into how this pre-1700 conception of whiteness vs blackness developed, but over the previous centuries - as Europeans came into greater contact with people of other continents, a myth about white superiority developed that still has implications centuries later.
While some well meaning people in my background taught that the Bible forbids ‘racial intermarriage’ for example, it is clearly true that the only distinction the OT makes about ‘intermarriage’ is not racial - since all nations listed in Genesis 10 (i.e. the Table of Nations) are all connected to Noah and his sons, and through them to Adam and Eve and their immediate descendants: (Genesis 5 - Seth -Lamech - Noah).
But we still have a problem. There is still the issue of racism in our own country and in our own community. SEE TIMELINE for Oregon
CONCLUSION
The 11 disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. When they saw Him, they worshiped, but some doubted. Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.
After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were robed in white with palm branches in their hands.
The temptation is for us to assume that just preaching Jesus will simply eliminate centuries of divisiveness. Rather the proper way forward is to think through some of these issues in an honest assessment.
There are three necessary ingredients for racism, and these three issues are important.
First, identity. We see ourselves as white, American with European ancestry. When someone comes along who is different from us (think Iracema Kunkel for example) how do we react?
Second, defining that which is good, true, and beautiful. To use one example: almost all the pictures of Jesus in the Sunday School rooms in which I grew up showed Jesus as a fair-skinned, wavy, auburn hair, person with a European look. The facts are quite different. Yes, Jesus’ Father is God Himself, but when Jesus was born physically to Mary and Joseph he looked like them - darker skin, different body type, and so on.
Did those pictures staring down at me and the hundreds of thousands of other children impact how we thought of Jesus?
If those with a European background are the best definition of that which is true, beautiful and good, then anything different will be less than true, less than beautiful, and the opposite of good.
Finally, think about this question. Does background impact what opportunities are available to individuals? What about a black man, captured in Africa, bound and shipped to America? If he escaped, would he have the same freedom as one whose family came over from England?
The power dynamics are crucial to understanding the issue of race. For example, as Europeans came to the eastern seaboard of the North American continent, were they the first to step foot on this soil?
What advantages might they have had over those natives already inhabiting this continent? Do you see how a sense of entitlement might impact how America expanded westward? Did whites have advantages that were often denied to natives?
As desperate as we are for healing the racial issues in our culture, the honest truth is, as several writers (of all ethnicities) make clear: doing what we’ve been doing isn’t working.
We are called to confess, repent, and seek God for new strategies so we can move forward.