What does the Bible say about discrimination? - Discrimination - TouchPoints

James 2:1-9My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others? For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives? Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren’t they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him? But you dishonor the poor! Isn’t it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? Aren’t they the ones who slander Jesus Christ, whose noble name you bear? Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin.

Discrimination is a sin the Bible takes very seriously. The book of James confronts some Christians for favoring wealthy and powerful people and discriminating against those who are poor.

Ephesians 4:29-32Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

Prejudiced language, bitterness, and resentment grieves the Holy Spirit.

Acts 6:1As the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.

In New Testament times, Jews who had become Hellenized (adopted the Greek language and customs) were often viewed as traitors to their faith and their nation by Hebraic Jews who still spoke the language of their ancestors and closely followed their ancient traditions. Even after both Hellenized and Hebraic Jews became Christians, many of those divisions of dress, language, culture, and beliefs remained. Hebraic Jews discriminated against Hellenistic widows by not providing for them as well as they provided for their Hebraic widows. The apostles corrected this by appointing new leaders who were well-respected by both Hellenistic and Hebraic Jews and who would ensure fairness in this important ministry (Acts 6:1-7).

Leviticus 19:32“Stand up in the presence of the elderly, and show respect for the aged. Fear your God. I am the Lord.”

Matthew 19:13-15One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.

1 Timothy 4:12Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.

Children are sometimes treated as unimportant annoyances. Young people are sometimes dismissed as inexperienced. Old people are sometimes seen as weak or out-of-touch. Ageism is a common form of discrimination, and Scripture confronts it clearly, encouraging us to treat both young and old appropriately and with respect.

Luke 10:38-42As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 24:9-11So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it.

In New Testament times, women were not offered education as men were. In contrast to this discrimination, Jesus praised Mary for listening to his teachings instead of fulfilling the usual duties of hospitality. Similarly, the testimony of women was not considered valid in a Jewish court of law, yet Jesus gave women the honor of being the first witnesses of his resurrection.

Acts 4:13The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.

Jesus didn’t choose his disciples based on their education. Many of the disciples he chose were fishermen from Galilee, a rural region looked down upon for being rough and uneducated. Of course, Jesus didn’t discriminate against educated people either. He also chose Paul, a “Pharisee of Pharisees” (Philippians 3:5) who lived in Jerusalem and was highly educated (Acts 22:3).

Matthew 9:9As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?” When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

In Jesus’s day, tax collectors were Jews who had betrayed their people by working for the Roman Empire that occupied their land and oppressed their people. Even worse, Rome allowed tax collectors to charge people more than was required so tax collectors could line their own pockets. Naturally, Jewish people hated tax collectors. Yet Jesus called a tax collector to become his disciple—a tax collector who was still sitting in his collection booth, no less! When the Pharisees criticized Jesus’ choice of company, Jesus responded in an interesting way. He didn’t defend Matthew’s behavior or brush it off. Instead, he pointed to how Matthew understood his sinfulness, and that because of that, Matthew understood his need for Jesus. Jesus didn’t brush off sin, but he also recognized that people can change. Rather than discriminating against those who had made poor decisions in the past, Jesus gave people like Matthew an opportunity to repent and start a new life.

Luke 6:13-16At daybreak he [Jesus] called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their names: . . . Matthew . . . Simon (who was called the zealot), . . .

Matthew, a tax collector, had a history of collaborating with the Roman oppressors. Simon was a zealot, a Jewish nationalist who was willing to use violent means to overthrow the Roman government. Their political pasts could not be any further apart, yet Jesus chose both of them as his disciples. Political beliefs did matter to Jesus—both Matthew and Simon had to change much of what they believed as they followed Jesus. But Jesus called his disciples from a variety of political belief systems. Despite their differences, Matthew and Simon were called to accept one another and work together for the sake of God’s Kingdom (John 17:21-23).

John 9:1-3As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.

In Jesus’s day, disabilities were often seen as signs of God’s judgment for sin. His disciples apparently embraced this false idea, and Jesus corrected their prejudicial assumptions.

John 1:46“Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” “Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.

Jesus was discriminated against because of where he came from. Nazareth was a town in Galilee, a rural region looked down upon for being rough and uneducated.

Luke 10:30-37Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus intentionally challenged the ethnic discrimination of his day. Samaritans were half-Jewish and had mixed their worship of God with pagan practices and false traditions. In the past, Samaritans had attempted to prevent the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple (see the book of Ezra). Jews would go out of their way to avoid traveling through Samaritan territory and interacting with Samaritans. Yet Jesus made the hero of his parable a Samaritan, emphasizing that being a good neighbor involves caring for anyone who crosses our path, even someone from a group we may not like.

Acts 10:28Peter told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean.

Acts 11:1-3Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him. “You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said.

Acts 11:15-18“As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning. Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?” When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”

In New Testament times, Jews became ritually unclean if they ate with or entered the homes of Gentiles (see John 18:28). This severe rule was not found in Scripture but was introduced by rabbis to help Israelites honor the original Old Testament laws, which called for Israel’s holiness and separation from the pagan nations around them. For a long time, Israel’s role was to keep the worship of the one true God pure in preparation for the Messiah. After Jesus came, however, that mission changed. It was time for God to fulfill his promise that through Israel, all nations on earth would be blessed (Genesis 18:18; 22:18). Switching from avoiding Gentiles to welcoming Gentiles as fellow believers was a difficult transition for many Jewish Christians! Questions such as “Do Gentile believers need to follow the Jewish law?” became topics of fierce debate (see Acts 15). Jews and Gentiles came from radically different cultures and had strong reasons to dislike and distrust each other. The process was messy, but through God’s grace, Jews and Gentiles all over the world now know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Matthew 28:19“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

John 17:20-21“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.”

Colossians 3:11In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

Ephesians 4:15-16Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Jesus does not discriminate based on race, sex, age, education, or social status—the Bible emphasizes how God calls all sorts of people from all walks of life. During the night before his crucifixion, Jesus specifically prayed for all future believers to be unified by our love for him and for each other. Let’s be intentional in pursuing that!

Revelation 7:9After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands.

In Christ’s coming Kingdom, the vision of a church made up of people from every nation and language will be made complete!