In what ways might I be unintentionally racist?
Galatians 3:28There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
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.
Race is more than skin tone. It’s a culture. It’s a context. Some well-meaning people claim they are colorblind and don’t see race. Unfortunately, that mindset often leaves a message of “I don’t acknowledge the significance of your culture. I just enjoy it when you fit into my culture.” People in the early church came from wildly different cultural experiences. A Roman soldier had a very different life than a Jewish woman. A Greek scholar had little in common with a “barbarian” from Scythia (modern-day Ukraine). Paul’s letters don’t deny the cultural differences within the body of Christ. Instead, Paul acknowledges those differences, yet highlights how we are still one body, together.
Luke 10:30-33Jesus 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.”
When someone is very different from us in appearance and in culture, we might feel anxious about interacting with them. It is easy to pass by such people in our daily lives. In the case of the good Samaritan, that man had very good reasons to be anxious. Jews hated Samaritans! Yet the good Samaritan still went out of his way to care for the injured Jewish man. Our racism might not be rooted in hatred, but simply in anxiety and unfamiliarity. A good way to overcome racism is by tolerating our own discomfort and crossing the road to interact with people different from us.
Acts 10:15-29The voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.” The same vision was repeated three times. . . . Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house. . . . as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Three men have come looking for you. Get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitation. Don’t worry, for I have sent them.” So Peter went down and said, “I’m the man you are looking for. Why have you come?” They said, “We were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer.” . . . Peter 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.”
Peter grew up in a Jewish culture that forbade eating with Gentiles. It took multiple visions and repeated prompting from the Holy Spirit to prepare Peter to meet with Cornelius, the first Gentile convert. We, too, may need several promptings and experiences to become comfortable interacting with people of another race. Seek out such experiences: Watch a movie, read a book, join a bowling league with people of a different race, or visit a church that’s primarily of a different race than you. Stepping outside our comfort zones can have great benefits—just ask Peter.
Acts 15:5-11Some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.” . . . Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”
One way we might unintentionally slight people of other races is by expecting them to fit into our own culture’s norms. Many Jewish believers thought that Gentiles had to become Jewish in order to be good Christians. Peter, Paul, James, and other early church leaders firmly opposed this, and for good reason. When we force brothers and sisters in Christ to conform to our culture in order to fellowship with us, we are hindering the growth of the body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 9:20-22When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. . . . Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.
Forcing others to adopt our culture is a form of racism; so is our refusing to adjust to someone else’s culture. When we respect and appreciate others—their heritage, their food, their customs, their way of life—that shows we care about them. And when people feel cared for, that opens their hearts to our witness about Jesus.
Leviticus 19:33–34“Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land. Treat them like native-born Israelites, and love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners living in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
Matthew 28:19“Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
Sadly, it can be easy to donate to mission work for people in a distant culture, yet feel uncomfortable or even hostile when people from that same culture move in down the street. Our money and our prayers can make a great difference in peoples’ lives, but our love is put to its truest test when we live it out face to face.
